Looking out across the University of Arizona mall towards the Modern Languages and Psychology buildings, from the entrance of the Bear Down Gym.
Senior faculty at the University of Arizona are hoping they’ll have a new president in place before classes start in two weeks.
Early Thursday morning, the Arizona Board of Regents announced one candidate who will interview for the position of President, Dr. Suresh Garimella.
Although the search process took five months, the Board is now moving quickly, voting to begin interviewing candidates just one day before the announcement and scheduling the interview with Garimella for the next day.
Dr. Joellen Russell, a University professor on the presidential search committee, was enthusiastic about the decision.
“I think Dr. Garimella is a unicorn, he’s definitely a top pick for anybody,” she said.
Garimella is currently the President of the University of Vermont, which he assumed in 2019. And as the University of Arizona continues to deal with its worst fiscal year in over a decade, Russell said Garimella’s experience with UVM’s financial difficulties was important to the committee.
“They had to do some budget right-sizing when he got to the University of Vermont, and he did that successfully, and has turned around and almost doubled their research dollars,” she said.
VIEW LARGER Dr. Suresh Garimella, current president of the University of Vermont and candidate for the next University of Arizona president. Russell said the candidate was made well aware of the University’s financial situation, including a one-on-one meeting with John Arnold, Chief Financial Officer.
“The poor baby got the full whack, so he knows exactly what's going on. And let's just be honest, it's not that big a hole. We've made real progress so far, and as compared to the size of our actual annual expenditures, it's very small,” Russell said.
Garimella is a mechanical engineering professor and was previously the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships at Purdue University, before moving to VMU.
After Garimella’s interview Friday, the board will vote on whether or not to enter contract negotiations, which Russell said could move quickly too.
“I imagine things will move very quickly. My hope is that we get Dr. Garimella to join us for the beginning of school. It's not because we need Bobby {current UA President Dr. Robert Robbins] to hurry up and go, it's that we need to get to our next big challenge,” she said.
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