[B]URLINGTON — The University of Vermont will pay incoming president Suresh Garimella $630,000 a year.
Garimella and the university agreed to the contract Friday. He will earn $480,000 in base salary, $50,000 in deferred compensation and $100,000 in a retirement plan for each year he serves as president.
Garimella is the executive vice president for research and partnerships at Purdue University, and was the only finalist brought to campus to publicly engage with the community. He will take over the UVM presidency July 1.
He was paid $432,067 in 2018 for his work at Purdue University, according to records the university released after a request from VTDigger.
Garimella will also be a tenured faculty member in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.
A fact sheet provided by the university stated that Garimella’s compensation package is “typical for presidents of national universities” and that his compensation is in the mid-range of comparable institutions.
Garimella visited campus Feb. 14 and touted four straight years of record research funding under his watch at Purdue. He faced questions from students and faculty about partnerships he launched with corporations and his acceptance of research funds related to fracking.
As Garimella visited campus, faculty and students rallied to draw attention to cutbacks in the College of Arts and Sciences. Faculty and students say the cuts will hurt student experience, while administrators say the cuts are needed to ensure long-term solvency amid declining enrollments.
The university’s current president, Tom Sullivan, announced in August that he would be stepping aside as president and joining the faculty after the current academic year. Sullivan has been the university’s president since 2012.
Sullivan’s base salary for 2017 was listed as $437,675, according to UVM officials.
David Daigle, the chair of the UVM board of trustees, told VTDigger after the visit that Garimella is a student-centric, personable leader.
“We see him as a very capable and effective problem solver,” Daigle said. “He comes across to us as someone who is very skilled at working problems and getting solutions, and that is what we need.”
