Newly installed UVM president vows ‘democracy of opportunity’

BURLINGTON — The University of Vermont community welcomed its new president, Suresh Garimella, with an extravagant installation ceremony Thursday. 

Garimella, who had been the executive vice president for research and partnerships at Purdue University, officially took office July 1. He is the university’s 27th president and succeeds Thomas Sullivan, who had been president for seven years.

Thursday’s installation ceremony featured a procession with bagpipe players, a poetry reading by Marianne Boruch, performances by the University Catamount Singers and University Concert Band and addresses from a handful of speakers.  

During his presidential address, Garimella said his presidency would be focused on the student experience. He said students deserve support and mentorship, as well as help planning for post-graduation success. 

“Our most solid responsibility is the success of our students,” he said. “They deserve the highest-quality education we can offer.”

Another priority is ensuring that a UVM education is accessible to a diverse pool of students, Garimella said. He invoked Thomas Jefferson, who said the dream of education was an “aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity.” 

“It is that very democracy of opportunity that I hope UVM will be proud to help bring about,” Garimella said. “Opportunity made available irrespective of one’s origin or skin color, sexual orientation or identity or economic background.” 

Garimella also acknowledged the country’s tense political climate and rampant polarization in his remarks. 

A number of notable Vermonters were in attendance, including Sen. Patrick Leahy, Gov. Phil Scott, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman and Attorney General TJ Donovan. 

“Some despair that our nation is irreparably broken up in fragments by narrow domestic walls,” he said. “But our faith and optimism must endure.” 

In his remarks, Scott said UVM plays a critical role in training and educating members of the state’s workforce, the importance of which is compounded by the state’s demographic challenges. 

“As the land grant university and the state’s only research institution, it’s hard to overstate UVM’s importance here in the state,” he said. 

Scott said he looked forward to working with Garimella in coming years to bolster UVM and the state as a whole. 

Leahy said he was impressed by Garimella’s focus on UVM as a land grant institution and Garimella’s commitment to the land-grant model. 

“He wants to see our students thrive, and he wants to see our state thrive,” Leahy said. “I know he’s going to find ways for UVM to do so.” 

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Former Purdue president France Córdova, who is now the director of the National Science Foundation, gave the installation address Thursday. 

Córdova said Garimella was well-suited to lead UVM into the future during an important time in higher education. 

“One of the hallmark’s of Suresh’s career has been his interdisciplinary approach to both science and administration,” she said. “This approach is becoming one of the defining characteristics of today’s successful and productive endeavors.” 

Garimella takes the helm of the university at the conclusion of a successful $581 million fundraising campaign, which funded significant new building and renovation on campus, among other initiatives.  

But the university last semester also faced student and faculty protests about cutbacks in the College of Arts and Sciences and the closed presidential search. Garimella was the only finalist publicly brought to campus. Last week, UVM students demanded that the university release the raw data from its campus climate survey. 

Garimella, who will be paid $630,000 a year at UVM’s president, inherits the position as colleges and universities across the country face challenges with increasing tuition costs and demographic challenges with fewer students graduating from high school. 

At Purdue, Garimella oversaw four straight years of record research funding and established partnerships with some of the country’s largest companies, including Microsoft, Rolls Royce, Fiat Chrysler and Ford. 

Garimella was part of the “inner circle” of Purdue President Mitch Daniels, the former Republican governor of Indiana, who is seen as a controversial innovator in higher education. 

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