Suresh Garimella begins tenure as University of Arizona president

Oct. 7, 2024

Suresh Garimella begins tenure as University of Arizona president

TUCSON, Ariz. — It is the start of a new era for the University of Arizona, as Suresh Garimella spent his first full day on campus as the university's 23rd president on Oct. 2.

Garimella, who officially assumed the presidency on Oct. 1, gave brief remarks in front of Old Main Wednesday morning, then quickly got back to work, with a schedule that included sitting down with a reporter from the Daily Wildcat, the U of A's student newspaper; meeting with senior university leaders, including campus safety officials; and visiting the university's Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab.

His eagerness to dive right into the job will come as no surprise to those familiar with Garimella's work ethic – something he says his parents instilled in him at an early age.

Garimella was the youngest of three children growing up in India. His father worked as an engineer and his mother was a housewife. Neither had college degrees, and they stressed the importance of education to their children.

"Every day, we'd come home and do all our homework," Garimella said. "My parents wanted us to do well, and they sacrificed a lot for us. We are better off now because of their support and example."

When Garimella was young, education represented a ticket to a better life. That ticket would eventually take him to the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, where he received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, then to The Ohio State University and the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned advanced degrees before embarking on a successful professional career in academia.

Garimella, a highly cited mechanical engineering scholar, comes to the U of A from the University of Vermont, where he served as president since 2019. Prior to that, Garimella served as executive vice president of research and partnerships and a distinguished professor at Purdue University in Indiana.

Garimella, who has also been appointed a University Distinguished Professor at the U of A, has vowed to continue making students his No. 1 priority, calling them the "heartbeat" of the university.

"We're here for our students and their success," he said. "Everyone at the university has a part to play in creating the environment where students can thrive, and staying in touch with them is so important to be able to do that effectively. I'm really looking forward to getting to know our students."

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Media contact:
Mitch Zak
University Communications
916-612-0979
mitchzak@arizona.edu

The University of Arizona, a land-grant institution with two independently accredited medical schools, ranks among the nation's top universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1885, the university is widely recognized as student-centric and has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. As a leading Research 1 institution, the University of Arizona ranks in the top 20 among all public universities with $955 million in annual research expenditures according to the National Science Foundation. The university advances the frontiers of interdisciplinary scholarship and entrepreneurial partnerships as a member of the Association of American Universities, the 71 leading public and private research universities in the U.S. and Canada. It benefits the state of Arizona with an estimated economic impact of $4.1 billion annually.