The University of Vermont has selected Dr. Suresh Garimella as its next president. The board of trustees Friday morning authorized its chair to negotiate a contract with Garimella.
Garimella was the sole finalist for the job. He is currently an executive vice president for research and partnerships at Purdue University, in Indiana.
Garimella was on UVM's campus Thursday. He addressed concerns over funding for the humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences, while looking forward to seeking new sources of money for UVM.
"I have been, in my current role, very supportive of the humanities and liberal arts," Garimella said. "There's a good number of programs we instituted to support them and to bring them more deeply into the rest of the campus fabric."
Garimella said current UVM president Tom Sullivan has done well working with university alumni and other sources to secure funding, but he's looking forward to broadening that.
"President Sullivan has done a great job over the last few years, and I'm certainly going to do my best to continue that trajectory and broaden the number of folks we reach," Garimella said.
Just after Garimella spoke, students and faculty from UVM rallied to ask the university for more funding towards the humanities.
Sophomore Cobalt Tolbert said he and other protestors gathered to tell the university to stop cutting classes and faculty positions inside the College of Arts and Sciences.
"The administration has shifted its priorities away from funding our education towards more administrative costs, capital facilities and different budget models," Tolbert said.
UVM administrators have cited declining enrollment in the humanties as a source of budgetary conflict.
Protestors were also there to show their disappointment in an "undemocratic" search process for the next UVM president, Tolbert said.
Garimella said that those concerned over the presidential search process shouldn't be upset with him, as he was just a participant in the system.
Previously he's participated in a very open presidential search at a different university, but private or closed presidential searches are becoming a norm in higher education, Garimella said.
Update 2/15/19, 11:45 a.m: This post was updated to include the news of the board of trustees' vote Friday morning.
