Suresh Garimella has the experience needed to stabilize the UA, but it will not be easy for the new president to correct the mistakes of his predecessor.
What you need to know about the University of Arizona
UA was founded in 1885 and its main campus is in Tucson. The Wildcats once had a live bobcat named Rufus as their mascot.
The Republic
Suresh Garimella, the newly appointed president of the University of Arizona, will take office this fall with phenomenal accomplishments and great acclaim:
- A scientist and researcher in mechanical engineering.
- Board member of the National Science Foundation.
- Leadership experience at a Tier 1 research university (Purdue).
- President of the University of Vermont, which, like the UA, is a land-grant university founded to reach a broader population.
- A record increase in enrollment and a cap on tuition fees.
He received widespread praise from faculty members, regents and other members of the UA presidential search committee and was unanimously recommended from nearly a dozen candidates interviewed.
Fixing UAGC will not be easy for Garimella
Garimella’s success in his new job will depend largely on how well he handles the challenges his successor has set for him, particularly the continued development of the struggling for-profit online school that the University of Arizona took over in 2020.
Garimella has high hopes for his role as he helped lead the early stages of Purdue University’s acquisition of a for-profit online school.
But this will not be an easy task for him.
Despite Garimella’s ability to be a change agent, one should not expect the UA to replicate Purdue’s success in acquiring Kaplan University and transforming it into Purdue University Global.
Purdue Global’s four-year graduation rate (for students in the class of 2017-2018) is 48%. The same cohort for the University of Arizona Global Campus – the renamed Ashford U – has a graduation rate of 9%.
Better advice and transparency help
University of Arizona Global Campus graduate says she was misled about her degree
Arizona Republic reporter Hannah Dreyfus speaks with UAGC graduate Heather Harris about her experience after graduating from the online school.
Hannah Dreyfus and Diana Payan/The Republic
Closing this gap significantly is difficult, if not impossible.
Online educational institutions like the University of Arizona’s Global Campus cater to non-traditional students, a large percentage of whom are older, working professionals who are less equipped or experienced for academic life.
Graduation and retention rates lag behind those of students at traditional public universities.
And that’s without even mentioning the ongoing complaints from some UAGC students that they were misled about the cost and value of their degrees and have been unable to find jobs despite owing tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
This is part of Ashford University’s legacy that needs to be corrected under the Garimella government through better consultation and transparency.
The University of Arizona offers more online challenges
The University of Arizona’s Global Campus is not the only online challenge facing the future president.
An Ernst and Young study earlier this year evaluating UA’s online activities pointed to the need for both UAGC and Arizona Online, the university’s other online program, to invest more resources in student success.
The graduation rates after six years are similar for both programs, ranging between 15% and 20%. (To be fair, Arizona Online’s course content is the same as the classroom teaching at UA and is therefore significantly more demanding than the UAGC’s offerings.)
UA traded: His reputation as a source of income. It wasn’t worth it
The study assumes that by combining certain operational processes of the two online schools, annual savings can be made and part of these funds can be invested in improving student success.
This also assumes that total online enrollment remains at current levels, but this is not certain given Ashford’s (and now UAGC’s) declining numbers over the past decade.
Added to these challenges is the need to restore the reputation of the University of Arizona, which took a severe hit under President Robert Robbins, and to address the enrollment crisis that awaits all universities in the face of declining birth rates and high tuition costs.
Garimella needs time to fix UA’s problems
Nevertheless, the installation of Garimella UA enables a fresh start after several turbulent years.
And he will enjoy some tailwind during the transition phase.
The university has left behind its outdated budget system, which had led to an unexpected shortage of its cash reserves and thus initiated Robbins’ downfall.
In addition, the faculty and community are willing to make a deal with Ashford University that caused them great concern and in which they had little say.
Garimella will have the benefit of the doubt from the start. He will need time to make meaningful changes.
Reach Abe Kwok at [email protected]. On X, formerly Twitter: @abekwok.
