Subra Suresh will resign as president of Carnegie Mellon University on June 30, making his tenure the shortest in the school’s 117-year history and placing it in uncharted waters as it seeks a new leader for the second time in less than five years.
In a letter Thursday to the CMU community, he wrote, “My wife Mary and I have reflected on the long-term commitment needed to implement the university’s strategic plan, and we feel Carnegie Mellon would be best served now by a president who is ready to make that extended commitment to generating resources and guiding the university toward reaching these objectives.”
Mr. Suresh has been at CMU for four years.
His brief statement to campus made no reference to a new position. Officials said they had no information about that, nor could they elaborate on any separation agreement between Mr. Suresh and the University.
Mr. Suresh was not immediately available for comment, nor was his chief of staff, Cathy Light.
Jim Rohr, chairman of the CMU Board of Trustees, sent a letter to the Carnegie Mellon community about the resignation. “I have had the privilege of working with Dr. Suresh throughout his time at Carnegie Mellon, and I want to thank Subra and his wife, Mary, for their many contributions to the university. Subra’s vision has left an indelible mark on CMU, and he has assembled a strong and diverse leadership team that is well-positioned to build on the momentum at Carnegie Mellon.”
University's presidents*
He said the board of trustees would appoint an interim president“who can continue to build upon the spirit of ‘One CMU,’ with a special emphasis on supporting the university’s outstanding faculty, students and staff.”
Since its founding In 1900, Carnegie Mellon has had eight previous presidents with tenures averaging just under 14 years. Jared Cohon, his immediate predecessor, served 16 years starting in 1997; Robert Mehrabian served seven years starting in 1990 and the late Richard Cyert’s term lasted 18 years, starting in 1972.
Carnegie Mellon’s endowment totaled $1.7 billion as of 2016, according to the latest NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.
That puts it among a select group institutions, though minuscule compared to endowment worth of its competitors, among them Stanford University at $22.4 billion; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at $13.2 billion and Cornell University at $5.7 billion. The disadvantage has long added a layer to the pressures Carnegie Mellon faces.
Terry Hartle, senior vice president with the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., said he was not familiar with the situation at CMU, but said an early departure in the president’s office adds a note of uncertainty for any large organization, including a university. “Obviously, it’s a disappointment and presents some challenges the university was not expecting.”
At the same time, universities in many ways are decentralized in that senior staff will be able to continue many of the fund raising and strategic planning initiatives through the transition period. “For now, you will not have the closer, you will not have the person to really seal the arrangement on large grants.” But ultimately, he said, an institution of the stature of CMU should not experience long-term problems because of this. He called it a “speed bump.”
Like other elite universities trying to chart how best to position itself internationally, Carnegie Mellon faces intense competition to recruit and keep top talent and has an unending need to raise funds for upgraded facilities.
CMU, along with the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University and the region’s other campuses, also carries responsibility for Western Pennsylvania’s continued economic vitality — a shift that occurred over decades from steel and manufacturing to an education- and medical-driven economy.
Mr. Suresh arrived to those myriad challenges.
He was announced as Carnegie Mellon’s ninth president in February 2013 and took office that summer.
In an email to campus announcing the selection, then trustees chairman Ray Lane said Carnegie Mellon’s new president had “earned a renowned reputation in education and research, garnering numerous awards and honors during his illustrious career as a scholar, educator and public servant.”
Asked in an interview that day what impressed him most, Mr. Lane replied: “His IQ. He’ll sit and listen to a conversation and assemble a bunch of facts and he says, ‘Here’s what I think would work at Carnegie Mellon.’”
Mr. Lane said the board wanted Carnegie Mellon’s global imprint to be more pronounced. He described Mr. Suresh as a good fit for that, saying he was “a strategic and visionary leader who will build upon the global reputation for innovation and excellence in education, research and entrepreneurship CMU has achieved during Dr. Cohon’s 16-year tenure.”
He said Mr. Suresh’s values matched those of Carnegie Mellon, which long has prided itself on work across disciplines from engineering and computer science to theater and music.
On campus in Oakland Thursday night, most people said they were surprised and disappointed at the news. A number of people were not yet aware that the president had said he was stepping down when approached by a reporter. Others had read the email from Mr. Suresh.
“It was so sudden,” said Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, a research professor emerita in the physics department. “His term was supposed to be five years. He did a great job. He always gave annual reports to faculty and students.” She said he invited people to his house for a Christmas party. “He’s done everything right and was a great role model.”
Larry Gallagher, a network engineer at the university, said he was “really surprised.”
Val Haley, an administrator at the school of drama, said that Mr. Suresh “was always a staunch supporter of the arts. My job is relatively unaffected by the big decisions he makes, but he was always very supportive.”
Mayor Bill Peduto said it was a loss.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Dr. Suresh for four years now. I viewed him as a visionary. He is somebody who not only had the ability to improve Western Pennsylvania’s economy and follow in the work that Dr. [former president Jared L.] Cohon had done, but to really push, on a national and international scale, Pittsburgh’s ability to attract new companies here. At the same time, he’s just a genuine pleasure to work with — a man who is considered one of the top scientists in the world, but also [is] a gentleman. If it’s his intent to leave Carnegie Mellon, I’m sorry to hear it, and I hope that he would consider a way to be able to stay in Pittsburgh.”
Mr. Suresh, a native of Mumbai, India, is an engineer and scientist. He came to the United States at age 21.
Prior to taking the job, was director of the National Science Foundation. Before joining that agency, he was dean of the School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering at MIT.
Mr. Suresh has a bachelor’s of technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; a master’s degree from Iowa State University; and a doctor of science degree from MIT.
After doing postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Mr. Suresh joined the Brown University engineering faculty in 1983.
In 1989, he became a full professor and joined MIT.
In December, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Mr. Suresh’s total compensation at $897,840, including $738,063 in base pay. It was as of 2014, the most current available.
Carnegie Mellon as of last fall had a total enrollment of just under 14,000 students in Pittsburgh and its other locations in the U.S. and abroad.
Among the prominent efforts during Mr. Suresh’s tenure at Carnegie Mellon has been continuing development of the Tepper Quadrangle and “innovation corridor” along Forbes Avenue. The efforts are part of a development surge on and near campus.
In August 2015, the university announced the largest corporate gift in its history, $35 million from Tata Consultancy Services, a global enterprise based halfway around the world in India. A multi-story building funded by the gift is under development, having received city and campus approvals.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazettte.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @BschacknerPG. Adalberto Toledo contributed.
First Published: June 1, 2017, 8:06 p.m.
Updated: June 1, 2017, 8:38 p.m.
