PITTSBURGH — Joan T.A. Gabel, president and chief executive of the University of Minnesota System and Twin Cities campus, will become the University of Pittsburgh’s 19th chancellor, Pitt’s Board of Trustees announced today.
Gabel will be the first woman to lead the University since its founding in 1787. She starts July 1.
“I am excited and filled with optimism when I think of leading this institution into its important next chapter — to taking leaps when needed, and incremental steps as necessary, to ensure that every step we take, however large or small, moves us forward,” Gabel said. “I am humbled to have the opportunity to lead this world-class community of learners, leaders and discoverers from Pittsburgh and Bradford to Greensburg, Johnstown, Titusville and beyond.”
The election by the board was held this morning at Alumni Hall and concludes an extensive search launched after Chancellor Patrick Gallagher announced last year that he would step down in summer 2023 to transition to the faculty as a professor.
Meet
Joan T.A. Gabel
Under Gabel’s leadership since 2019, the University of Minnesota — like Pitt, a member of the elite Association of American Universities (AAU) — developed its first comprehensive systemwide strategic plan that resulted in record-setting graduation rates and annual research expenditures, as well as increased numbers of start-ups and patents. She also oversaw the completion of a 10-year, $4 billion capital campaign that exceeded its goal by 10%.
During her tenure, transformational partnerships, such as the NXT GEN MED program between the university, Mayo Clinic and Google, produced reimagined research and student opportunities.
The University of Minnesota, a land-grant institution spanning five campuses that serve more than 68,000 students, is one of the nation’s largest universities.
Prior to leading Minnesota, Gabel served as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of South Carolina from 2015 to 2019, and she was the University of Missouri’s dean of the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business from 2010 to 2015.
She began her teaching career in 1996 at Georgia State University, then joined Florida State University, where she was the DeSantis Professor of Legal Studies and chair of the Department of Risk Management/Insurance, Real Estate and Legal Studies and director in International Relations.
Gabel has received numerous research, service and teaching awards, including a Fulbright. She currently serves as vice chair for the Council on Competitiveness and on the boards of the American Council on Education, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Fulbright Scholar Advisory Board, among others.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Haverford College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law.
Gabel plans to relocate to Pittsburgh in the coming months and will be joined by her husband, Gary.
The 18th and 19th chancellors
Gallagher described the selection of his successor as “the right leader to shape the University of Pittsburgh’s legacy and future. She has successfully led one of America’s top research universities and dedicated her career to supporting a university’s fundamental mission of creating and leveraging knowledge for society’s gain. I am grateful to our Board of Trustees for selecting Joan as Pitt’s next chancellor and thankful to be leaving our remarkable University and University community in Joan’s talented hands. I am confident that, under her guidance, Pitt’s brightest days lie ahead.”
When he steps down this summer, Gallagher will have served as chancellor for nine years — a period of dramatic growth and productivity for the University, despite a tumultuous higher education landscape.
For example, Pitt received the largest number of first-year undergraduate applications in its history this year. The average weighted GPA of its incoming first-year students also reached an all-time high (4.16) with the current first-year class.
In 2018, Pitt joined an elite cohort of U.S. institutions with more than $1 billion in annual research and development expenditures — a position it has maintained for four straight years, which places it among the top 10 public research institutions in the nation.
Gallagher announced in April 2022 his intent to transition to the faculty as a professor in Pitt’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The role of chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh is to direct one of the nation’s premier public institutions for higher education and research. The chancellor oversees a community of nearly 34,000 students at five distinct campuses. This leader also supports the work of more than 14,000 faculty and staff members committed to advancing the University’s legacy of academic excellence, community service and research innovation.
