After 236 Years, the University of Pittsburgh Names Its First Woman Chancellor

Joan T.A. Gabel was appointed the nineteenth chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. When she takes office on July 1, she will be the first woman to lead the university since its founding in 1787.

The University of Pittsburgh enrolls 33,000 students on five campuses and has 14,000 faculty and staff members. Women make up 57 percent of the undergraduate student body.

“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.”

Since 2019, Gabel was been serving as president and chief executive of the University of Minnesota System and the Twin Cities campus. From 2015 to 2019, she was the executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of South Carolina. Previously, she served as dean of the University of Missouri’s Trulaske College of Business. She has also served as the DeSantis Professor and chair of the department of risk management/insurance, real estate & legal studies at Florida State University and as a faculty member at Georgia State University.

Gabel holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Haverford College in Pennsylvania and a juris doctorate from the University of Georgia.