University Of Pittsburgh Appoints First Female Chancellor

PITTSBURGH, PA — In its 306-year-history, the University of Pittsburgh never had chosen a woman to lead it - until Monday.

Joan Gabel, president and chief executive of the University of Minnesota System and Twin Cities campus, was appointed the 19th chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. The university's board of trustees named her chancellor-elect until she assumes her new role on July 1.

Gabel will succeed Patrick Gallagher, 60, who is leaving the chancellor's position after nine years to transition to an on-campus teaching role. He will become a professor in Pitt’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

“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.

At Pitt, she will be in charge of Western Pennsylvania's largest university, with 34,000 students at the main campus in Oakland and branches at Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville. Pitt has 14,000 employees.

At the University of Minnesota, she oversaw five campuses serving more than 68,000 students. The land grant institution 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, chair of the Department of Risk
Management/Insurance, Real Estate and Legal Studies and director of international relations.