Speaker Information
Joan Gabel is Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, where her leadership focuses on student success, impactful research, and the public mission of higher education.
Under Gabel’s leadership, the University has set records in research funding, student demand and enrollment, graduation rates, postgraduation placement, and student belonging, alongside growth in patents filed and invention disclosures. Pitt has expanded support for research and scholarship, including through its academic health sciences enterprise and longstanding partnership with UPMC. Pitt has also launched academic programs in emerging fields, including artificial intelligence, and strengthened pathways connecting education to careers. New approaches to affordability include the Regional Campus Tuition Pledge and Finish Line Grants. Pitt also received the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award for community-engaged research.
Before joining Pitt, Gabel served as President of the University of Minnesota System and Twin Cities campus, where she introduced the system’s first comprehensive strategic plan and achieved record graduation rates and research expenditures. She previously served as Provost at the University of South Carolina and Dean of the Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri. She also held the DeSantis Professorship of Legal Studies at Florida State University, where she served as a department chair.
Gabel’s academic background is in corporate governance, ethics, risk management, and international business law. Her scholarly recognitions include the Academy of Legal Studies in Business Distinguished Career Achievement Award and the Holmes-Cardozo Award for Excellence in Research.
Gabel chairs the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Fulbright Scholar Advisory Board, serves as Academic Vice Chair of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness and Vice Chair of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and participates in National Academies initiatives, including the Science and Innovation Fund for Ukraine.
She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, named to the Forbes 2026 50 Over 50: Impact list, listed as a “shining star” by The Wall Street Journal, and received the American Council on Education Mentor Award.
Gabel holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Haverford College.
Student Speaker
Anna Wright is pursuing a degree in political science from the School of Public and International Affairs. During her time at UGA, she earned the Public Affairs Professional Certificate in Applied Politics and participated in the Double Dawgs Program, working toward a master’s degree in public administration. She also participated in the University Chorus, volunteered with Shop With a Bulldog, interned in the Office of Governor Brian Kemp, and worked as a student assistant for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.