MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel is leaving the school to become the new chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh.
The University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees voted Monday morning to approve Gabel as chancellor. She will begin her new role in July.
In December 2018, the U of M Board of Regents voted unanimously to make her the school's 17th president and the first woman to lead the university.
Gabel officially began her duties at the start of July in 2019 at the U of M.
"Over these last four years, there have been many difficult messages to send and share, but this one is uniquely challenging. This morning, I informed the Board of Regents that I will be leaving the University to become the 19th Chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh beginning this July," Gable wrote in a letter to the school's students, faculty and staff.
Gabel will also become the first female chancellor in the history of the University of Pittsburgh. She said that the school's research strengths were enticing to her, plus the fact that her son is currently enrolled as a student there.
In a Zoom interview with reporters on Monday, Gabel said that "it's been the greatest honor of my life to be the president of the University of Minnesota."
"We've accomplished a lot in the last four years -- everything that we set out to do in our strategic plan," Gabel said. "I didn't decide to leave the U. I decided to go to the University of Pittsburgh."
Gabel led the university through the global pandemic and "through a time of both seismic shifts in higher education and great change here in Minnesota," said University of Minnesota Board of Regents Chair Ken Powell in a statement.
Powell added that more information would be released in the coming weeks about the new replacement for Gabel and the future of the U.
Gabel came under fire earlier this year for accepting a position on the Board of Directors at Securian Financial, an outside role that paid about $130,000 per year. In late January, however, Gabel resigned from the board. Among the critics of the corporate board position was former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson, who had previously called the arrangement between Gabel and Securian a "very, very serious conflict of interest."
Gabel was the only finalist to replace outgoing U of M President Eric Kaler in 2018. At that time, regents approved a proposed contract which is said to involve a five-year term through June 30, 2024 at an annual salary of $640,000. She since received a salary increase that brought her annual base pay to about $705,000 this year, not including retirements and benefits.
Gabel will receive a significant boost to her base pay at Pittsburgh, with a salary of $950,000.
Gabel said she did not ask the University of Minnesota for a counter-offer.
"It is a rather significant increase from where the current chancellor [at Pittsburgh] is, but it's not as high as the recent Penn State hire," Gabel said. "As you know, I was, at the bottom of the Big Ten in the compensation I received at the University of Minnesota despite the size and complexity."
Now, the University of Minnesota must name an interim president and search for Gabel's permanent replacement.
"The process for selecting the next president is really important," said Darrin Rosha, a member of the Board of Regents. "The health care merger and facilities issue is really big, safety on campus, enrollment challenges... First, [we must] find out what the challenges are. And then work to find somebody with the skillset to address those challenges."
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