Joan Gabel

Joan Gabel was born in New York City and grew up in Atlanta.[3] Gabel entered Haverford College at age 16[4] and earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy[5] in 1988,[6] then worked in employee benefits for two years.[7] She earned a J.D. degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1993.[8]

Joan Gabel was briefly an associate attorney in Atlanta and served as editor-in-chief of the American Business Law Journal.[9] She worked for Georgia State University from 1996 to 2007 as a professor in legal studies, then moved to Florida State University from 2007 to 2010 as a professor of business law and department chair. From 2010 to 2015, Gabel worked for the University of Missouri as the dean of its college of business, and became the provost of the University of South Carolina in 2015.[10] Gabel is the current president of the University of Minnesota, and she is the first woman to hold that position.[11][8] Within her first year of being president, she helped guide the university during two major events; the Covid-19 health crisis and the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests. In response to the latter, she announced that the university would be reducing collaboration with the Minneapolis Police Department.[12]