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It comes as no surprise to those who know Gabel well that her plans for 51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s future are both bold and prudent. In fact, they would expect nothing less from someone who has lived as both a gutsy adventurer and a thoughtful planner.

Gabel was born in New York state, the daughter of a government employee and a Pan Am flight attendant, who later became a speech pathologist. Because her father’s job required the family to move frequently, and her mother held a firm belief that you bloom where you’re planted, Gabel quickly adopted a hunger for travel and adventure.

Feeding that appetite would introduce Gabel to multiple countries, cultures and experiences over the decades, including family trips around the globe, summers spent teaching in Northern Italy and a fellowship through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program to study higher education practices in India.

But in those early years, it also led her to think in the short term, she admits. Her focus fixed firmly on the next class, the next flight, the next step in her thriving law career, but rarely far beyond.

That all changed in 1996, when Gabel, looking for a deeper connection to her work and more space for her family, made the decision to change her trajectory.

It was what she calls a “tap on the shoulder” moment — a stroke of serendipity that upends the status quo. This one occurred when a mentor asked, just as Gabel was pondering professional change, if she had ever thought about teaching. The idea of helping students mold their own law careers, rather than advancing her own, immediately intrigued her.

While Gabel found that academia suited her, she also realized her new career would require the ability to ponder decisions and ideas with more breadth and depth than she had previously allowed herself.

“The professional arc of a faculty member requires you to have a linked, thoughtful, deepening path that you have to anticipate, even if you occasionally pivot from that path over time,” she says.

That amended way of thinking and planning also generated a host of new opportunities. Over the next two decades, Gabel carved a career that took her to some of the country’s top public universities — including Florida State, Missouri, South Carolina and Minnesota — and earned her increasingly influential titles: department chair, dean, provost and president.

Jere Morehead, who taught Gabel when she was a law student at the University of Georgia and now serves as its president, watched her rise with much admiration but little surprise.

“She can take an issue or a problem, pick it apart and figure out the strengths and weaknesses of any argument,” he says. “When others might just step back and say, ‘Oh, this issue can't be fixed,’ she'll figure out a way to fix it. And in higher education today, figuring out paths forward is crucial.”

But as she rose steadily through the ranks of academia, she watched the space between her office and the classroom widen. To soften the loss of those daily, spontaneous interactions with students that she cherished — and to continue supporting student wellness — Gabel focused on making an impact through the students she saw often, namely those in student leadership.

Taylor Wright — now a senior adviser for public engagement at the White House — served as student body president at the University of South Carolina in 2019 when Gabel was provost. He immediately admired her: the lone woman at the leadership table who used her voice and position to elevate important issues.

“I remember feeling engaged and inspired by her; as a student, that’s not something you always feel from an administrator,” Wright says.

He got an up-close view of her tenacity during his senior year, as he fought to implement a student fee transparency initiative at the Columbia, South Carolina, university. When other administrators appeared to rebuff his efforts, he turned to Gabel, who immediately convened a meeting of the school’s deans to discuss the plan’s merits. Shortly thereafter, the initiative passed.

“If it makes sense, if it’s practical, if it’s good for students, she’s going to make it happen,” Wright says.

It’s what Gabel refers to as the “multiplier effect” — her capacity as an administrator to alter circumstances for many students at once, rather than one at a time. ��

One such example at 51��Ʒ��Ƶ is the Finish Line Grant, which Gabel announced on her 100th day in office. The grant offers one-time, nonrenewable grants to eligible students with financial holds or unpaid balances so they can stay enrolled and complete their degrees.

According to Gabel, the key to any impactful student program or interaction — whether individual or on a larger scale — is to see students as whole, nuanced human beings and not just degree seekers.

“Students are in class two, three, five hours a day,” Gabel points out. “There’s the whole rest of the day that they are living, learning and growing. How are we facilitating that for them? Are they feeling supported? Are they able to ask questions? Are they able to change their minds? Are they able to meet people who expand their horizons? We need to be thinking of the total student and be certain we’re serving them in the ways that they need.”

Sometimes, as Gabel proved early on at 51��Ʒ��Ƶ, those ways are both simple and hugely impactful.

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Back in August 2023, on the eve of the fall semester, 51��Ʒ��Ƶ senior Madelynn Lederer took her place on the Cathedral of Learning lawn. As president of the Blue and Gold Society, a student ambassador group, she’d been asked to address a crowd of first-years and explain the century-long tradition of Lantern Night, when the “light of learning” passes from one generation of 51��Ʒ��Ƶ students to the next in a candlelit ceremony.

She was both delighted and a bit nervous to find herself seated next to Gabel. Fortunately, Lederer had the perfect conversation starter. She was applying to law schools, and Gabel had, of course, been through the grueling process herself.

As they waited for students to assemble and the sky to darken, Lederer and Gabel amiably chatted. Lederer rattled off the curated list of schools to which she would apply — and revealed the one she was still contemplating: Harvard. Despite her stellar grades and leadership record, Lederer worried the ultracompetitive school was too much of a reach and maybe not even worth an application.

Gabel dismissed those doubts with an urgent shake of her head. Lederer’s academic accomplishments at 51��Ʒ��Ƶ made her a solid candidate.��

“Apply,” Gabel insisted. “This is possible.”

Buoyed by the chancellor’s words and armed with glowing recommendations from professors and mentors, Lederer sent in her application. Five months later, the admissions office at Harvard Law reached out with its decision: Lederer was in.

She wanted to tell the chancellor her news, but worried their interaction was just one among hundreds the chancellor experienced in her first weeks on the job. Still, she couldn’t help but take the opportunity when Gabel attended a Blue and Gold Society meeting this winter. When the event’s business had concluded, Lederer approached the chancellor with restrained excitement to tell her of Harvard’s decision.

Gabel showed no such restraint. Her hands flew to her mouth for a moment before she reached out to pull Lederer into a hug.

“It meant so much that she encouraged me to apply and then that she remembered encouraging me,” reflects Lederer. “It’s nice to have someone in her role who is so invested in the individual achievements of students.” ��

That kind of care and investment, says South Carolina alumnus Wright, is just Gabel’s way.

“She’s laser-focused on doing good for students and for the community at large,” he says. “She’s a person who can always be fully trusted to stand up and speak out about things that matter.”

Kevin Washo, 51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s senior vice chancellor for university relations and Gabel’s chief of staff, recognized the chancellor’s humanity on her very first day at 51��Ʒ��Ƶ.

He accompanied her as she worked through an airtight, dawn-to-dusk schedule of interviews, meet-and-greets and photo opportunities. They were both exhausted by the time they left their last engagement at the University Club to walk back to their offices at the Cathedral of Learning. But Gabel still had enough energy and interest to inquire about Washo’s background—he is a 51��Ʒ��Ƶ alumnus and former trustee — and family.

In that moment, Washo says, he knew she was the right choice for 51��Ʒ��Ƶ.

“As someone who’s worn a lot of hats at 51��Ʒ��Ƶ and who cares about this place very deeply, I think the University is in tremendous hands,” Washo says. “Chancellor Gabel is someone who understands the academy and how to run a big organization, and she’s someone who understands the importance of what 51��Ʒ��Ƶ means in the community. It’s not an easy combination to find, and I think 51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s future is bright with her at the helm.”

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As she prepares to begin her second year in office, Gabel continues work on the Plan for 51��Ʒ��Ƶ 2028 and the related initiatives already in motion. She’s led — just as she was on her first day — by both a thoughtful appreciation for the University’s past and a boundless enthusiasm for its potential.

Addressing 51��Ʒ��Ƶ’s Board of Trustees in February, Gabel said: “I can say, having arrived relatively recently, that 51��Ʒ��Ƶ's national reputation is extremely strong. But there is a wide-held belief — that I agree with — that the reality is even better than that reputation. We want to close that gap. We want the world to know about the amazing things that we're doing. We want to lean into our distinct strengths, take strategic risks and invest in things that we can uniquely do well.

“There’s so much more to come.”