Photograph by Eric Miller/University of Minnesota
Joan Gabel
Since officially taking on her role as president in July, Joan Gabel has been inaugurated, completed visits to all of the University of Minnesota campuses, and has found her stride.
The former provost of the University of South Carolina, Gabel has been signed on for a five-year contract as the U of M’s 17th president. As the first woman to take on the role, Gabel says she feels an increased sense of responsibility in her leadership.
Busy as she is, Gabel made time to discuss how she’s adjusted to the position, her areas of focus, and her take on living in Minnesota.
There’s about a month and a half left to the semester. How do you feel your first semester as president of the University of Minnesota has gone so far, and what has that been like for you?
It’s been a happy whirlwind. It’s been exciting, lots of new relationships to build, and work to do. Substantively, it’s been really fun to see fall sports, especially football, do really well, to welcome this freshman class – you know we’re sort of freshmen together.
I’ve also spent a lot of time going out and about throughout the state in addition to working very closely with our partners here in the cities. So, it’s really busy, but in the best possible way.
After visiting them, and being around the students, and working at the university, what are your big areas of focus or concern regarding education, the university system, and individual students?
Actually, I had very good fortune when I came on board that some of this work had already started before I got here. And we don’t like to waste good work. So, we’re looking into that system-wide consultation around our campus strength–and by campus, I mean our entire system –around student success and making sure our students are successful in every sense of that word. Obviously that they’re educated and prepared for work or grad school, but also that they’re well.
We’re very focused on inclusion and wellbeing and making sure we get better and better at creating a sense of belonging for all of our students, no matter what unique life experience or perspective they bring.
What we’ve really been working on, before I arrived and certainly in the four months I’ve been here, is where those commitments intersect with unique opportunities presented by the state of Minnesota.
What are some things you’re proud to have accomplished since your inauguration?
Well, I would say the inauguration itself, if I may, just because that was a moment for our campus. We’ve only had 17 presidents in nearly 170 years. And inauguration ceremonies tend to be very formal, and usually behind closed doors. And we did all of the traditional things, because we really respect and admire the tradition of a place like this, it’s part of why I wanted to be here. But we also opened it up in a way that brought it to the entire community–students, faculty, staff, community partners, student organizations. It was healthy, we fed everyone, and with good healthy Minnesotan food. It was a zero-footprint event, and it saved about $100,000 off of the original budget, a little more than that actually. And I like to think of that–next to getting married and having kids–it was one of the most important days of my life. But I would like to think it was the beginning of a series of things that have a similar flavor, where we’re opening the doors, we’re creating more transparency, we’re looking for ways to do things that respect tradition but also look ahead, are more economically efficient, and have no reduction in impact. If anything, that may increase the impact.
Does that go towards the University’s goal of becoming more zero-waste centric and trying to produce more of its own energy?
As an example, yes. But it could also just as easily go towards the goal of what it means looking ahead, to be inclusive. So, the same rubric can apply in a lot of the different things that we want to be as an institution, and what we want to offer as an institution.
After having adjusted to the position over the last couple months – has your viewpoint on anything changed that you had initially planned on in any topic?
I think things have evolved. I would describe it that way. There haven’t been any unpleasant surprises that made us think ‘oh, that’s definitely on fire, I need to go put that fire out.’ There hasn’t been anything like that, fortunately.
I would say one thing that has evolved the most though, is my appreciation for and understanding of the state of Minnesota itself. Because having never lived here, the nuances of different regions of the state were something that you read about, but until you get out there and shake hands, and meet people, and say hello, and hear their comments, and their questions, and their feedback, it’s harder to appreciate and understand. And so, I think that if anything has really evolved the most, it would be our thoughts around the outreach and engagement that we do as an institution as a result of some of those really pleasant encounters that I’ve had.
How do you see the University of Minnesota changing during your time as president, and what do you see that’s already changed?
I assume the biggest change is having the first woman as president. It’s just visually I know quite something when you look at the wall that has the portraits of all the presidents and mine looks a little different. And I think that’s a marker that’s bigger than me personally but signals the openness of the leadership and the state to what leadership looks like, could look like, could sound like, could say, and I think that’s a pretty big change. It’s harder for me to feel that change, because I arrived with it, as opposed to observed it before and after. But it is something that I hear reflected back to me often.
But over time, I think we’ll do more work around making sure people understand our story. I think in decades gone by, and even for me, at the earlier part of my career, which was a few decades ago, the impact of the university was assumed. The value that it brought to the state, the opportunity that it created for the students, the way in which research helps a community and answers questions, and the way in which being in the company of a major research university makes the state better as an economic engine for the state, was assumed. That was a presumption. And these days, we are asked to articulate that impact. And that’s in the big picture pretty new for us.
And I think what you’ll start to see is us doing more and more of it, and hopefully getting better and better at it. Because we do think we make a positive impact, that’s certainly what we’re committed to doing, but we want to make sure that every single Minnesotan knows what that is, can feel it, and considers it worthwhile.
You have quite the history of breaking the glass ceiling – being the first woman dean at Missouri college of business, first woman provost at South Carolina, and the U of M’s first female president as well. Do you experience any additional pressure from that?
There is pressure, but I don’t know that that’s a bad thing. Every university president feels pressure. I don’t know that there’s any immunity from pressure, just because you’re not a first. But I do feel a sense of responsibility that may be unique.
Just from what I’ve seen, there are usually a couple big topics at the University – sexual assault, mental health, accessibility, campus culture, diversity – will your approach to any of these things be different than those who came before you? And if so, how?
On mental health–yes. I think you probably can already see from where you’re sitting that we’re talking about this more openly then we have in the past. We’re working nationally with our conference partners and with national organizations to make sure that we’re incorporating the very best practices and we’re doing our own system-wide environmental scan so that we can make sure that we’re at the highest levels on every campus, learning from each other, and also distributing our resources in ways so that we can maximize the impact and continue to get better, and that is something that I personally take very seriously. I think it’s a very big part of what it means to be a university these days, is that student success is more than academic success, it’s also their wellness, mental and physical.
So, sexual misconduct, so you know President Kaler started something that on campus we call PIPSM, the President’s Initiative on the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct. And that program has moved into HR, so that it can be operationalized and made sustainable, so that means it’s no longer a special project, but is ongoing. We’re expanding the number of people who have to go through the training. We’re working on where we need some policy changes, and we’re hiring a new VP for HR, because our current VP is retiring, and when that new person comes, they will report directly to me. And that is so that we can be strategic around things like sexual misconduct and campus climate and leverage national best practices.
By bringing in the new VP from HR as a strategic partner to the president, we’re elevating all of the issues that fall under that side of the house, so to speak.
Across the board all come together, and everyone agrees that we should have an improved sense of belonging.
We sit right in the middle of the Big 10 in terms of how strongly our students feel a sense of belonging. And I can tell you that it’s not a high enough sense of belonging. And so, what we do is we look at the research, we look at best practice, we survey students, and listen to what they say. Faculty and staff too. And then we try to implement programming that targets where we see the gaps and we measure again, and we just keep trying to get better that way.
Changing gears, a little bit, I was wondering – would you have critiques of how president Kaler left things? I know you said he left things in a very good condition – is there anything that you think you’ll be doing differently – more specifically?
No critiques of any of the past presidents. There’s always your signature that you bring to things, and I hope to do that.
But what I want is to respect and continue the legacy and insert innovation as appropriate, sometimes incrementally, sometimes boldly. But not because there was anything wrong, just because there are opportunities that we want to fulfill.
Is there anything you’d like to expand upon or add to our conversation that I simply haven’t asked a question about yet?
As a new resident to the city I just want to say how great it is here. I mean I think there’s some fresh perspective. And I say this having been here last winter, so it’s not like I don’t know that it gets cold, and it snows, and it gets dark–I know all of that. But it is an amazing community. Vibrant. Interesting.
We are just so delighted to be here, and I think it just bears repeating from someone who still has some objectivity that this is a really great place.
Well that’s great to hear as a lifelong resident of the state. As a newcomer, what would be some of your favorite spots that you’ve happened upon and your favorite locations in the metro?
I mean, I don’t think you can answer that question without acknowledging the amazingness of the state fair, right? I mean that is where that conversation is always going to start as someone new. So, we moved a lot when I was a kid because of the work that my father did, so I’ve been to lots of state fairs. My parents like them, I like them, and everyone told me that you haven’t been to a state fair until you’ve been to the Minnesota state fair. And I would just nod politely, because I figured how different could it be. It is so different.
Did you go down the giant slide?
Kait, I went down the giant slide with Goldy, holding hands the whole way down. It was the pinnacle of my professional career.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
