Chancellor Sharon L. Gaber

LET’S CONNECT.

Before joining UNC Charlotte, Gaber served for five years as the President of the University of Toledo, where she was nationally recognized for her efforts to increase enrollment, improve graduation and retention rates, keep education affordable, increase research funding, improve connection to the surrounding metro region and make the campus environment diverse and inclusive.
Prior to Toledo, Gaber served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas.
She has also been an interim provost at Auburn University and a faculty member and administrator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Gaber earned an A.B. in Economics and Urban Studies at Occidental College.
She received an M.P.L. in Urban Planning from the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in City & Regional Planning.
Dr. Gaber is the proud mother of three children: Allison, Peter and Jen (dec.).

Dr. Gaber is the author of articles on regional and urban planning, public policy and the social dynamics that affect community decision-making.
She is also the co-author of a book on planning research methods.
In 2025, the American Enterprise Institute named Gaber one of the best college presidents of the century (#25 out of more than 400) for her impact on access, affordability, and student success while president of the University of Toledo.
In 2024, she was named to The Charlotte Business Journal’s Power 100, which recognized the region’s top innovators.
Gaber received the Career Mastered Distinguished Leadership Award in 2022 and was named by The Charlotte Business Journal as one of the Most Admired CEOs of 2021.
She has been named to the Business North Carolina Power List for four consecutive years beginning in 2021, and in 2020 received the YWCA Northwest Ohio Milestone Award for women’s leadership.
Gaber was named by Education Dive one of five higher education leaders to watch in 2018 and beyond.
An active civic and professional leader, Gaber serves on the boards of Charlotte Center City Partners and the Leading on Opportunity Council. She is a member of the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, Women Executives, and the International Women’s Forum – Carolinas.
Nationally, she has served on multiple NCAA committees and is a member of the American Athletic Conference Executive Committee. She also serves on the board of the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities.

Officially the first woman to serve as chancellor of UNC Charlotte, Gaber follows the trail blazed by founding educator Bonnie Cone, who shepherded the institution through its formative years from 1946-66.