UNM-Gallup Chancellor Sabrina Ezzell announces retirement, search begins in fall

UNM-Gallup will enter July under new interim leadership after Chancellor Sabrina Ezzell retires June 30, a change that will touch enrollment, workforce training and the campus’s role in Gallup’s economy. The university said May 11 that UNM interim provost leadership will appoint an interim chancellor while a competitive search for a permanent replacement begins in fall 2026.

Ezzell’s exit closes a nearly four-year stretch in the branch campus’s top job. She was named chancellor effective Jan. 1, 2023 after serving as interim chancellor since July 2022, giving her a central role through a period when UNM-Gallup continued to position itself as a major institutional anchor in McKinley County.

That matters because UNM-Gallup is not a small outpost. The campus says it was founded in 1968, is the largest of UNM’s four branch campuses and serves about 2,200 students. It also says 94% of its students identify as multiethnic or a racial minority, making leadership decisions especially important for a campus that serves many first-generation students, adult learners and families across Gallup and surrounding communities.

The transition comes while the campus is still carrying a heavy public-facing load. UNM-Gallup’s Adult Basic Education Program, one of 26 adult education programs in New Mexico, offers free classes for high school equivalency preparation and help with career and education pathways. Its Community Education and Workforce Development unit also provides non-credit classes, seminars, workshops and career and personal-development opportunities. The campus held an Adult Basic Education graduation ceremony April 28, and spring commencement for the 2025-26 academic year was scheduled for Saturday, May 16, at Angelo DiPaolo Memorial Stadium. Registration was also open for Summer and Fall 2026.

The next chancellor will inherit active relationships with city leaders, area schools, employers and tribal communities, along with the practical pressure of keeping those programs on schedule. Ezzell’s background in nursing and public health helped connect her to workforce and health-care issues, with degrees from Creighton University, Northern Arizona University and the University of New Mexico. Local Advisory Board Chairman Raymond Calderon called her an “amazing asset” to the branch campus and the community, and said he was happy for her in this next chapter. Ezzell and local leaders also met with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Feb. 4, underscoring the campus’s ongoing role in state and regional advocacy as the leadership handoff begins.