Gabe Cagwin

Dr. Gabe Cagwin joined UIS in October 2024 and serves as the vice chancellor for Advancement/senior vice president for the University of Illinois Foundation. He is responsible for ensuring the long-term growth of the university’s advancement efforts, including major philanthropic fundraising, alumni relations, corporate and foundation relations, prospect research, and capital campaigns.

Before arriving at UIS, Cagwin was the vice president of development at Chapman University, overseeing all fundraising, annual giving, legacy planning, communications, prospect research/management, and corporate/foundation relations supporting Chapman’s $500,000,000 comprehensive campaign, the largest in school history. He also led efforts to create a $20 million campaign in preparation for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Before his time at Chapman, Cagwin served as the president and chief advancement officer of the USA Triathlon Foundation, growing fundraising and donor counts by almost 400 percent. His career includes being vice president for institutional advancement at Tarleton State University, where he guided the school to its most successful year in fundraising history, and advancement positions at Arizona State University, UCLA, Penn State University, and the University of Tulsa.

A Division I basketball player at the University at Buffalo, Cagwin graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in 2002. He also earned his master’s degree in higher education in 2004 and his Ph.D. in higher education administration in 2006 from Buffalo.