Victoria Gonzalez Cabal has built a career focused on community building. Her experience spans campus climate research, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, strategic planning, and program development.

Currently serving as the Executive Vice President of Strategy & Operations, Victoria collaborates with her Rankin Climate colleagues, institutional working groups, and leadership to drive transformative change. Victoria also serves as a member of the Rankin Climate qualitative research team, taking a hands-on approach in the development, implementation (including focus groups, town halls, and interviews), and content analysis of qualitative data resulting in insightful thematic reporting.

Prior to joining Rankin Climate, Victoria served as the Director of Research & Analysis within the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Division at the University of Utah. In the role she co-authored the EDI strategic plan, lead a campus climate committee, co-constructed a belonging assessment for EDI centers and programs, and collaborated with campus partners in identifying equity gaps to inform institutional initiatives.

In her previous positions at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, Victoria demonstrated her commitment to community building. As the Director for the Office for Student Inclusion, she aligned EDI action planning with the school’s strategic goals, developed and implemented the Eccles School EDI framework, and fostered collaborations across the university. As the Director of the First Ascent Scholars Program, she designed a holistic program focusing on the academic, social, and emotional development of students.

Victoria’s diverse professional background includes roles as a high school and middle school counselor, where she innovated attendance intervention programs and founded the REACH Program to assist students in navigating high school and finding their definition of success. She also served as a college counselor and lead academic advising coordinator at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.

Outside of Rankin Climate, Victoria serves as Vice President of the Learner-Centered Educational organization, focused on cultivating partnerships with both public and private organizations committed to ensuring access to learning opportunities for low-income students in Utah and abroad. She is also a Qualified Administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory© assessments.

Victoria holds a Doctorate of Education from the University of Utah, as well as B.A. in Communication, and M.Ed. in School Counseling from Loyola University Chicago.

Throughout her career, Victoria Gonzalez Cabal has been a passionate advocate for equity and inclusion, consistently driving positive change in educational environments through strategic planning, research, and transformative leadership.

Subject expertise: first-generation student programs, strategic planning

Nguyen, QT., Cabal, V., Debbink, M. et al. Building an Equity-Centered Ecosystem: University of Utah Health as a Microcosm. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-024-01982-6.

Cairo, D. K., & Cabal, V. (2021). Corporatization of Student Affairs. Springer International Publishing.

Cabal, V., Cairo, D., & McConnell-Black, K., “The corporatization of student affairs: Student success in neoliberal times”, Proceedings of American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, April 12, 2021.

Cabal, V., Cairo, D., & McConnell-Black, K., “Ascending past market value: Reframing student success in neoliberal times”, Conference on Education & Social Justice, October 6, 2018.