If given the opportunity, University of Toledo presidential candidate Sharon L. Gaber pledged to be highly visible in the community and on campus, working to strengthen Toledo and the university.

The University of Arkansas provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs touted her record in growing enrollment, bettering graduation rates, and raising money during a Thursday forum at UT’s main campus.

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Ms. Gaber, 51, addressed about 200 people during her first of two forums with faculty, students, staff, and community members. She is the last of the three job finalists to visit.

“This university bears the name of the city. This is the University of Toledo,” she said. “We are going to work together to enhance Toledo even further.”

At Arkansas, Ms. Gaber said she promotes the university during high school visits and said the university hired additional recruiters to attract in-state and out-of-state students.

To increase graduation rates, she formed a task force made up of faculty, staff, and students who examined impediments students face to completing degrees. She said the university has added academic advisers, and she started conversations with the faculty about instituting a class attendance policy.

Ms. Gaber also discussed her close work with university fund-raising and athletics and said she wrote a maternity and paternity-leave policy, which was critical to recruit young faculty members.

She drew applause after mentioning she is a breast cancer survivor, who is now “absolutely clear.”

Asked by a student about open enrollment, Ms. Gaber said she’s generally supportive of UT’s admissions philosophy. The university currently accepts about 95 percent of undergraduate applicants.

“My goal as an educator is to educate as many students as we possibly can,” she said.

If UT’s enrollment were to increase dramatically, she would consider weighing test scores as part of the admissions criteria.

While fielding a question about community involvement, she reiterated her belief that the next president must be visible. Ms. Gaber said she envisions meeting with nonprofit and civic organizations and corporations, as well as serving on various boards.

Ms. Gaber earned a doctorate in city and regional planning from Cornell University, and said she would use those skills to create a strategic plan for the university.

Cynthia Nowak, a staff member who works in communication, said UT has had vision statements over the years, but she wasn’t sure the entire university had rallied behind a single vision.

“How as president would you inspire us?” she asked.

Ms. Gaber said she would involve the community, campus, and others in developing a plan and promised to collaborate and communicate.

After the forum, she told a Blade reporter she would work to boost UT’s ranking among American universities by tackling graduation rates and focusing on fund-raising, which she described as a key piece to scoring higher in university ratings.

“It gives you the opportunity to have endowed professors, more student scholarships. I mean students have financial need. We need more student scholarships to ensure that they’re able to stay in school,” she said.

UT senior Merna Naji appreciated that Ms. Gaber said she works as provost with student government leaders, but said she wants the president to have an “open-door policy” that welcomes input from all students.

“I thought she was personable. She had a lot of background and examples,” Ms. Naji said.

The other two candidates for the UT presidency are Michele Wheatly, 58, the former West Virginia University provost, and Christopher Howard, 45, president of Hampden-Sydney College.

Ms. Gaber will participate in a second forum at 8:30 a.m. today at the Health Science Campus.

Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.

First Published February 27, 2015, 5:00 a.m.