HHS Secretary Shalala Named President of University of Miami

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala was named the fifth president of the University of Miami yesterday, concluding a nine-month long search for a president to succeed Edward T. Foote II, who has served as president there since 1981.

Shalala, who will take office at Miami in June 2001, has worked for nearly eight years with the Clinton administration and has extensive administrative and fundraising experience. She was the Class Day speaker at the Kennedy School of Government last year.

According to Charles E. Cobb Jr., Miami search committee chair and a former official in the Reagan and Bush administrations, Shalala, 59, was endorsed by a number of Republicans in Congress and Florida's Republican Governor Jeb Bush.

According to The Washington Post, Shalala had already declined to be considered for the presidency of Brown University. Brown announced Nov. 9 that former Smith College President Ruth Simmons would fill the post.

"[Brown] wasn't messy enough for me," she told The Washington Post. "It was a good strong university that didn't need me."

Brown University has denied the report.

"We had hundreds and hundreds of nominations including many people in public office, but Ruth Simmons was our first and only choice for president," said Brown's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and University Relations Laura Freid.

Shalala had been considered for the Miami job for the last month and a half, but the decision was finally confirmed this past weekend.

In a written statement, President Clinton called Shalala "a talented manager and an energetic leader who will bring great experience to the task of leading the university, its students, its faculty and its alumni."

"I have no doubt she will be a real asset to the university and its community," wrote Clinton.

Within the past decade, Miami has become one of the nation's largest research universities, with research funding up to $193.9 million and private endowments over $100 million.

"This is an important and challenging time for higher education," Shalala said in a Miami press release.

Cobb said he hoped Shalala would help Miami continue its financial growth.

"Business Week named her one of the five best managers in higher education," Cobb said in the press release.

Her resume boasts impressive financial achievements in the past. Shalala helped save New York City from a financial downturn in 1975 to 1977, when she was treasurer of the city's Municipal Assistance Corp, according to The Washington Post.

In 1999, Shalala raised a record $44 million for national charities in the National Capital Area Combined Federal Campaign.

Within the government, Shalala oversaw health and welfare policies, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs. During the Carter administration, she was assistant secretary of housing and urban development.

"I have missed only one thing in Washington: working with young people," Shalala told The Washington Post.

Shalala has previously served as president of Hunter College in New York City and chancellor of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she helped build up the athletic program and stressed undergraduate education.

Shalala called the presidency of the University of Miami one of the "hot jobs" in American higher education.