Donna Shalala | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| President ofThe New School | |
Acting | |
| In office August 16, 2023 – July 31, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Dwight A. McBride |
| Succeeded by | Joel Towers |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's27th district | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Ileana Ros-Lehtinen |
| Succeeded by | María Elvira Salazar |
| President of theClinton Foundation | |
| In office March 6, 2015 – April 25, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Eric Braverman |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Thurm |
| 5th President of theUniversity of Miami | |
| In office June 1, 2001 – August 16, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Edward T. Foote II |
| Succeeded by | Julio Frenk |
| 18thUnited States Secretary of Health and Human Services | |
| In office January 22, 1993 – January 20, 2001 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Deputy |
|
| Preceded by | Louis Wade Sullivan |
| Succeeded by | Tommy Thompson |
| 5thChancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison | |
| In office January 1, 1988 – January 22, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Bernard Cecil Cohen |
| Succeeded by | David Ward |
| 10th President ofHunter College | |
| In office October 8, 1980 – January 1, 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Jacqueline Wexler |
| Succeeded by | Paul LeClerc |
| Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Policy Development and Research | |
| In office April 1977 – October 8, 1980 | |
| President | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Jerry Fitts (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Emanuel Savas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Donna Edna Shalala (1941-02-14)February 14, 1941 (age 84) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | Western College (BA) Syracuse University (MA,PhD) |
Donna Edna Shalala (/ʃəˈleɪlə/shə-LAY-lə; born February 14, 1941) is an American politician and academic who served in theCarter andClinton administrations, as well as in theU.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. Shalala is a recipient of thePresidential Medal of Freedom, which she was awarded in 2008.
Shalala earned abachelor's degree fromWestern College for Women in 1962 and served in the Peace Corps. In 1970, she earned aPhD from theMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs atSyracuse University. Shalala later worked as a professor atBaruch College and atTeachers College, Columbia University and was appointed as assistant secretary for policy development and research at theU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by PresidentJimmy Carter. Shalala became the president ofHunter College in 1980, serving until 1988 when she becamechancellor of theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison.
From 1993 to 2001, Shalala served as the 18thUnited States Secretary of Health and Human Services under PresidentBill Clinton. Shalala served as HHS secretary for all eight years of the Clinton administration, becoming the nation's longest-serving HHS secretary. She is the firstLebanese-American to serve in aCabinet position. Shalala served as president of theUniversity of Miami from 2001 through 2015 and also taught at the university during that period. She was president of theClinton Foundation from 2015 to 2017.
A member of theDemocratic Party, Shalala was elected to theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 27th congressional district in2018. She served one term in the House before being defeated inthe 2020 election byMaría Elvira Salazar in anupset. Shalala was interim president ofThe New School inNew York City from 2023 to 2024.[1]
Shalala was born inCleveland, Ohio, ofMaronite CatholicLebanese descent.[2] Her father sold real estate;[3] and her mother, one of the first Lebanese-Americans to graduate fromOhio State University,[4] was a teacher who worked two jobs and attended law school at night.[3][4] She has atwin sister, Diane Fritel.[5][6][7]
Shalala attended West Technical High School where she was the editor of the school newspaper.[5] She received abachelor's degree in 1962 fromWestern College for Women.[a][9] From 1962 to 1964, she was among the first volunteers to serve in thePeace Corps.[10][11] Her placement took her to a rural farming village in southernIran where she worked with other volunteers to construct anagricultural college.[10] In 1970, she earned aPh.D. from theMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs atSyracuse University inSyracuse,New York.[7]
Shalala began her teaching career as apolitical science professor atBaruch College, part of theCity University of New York, where she also was a member of theAmerican Federation of Teachers union.
In 1972, Shalala became a professor of politics and education atTeachers College, Columbia University, a post she held until 1979.[12] Shalala became the only woman on theMunicipal Assistance Corporation, a group tasked with saving the city during the1975 New York City fiscal crisis.[3] Concurrently, from 1977 to 1980, she served as the assistant secretary for policy development and research at theU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during theCarter administration.[13][14]
Shalala's first experience with academic administration came on October 8, 1980, when she became the tenth president ofHunter College, serving in this capacity until 1988.[15][16]
Shalala served aschancellor of theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison from 1988 to 1993.[17] At the time of her chancellorship, the university included 42,000 students, employed 16,500 people, and had an annual budget of $1 billion.[3] She was the first woman to lead aBig Ten Conference school and only the second woman in the country to head a major research university.[7][18]
Under Shalala's chancellorship and with her support, the university adopted a broadspeech code subjecting students to disciplinary action for communications that were perceived ashate speech. That speech code was later found unconstitutional by a federal judge.[19] Also while chancellor, Shalala supported passage of a revised faculty speech code broadly restricting "harmful" speech in both "noninstructional" and "instructional" settings. The faculty speech code was abolished ten years later, after a number of professors were investigated for alleged or suspected violations.[20]
Following a year serving as chair of theChildren's Defense Fund (1992–1993), Shalala was nominated in 1992 by then President-electBill Clinton for the position ofUnited States Secretary of Health and Human Services.[3]The Washington Post labeled her "one of the most controversial Clinton Cabinet nominees".[19] Her nomination went before theSenate Finance Committee in January 1993,[5] and the Senate voted to confirm her on January 22, 1993.[21] At the start of Shalala's tenure, the Department of Health and Human Services employed 125,000 people and had a budget of $539 billion.[3]
Shalala served as HHS secretary for eight years during the Clinton administration, becoming the nation's longest-serving HHS secretary.[22] In 1996, Shalala was thedesignated survivor during Clinton'sState of the Union address.[23] She is the firstLebanese-American to serve in acabinet position.[24]
In 2001, Shalala joined the boards ofUnitedHealth andLennar, where over the following decade she earned millions of dollars.[25][26] Shalala was paid almost a half-million dollars in 2010 to serve on the boards of three companies, two of which were run byUniversity of Miami trustees.[27]
When she left Lennar in 2012, the company reported it was to avoid a "conflict of interest". Lennar's CEO, Stuart Miller, had joined the University of Miami Board of Trustees in 2002. Shalala rejoined Lennar in 2017 after she was no longer President of the University.[28] She has also been member of the advisory board of thePeter G. Peterson Foundation.
In 2001, Shalala became president of theUniversity of Miami.[29] She created a University of Miami fundraising campaign, Momentum, designed to raise the university's endowment from approximately $750 million to $1 billion; the goal was later increased to $1.25 billion by the end of 2007.[30]
Shalala faced criticism for her response to a nationally publicizedcustodial workers' strike at the University of Miami, which lasted from February 28, 2006, until May 1, 2006. Critics called the University of Miami's custodial workers among the lowest paid university-based custodians in the nation and alleged they were not earning aliving wage. The strike prompted Shalala to raise wages. Shalala was also criticized for living in luxury while the custodians did not havehealth insurance.[31] Shalala criticized union organizer's tactics, including asit-in that she said prevented students from attending classes.[31]
In 2013, the University of Miami sold 88 acres of undeveloped Pine Rocklands, one of the last remnants of the imperiled habitat inMiami-Dade County outside ofEverglades National Park, to Ram Realty Services, for $22 million.Miami New Times described this amount as "a complete steal for the developer in light of the relative worth of nearby property." Also in 2013, Ram Realty and Lennar Corp worked on at least one project together in North Carolina.[28] When Shalala ran for the US Congress in 2018, her candidacy was opposed by local environmentalists for her part in the sale of the University of Miami pine rocklands site.[28]
On September 8, 2014, Shalala announced that she would be stepping down at the end of the 2014–2015 academic year.[32]
In 2015, Shalala took a leave of absence from her tenured professorship at theUniversity of Miami to volunteer for theClinton Foundation.[33] She followed her tenure as president of the University of Miami by being named chief executive officer of the Foundation,[34] serving in that capacity from 2015 to 2017.[35][36]
According toThe New York Times,Chelsea Clinton helped persuade Shalala to leave the University of Miami, move to New York and head the foundation.[37] Shalala maintained a home in Miami and taught part-time at the University of Miami while heading the foundation in New York.[33]
Shalala led the Clinton Foundation during the2016 presidential election, in whichHillary Clinton was a leading candidate and the propriety of the foundation's activity came under scrutiny.[33] In a September 14, 2016, interview onMSNBC, Shalala admitted that there was "no question" that donors to the Clinton Foundation had been given "courtesy appointments" in the State Department while Hillary Clinton ran that department.[38] Shalala oversaw the termination of the Clinton Global Initiative during her tenure as CEO,[33] as well as other reductions in operations intended to avoid conflicts of interest if Clinton won the election.[39] She resisted calls byThe Washington Post andUSA Today to shut down the foundation entirely, arguing that "there are human beings around the world who would be affected by these decisions."[40] Shalala left the Clinton Foundation in April 2017 and returned to her full-time teaching position at the University of Miami, replacing her former HHS deputy Kevin Thurm.[33]
Following a September 2015 Clinton Global Initiative event held at theSheraton New York Hotel, Shalala fell ill. It was subsequently reported in a Clinton Foundation statement that she had suffered astroke.[37][41] In early 2018, she said she had recovered.[42]
In March 2018, Shalala declared her candidacy in theDemocratic primary forFlorida's 27th congressional district.[43][44] The district included just over half ofMiami as well as some of its eastern suburbs.[45] The district voted for Clinton by a comfortable margin in the 2016 presidential election, but its House seat was held by 30-year incumbent RepublicanIleana Ros-Lehtinen,[42] who had announced that she would retire at the conclusion of her term.[45]
In an interview withWFOR-TV, Shalala stated that she supported universal healthcare coverage, but opposed aMedicare For Allsingle-payer healthcare system because she believed that individuals who liked their current employment-based healthcare plans should be able to keep them.[46] On August 28, 2018, Shalala won the Democratic five-candidate primary overstate RepresentativeDavid Richardson. The outcome of the race was substantially closer than polling predicted, which had her leading consistently by double digits. She won with 31.9 percent of the vote, vs. 27.5% for Richardson.[47]
Shalala ran against Republican candidateMaría Elvira Salazar, an anchorwoman for Miami Telemundo outletWSCV, in the general election. Shalala's campaign emphasized her experience and sought to tie Salazar toPresidentDonald Trump, who was unpopular in the district.[45] The race proved closer than expected, in part because Shalala does not speak Spanish; the 27th district is over 63 percentLatino. As late as a month before the election, polls showed Shalala either behind or practically tied with Salazar.[48] However, Shalala won the election at the age of 77, making her the third-oldest freshman Representative in history[45][49] afterWilliam Lewis of Kentucky who was elected at the age of 79 in 1948 andJames B. Bowler of Illinois who was elected at the age of 78 in 1953.
In the 2020 general election, Shalala ran against Republican Salazar again. On November 3, 2020, Shalala was defeated by Salazar.[50] Salazar received 51.4% (176,141 votes) of the vote to Shalala's 48.6% (166,758 votes).[51]
Shalala was sworn in as a member of the116th United States Congress on January 3, 2019.[52][53]
On December 18, 2019, Shalala voted to impeach PresidentDonald Trump.[54]
On April 17, 2020, Shalala was appointed by House SpeakerNancy Pelosi to serve on theCOVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission to oversee the implementation of theCARES Act.[55] The appointment was met with criticism; theMiami Herald reported that Shalala had violated theSTOCK Act by failing to disclose more than 500 stock trades, but Shalala remained on the commission and paid a $1,200 fine to theUnited States House Committee on Ethics.[56][57][58][59]
On September 28, 2020, theMiami Herald reported that Shalala failed to publicly report two additional stock trades in violation of theSTOCK Act disclosure rules.[60]
Shalala was named a vice-chair of the2020 Democratic National Convention.[61]
Following the departure ofDwight A. McBride, Shalala was appointed as interim president ofthe New School, becoming the first female president of the university.[62] Following student demands, Shalala's administration listed the property assigned to the president for $20 million.[63][64] On October 9, 2023, Shalala came under harsh criticism from pro-Palestinian faculty andstudent groups after emailing a statement about theOctober 7 attacks that did not acknowledge lives lost inGaza.[65] The following morning, she issued another statement that included Palestinian recognition as well as an apology for her previous exclusion.[65] The New School, like other universities, continue to be protested for connections to theIsraeli occupation, including its 14-year association with theCenter for Jazz Studies at the Israel Conservatory of Music.[66]
Shalala served on the board of directors of theUnited States Soccer Federation.[67][failed verification] Shalala served as a member of the board of directors ofLennar.[68] She served on the board of directors ofGannett Company from 2001 to 2011, retiring because of age limits.[69]
In January 2012, theChronicle of Higher Education reported on a potentialconflict of interest involving Shalala's service on the boards of property development companies.[70]
In 1985, Shalala became a founding member ofEMILY's List, apolitical action committee that seeks to elect pro-choice Democratic women to office.[71] Shalala served from 2001 to 2007 on the board of theAlbert Shanker Institute, a small, three-member staff organization named for the former head of theAmerican Federation of Teachers.[citation needed] She is an honorary board member of theAmerican Iranian Council, an organization that seeks to improveIran–United States relations.[72]
Shalala serves as a co-leader of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative at theBipartisan Policy Center.[73][better source needed] She serves as a distinguished senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at theBrookings Institution.[74] She is also a member ofInter-American Dialogue, a Washington D.C.–basedthink tank.[75][better source needed]
Shalala also served as a panelist on theBlue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, a working group of former high-ranking government officials and academic experts that put together a set of recommendations regarding the United States' defense capabilities against biological threats.[76][better source needed]
At theUniversity of Miami, Shalala was inducted theIron Arrow Honor Society, the highest honor bestowed by the University of Miami. In 2002, she was inducted intoOmicron Delta Kappa.
On June 19, 2008, Shalala was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom by PresidentGeorge W. Bush.[77][78] In 2010, she received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights.[79][better source needed] She was inducted into theNational Women's Hall of Fame inSeneca Falls, New York in 2011.[80][better source needed] In 2014, she was recognized by theHarry S Truman Library and Museum with the Harry S Truman Legacy of Leadership Award.[81][better source needed] In 2019, Shalala was announced as one of the members of the inaugural class of the Government Hall of Fame.[82][better source needed]
Shalala has been awarded more than 50honorary degrees.[83][better source needed]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President ofHunter College 1980–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison 1988–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of theUniversity of Miami 2001–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President ofThe New School Acting 2023–2024 | Succeeded by Joel Towers |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Health and Human Services 1993–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by Eric Braverman | President of theClinton Foundation 2015–2017 | Succeeded by Kevin Thurm |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 27th congressional district 2019–2021 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member |
