Donna Shalala

Donna Shalala is an American politician and academic. She served as U.S. Representative for Florida’s 27th congressional district, as President of the University of Miami, was formerly President and CEO of the Clinton Foundation, and as HHS Secretary under the Clinton Administration. She is on leave as the Trustee Professor of Political Science and Health Policy at the University of Miami. Shalala received her A.B. in history from Western College for Women and her Ph.D. degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. A leading political scientist, she has held professorships at Columbia University, the City University of New York (CUNY), and the University of Wisconsin. She served as President of Hunter College of CUNY, 1980 to 1987, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1987 to 1993, and President of the University of Miami from 2001 to 2015. One of the most honored academics of her generation, she has been elected to seven national academies: the National Academy of Education, the National Academy of Public Administration, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Social Insurance, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, President Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian award. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she served as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Iran from 1962-64. In 2010, she received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights recognizing her dedication to improving the health and life chances of disadvantaged populations in South Africa and internationally.