Donna E. Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has been a scholar, educational administrator, and a public servant for her entire career.
The U.S. Senate confirmed her on January 22, 1993 to head the federal government's main agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. The HHS conducts a wide array of programs, which include Medicare, Medicaid and almost all the federal welfare and children's programs.
Donna E. Shalala is an outstanding woman that has had a very successful career within the educational field and beyond and she has gained the recognition that she deserves. In 1992 she was named the winner of the American Society of Public Administration's National Public Service Award and the American Political Science Association's Annual Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Urban Politics. She has also been identified by the Ladies Home Journal, one of the 50 most powerful women in the United States.
Dr. Shalala was acting Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1988-1993; she was the first woman to head a Big Ten University. She began her career by donating two years of her life to a worthy cause, the Peace Corps, from 1962-1964 she was stationed in Iran. She has also been very active within private business. From 1975 to 1977, she served as director and treasurer of the Municipal Assistance Corporation, the organization that helped reverse New York's financial collapse. She has also been the director of the American Stock Exchange.
When Dr. Shalala was at the University of Wisconsin she managed the nation's largest public research university. During her years at the University she helped to raise over $400 million for the university's endowment and $225 million to add to the university's research facilities.
Since taking the leadership position at HHS, their focus has shifted to the everyday needs of all Americans. Donna E. Shalala personal goals for the agency when she first came into office were " to make sure more people got health insurance...to improve the quality of life for people who live in this country. Make sure that more children had opportunities to go to school and to get ready for school, to reduce the number of people who are on welfare in this country. To produce a scientific breakthroughs in AIDS, to get all kids immunized, and stop the number of kids who are dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome by mounting a national campaign."
Dr. Donna Shalala is an amazing woman that has devoted all her life to helping others.
President, Hunter College, 1980-1087
Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1977-1980
Professor, politics and education, Columbia University, 1972-1979
Professor, political science, Bernard M. Baruch College, 1970-1972
Director of Metropolitan Studies, Syracuse University, 1965-1970
Assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School, Syracuse University, 1965-1970
Peace Corps volunteer in Iran, 1962-1964
Master Degree, Syracuse University, 1968
Doctoral Degree, Syracuse University, 1970