Donna Shalala

Donna Shalala

Donna Edna Shalala (born February 14, 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio) is President of the University of Miami, a private university based in Coral Gables, Florida, in the United States. She has served in this position since 2001.

UM custodial strike criticism

During her tenure as University of Miami President, Shalala generated controversy in early 2006 for allegedly failing to intervene in the 2006 custodial workers' strike, a dispute between the university's custodial workers represented by the SEIU labor union and a university contractor, UNICCO. The strike, which lasted from February 28 to May 1, 2006, generated extensive campus and off-campus criticism of UM and UNICCO's labor relationship with its UM-based custodians, including some criticism of Shalala's handling of the matter.

Failing to act on wage study

During Shalala's tenure as UM President, a 2001 census of 195 colleges conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education revealed that UM custodial workers were the second lowest paid and UM was one of only 12 universities among the 196 surveyed whose custodial workers' wages did not exceed the federal poverty line[1]. Despite these revelations, however, neither UM nor UM's custodial contractor, UNICCO, took steps to address the workers' compensation or health insurance coverage for five years, which many believe forced the 2006 strike.

Clinton's HHS Secretary

Prior to her appointment as President of the University of Miami, Shalala served as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton. In this role, she frequently drew criticism from political conservatives and moderates for her liberal positions. Shalala was also known for her fervent anti-drug stance, saying: "Marijuana is illegal, dangerous, unhealthy, and wrong," though a number of conservatives considered the Clinton administration's anti-drug policies weak.

Academia

Prior to her appointment to the Clinton cabinet, Shalala's career was in academia, where she was Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison from 1988 to 1993, an administrator at Hunter College from 1980 to 1987, professor of politics and education at Columbia University's Teachers College from 1972 to 1979, and an administrator at Bernard Baruch College from 1970 to 1972.

Education and ancestry

Shalala received a bachelor's degree from Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio (now part of Miami University) and a master's and doctorate from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

She is an Arab American of Lebanese ancestry. She is unmarried.

External links

• Template:Nndb name
• Peace Corps biography of Donna Shalala