Shalala To Become University of Miami President

HHS Secretary Donna Shalala will become president of the University of Miami after the Clinton administration ends, the AP/New York Times reports. After eight years in her position, Shalala is the "longest-serving HHS secretary" and the first current cabinet member to "announce post-administration plans." Shalala, who served as president of New York's Hunter College and chancellor of the University of Wisconsin before taking the reins at HHS, said, "I welcome the opportunity to get out of government and get back to higher education." President Clinton congratulated Shalala and said, "She is a talented manager and an energetic leader who will bring great expertise 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." Negotiations between Shalala and the university ended Friday, but details of the contract have not been released. The AP/New York Times credits Shalala with working to "combat fraud in Medicare" and to extend the solvency of the program as well as to "build support for a patients' bill of rights." The AP/New York Times also notes that she "tried but failed to win passage of sweeping tobacco legislation that would have raised tobacco taxes and set new restrictions on cigarette marketing." Shalala will formally assume her new position in June (AP/New York Times, 11/18).