Welcome Donna Shalala

By City Council Member Erik Bottcher

Photo courtesy of the Office of Erik Bottcher.

On behalf of Greenwich Village, I had the honor of meeting with Dr. Donna E. Shalala, former U.S. Congresswoman, former HHS cabinet Secretary, and veteran higher education leader, who has been named the interim president of @thenewschool. The New School is a valuable NYC institution and I look forward to helping in any way I can to ensure it remains a strong and vibrant progressive center of higher learning for generations to come.

It’s worth repeating what New School Board of Trustees Linda Rappaport said: Donna Shalala is a nationally recognized leader in higher education and government, and is superbly qualified to preserve and promote The New School’s historic legacy and distinctive combination of academic excellence and social values. She will also be a leader and collaborator in laying important groundwork for our next permanent President.

Dr. Shalala brings decades of distinguished leadership in higher education to The New School. She served as President of the University of Miami, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and President of Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). A dedicated scholar and teacher, she has held tenured professorships at Columbia University, CUNY, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and most recently was a faculty member at the University of Miami. She continues to be devoted to scholarship and teaching.

Her leadership in U.S. government began as one of the country’s first Peace Corps Volunteers. For eight years she served in President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services, following which a Washington Post article described her as “one of the most successful government managers of modern times.” Most recently, she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida’s 27th Congressional District.