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April 24, 2000
Donna Shalala to Speak at NC State's May Commencement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RALEIGH, N.C. - Donna E. Shalala, secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, will deliver the North Carolina State University Commencement address on Saturday, May 20, at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh.
Shalala, the longest serving secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in U.S. history, will address about 2,800 graduates and their families and will receive an honorary doctor of letters degree from NC State. Shalala accepted the post in January 1993 to lead the federal government's principal agency for protecting the health of Americans and providing essential human services. HHS administers a wide variety of programs including Medicare, Medicaid and federal welfare and children's programs.
In Shalala's seven years as secretary, the department has helped guide the welfare reform process; made health insurance available to an estimated 2.5 million children through the approval of Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP); raised child immunization rates to the highest levels in history; led the fight against young peoples' use of tobacco; created national initiatives to fight breast cancer, racial and ethnic health disparities, and violence against women; and crusaded for better access and better medications to treat AIDS.
During her tenure, HHS launched the "Back to Sleep," "Girl Power!" and "Choose Your Cover" campaigns, working with corporations and advocacy organizations to improve the lives and health of babies, girls and young adults.
Before joining the Clinton Administration, Shalala served for more than a decade
on the board of the Children's Defense Fund. Shalala was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1987-1993. Prior to that she was president of Hunter College for eight years, and was an assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Carter Administration.
Shalala earned her doctoral degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1970. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Iran. She has more than two dozen honorary degrees and a host of other honors, including the 1992 National Public Service Award and the Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year Award in 1994. She has been elected to the National Academy of Education, the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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