The NCAA News - News and Features

November 17, 1997

Shalala to address Division I audience at '98 Convention

Donna E. Shalala, U.S. secretary of health and human services, will address the role of athletics in higher education in a speech to the Division I membership at the 1998 NCAA Convention in Atlanta.

Shalala's address will be delivered at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern time) January 12 to begin a day of forums, presentations and discussion sessions for Division I delegates.

The activities will take the place of the Division I business sessions, which are no longer necessary because of the new Division I legislative process.

After Shalala's speech, Division I representatives will break into smaller groups that will focus on a number of issues, including student-athlete employment, basketball recruiting, the legislative process and gambling. Presentations also will be made on technology and electronic communications, the public perception of intercollegiate athletics, marketing of intercollegiate athletics, and enhancing communications between student-athletes and administrators. In addition, a forum will be conducted on the Division I-AA Football Championship.

Shalala was confirmed as secretary of health and human services (HHS) in January 1993. The department administers a wide variety of programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and almost all of the federal welfare and children's programs.

Before her current appointment, Shalala served for 10 years as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She was the first woman to head a Big Ten Conference university.

Previous to that, Shalala was president of Hunter College at the City University of New York (CUNY) for eight years. She also was assistant secretary for policy development and research at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Carter Administration.

Shalala is considered a leading scholar on the political economy of state and local governments. She has held tenured professorships at Columbia University, CUNY and Wisconsin. From 1962-64, she served in the Peace Corps in Iran.

At Wisconsin, Shalala administered the nation's largest public research university. During her tenure, she helped raise more than $400 million for the university's endowment and spearheaded a $225 million state-private partnerships program to renovate and add to the research facilities for its world-class scientists.

In 1992, BusinessWeek magazine named her one of the top five managers in higher education.

Since assuming her duties at HHS, Shalala has become a leader in efforts to reform the welfare system and improve health care while containing health costs. She also is carrying out management restructuring and reform at HHS.