  donna edna shalala ( ; born february 14, 1941) was united states secretary of health and human services under president bill clinton from 1993 to 2001. she has been president of the university of miami, a private university in coral gables, florida, since 2001. on september 8, 2014, she announced that she would be retiring at the end of the 2014-2015 school year. previously, she was the chancellor of the university of wisconsin-madison from 1988 to 1993. she was awarded the presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by president george w. bush in june 2008. ==early life== shalala was born in cleveland, ohio, of maronite catholic lebanese descent, to edna smith and james abraham shalala. she has a twin sister, diane fritel. she graduated from west tech high school and received her bachelor's degree in 1962 from western college for women, which in 1976, merged with miami university in oxford, ohio. she served as a peace corps volunteer in iran from 1962â64, where she worked with other volunteers to construct an agricultural college.{{cite web|url=http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2021793.html |title=peacecorpsonline web site |publisher=peacecorpsonline.org |accessdate=september 23, 2011}
1941_births Alumni_of_women\'s_universities_and_colleges American_Federation_of_Teachers_people American_University_alumni American_people_of_Arab_descent American_politicians_of_Lebanese_descent American_women_in_business Baruch_College_faculty Clinton_Administration_cabinet_members Columbia_University_faculty Corporate_directors Fellows_of_the_United_States_National_Academy_of_Public_Administration Guggenheim_Fellows Leaders_of_the_University_of_Wisconsin-Madison Living_people Middle_Eastern_Christians Ohio_Democrats Peace_Corps_volunteers People_from_Cleveland,_Ohio Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom_recipients Presidents_of_Hunter_College Presidents_of_the_University_of_Miami Syracuse_University_alumni United_States_Secretaries_of_Health_and_Human_Services University_of_Miami_faculty Western_College_for_Women_alumni Women_members_of_the_Cabinet_of_the_United_States