September 29, 2009 — University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala accepted the 2009 Dole Leadership Prize on Monday, September 28, becoming the first woman to receive the award.
The former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration, Shalala received the honor before an estimated audience of 800 at the University of Kansas’ Lied Center, where she was honored for her long history of public service, including her work on a task force to evaluate how wounded service members transitioned from active duty to civilian life.
During an hour-long interview with Bill Lacy, director of the KU’s Dole Institute of Politics, which gives the prize, Shalala discussed everything from health care reform and her work in the Peace Corps to the challenges of gender discrimination and her tenure as HHS secretary.
She also talked about working with former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, for whom the bipartisan institute is named. In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Shalala and Dole to lead the Commission on Care for Returning Wounded Warriors. The next year, Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“Donna Shalala is a public servant in the truest sense of the phrase,” Lacy said. “Her exemplary leadership in multiple government roles makes her truly deserving of the seventh Dole Leadership Prize.
Past winners of the award include former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former U.S. Senators Howard Baker and George McGovern, former Polish President Lech Walesa, U.S. Representative John Lewis, and former President George H.W. Bush.
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UM President Donna E. Shalala Accepts Dole Leadership Prize
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UM President Donna E. Shalala is interviewed by Bill Lacy, director of the University of Kansas’ Dole Institute of Politics.
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