U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala was named the fifth president of the University of Miami yesterday, concluding a nine-month long search for a president to succeed Edward T. Foote II, who has served as president there since 1981.

Shalala, who will take office at Miami in June 2001, has worked for nearly eight years with the Clinton administration and has extensive administrative and fundraising experience. She was the Class Day speaker at the Kennedy School of Government last year.

According to Charles E. Cobb Jr., Miami search committee chair and a former official in the Reagan and Bush administrations, Shalala, 59, was endorsed by a number of Republicans in Congress and Florida's Republican Governor Jeb Bush.

According to The Washington Post, Shalala had already declined to be considered for the presidency of Brown University. Brown announced Nov. 9 that former Smith College President Ruth Simmons would fill the post.

"[Brown] wasn't messy enough for me," she told The Washington Post. "It was a good strong university that didn't need me."

Brown University has denied the report.

"We had hundreds and hundreds of nominations including many people in public office, but Ruth Simmons was our first and only choice for president," said Brown's Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and University Relations Laura Freid.

Shalala had been considered for the Miami job for the last month and a half, but the decision was finally confirmed this past weekend.