<p>**<a href=“Part%205”>color=green</a><br>
[/color]
These are my impressions and recollections please feel free to make additions, and/or correct me if I misremembered or omitted something, especially since I did NOT take my normal notes during this presentation!
So I messed this part up - I remember very little about the closing speech by Provost LeBlanc because while he was introducing Donna Shalala and describing her back story, I was anxiously waiting to hear her speak and just sat there watching her the whole time he talked. All I remember hearing from him was her introduction : ( So please chime in here and let me know what I missed! I took notes during most of the other presentations, which is the only way I could recreate the weekend for this trip report, of course, but forgot to while Dr. LeBlanc was speaking. Before he even started talking, Dr. Shalala, who was there a little earlier than the scheduled start time, instead of chatting with him, or looking at her notes, or whatever you might expect, instead walked up to everyone sitting in the front row to introduce herself and chat a bit to each person! We were kicking ourselves that whole time for not getting there early enough to get those seats; we were in the second row. Luckily at the end of the presentation she and Dr. LeBlanc stayed to chat with everyone so we had a chance to meet and shake her hand then. </p>
<p>Next she spoke. She is completely down to earth and unpretentious. Her demeanor is relaxed and friendly and she is obviously very very student focused. She talked a lot about the healthcare policy class she teaches, and how former President Clinton called her to ask her to have dinner recently since he was going to be in the area playing golf, and she said, “I cant, Bill! Ive got a class to teach.” Her class, btw, is scheduled at an odd time, Mondays at 5pm, I think, which she said is intentional so as not to conflict with many other classes to ensure that the largest number of students can fit it into their schedules. There is no cap on the size of the class, and any junior or senior can take the class, regardless of their major. It is the largest class at the <em>. I think she said there are 300 students enrolled and that fits with the press release afterward (pics here too).
[A Presidents? Day to Remember | News Releases | University of Miami](<a href=“http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/a”>http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/a</a></em>presidents/)
Her class is held in the same Storer Auditorium we were sitting in at the time, and which I noticed has AC outlets built into the side of the seats for your laptop. This is a class D cant wait to take since our countrys health care policy/access has long been an important issue to her and the opportunity to learn from the former Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton cabinet talk about a once in a lifetime experience.
Anyway, she was able to convince him to stop by and help her teach the class. He told her that if it was a surprise he didnt need to arrange it with the secret service, so when her class started that Monday night, which happened to be on Presidents Day, she told her class that since it was Presidents Day, she thought they should have a President! And then he walked in. He talked for I think 20 or 30 minutes, and then took questions for an hour and a half!
The very next day, Harvard philosopher and professor Cornel West spoke to a packed field house to commemorate the 50th anniversary of desegregation at the University of Miami. Then on Thursday President Obama visited campus and addressed 1400 people in the same fieldhouse, where we had had our welcome dinner the night before, speaking on energy policy. Here he is making the U with his hands:
[Obama</a> Touts Energy Policies During UM Visit | News Releases | University of Miami](<a href=“http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/obama_touts_energy_policies_during_um_visit/]Obama”>http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/obama_touts_energy_policies_during_um_visit/)
Several times during the weekend we heard speakers refer to this obviously unprecedented week jokingly, Monday - former President Clinton, Tuesday - Cornell West, Thursday - President Obama, just a typical week at the University of Miami! (perhaps Provost LeBlanc was one of those who made this comment, since I know he did speak and feel awful that I took no notes during his presentation after taking notes for most of the weekend.)
President Shalala holds a BBQ at her home for all incoming freshman during orientation week; unfortunately it happens after the parents part of the orientation is over. But on the last day of parent orientation (based on last years schedule which was helpfully provided by dindune) she hosts a closing breakfast/brunch for all the parents! And H looked at the Family Weekend schedule coming up in September and the parents (and students too) are invited to her tailgate party!
So this was the end of the scheduled events for Stamps/Singer scholarship weekend. We checked out of the Courtyard Dadeland and into the Courtyard Coral Gables; we were staying two more nights because airfare for the three of us was so much cheaper on Monday than over the weekend. That night we had dinner with Hs clients, who are also long time friends who winter down there, at Perricone’s (Italian in Mary Brickell Village) which was wonderful; we just cant get over the experience of eating outdoors, such a treat for northerners! The next day we met up with more old friends who recently relocated to Coral Springs from Illinois our kids together way back when and a new one taken at the street fair: <a href=“https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xQ17GTGwp1QUCqbYReP7ExgDQ69oiru4AQHghQky5L4?feat=directlink[/url]”>https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xQ17GTGwp1QUCqbYReP7ExgDQ69oiru4AQHghQky5L4?feat=directlink</a> ; we spent the afternoon with them at a Cuban art street fair on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. They blocked off blocks of the street for this event. D had to spend the rest of Sunday and Monday on the massive amounts of homework she brought along, so we were stuck in the hotel the whole day/night and H got carryout for us on Sunday night. On Monday we checked out of the hotel and headed back to the <em> for a last look at the campus. D had to buy souvenirs for all her friends and we found t shirts in the campus bookstore on sale for $7.99 for her best friends and then a pack of 10 super bright orange/green </em> pencils for the same price for the rest : ) <a href=“https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZvqQXqaA9Z33pCJXpWExiBgDQ69oiru4AQHghQky5L4?feat=directlink[/url]”>https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZvqQXqaA9Z33pCJXpWExiBgDQ69oiru4AQHghQky5L4?feat=directlink</a>
Now on to something really important that I forgot until D looked at my first night trip report and reminded me so I figured Id add it at the end!
Friday night during the big dinner at the fieldhouse, she scolded me for forgetting that there was a video presentation of Mr. and Mrs. Stamps. I had been disappointed that they werent in attendance this year, but their foundation is expanding the scholarship opportunities at so many universities, and they had to be elsewhere. In the absence of their physical presence, they had created a special video for the <em> to show us. Mr. Stamps talked about their commitment to the U, and both Mr. and Mrs. Stamps were dressed in the </em>s colors! His tie, her dress, showing their school spirit in orange and green and then made the _ symbol by putting their hands together too! (wish I had a picture of that!)
**</p>