Ginsberg, Mitchell I.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Mitchell Ginsberg was a social worker, and an educator and scholar in the field of social work and social justice. He was a professor and Dean at the Columbia University School of Social Work and a past president of the National Conference on Social Welfare and the National Association of Social Workers.

Ginsberg was born in 1915 in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Tufts University where he received a B.S. in 1937 and an M.A. in education and psychology in 1938. He was awarded the M.S. in social work from Columbia University's School of Social Work in 1941.

After completing his education Ginsberg worked as a social worker for the U.S. Army and then as a case worker in Manchester, New Hampshire; Boston; and New York City before returning to Columbia in 1953 to join the faculty of the school of Social Work.

He took a leave of absence from teaching in 1966 to become Commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services under Mayor John Lindsay. In 1968, he became Human Resources Administrator, a position responsible for all of New York's social welfare programs.

He returned to Columbia in 1971 as dean of the School of Social Work. He helped to found Columbia Community Services and served as the director for Columbia's Center for the Study of Human Rights. In addition to his academic leadership, he continued his civil service career, serving as the chairman of the city-wide Emergency Alliance for Homeless Families and Children.

Ginsberg was designated Professor and Dean Emeritus of the School of Social Work in 1986, and died of cardiopulmonary arrest in 1990.

From the guide to the Mitchell Ginsberg Papers, 1961-1984, (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)