Ginsberg Center dedication is Sept. 14

Ginsberg Center dedication is Sept. 14

ANN ARBOR—The naming of the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning at the University of Michigan will be celebrated in a 10 a.m. ceremony on Thursday (Sept. 14) at the Center, 1024 Hill St.

The Center brings together several of the nation’s leading curricular and co-curricular programs and undertakes new initiatives in communities in Michigan and nationwide, all involving U-M students.

Edward Ginsberg, who died in 1997, received his undergraduate degree from U-M in 1938. He was a Cleveland attorney and internationally known humanitarian. His family, including his widow Rosalie, sons William and Robert and their wives, Inger and Jan, gave the University a $5 million endowment last year to honor Edward Ginsberg’s commitment to community service and humanitarian causes.

“The University of Michigan has a long tradition of community service and learning, and thousands of our students are involved today,” said Center Director Barry N. Checkoway. “This extraordinary gift enables us to take this work to the next level and increase efforts to strengthen student learning, involve the faculty and build University-community partnerships. It also builds on support from institutional leaders and signals a strong commitment by the University to service and learning.”

Speakers at the ceremony will include Checkoway; Eli Segal, chair of the Center’s National Board and president and CEO of Welfare to Work Partnership; U-M President Lee C. Bollinger; Provost Nancy Cantor; Regent Olivia Maynard, co-chair of the Center’s Board; students Renee Graef of Rochester Hills, Mich., and Adrienne Hunter of Ann Arbor; and William Ginsberg.

A block party is scheduled from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Center that will feature entertainment, food, issue/education materials and a voter registration table.

When the Regents approved the renaming of the Center in November 1999, Maynard noted, “I know from my own personal experience as a Michigan student that when community participation is an integral part of a university education, the effects can last a lifetime.”

Edward Ginsberg’s life exemplified the values of community involvement and active citizenship that the Center seeks to foster, according to Checkoway. Throughout his life, Ginsberg devoted himself to Israeli and Jewish activities in the United States and around the world. Following World War II, he played an important role raising funds for the establishment and support of Israel, working directly with such world figures as Golda Meir and Itzak Rabin. In the 1960s and ’70s, Ginsberg was general chairman and then president of the national United Jewish Appeal, and chairman of the American Joint Distribution Committee.

Programs housed at the Center:

—Project Community is a service-learning course that places more than 500 students in projects in southeast Michigan communities.

—Project SERVE provides thousands of students with opportunities to address social issues through community service and social action. Alternative Spring Break engages nearly 500 U-M students in projects, the largest program of its kind in the country.

–The Center develops collaborative initiatives such as the Michigan Neighborhood AmeriCorps Program, which involves several graduate professional schools and 20 community-based organizations in Detroit neighborhoods.

–Through the Michigan America Reads Tutoring Corps, U-M students help children learn how to read.

–The Michigan Community Service Corps expanded this year to 12 communities, involving student teams and young people working together to revitalize neighborhoods.

Robert Ginsberg, wife Jan and their daughters Amy and Tracy all received undergraduate degrees from the University’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

For more information, call (734) 647-7402 or visit the Web at www.umich.edu/~mserve.

Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and LearningBarry N. CheckowayEli SegalProject CommunityProject SERVEAmeriCorpsAmerica Reads