The family of Edward and Rosalie Ginsberg has donated $10 million to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to build an 11,000-square-foot building designed to boost collaborations among faculty, students, and community partners.
The new building, which will be called the Edward and Rosalie Ginsberg Building, will replace the Madelon Pound House on the school’s central campus. Pound will be honored within the new space.
The Ginsberg Building will include a spacious, flexible area that can accommodate large groups, as well as a resource library, student organization space, and administration areas. The new space will enable greater engagement with students and faculty, including a more robust menu of programming, training, presentations, events, and learning opportunities.
“My parents were always supportive of the various communities in which they were involved,” says William Ginsberg. “They shared this involvement, and it represented a continuation of the values and traditions they learned from their parents. Hopefully, my brother and I and our families are maintaining those values and traditions.”
In 1999, William and Inger Ginsberg gave $5 million to endow the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning (Ginsberg Center) at U-M. This year’s $10 million donation further honors his late parents’ legacy of service.
“My father was a Michigan graduate and was fond of the school and his experience there,” Ginsberg says. “By making the initial donation two decades ago to name the Center for Community Service and Learning after him, and now funding the Edward and Rosalie Ginsberg Building to house it, we honor my parents by encouraging and helping others to make their own contributions to the betterment of individuals’ lives and our broader society.”
The Ginsberg Building will incorporate a geothermal exchange system to increase energy efficiency, making it among the first net-zero-ready structures on campus. Additional sustainability features will include passive design, high-performance systems and energy conservation elements; materials and systems with low-embodied carbon to reduce the total carbon footprint of the facility; low-flow plumbing fixtures to reduce water consumption; an open and inviting interior environment that connects occupants to the natural world; and an irrigation-free landscape with native and drought-tolerant plants.
“This gift transforms our ability to serve as a connection point for faculty, students, and staff as they engage with community partners in our region,” says Martino Harmon, vice president for student life at U-M. “Students specifically will use the skills they develop at the Ginsberg Center to go out into the broader community after graduation, making a difference as the Leaders and Best.”
Neeraja Aravamudan, director of the Ginsberg Center, says, “This gift helps us continue to be a resource for those that are dedicated to positive community impact, and the new building will expand our organization’s capacity to offer activities that foster lifelong commitments to actively engaging with communities and reflect Edward Ginsberg’s dedication to community involvement.”
