David Dinkins

Mayor David N. Dinkins joined Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) as a Professor in the Practice of Public Policy in 1994. He serves on SIPA’s Advisory Board, and hosts the Annual David N. Dinkins Leadership & Public Policy Forum which welcomed Congressman John Lewis as its 20th Anniversary Keynote Speaker in 2017. The David N. Dinkins Professorship Chair in the Practice of Urban & Public Affairs at SIPA was established in 2003 and its inaugural professor, Michael A. Nutter, 98th Mayor of Philadelphia, was selected in 2015. 2015 also welcomed the opening of the David N. Dinkins Archives and Oral History Project at the Columbia University Libraries. 

Mr. Dinkins began his public service career in 1966 as a member of the New York State Assembly.  He was president of the New York City Board of Elections, and served as City Clerk for 10 years before his elections as President of the Borough of Manhattan in 1985 and 106th Mayor of the City of New York in 1989.

As Mayor, Mr. Dinkins was responsible for the establishment of numerous widely heralded cultural staples such as Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, and Broadway on Broadway. His administration initiated the revitalization of Times Square and secured an unprecedented deal to keep the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York for the next 99 years. This arrangement generates more annual financial benefits to the city than the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, and Rangers combined. Mayor Dinkins also instituted “Safe Streets, Safe City: Cops and Kids,” a comprehensive criminal justice plan that expanded opportunities for the children of New York and continued to reduce crime in the years that followed his term.

Mr. Dinkins has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career, most notably, the renaming of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building on October 15, 2015. The former mayor celebrated his 90th birthday in 2017 and remains active with a variety of civic and charitable organizations that assist young people. He currently serves on numerous boards including the Association to Benefit Children, Children’s Health Fund, Coalition for the Homeless, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, and Posse Foundation, to name a few. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Advisory Board of the International African American Museum; is on the steering committee of the Association for a Better New York and the New York Urban League’s Advisory Council.  Mr. Dinkins is a founding member of the Black & Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus of New York State and The One Hundred Black Men. He is a former vice president of the United States Conference of Mayors, Member-at-Large of the Black Leadership Forum, chairman emeritus of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Honorary Life Trustee of the Community Service Society of New York, Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Harlem Hospital, and Lifetime Member of the NAACP. 

In 2013, Mr. Dinkins published his memoir A Mayor’s Life: Governing New York’s Gorgeous Mosaic, chronicling his career as a devoted public servant and New Yorker in love with his city.

Mr. Dinkins graduated with honors from Howard University in 1950 with a BS in mathematics and received an LLB from Brooklyn Law School in 1956 and maintained a private law practice prior to entering public service. He is a recipient of The Congressional Gold Medal for his service as a Montford Point Marine in the United States Marine Corps, during World War II.

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, on July 10, 1927, Mr. Dinkins was a long-time resident of Harlem and still resides in New York City with his wife, Joyce Burrows Dinkins.  They have two children—David Jr. and Donna Dinkins Hoggard—and two grandchildren—Jamal Hoggard and Kalila Dinkins Hoggard.

Education

• LLB, Brooklyn Law School
• BS, with honors, Howard University

Affiliations

• Founding Member, Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus of New York State
• Founding Member, Council of Black Elected Democrats of New York State
• Founding Member, One Hundred Black Men
• Black Leadership Forum
• Association to Benefit Children
• Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
• Children''s Health Fund
• Nelson Mandela Children''s Fund
• Posse Foundation
• Coalition for the Homeless
• The Amadou Diallo Foundation
• National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS
• Constituency for Africa (CFA)
• Steering Committee, Association for a Better New York
• Council on Foreign Relations
• NAACP

Columbia Public Policy Review publishes articles and hosts events with focus on U.S. urban issues.

Hundreds of alumni and students, faculty and friends gathered for historic series of festivities.