Barry Mitnick, professor of organizations and entrepreneurship at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, was honored at the 30th Annual Buddy Walk of the Down Syndrome Association of Pittsburgh, held at PNC Park on October 19, 2024. Over 2,000 people attended the event.
Thirty-five years ago, Mitnick wrote the prospectus for the Down Syndrome Center of Western Pennsylvania, which opened at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 1989. His plan laid out the activities for both a children’s and an adult clinic and has largely been realized. Over time, the clinics have served about 1,000 people with Down syndrome. The original model for a children’s clinic on Down syndrome was designed by Dr. Mary Coleman and implemented in her clinic, the Children’s Brain Research Clinic, in Washington, D.C.
Mitnick served as book review editor for the publication edited by Dr. Coleman, Down Syndrome: Papers and Abstracts for Professionals, and, after Dr. Coleman retired, for its successor publication, Down Syndrome Quarterly, for 16 years. Over that time, Mitnick wrote about 25 reviews and review articles on Down syndrome.
Decades Dedicated to Special Education Community
Mitnick also participated with the Down Syndrome Association of Pittsburgh for many years and was active in issues concerning the special education community in Pittsburgh.
In approximately 1990, he gave an invited presentation on Down syndrome and the issues of parenting a child with Down syndrome to a University of Pittsburgh Medical School assembly of medical students. Mitnick also participated for several years in the annual meetings of the Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group, a national group of clinic directors and leading professionals in Down syndrome.
MBA Students Share Their Skills
Under Mitnick’s guidance, in August 1999 all the incoming Pitt MBA students provided onsite support for the National Down Syndrome Congress conference, held that year in Pittsburgh. Hundreds of families and professionals came to Pittsburgh from all over the United States. The students served as conference organizers and guides.
The conference was a great success and was an impressive demonstration of what a group of caring and capable Pitt students can do – very much the model of what we value in our students today. The special education community in Pittsburgh today remains vibrant and thriving because of contributions such as these.