Michael Shinagel

He was a child in Vienna, Austria, and his family had to escape Europe after the rise of Adolf Hitler and the start of World War II.[3] As a refugee, he attended school in New York City and briefly attended Cornell University in 1951 and 1952, studying agriculture.[3] He served with the US Army in Korea, and then completed his degree at Oberlin College on the G.I. Bill.[3] He earned his doctorate in English Literature at Harvard University on a national fellowship.[3][4]

After completing is doctorate in 1964, he began an academic career of teaching and administration at Cornell University from 1964 to 1967.[3] He then moved on to Union College from 1967 to 1975.[3]

Shinagel was the fifth dean of the Extension School, having been appointed in 1977 and serving until 2013.[3] Prior to being named dean, he was the Director of Continuing Education and University Extension from 1975 to 1977.[5] He was also formerly Master of Quincy House.[6]

He is the author of a history of the Harvard Extension School, The Gates Unbarred,[5] and a memoir, Holocaust Survivor to Harvard Dean: Memoirs of a Refugee's Progress.[3]

• Shinagel, Michael (2010). The Gates Unbarred: A History of University Extension at Harvard, 1910 - 2009. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674051355.
• Shinagel, Michael (July 7, 2016). Holocaust Survivor to Harvard Dean: Memoirs of a Refugee's Progress. Author Solutions Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-5245-0960-6.