Newsroom Archive

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today the establishment of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations and has named Paul Watanabe as a member and chair of the committee.

The National Advisory Committee will advise the Census Bureau on a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau’s programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census. The committee, which is comprised of 32 members from multiple disciplines, will advise the Census Bureau on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations.

“We expect that the expertise of this committee will help us meet emerging challenges the Census Bureau faces in producing statistics about our diverse nation,” said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director. “By helping us better understand a variety of issues that affect statistical measurement, this committee will help ensure that the Census Bureau continues to provide relevant and timely statistics used by federal, state and local governments as well as business and industry in an increasingly technologically oriented society.”

The National Advisory Committee members, who serve at the discretion of the Census Bureau director, are chosen to serve based on expertise and knowledge of the cultural patterns, issues and/or statistical needs of hard-to-count populations.

Paul Watanabe is director of the Institute for Asian American Studies and chairman of the Political Science Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is president of the board of directors of the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, a member of the Committee on the Status of Asian-Americans of the American Political Science Association, a member of the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and a member of the advisory board of the New American Integration Institute. His principal research and teaching interests are in the areas of political behavior, public policy, ethnic group politics, Asian-Americans and American foreign policy. He is widely published and contributes analysis and commentary to national and local television, radio, newspapers and newsmagazines. Watanabe received his doctorate in political science from Harvard University.