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Counting America: the 2010 Census on February 8

Posted on January 8, 2010 2:06 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Rebecca M. Blank
Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce
US_Blank_official.jpg

Monday, February 8, 2010
4:00 – 5:30 p.m., with reception to follow
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Directions and Parking

A UMBC Social Sciences Forum, co-sponsored by the Departments of Public Policy, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology; the Sondheim Scholars Program; and the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research.

Join Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank for a talk about the design and implementation of the 2010 Census. Census information affects everything from political representation to the distribution of $400 billion in federal funding each year. The 2010 Census will involve the largest mobilization of civilians in the country, tasked with counting all 312 million U.S. residents at one time. Challenges include adapting to the increased diversity and mobility of U.S. residents, reaching out to historically under-represented and difficult-to-count populations, and recruiting and training over one million temporary census takers.

As the economic advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and head of the Economic and Statistics Administration (ESA), Dr. Blank has responsibility for two of the top statistical agencies in the U.S., the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. She was the Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and co-director of the National Poverty Center. She served as a Member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1997-1999. An author of multiple books, she was Professor of Economics at Northwestern University and Director of the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research. Dr. Blank is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and former president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM). She serves in a wide variety of advisory and professional roles and is currently on the Board of Directors of MDRC, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Urban Institute