Paul Watanabe Selected for Census Bureau's Asian Advisory Committee

WASHINGTON, July 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Paul Watanabe, director of the
Institute for Asian American Studies and associate professor of political
science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has been selected by
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke to serve on the U.S. Census Bureau's Advisory
Committee on the Asian population.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090226/CENSUSLOGO)

As a member of the nine-person committee, the South Weymouth, Mass., resident
will advise the Census Bureau on ways to achieve a more accurate count of the
Asian population in the 2010 Census.

"The Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees provide a continuing channel of
communication between the Census Bureau and race and ethnic communities,"
Census Bureau Acting Director Tom Mesenbourg said. "The committees play a
vital role in ensuring that we make the best effort possible to reach race and
ethnic groups, not only during the 2010 Census, but also the American
Community Survey that is conducted throughout the decade."

Watanabe's principal research and teaching interests are in the areas of
American political behavior, ethnic group politics, Asian-Americans and
American foreign policy. He is the author of "Ethnic Groups, Congress, and
American Foreign Policy: the Politics of the Turkish Arms Embargo" and
principal author of "A Dream Deferred: Changing Demographics, Challenges, and
New Opportunities for Boston." He regularly contributes analysis and
commentary to national and local television, radio, newspapers and magazines.

He has served on several boards of nonprofit organizations, including the
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Political Research
Associates, the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, the Harvard
Community Health Plan, the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, and
the Asian American Policy Review.

Watanabe was born in Murray, Utah. He earned a bachelor's degree in political
science from the University of Utah and master's and doctorate degrees from
Harvard University.

Five race and ethnic advisory committees -- African-American, American Indian
and Alaska Native, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific
Islander -- advise the Census Bureau on issues affecting minority populations.
The committees are assembled from the public at large and representatives of
national, state, local and tribal entities, as well as nonprofit and private
sector organizations. Members of the committees are academicians, community
leaders, policy makers and others interested in an accurate count for their
communities.

Editor's note: News releases, reports and data tables are available on the
Census Bureau's home page. Go to http://www.census.gov and click on
"Releases."
Public Information Office 301-763-3691
e-mail: pio@census.gov

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Census Bureau Public Information Office, +1-301-763-3691, e-mail:
pio@census.gov