Oct 2006
Russell Sage Foundation
Kenneth Prewitt
Carnegie Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs
Personal Details
Focus areas: Writing on the future of scholarly knowledge, public policy
On Leave for the 2022-2023 Academic Year
Kenneth Prewitt is the Carnegie Professor of Public Affairs and Special Advisor to the University President. Prewitt's professional career includes: Director of the United States Census Bureau, Director of the National Opinion Research Center, President of the Social Science Research Council, and Senior Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Russell-Sage Foundation. Among his awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, honorary degrees from Carnegie Mellon and Southern Methodist University, a Distinguished Service Award from the New School for Social Research, the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany, the Charles E. Merriam Lifetime Career Award, American Political Science Association.
Prewitt holds a BA from Southern Methodist University (1958); MA from Washington University (1959), Harvard Divinity School (1960) as a Danforth fellow; PhD from Stanford University (1963).
His most recent book is What is Your Race? The Census and Our Flawed Efforts to Classify Americans. He has authored or coauthored another half-dozen books and more than 100 articles and book chapters.
Education
- PhD, Stanford University
- MA, Washington University
- BA, Southern Methodist University
- Harvard Divinity School: Danforth fellow
Affiliations
- Lifetime National Associate, NRC/NAS
Research And Publications
In The Media
A Census undercount would have significant implications for state and local governments. Kenneth Prewitt comments.
Oct 13 2020
Marketplace
As the census wraps up, questions about accuracy and congressional repportionment remain. Kenneth Prewitt comments.
Oct 11 2020
New York Times
Kenneth Prewitt spoke at the Data Science for the Public Good Annual Symposium last month about the changing Census.
Sep 24 2020
Social Science Space
New York City is racing to count as many residents as possible for the U.S. Census, raising fears that a significant slice of the population will be left unaccounted for, costing the city crucial federal resources. Kenneth Prewitt comments.
Sep 09 2020
Gothamist
Kenneth Prewitt considers whether recent appointments at the U.S. Census Bureau signify a partisan turn for the agency and its work.
Jun 22 2020
New York Times