For Immediate Release
Contact:
Gloria Gottschalk, New School University
(212) 229-5667, ext. 239

DR. KENNETH PREWITT, DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU, TO BECOME DEAN OF NEW SCHOOL UNIVERSITY’S GRADUATE FACULTY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

(January 19, 2001 — New York, NY) New School University announced the appointment of Dr. Kenneth Prewitt as Dean of the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science beginning April 1, 2001. Dr. Prewitt is presently Director of the United State Census Bureau.

Former Senator and New School University President Bob Kerrey remarked on his appointment, "We're delighted that Dr. Kenneth Prewiit will be joining New School University as Dean of the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. His important work in government, as Director of the Census Bureau, and extensive background in higher education and philanthropy will complement the Graduate Faculty. The Graduate Faculty is renowned around the world for its interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research in the social sciences and its international outlook. Its student population is diverse, with international students making up about 30% of the student body.

On accepting the appointment, Dr. Prewitt said, "It is an honor to join New School University at a time when Bob Kerrey is bringing fresh vigor and vision to a University with a distinguished history and great opportunities before it."

Dr. Kenneth Prewitt has been Director of the United States Census Bureau since October 21, 1998. He came to Government Service after a career in higher education and private philanthropy. From 1995 to 1998, he served as the President of the Social Science Research Council, a position he also held from 1979 to 1985. For ten years, he was Senior Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, where he directed the international Science-Based Development program involving activities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He served for five years as the Director of the National Opinion Research Center, based at the University of Chicago. He taught for fifteen years at the University of Chicago and for shorter periods, taught at Stanford University (where he received his Ph.D.), Columbia University, Washington University, the University of Nairobi, and Makerere University (Uganda).

As Director of the Census Bureau, he heads an agency that produces an extensive array of economic and demographic statistics for the nation — including basic data on consumer prices, labor force participation, poverty, housing conditions and many other dimensions of the economy and society. His main attention at the Census Bureau was on Census 2000 — often described as the largest peacetime mobilization in history. Dr. Prewitt had overall responsibility for ensuring that 281 million residents were counted.

Dr. Prewitt is the author or co-author of a dozen books and more than 50 contributions to professional journals and edited collections. Among his awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an honorary degree from Southern Methodist University, a Distinguished Service Award from New School University, and The Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany. He has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has been an officer or served on the Board of each of these organizations.

He has also served on advisory boards to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and UNESCO.

The Graduate Faculty awards the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology, economics, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. In addition, interdisciplinary M.A. programs are offered in historical studies and liberal arts. The Graduate Faculty has an enrollment of about 1050 students. International students comprise nearly 30% of the student body and come from about 70 different countries.

William Hirst has been Acting Dean of the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science since July, 2000. Prior to becoming Acting Dean, Mr. Hirst was a professor of psychology at the Graduate Faculty since 1987. He also served as chair of the psychology department.

The Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science had its origins as the University in Exile, established in 1933 at the New School for Social Research (now New School University). To the ten distinguished European scholars who first constituted the faculty of the University in Exile, and who found freedom and refuge from totalitarianism in the New World, additional émigré scholars were added during the remaining years of the 1930s. In 1934, the Graduate Faculty was formally constituted, with a Charter to award master’s and doctoral degrees from the Board of Regents of the State of New York.

New School University comprises seven academic divisions: the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College, Mannes College of Music, Actors Studio Drama School, and The New School (for adult learners). It also offers one of the largest selections of online courses in the nation.

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