Carnegie Mellon University
Skip navigation and jump directly to page content

The 2010 Census

Count Determines Future Resources

Census
To help ensure that Carnegie Mellon University is accurately counted in the U.S. census, Professor Stephen Fienberg built a Humanities and Social Sciences freshman seminar around it. His students are not only learning about the census and its history, controversies and methods; they're also working on projects to help communicate census information to different campus audiences.

"Convincing people to fill out the form and send it in is a big challenge," said Fienberg, the Maurice Falk University Professor of Statistics and Social Science and one of the country's leading census experts. "It's all about awareness. Not everyone understands the importance of accurate census data, and there are some who are wary of what the government will do with the information. Responding to the census is a civic responsibility."

The census count, which occurs only every 10 years, is used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives, determine the boundaries of congressional districts, decide where hospitals, among other things, are built and distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds — some of which have direct implications for education and research.

The dynamics of a university community with students living on and off campus and non-U.S. citizens can make for a confusing process when it comes to participating in the census.

"It's important to make sure that everyone at Carnegie Mellon — faculty, staff and students — understand how they need to participate in the census," Fienberg said. "For example, students living on campus will get their forms through the resident assistants under the supervision of the registrar. They're counted here, not at their parents' house."

Faculty, staff and graduate students should have already received their forms at their residential mailing address.

"Everyone needs to complete and return it — even non-U.S. citizens," Fienberg said. "Being counted will help give Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and Pennsylvania an accurate count, and is crucial for our future."

Fienberg had his students form groups to target specific campus population segments. They're also creating vehicles, such as a website and videos, to help get the message out and will work on follow up campaigns throughout April.

Fienberg also brought several speakers to the class including current U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves and former U.S. Census Bureau Director Barbara Bryant.

"This only happens once every 10 years," Fienberg said. "It's been fun to see the students learn about the census and really start to become passionate and very knowledgeable about its role in our lives."

All households should have received Census Bureau forms on March 15. By law, each household is required to complete the 10-question survey, using April 1 as the reference date, and return it.

Related Links: Census Website  |  Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences


Homepage Story Archives