Newsroom Archive

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today the establishment of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations and has named Shawn Malia Kana'iaupuni as a member of the committee.

The National Advisory Committee will advise the Census Bureau on a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau’s programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census. The committee, which is comprised of 32 members from multiple disciplines, will advise the Census Bureau on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations.

“We expect that the expertise of this committee will help us meet emerging challenges the Census Bureau faces in producing statistics about our diverse nation,” said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director. “By helping us better understand a variety of issues that affect statistical measurement, this committee will help ensure that the Census Bureau continues to provide relevant and timely statistics used by federal, state and local governments as well as business and industry in an increasingly technologically oriented society.”

The National Advisory Committee members, who serve at the discretion of the Census Bureau director, are chosen to serve based on expertise and knowledge of the cultural patterns, issues and/or statistical needs of hard-to-count populations.

Shawn Malia Kana’iaupuni, the division director of public education support for Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, is a Native Hawaiian demographer and sociologist from Pupukea, Oahu. Her research focuses on the status and well-being of Hawaiians. Her current work focuses on mobilizing and inspiring positive educational outcomes for Hawaiian students in public education settings, including community, charter, immersion, and conventional DOE. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools and former faculty member of the Sociology Department at the University of Wisconsin, Kana’iaupuni serves on the Oahu Workforce Investment Board and the Native Hawaiian Education Council of the U.S. Department of Education. Kana'iaupuni earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, her master's degree and doctorate from the University of Chicago and her MBA from the University of Hawaii-Manoa.