Kim M. Williams, an associate professor of public policy at Harvard University, has been selected by Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez to serve on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Advisory Committee on the African-American population.

     As a member of the nine-person committee, the Cambridge, Mass., resident will advise the Census Bureau on the new American Community Survey and ways to achieve a more accurate count of the African-American population in the 2010 Census.

     “The Race and Ethnic Advisory 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,” Census Bureau Director Steve H. Murdock said.

     Williams is considered an expert in racial and ethnic politics and political movements. Her book, “Mark One or More: Civil Rights in Multiracial America,” tells of the effort to include a multiracial category on the U.S. census form and its impact on the American political landscape. Her upcoming book is titled “Transition: The Politics of Racial and Ethnic Change in Urban America.”

     Williams received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California-Berkeley and master’s and doctorate degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

     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.