National Urban League Names UNC Professor Iheoma Iruka New Census Advisor

“Since Three-fifths Compromise of 1787, which counted enslaved Americans as three-fifths of a person, the Census has been used as a tool to marginalize and oppress communities of color,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial. “With her extensive experience and expertise in research and advocacy, Dr. Iruka will help the National Urban League build on our decades of defending the rights of Black and Brown Americans to be fully represented in public life and have their voices heard.”

A Research Professor in UNC’s Department of Public Policy, Iruka is a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and the Founding Director of the Institute’s Equity Research Action Coalition.

As a consultant to the National Urban League, Iruka will direct the organization’s policy and strategic approach to ensuring an accurate count of African Americans and historically undercounted communities.

She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Temple University, a master’s degree in Psychology from Boston University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, FL.