Posted 10:53 pm Thursday, February 14, 2013
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Demographics expert set to talk population change
Dr. Steve H. Murdock, the first official state demographer for Texas, will present the "Population Change in Texas and Tyler: Implications for Education and Economic Development" on Monday.
The Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce and the Tyler Area Business-Education Council are hosting the event, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at The University of Texas at Tyler Ornelas Activity Center, 3402 Old Omen Road. The deadline to buy tickets is Friday.
Murdock came to Tyler about 10 years ago, Mary Elizabeth Jackson, chairwoman of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, told the chamber's board members during a meeting Tuesday. She said after being a state and national demographer, he is now teaching the next level of demographers for the country.
During his presentation Monday, Murdock will not only talk about what the area's population means for its development for the next five-to-10 years, but what it will mean 20 or 30 years from now, Mrs. Jackson said.
Murdock is the Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Professor of Sociology at Rice University. He was nominated for director of the U.S. Bureau of the Census by President George W. Bush, was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2007, and served until January 2009. Prior to his appointment at Rice, he was the Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair in Demography and Organization Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the director of the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research. Before UTSA, Murdock was a Regents Professor and head of the Department of Rural Sociology at Texas A&M University.
Murdock was also the official state demographer of Texas. He was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry and was the first person to occupy this position. Murdock earned his Ph.D. in demography and sociology from the University of Kentucky and is the author or editor of 13 books and more than 150 articles and technical reports on the implications of current and future demographic and socioeconomic change.
He has received the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Research from Texas A&M University, the Excellence in Research Award and the Outstanding Rural Sociologist Award from the Rural Sociological Society, The Distinguished Alumni Award from North Dakota State University and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Eta Epsilon national honor societies.
Tickets for the luncheon are $25 each or $200 for tables of eight and can be reserved at www.eventbrite. com/org/3165131910?s=12131954. For more information, contact Heather Gatlin at hgatlin@tylertexas.com.
