ASA Connect

I am sorry to hear that Rob Santos has resigned from being director of the US Census Bureau.

"Robert Santos decides to resign as US Census Bureau director midway through a 5-year term" -- Associated Press:
https://apnews.com/article/census-bureau-robert-santos-redistricting-bac775b7251f4bfabb9026f0930a553d

Dr Santos was also a past President of the ASA and, from what I've heard, well-respected as the director at the Census Bureau.

According to the AP article, he "said in a letter Thursday evening that he made the decision "after deep reflection." ... The Texas native said in his letter that he planned to spend time with his family in retirement."
Is this letter publicly available? I have not seen it on news sources or the Census Bureau website.

I am curious why Dr Santos chose this moment to resign. I had hoped he would stay on through his full 5-year term, as long as possible, to minimize politicization (or appearance thereof) of the Census Bureau's work.

Likewise, I would love to hear from the current ASA leadership about how the rest of us can support our federal statistical agencies and statistical civil servants at this time.

Best regards,
Jerzy

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Jerzy Wieczorek
Associate Professor of Statistics
Colby College
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The Census Director is a Presidential appointee. It's routine for appointees at that level to resign when the next President enters office. The last Census Director from the first Trump administration resigned upon President Biden's inauguration. 

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Stefan Sharkansky, PhD
Useful Work, Inc.
Lafayette,WA
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Hi Stefan,

Specifically for the role of Census Bureau director, the ASA pushed to change this common practice of appointees resigning with new administrations. As stated in support of a bill that was eventually passed in 2012:

"A fixed term for the head of any statistical or science agency is widely viewed as a means to insulate that agency from improper outside influence. It is also seen as a means to facilitate long term planning and management, which is especially important for the decennial census."

https://community.amstat.org/browse/blogs/blogviewer?BlogKey=c45767c1-07f5-4fc1-b490-3d3b78b475d2

I'm disappointed that despite this bill passing, apparently the intent behind it hasn't been carried out in practice.

Best wishes,
Jerzy

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Jerzy Wieczorek
Associate Professor of Statistics
Colby College
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-03-2025 12:58
From: Stefan Sharkansky
Subject: Robert Santos resigns as US Census Bureau director

The Census Director is a Presidential appointee. It's routine for appointees at that level to resign when the next President enters office. The last Census Director from the first Trump administration resigned upon President Biden's inauguration. 

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Stefan Sharkansky, PhD
Useful Work, Inc.
Lafayette,WA
------------------------------

I'm retired. That happened, by coincidence  during 2019 /2020 just as the pandemic started. And most people were trying to figure out how to get to work or work remotely or attend school remotely.  Retiring is always a deeply personal decision, for many planned years in advance, and that includes how to let people know one has retired. At the time I retired a not uncommon question from curious friends was "retiring? so, what are your hobbies?".  I learned to smile at that question because I knew that "cooking and anything gourmet" and "kayaking" would not fill my prior 8- 10 hour days. . At the time of the pandemic, staying at home/ quarantine it was easy to retire. I was at home and so was everyone.   I assume as he wrote, Robert is spending time with his family. I can only speculate that Rob will attend a JSM or be invited for some consulting project. There is likely  someone at ASA who may be willing to forward a cheerful note of congratulations and "good luck on your next adventure"  to Rob. After all, what should a statistician say to a retiring statistician colleague? there are some lighthearted "pun"  t-shirts (easily found on a google search) excerpting one of them "Retired statistician. Just like a normal statistician, only way happier" .

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Chris Barker, Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics
www.barkerstats.com


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"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy
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"Retired statistician. Just like a normal statistician, only way happier"

Does that mean a retired statistician is Lorentzian? Like a normal but with stronger wings...

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David J Corliss, PhD
Director, Peace-Work www.peace-work.org
davidjcorliss@peace-work.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-03-2025 15:08
From: Chris Barker
Subject: Robert Santos resigns as US Census Bureau director

I'm retired. That happened, by coincidence  during 2019 /2020 just as the pandemic started. And most people were trying to figure out how to get to work or work remotely or attend school remotely.  Retiring is always a deeply personal decision, for many planned years in advance, and that includes how to let people know one has retired. At the time I retired a not uncommon question from curious friends was "retiring? so, what are your hobbies?".  I learned to smile at that question because I knew that "cooking and anything gourmet" and "kayaking" would not fill my prior 8- 10 hour days. . At the time of the pandemic, staying at home/ quarantine it was easy to retire. I was at home and so was everyone.   I assume as he wrote, Robert is spending time with his family. I can only speculate that Rob will attend a JSM or be invited for some consulting project. There is likely  someone at ASA who may be willing to forward a cheerful note of congratulations and "good luck on your next adventure"  to Rob. After all, what should a statistician say to a retiring statistician colleague? there are some lighthearted "pun"  t-shirts (easily found on a google search) excerpting one of them "Retired statistician. Just like a normal statistician, only way happier" .

------------------------------
Chris Barker, Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics
www.barkerstats.com


---
"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy
------------------------------

I can do marginally better than that :)  To very badly paraphrase Bob Dylan,.... when  announcing my retirement its "time for my p-values to be wandering "  (cit, Mr Tambourine man)

------------------------------
Chris Barker, Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics
www.barkerstats.com


---
"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-04-2025 08:05
From: David Corliss
Subject: Robert Santos resigns as US Census Bureau director

"Retired statistician. Just like a normal statistician, only way happier"

Does that mean a retired statistician is Lorentzian? Like a normal but with stronger wings...

------------------------------
David J Corliss, PhD
Director, Peace-Work www.peace-work.org
davidjcorliss@peace-work.org
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 02-03-2025 15:08
From: Chris Barker
Subject: Robert Santos resigns as US Census Bureau director

I'm retired. That happened, by coincidence  during 2019 /2020 just as the pandemic started. And most people were trying to figure out how to get to work or work remotely or attend school remotely.  Retiring is always a deeply personal decision, for many planned years in advance, and that includes how to let people know one has retired. At the time I retired a not uncommon question from curious friends was "retiring? so, what are your hobbies?".  I learned to smile at that question because I knew that "cooking and anything gourmet" and "kayaking" would not fill my prior 8- 10 hour days. . At the time of the pandemic, staying at home/ quarantine it was easy to retire. I was at home and so was everyone.   I assume as he wrote, Robert is spending time with his family. I can only speculate that Rob will attend a JSM or be invited for some consulting project. There is likely  someone at ASA who may be willing to forward a cheerful note of congratulations and "good luck on your next adventure"  to Rob. After all, what should a statistician say to a retiring statistician colleague? there are some lighthearted "pun"  t-shirts (easily found on a google search) excerpting one of them "Retired statistician. Just like a normal statistician, only way happier" .

------------------------------
Chris Barker, Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics
www.barkerstats.com


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"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy

Very disappointing to hear that Rob Santos resigned precisely when we need his voice and values at the most important Statistical Agency in the USA.  

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James Rosenberger
Professor Emeritus of Statistics
Penn State University
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