News Release

Data Center director elected to national post

May 7, 2008

Sue Copella, director of the Pennsylvania State Data Center on the campus of Penn State Harrisburg, has been elected vice chair of the Federal/State Cooperative Program for Population Projections (FSCPPP).

Elected at the organization’s annual meeting in New Orleans, Copella will serve as chair in 2009.

State FSCPPP agencies, designated by their respective governors, work in cooperation with the Population Projections Branch to exchange technical information on the production of Census Bureau and state agencies sub-national population projections.

State agencies review the Census Bureau’s state population projections and make recommendations on possible improvement. Population projections are used to plan for the future needs of the public and private sectors at the state and county levels. For example, the Census Bureau’s population projections are used by federal agencies as controls to produce other state projections such as school enrollment by the National Center for Education Statistics and to project the voting age population. Businesses use the projections to predict market shares and to plan for demographic changes in the population.

The Pennsylvania State Data Center serves as Pennsylvania’s official source of population and economic statistics. In addition to acting as Pennsylvania’s liaison to the Census Bureau, it is the state’s representative to FSCPPP. The Data Center was established in 1981 by executive order of the governor. It is housed in the Penn State Harrisburg Institute of State and Regional Affairs.

Copella joined the Data Center’s staff in 1990 and was appointed its director in 2001. She holds a B.A. in urban studies and geography from the University of Pittsburgh.