NORC at the University of Chicago announced today that John H. Thompson has accepted the position of President. Thompson has served as NORC's Interim President since February and as NORC's Executive Vice President for Survey Operations since he joined the organization in 2002. Thompson came to NORC after a distinguished 27-year career at the U.S. Census Bureau, where, as one the Bureau's most senior career officers, he had responsibility for all aspects of the 2000 Decennial Census - including management, operations, and methodology.
NORC Trustee John Mark Hansen, who chaired the search committee for the vacancy, said during the formal announcement in Chicago, that the search has "found a leader for this organization who can inspire us to live up to the achievements of our past and challenge us to even greater achievements in our future. John Thompson is the right person to lead the organization right now." Hansen is Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago and the Charles L. Hutchinson Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science.
Thompson was selected from a large number of candidates, drawn from academia, government, and other research organizations as part of a search conducted by the Boston-based firm Isaacson-Miller, LLP. Thompson is an acknowledged expert in the field of social science research, with a special emphasis on large and complex surveys. His recent work includes serving as project director for the National Immunization Survey (NIS), which NORC conducts on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).He is admired by the staff and the Board of Trustees for his integrity, modesty, and good humor.
Thompson attended Virginia Tech University where he was awarded a Bachelors of Science degree in Mathematics in 1973 and a Masters of Science degree in Mathematics in 1975.
National Opinion Research Center, known since its founding in 1941 as NORC, conducts high-quality social science research in the public interest. NORC is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in the downtown Loop and on the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus, and in Bethesda, MD, Berkeley, CA, and Albany, NY. NORC also maintains a nationwide field staff. To learn more about NORC, visit www.norc.org.
—Prof. Chuan He
