Experts

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Practitioner Senior Fellow
TenpasVitaSEPT2020.pdf

Fast Facts

  • Director of the Katzmann Initiative and visiting fellow with Governance Studies, the Brookings Institution
  • Advisory board member, White House Transition Project
  • Fellow, Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service

Areas Of Expertise

  • The First Year
  • Governance
  • Elections
  • Leadership
  • Politics
  • The Presidency

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is director of the Katzmann Initiative and a visiting fellow with Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, advisory board member of the White House Transition Project, and a fellow with the Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service.

Tenpas is a scholar of the American presidency focusing on White House staffing, presidential transitions, and the intersection of politics and policy within the presidency (e.g., presidential reelection campaigns, trends in presidential travel, and polling). She has authored the book Presidents as Candidates: Inside the White House for the Presidential Campaign and published more than 60 articles, book chapters, and papers on these topics.

Tenpas earned her BA degree from Georgetown University and her MA and PhD degrees from the University of Virginia.

Featured Publications

Presidents as Candidates
Presidents as Candidates

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas News Feed

CBSN
Expert says Biden transition team losing time to prepare as Trump administration delays process
President-elect Joe Biden is calling on the federal government's General Services Administration to authorize his presidential transition despite pushback from President Trump. Without this authorization, Mr. Biden doesn't have access to information or resources that he needs before he takes office in January. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior research director for the White House Transition Project and a senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, joined CBSN's Lana Zak to discuss.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas CBSN
Cicero
Time is running out
"Once the new government is elected, the GSA will free up the necessary funds," says Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, political scientist and fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. “At least that has always been the case so far. There have never been any problems in the past. The norm was to make this transition as easy as possible for the successors for one simple reason: Because it's best for the country. "
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Cicero (Germany)
WNYC
A Presidential Transition Delayed
By refusing to concede, President Trump is not only disrupting the peaceful transfer of power, a cornerstone of American democracy, but he’s delaying the Biden administration access to pertinent information. The formal transition process we know today came to exist after the 9/11 Commission Report found that the delay in installing President George W. Bush hurt his administration. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and senior research director at the White House Transition Project, describes the impact of a truncated presidential transition.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas WNYC Politics with Amy Walter
President elect Joe Biden
Blocking the transition is risking American lives
Biden needs to be able to begin planning, especially during a crisis.
Melody Barnes and Kathryn Dunn Tenpas The Washington Post
CBSN
Biden presses ahead with White House transition as Trump refuses to concede
President-elect Joe Biden is pressing ahead with the White House transition process despite facing hurdles from President Trump. Mr. Biden has already formed a coronavirus advisory board and named his chief of staff. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, joins CBSN to discuss the latest developments.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas CBSN
USA Today
Joe Biden's team says 'theatrics' of Trump's legal fights won't impede a smooth transition
But the lack of access could pose a threat to Biden's first weeks in office, according to Kathryn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. "This strikes me as a matter of the country's reputation internationally and being so vulnerable. The whole world is watching and clearly our enemies can see that vulnerability," Tenpas said. "So the question is do people try to take advantage of that?"
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas USA Today