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

headline
Not your mother’s Cabinet; Trump’s appointments have a diverse education background
“What has happened in this administration, is that there is more of a focus on Cabinet secretary loyalty, as opposed to their prior experience,” said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a presidential scholar and senior research fellow at both the Miller Center and the Brookings Institute.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Deseret News
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How the president’s cabinet gets confirmed by Senate
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas details the cabinet confirmation process and explains some of the challenges President-elect Trump’s controversial picks could face.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas NBC News
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Miller Center panelist weigh in on Trump transition
A panel of political experts gathered at the Miller Center to weigh in on Trump’s transition into his presidency.
Eric Edelman, Mara Rudman, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, and William Antholis 29 News
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State of the Trump transition
A discussion on how the new Trump administration is approaching appointments and staffing, legislative priorities, and national security at a time of heightened international tensions.
Eric Edelman, Mara Rudman, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, and William Antholis Miller Center Presents
cbs headline
Trump team signs some, but not all, critical transition documents
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow with the University of Virginia's Miller Center who focuses on presidential transitions, said the terms of the memo of understanding outlined Wiles reflect, in her assessment, an effort from the Trump transition team to shield themselves from transparency. "They're sort of making it up as they go, because it's never been done like this before," she said.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas CBS News
article headline
D.C. Bureau Trump still has not signed critical transition agreements allowing access to agencies
The agreements are “absolutely critical,” said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, whose expertise as a senior fellow with the University of Virginia’s Miller Center focuses on presidential transitions.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Nebraska Examiner