Experts in the News | Miller Center

Harris Makes History as First Black and Indian American Woman VP

Barbara Perry, the Miller Center's director of presidential studies, is interviewed on Voice of America.

Barbara Perry

Why It Matters That Jill Biden Plans To Teach While Serving As First Lady

Still, Biden keeping her outside job is significant, said Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. “It sends a very strong message to women: No matter how accomplished, powerful, or important your husband, you don’t have to abandon your own career or play second fiddle.”

Jennifer Lawless

Here’s what Kamala Harris is likely to take on as Biden’s vice president

“That’s entirely consistent with the way he approached his job as vice president, and he will also want someone who will give him the unvarnished truth and be the last one in the room on major decisions,” Lu said. “In many ways, Biden had a closer working relationship with Obama’s Cabinet than Obama did. Particularly in those first couple of years, because we were doing these Recovery Act meetings.”

Chris Lu

6 questions about the presidential transition

“Typically, there are 78 days between the election and inauguration,” said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a practitioner senior fellow at the Miller Center and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “That is not a lot of time to stand up a government, and I think many people in the U.S. and in Washington, D.C., do not realize how important that time is, and how short it is.”

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

These are the experts who will lead Biden’s transition at federal agencies

Chris Lu, Department of Labor. From 2014 to 2017, he was deputy secretary of labor. He also served as the Obama administration’s White House Cabinet secretary, the president’s primary liaison to the federal agencies.

Chris Lu

Biden-Harris Transition Announces Review Of Labor Department’s Operations

The Department of Labor team is led by Chris Lu, former deputy secretary of labor in the Obama administration. The team will also examine the work of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the National Mediation Board, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, the Railroad Retirement Board, and the National Labor Relations Board.

Chris Lu