Experts

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Fast Facts

  • Director, Initiative on Improving Interbranch Relations and Government and visiting fellow with Governance Studies, Brookings Institution
  • Host, Democracy in Question podcast, Brookings Institution
  • Advisory board member, White House Transition Project 

Areas Of Expertise

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

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is director of the Initiative on Improving Interbranch Relations and Government and a visiting fellow with Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. She is also an advisory board member of the White House Transition Project.

Tenpas is a scholar of the American presidency focusing on White House staffing and turnover, presidential transitions, and the intersection of politics and policy within the presidency (e.g., presidential reelection campaigns, trends in presidential travel, and polling). She is the author of Presidents as Candidates: Inside the White House for the Presidential Campaign and has published more than 80 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.
 

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas News Feed

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
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
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
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
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
Join the Katzmann Initiative at Brookings and the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for an event featuring practitioners and experts on presidential transitions to discuss the strategic choices an incoming administration faces as it tries to balance working with Congress on legislations and confirmations and using the powers of the presidency.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, William Antholis Miller Center Presents