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Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is a nonresident senior fellow with Governance Studies and a fellow and secretary of the Governance Institute.
Dr. Tenpas' research addresses the intersection between the presidency and politics, including presidential reelection campaigns, and trends in presidential travel and polling expenses. She has also looked at White House staffing, with a particular focus on turnover rates and individual White House entities like the Office of Political Affairs, Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, and Staff Secretary. Dr. Tenpas has authored the book Presidents as Candidates: Inside the White House for the Presidential Campaign, and published over thirty articles, book chapters and papers on these topics. Recent publications include, a Political Science Quarterly article, "First Term Presidential Travel from Eisenhower to George W. Bush: The Emergence of an 'Electoral College' Strategy" (with Charnock and McCann), a book chapter titled, "The State of the Union Address: Process, Politics and Promotion," and a Public Opinion Quarterly article, "Testing the Permanence of the Permanent Campaign: An Analysis of Presidential Polling Expenditures, 1977-2002" (with McCann).
In addition to her scholarly contributions, she serves as a participant in the University of Virginia's oral history project at the Miller Center, which involves high-level interviews with members of the Bush administration (1989-1993), Clinton administration and Bush II administration (2001-2009). In preparation for the 2000-2001 and 2008-2009 presidential transitions, she was a member of The White House Project, in which she prepared a study of the White House Office of the Staff Secretary. She also served two terms on the Board of the American Political Science Association's Presidency Research Group, a national organization for presidency scholars. She has participated in numerous interviews with television, radio and print journalists, appearing in publications such as USA Today, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal and on national news programs with NPR, NBC, CNN and Fox News.
Dr. Tenpas' academic positions include her current affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania, as a Senior Fellow at the Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis, and an Associate Professorship in the Department of Government and International Affairs at the University of South Florida. While there, she directed the Political Science Honors Program and the Washington, D.C. internship program. From 1992-1993, she was a guest scholar with Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Dr. Tenpas earned her B.A. from Georgetown University in 1985, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia (in 1989 and 1993, respectively). She lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons.
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Governance Studies
Additional Expertise Areas
Campaigns and elections
Government staffing
White House operations
The Brookings Institution, Nonresident Senior Fellow, July 2004-present.
The Governance Institute, Fellow, Appointed December 2003 – present, elected Secretary of the Institute, May 2006.
Past Positions
University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Washington Semester Program and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, 2006 – 2013.
Washington University in St. Louis, Senior Fellow, The Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, August 2004-November 2005 (joined the Center as a Visiting Fellow in August 2004 and was promoted to Senior Fellow and Senior Lecturer in April 2005).
University of Pennsylvania, Associate Director of the Washington Semester Program, Adjunct Associate Professor of Political Science, taught advanced American Government seminar, Independent Study seminar and administered the program from Washington, D.C., July 1999 – June 2004 (on leave 2004-2005).
University of South Florida, Associate Professor, Department of Government and International Affairs, won award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching, taught the following courses: American National Government, the American Presidency, Presidential Campaigns and Elections, and the Honors seminar. Responsibilities also included Director of Political Science Honors Program and the USF Washington, D.C. Internship program, appointed December, 1993-August 1999.
Ph.D. (1993), M.A. (1989), University of Virginia
B.A. Georgetown University (1985)
The President's Advisors: An analysis of women on the president's "A Team"
Tracking turnover in the Trump administration
Why is Trump's staff turnover higher than the 5 most recent presidents?
Keeping his promises? Black presidential appointments in the Biden administration
Nicol Turner Lee and Kathryn Dunn Tenpas
Trump is putting American lives at risk by blocking the transition
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas and Melody Barnes
The Washington Post Friday, November 13, 2020
External Article
Words vs. Deeds: President George W. Bush and polling
Campaigning to Govern: Presidents Seeking Reelection
More from Kathryn Dunn Tenpas
How is Biden's presidential transition going?
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas and Adrianna Pita
Presidential transition process: Understanding the obligations, obstacles, and urgency
How instability and high turnover on the Trump staff hindered the response to COVID-19
Webinar: How federal job vacancies hinder the government's response to COVID-19
And then there were ten: With 85% turnover across President Trump's A Team, who remains?
Crippling the capacity of the National Security Council
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