Spotlight: Martha Joynt Kumar and the White House Transition Project
TU political scientist helping to prepare information for people interested in 2009 presidential transition
The orderly transition of power from one administration to the next is one of the distinguishing features of the U.S. political system.
Transitions are a challenging period for presidents-elect, and no one knows that better than Martha Joynt Kumar, TU professor of political science.
Kumar is currently director of the White House Transition Project, and is at work with two dozen presidency scholars preparing information on White House operations for people inside and outside of government interested in the 2009 presidential transition. The nonpartisan project is providing information on past presidential transitions through 2001, the organization of 11 key White House offices, and the environment of White House operations.
The project builds on the earlier White House 2001 Project, which was designed to build an institutional memory for seven White House offices in order to provide the information to new staff coming into the selected positions in 2001. The White House 2001 Project was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and was associated with the Transition to Governing Project of the American Enterprise Institute.
As a scholar with a research focus on the White House, Kumar is interested in presidential–press relations, White House communications operations, and presidential transitions. Her most recent book, Managing the President’s Message: The White House Communications Operation, won the 2008 Richard E. Neustadt Award for the best book on the presidency from the presidency section of the American Political Science Association.
