name

Associate Professor of Political Science at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

An expert on mathematical models of leadership and presidential operations, Professor Sullivan co-founded and acts as Executive Director of the White House Transition Project, a multi-institutional consortium to assist in peaceful political transitions in the United States and elsewhere. He also manages the Presidential Transition Project at The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

What's New

Letter of Thanks from President George W. Bush

For his efforts in the 2000-01 transition and then again in the 2008-09 transition, Professor Sullivan recently received a letter of thanks from President George W. Bush. The letter read in part, "Thank you for taking the time to share your expertise. An orderly transition is critical to the smooth functioning of our Federal Government, and I am grateful for your contributions."

Transition Study in Public Administration Review

The first ever study detailing the complex of questions that presidential nominees must answer, how much overlap and redundancy they face, and how intrusive these question become will appear in an upcoming issue of Public Administration Review, the scholarly community's most widely read journal on matters of administration science. The study, entitled "[1] Reducing the Adversarial Burden on Nominees — Feasible Strategies for Fixing the Presidential Appointments Process," uses the White House Transition Project's Appointments Inquiry database to assess a number of reform strategies and their impact on nominees. It also proposes a strategy designed to reduce the burdens on nominees by 31% without reducing the information obtained from them for vetting.


Considering the 100 Days

January 14, 2009, Professor participated in a panel at the National Archives main building in Washington, DC. Sponsored by the National Archives and the White House Historical Association, the panel presented scholarly assessments of the transition process and of the upcoming 100 days period. Professor Sullivan has developed the only data set on the hundred days activities of Presidents Eisenhower through George H. W. Bush.

Participant in the President's Transition Coordinating Council

As part of his continuing work on preparing the 2009 presidential transition, the White House invited Professor Sullivan to attend a meeting of the Transition Coordinating Council, involving all elements of the Bush administration responsible for smoothing the presidential transition. The Council met January 9, 2009.

Spencer-Teagle Teaching Fellows Deploy Their Courses

The University of North Carolina recently named Professor Sullivan one of two Spencer-Teagle Teaching Fellows for 2008-2010. Sponsored by a grant from the Spencer and Teagle Foundations, these fellowships underwrite UNC's commitment to improving undergraduate teaching of both the inquiry process and of writing. Professor Sullivan's spring 2009 course focuses on presidential policy making. He will then act as a University resource with other fellows and future teaching projects. The University will use his course as a model it hopes to promote to its faculty and to the other R1 member universities in the consortium established by the Spencer-Teagle initiative.

Sites of Interest



Professional Interests

Academic Vita

Download vita.(pdf)
Contents:

Professor Sullivan's professional interests focus on formal theories, presidential leadership, public and private leadership, executive (and specifically White House) operations, and legislative procedures (especially the rules of the US House of Representatives). His current projects include continuing work on White House operations (his latest book on the subject: Nerve Center: Lessons on Governing from the White House Chiefs of Staff) and a book on modeling presidential leadership entitled Making A Difference - LBJ, Persuasion, Routine,and Reach in Presidential Leadership.

Professor Sullivan continues to work with The White House Transition Project,which provides scholarly information and assistance to secure a successful presidential transition. It's latest published research, The White House World, compiles an abridged set of its briefing papers on White House operations used by the George W. Bush White House and the Barrack H. Obama transition and White House.


Contact Center

e-mail sullivan@ibiblio.org
hard-mail Political Science
CB#3265, Hamilton 324
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3265
ear-mail 919.962.0413
image-mail 919.962.0432

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You can find versions of current research papers here (all in PDF format):
Current Research Previous Research