Dr. Karen Kunz

Karen Kunz is an associate professor and director of the Master of Public Administration Program at West Virginia University. In addition to teaching graduate courses in public finance and fiscal policy, Dr. Kunz has coauthored two books, When the Levees Break: Revisioning Securities Regulation (2016), and The Cost of Congress (2021, www.thecostofcongress.com), which was supported by a Congressional Research Grant from the Dirksen Center.

She has collaborated on numerous articles on varying topics including public leadership, federal fiscal policies and practices, and political philosophy, and received an award from Emerald Publishers for Outstanding Author Contribution for the book chapter Unsettling the Memes of Neoliberal Capitalism through Administrative Pragmatism.

Prior to joining academia, Dr. Kunz was employed in the financial services industry. She developed and operated a consulting firm in Los Angeles that provided administrative, audit, and compliance services to multinational and boutique firms within the sector.

Dr. Kunz is an active board member and officer for several organizations, including the American Association of Budget & Program Analysts (AAABPA), the West Virginia Center for Budget & Policy, and the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, and a commissioner and treasurer for the Morgantown Utility Board. In addition, she is a U.S. Army Veteran.