Kendall Funk

Kendall D. Funk is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Management in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. She is also a fellow in the Center for Organization Research and Design in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Texas A&M University.

Dr. Funk's research examines the causes and consequences of representation in democratic institutions, with a particular focus on gender, political leadership, and local governance in Latin America. Her scholarship explores how women's representation in elected and bureaucratic offices shapes policy outcomes, public attitudes, organizational performance, and gender equality. More recently, her work has expanded to investigate descriptive representation, political identity, and candidate self-presentation, including how candidates use names and other cues to communicate their group membership.

Her research spans the fields of comparative politics, public administration, and gender and politics, addressing topics such as local government, decentralization, public management, corruption, leadership, and democratic representation. She has published widely in leading peer-reviewed journals including Political Research Quarterly, Politics & Gender, Party Politics, Political Science Research and Methods, Public Management Review, and Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Her work has received multiple awards and has been featured in public-facing outlets including The Washington Post, Fortune, and other international media.