Ruth Hardy | |
---|---|
Member of the
Vermont Senate from the Addison district | |
Assumed office January 9, 2019 Serving with
Christopher Bray | |
Preceded by | Claire Ayer |
Personal details | |
Born | 1970 (age 53–54) Tompkins County, New York, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Jason S. Mittell (m. 1997) |
Children | 3 |
Residence | East Middlebury, Vermont |
Alma mater |
Oberlin College University of Texas at Austin |
Profession | State Senator |
Ruth Hardy (born 1970) is an American political figure from East Middlebury, Vermont. A Democrat, she was elected to the Vermont Senate in 2018.
Ruth Ellen Hardy [1] [2] was born in the Tompkins County area of New York circa 1970, [3] a daughter of Robert B. Hardy Jr. and Miriam (Smith) Hardy. [4] Robert Hardy (1930-2005) was a graduate of Cornell University and Cornell Law School, and he served for more than thirty years as an Administrative Law Judge for the New York State Department of Labor. [4] Ruth Hardy was raised and educated in Tompkins County and is a 1988 graduate of Dryden High School in Dryden, New York. [5] [6] [7]
Hardy received a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Oberlin College in 1992 [6] [8] and in 1996 she received a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. [6] [9] She was a fiscal analyst for the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau and specialized in education issues. [6] Hardy moved to East Middlebury, Vermont in 2002. [6]
After relocating to Vermont, Hardy served as executive director of the Open Door Clinic in Middlebury, Vermont. [6] In addition, she worked as assistant budget director at Middlebury College, and director of government grants at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. [6] She also served as executive director of Emerge Vermont, which recruits and trains women to run for public office. [6]
Hardy served three terms on Middlebury-area school boards and was chairwoman of Middlebury's Mary Hogan School Board, co-chairwoman of the Addison Central Supervisory Union Unification Charter Committee, and Chair of the Addison Central School District Finance Committee. [6] She is a graduate of the Snelling Center's Vermont Leadership Institute. [6]
In early 2018, incumbent Democrat Claire D. Ayer announced that she would not be a candidate for reelection to the Vermont Senate in the two-member at-large Addison County Senate District. [6] Hardy announced her candidacy in May. [6] In the November general election, Hardy and incumbent Democrat Christopher Bray were the top two finishers. [10]
At the start of her Senate term, Hardy was appointed to the Committees on Education and Agriculture, and was named clerk of the Agriculture Committee. [6] In addition, she was named to the Senate's special panel on sexual harassment and the Joint Committee on Judicial Retention. [6]
In 1997, Hardy married Jason Mittell, professor of Film & Media at Middlebury College. [1] [6] They are the parents of three children. [6] [3]