Senator Ruth Hardy of East Middlebury, Addison County, Democrat was raised in rural central New York State in the Ithaca area, where her mother was a teacher and her father was a state civil servant. Ruth received a BA in Government from Oberlin College in Ohio and a master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Following graduate school, Ruth was a Fiscal Analyst for the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau covering education issues. She moved to East Middlebury, Vermont in 2002. In addition to the ongoing work of raising three children, Ruth has been Executive Director of the Open Door Clinic, Assistant Budget Director at Middlebury College, Government Grants Director at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and Executive Director of Emerge Vermont, which recruits and trains women to run for public office. Ruth served three terms on local school boards and was the last Chair of the Middlebury ID#4 Mary Hogan School Board, before the creation of the Addison Central School District. In addition, Ruth has served on several early childhood education boards, spearheads tree planting initiatives at schools, and is a member of the Ilsley 100 Library Committee. She is a graduate of the Snelling Center’s Vermont Leadership Institute. During the off-session, Ruth teaches courses on politics and public policy at Middlebury College and is a substitute teacher at the Middlebury Union Middle School. Ruth lives with her husband, Jason Mittell, a Professor of Film & Media at Middlebury College, their three almost-grown children, dog Pesto, and small flock of chickens.
Member of the Senate: 2019 - present.