Karen Middleton

She lost the race to represent Colorado's 7th Congressional district to Republican Patricia Hayes, earning 49% of the popular vote.

Karen Middleton (born February 24, 1966 ) is an American politician who served as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2004 to 2008 and 2008 to 2011.

Karen Middleton was born on February 24, 1966.

Middleton earned her undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1988, graduating with a B.A. in political science and women's studies.

While in college, she served as president and vice-president of Mount Holyoke's Student Government Association and was elected baccalaureate speaker.

After graduation, she worked for a year as the coordinator of regional activities at Dana Hall School, an all-girls school in Massachusetts, where she organized alumni events and groups.

Afterwards, she joined the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington DC, as manager of development programs, raising funds for international programs.

In 1992, Middleton enrolled in the graduate program at the University of Colorado at Denver.

There, she co-created and co-chaired the political science graduate student association and served on the campus-wide steering committee for the Auraria Women’s Network.

While in graduate school, she also worked as director of development for the Montessori School of Denver (from 1992 to 1994), and then as director of operations for alumni and development at the University of Denver College of Law (from 1994 to 1996), developing and managing capital and giving campaigns.

In addition to her professional activities, Middleton was a board member of Colorado Women's Agenda from 1994 to 2004, serving as its president from 1995 to 1999, and was a member of the DU International Human Rights Institute/Advocacy Center Advisory Board from 1998 to 2003.

Middleton graduated with an M.A. in political science in 1996, with a thesis titled An Analysis of State Campaign Finance Reform.

Middleton joined the staff of the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies in April 1996, first as Director of Admissions and Student Affairs and rising to the post of Assistant Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, overseeing graduate student recruitment, enrollment, and management.

While working in higher education administration, Middleton co-chaired the Association of Professional Schools for International Affairs Admissions Officers, attended the National Association for Women in Education's Academy of Leadership in Higher Education, and received the Woman Leader of Excellence Award from the Colorado Women’s Leadership Coalition in 1997 and the University of Denver Excellence in Education Award in 1998.

In 1997, Middleton entered the graduate program in higher education policy at the University of Denver.

She spent 10 years pursuing a doctoral degree, was ABD (all but dissertation), but ultimately took a second master's and ended her graduate career.

While a graduate student, she chaired the University of Denver's Graduate Women's Council from 2000 to 2002 and was a board member of the university's alumni association from 2003 to 2004.

She was also hired as manager of program consulting at eCollege in 2000, and quickly promoted to director of the Center for Internet Technology in Education.

At eCollege, an online learning company specializing in online course development, she managed public affairs, online learning conferences, and consulting operations.

In 2000, Middleton graduated from the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training and earned certification from the Institute for Management of Distance Education.

In 2001, Middleton joined the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications, a project of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, as a senior project coordinator, where she developed resources for online teaching and learning for use by K-12 schools and higher education institutions.

While there, she helped create the North American Council for Online Learning.

Middleton first sought elected office in 2002, campaigning for an elected post on the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

While in the School of Education, she received its Publication Award in 2003 and Service Award in 2006.

From 2003 to 2004, Middleton was vice president for enrollment at Up with People, managing global recruitment and instigating partnerships with the University of Colorado at Denver, as well as communications and marketing for the WorldSmart Leadership Program.

She has also served on the boards of the Aurora Education Foundation (from 2003 to 2006) and the Adams 14 Education Foundation (from 2004 to 2006), on the State of Colorado's Consumer Insurance Council (from 2001 to 2003) and on the Citizen’s Advisory Committee on Housing and Community Development (in 2003).

After a career as a development officer and project manager in the field of education, Middleton was appointed to the Colorado State Board of Education in 2004 and in 2006 won election to a two-year term.

In 2004, she spent several months in an interim position as policy director for the House Minority Office at the Colorado General Assembly, where she was involved in setting policy direction for the Democratic caucus.

While on the state board of education, from 2004 to 2007, Middleton ran a non-profit management firm, Karen Middleton & Associates, working with clients including the Institute of International Education, the Colorado Children’s Campaign and Up with People, focusing on education-related projects.

In November 2004, following the resignation of Colorado State Board of Education member Christine Baca, a Democratic Party vacancy committee appointed Middleton to the board's 7th district seat

She was elected to serve for the final two years of the unexpired term in November 2006, defeating Republican Lee Kunz with 55 percent of the popular vote.

She also taught political science part-time at Community College of Aurora, and completed a second master's degree, in higher education policy, from the University of Denver, in 2007.

In March 2007, Middleton joined ScholarCentric, an educational publishing company, as Vice President of Development.

In June 2007, she was promoted to Vice President of Sales and Development.

In February 2008, Middleton was appointed as a state representative to fill the vacancy in Aurora, Colorado's District 42 left by the resignation of Rep. Michael Garcia from the Colorado House of Representatives.

Middleton was elected to a full term in 2008.

While Middleton served in her first legislative session, she was pregnant with her first child, Zoe Grace Middleton, who was born in August 2008.

Middleton worked full-time while pursuing her doctorate.

In the 2010 election, Middleton withdrew her candidacy to accept a position in San Francisco, CA as president of Emerge America, and was succeeded in office by Rhonda Fields.

In 2013, Middleton left her Emerge America position to accept an offer to become Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, and state affiliate of NARAL Pro-Choice America.