State Representative Karen Middleton 2009 Colorado Faculty Member

State Representative Karen Middleton represents West Central Aurora.  She was initially appointed to fill a vacancy on February 13, 2008, and then elected to continue in her seat through 2010.  She was recently elected to a leadership position as the Majority Caucus Chair.  Karen serves on the House Education Committee and the State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. Karen served on the State Board of Education from November 2004 –February 2008.

She has extensive professional experience in K-12 and higher education, and has previously worked for an education publishing company, ScholarCentric, that offers a dropout prevention curriculum.  She has taught political science at the Community College of Aurora.  

In 2004, she served as Policy Director for the Democratic Caucus in the State House of Representatives, and previously worked for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), the Center for Internet Technology in Education at eCollege, and as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver.  While at WICHE, she was instrumental in establishing the North American Council for On-Line Learning, an international association of online K-12 schools.

Karen received a 2007 “Colorado’s Movers and Shakers Award” from The Colorado Statesman.  Karen serves as a trainer for the White House Project, a program that trains women seeking elected office. She is a member of the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training Class of 2000.

Karen holds a B.A. degree from Mount Holyoke College, an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Denver, and an MA in Higher Education Organization and Governance at the University of Denver.  She is married to Aurora City Council Member Larry Beer.  Karen has two stepdaughters, Molly (14) and Katie (11), and on August 19, 2008, she and Larry had a daughter, Zoe Grace Middleton.