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Carolyn Dupont, a longtime history professor at Eastern Kentucky University who said improving public education would be her top priority, filed today to run in the 39th House District, which includes most of Jessamine and a portion of Fayette counties.

“I am committed to a brighter future for our community and all of the commonwealth, and more than anything, that begins by investing more in public education,” the Democratic candidate said. “All Kentuckians benefit when our schools are successful, and that means working to attract and keep the best teachers, making sure our schools have adequate resources, expanding early childhood opportunities and helping more people attend college. Kentucky’s future walks into the classroom every day, and these students deserve the very best we can give them.”

Dupont has been an associate professor of history at EKU for the past 15 years, spending part of that time on the faculty senate. She is a published author whose writing has also appeared in the Washington Post and the Huffington Post.

She is a member of the CARE Council, a Jessamine County organization of educators that works to close achievement gaps; and she has taught at the Jessamine County Jail as part of its Resilience Program, which seeks to build the life skills of those who are incarcerated.

She is a member of the Nicholasville Rotary Club and is organizing this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration in the city. Her other civic work centers on criminal justice reform and being a member of the Jessamine County 100 Women Who Care organization.

She and her husband, Greg Partain, a professor of music at Transylvania University, have three grown children. In her free time, Dupont is a runner as well as a harpist who performs at church cantatas and other events.