About Kelsey Kauffman
Educator. Community Advocate. Public Servant.
A Life Spent in Service
At 78 years old, Kelsey Kauffman is training for her first triathlon this June. She has spent a lifetime teaching, building community programs, and standing up for people who need a voice. Now she is running for Indiana House District 44 because she believes the families of Putnam and Montgomery Counties deserve a representative who will speak plainly, show up, and fight for what matters.
An Educator Who Gets Results
Kelsey holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University and received an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service from DePauw University in 2022. In 2017, the American Historical Association honored her with the Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award — given once every three years to a teacher who "taught, guided, and inspired their students in a way that changed their lives."
But Kelsey's career has never been about credentials. It has been about classrooms.
She has taught at DePauw University and in three Indiana prisons through Indiana State University. In 2012, she founded and directed the Higher Education Program at the Indiana Women's Prison, where she served until 2017. She has seen firsthand what education can do — not just for students in a lecture hall, but for people rebuilding their lives behind bars. The research backs her up: every dollar invested in prison education saves taxpayers $4 to $5 in reduced incarceration costs, and participants are 43% less likely to return to prison. That is not just compassion. That is common sense.
Kelsey also directed full-time legislative education programs at the Indiana Statehouse — one for DePauw students from 2008 to 2013, and another for formerly incarcerated individuals from 2018 to 2020. She knows how the Statehouse works, and she knows who it works for.
Decades of Community Service
Kelsey has dedicated her life to the young people and families of Putnam County:
- Greencastle Summer Enrichment Program — Kelsey founded this program providing services to low-income elementary school children. It is now in its 38th year.
- Putnam County Youth Radio — A program Kelsey created for teens on probation, giving them a voice and a purpose.
- Putnam County Youth TV — A program for at-risk teens, founded and directed by Kelsey.
- Putnam County CASA Program — Kelsey served as Director of the Court Appointed Special Advocates program in the 1990s, standing up for children in the court system.
- NAACP Greencastle Branch — Kelsey served as President, working to advance civil rights in our community.
Awards and Recognition
Kelsey's work has not gone unnoticed:
- Jefferson Award for outstanding public service
- Larry A. Conrad Civic Service Award — Indiana Volunteer of the Year, from the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns
- Gavel Award from the Putnam County Bar Association for outstanding contributions to the community's understanding of the legal system
- Person of the Year — Putnam County Mental Health Association
- Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award — American Historical Association (2017)
- Honorary Doctorate in Public Service — DePauw University (2022)
A Navy Family, A Hoosier Home
Kelsey grew up in the United States Navy — a life she loved. Her father, Admiral Draper Kauffman, founded both U.S. Navy Bomb Disposal and the Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams, which later became the Navy SEALs. After the war, the family moved frequently, as military families do.
Kelsey and her husband, Bruce Stinebrickner, were delighted to settle permanently in Greencastle in 1987, where they have lived ever since. A full-time mother to their three children through the 1980s and 1990s, Kelsey later returned to public service and teaching. Since retiring from the Indiana Women's Prison in 2017, her greatest joys have been time spent with her three grandchildren and organizing her father's naval papers.
Why Now
Casting a vote should never feel futile. My candidacy exists so that Hoosiers who are deeply concerned about the direction of our state and country can register that concern clearly and publicly.
This campaign is not about demonizing individuals. It is about policies, values, and consequences — and about speaking plainly rather than spinning positions to win elections.
Kelsey is not running because she wants a title. She is running because the people of this district need someone who will actually show up — at the Statehouse, at the school board meeting, at the church supper — and tell them the truth about what is happening to their schools, their healthcare, and their property taxes.
At 78, training for a triathlon, Kelsey has the energy, the experience, and the backbone to be that voice. She has spent her whole life fighting for people who need one.