The MSU College of Social Science announced Madeleine Smith as the recipient of the Dean’s Institutional Access Award. This award recognizes graduate students for displaying an exceptional commitment to fostering an environment in which Institutional Access is understood, valued, respected, appreciated, and practiced.
Madeleine is an economics Ph.D. candidate in the fourth year.
“Since my time as an undergraduate economics major, I observed the lack of gender and racial diversity in economics,” she said. “Often, my economics classes had fewer than five women in them and I was one of the few women that would speak up to answer questions. This drove me to want to understand why the field of economics looks this way and to help build a more inclusive culture in my capacity. In my work at MSU, I have sought to understand and document the barriers and challenges that underrepresented economics students experience.”
Madeleine has served in three capacities to further institutional access in the Economics Department: as a member of the department’s Institutional Access Committee and Graduate Student Organization (GSO), and as the coordinator for the Women and Nonbinary People of Economics (WANPOE).
As a member of the Institutional Access Committee, she co-led writing and running climate surveys and facilitating subsequent town halls for graduate and undergraduate students. These surveys and town halls have informed meetings with Economics Department leadership where the committee provided concrete suggestions of venues where the department could make students feel more included, such as graduate student workshops.
In her role in the GSO, she conducted a survey of job market candidates to produce a report for the graduate students which illuminated the hidden curriculum - the unofficial, unwritten, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school, distinct from the formal academic curriculum - particularly for first-generation graduate students.
The WANPOE facilitates events for women and nonbinary graduate students in economics, who are underrepresented in the field. As coordinator, Madeleine organized a virtual alumni panel, bringing five women to share about their careers in economics.
“We discussed topics generally omitted from our professional development opportunities, such as navigating male-dominated workplaces and taking maternity leave,” she said.
She also maintains her relationships with two mentees who are in earlier years of the program, one is now the WANPOE coordinator, and the other is on the GSO. She continues to mentor these women to help them succeed in the program and to encourage them to further improve the experience of underrepresented groups in economics.
“Madeleine has an exceptional work ethic and an unwavering commitment to Institutional Access work,” said Professor Stacy Dickert-Conlin, professor of economics and Madeleine’s dissertation advisor. “She’s a leader in our department in addressing and challenging inequities. The MSU Council of Graduate Students recognized her efforts by awarding her the COGS Diversity Equity and Inclusion Award in fall of 2025.”
In addition to her service to the department and others, Madeleine’s research focuses on historically marginalized groups and how policy affects them. In her research on school racial desegregation, she has coauthored a paper with a fellow graduate student in which they analyze data from a partnership with a desegregation program in St. Louis, the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC). They recently traveled to St. Louis to present this research at a VICC Board meeting, sharing their progress and learning more about the history of the program.
“I look forward to continuing our work on this project to contribute to knowledge on St. Louis education policy,” she said. “I hope to continue this project and similar projects in my career post-graduation.”
In her career, Madeleine plans to continue her research on issues that affect historically marginalized groups.
“In my career, I will continue this research agenda to address ongoing inequality by race and gender,” she said. “I plan to work as a researcher in a policy-oriented position and to embody my values in my research and in my interpersonal role in my future workplace.”
Madeleine is thankful to reflect on and appreciate how she’s contributed to the changes in the Department of Economics.
“I am honored that the College of Social Science and faculty in my department recognized my efforts in making the Economics Department more inclusive,” she said. “The work of institutional access often feels small and marginal when in the midst of it. Going through the application process, I took stock of the broader efforts in the Economics Department that I had the opportunity to contribute to, and I can see that, over time, conditions can improve for underrepresented students.”