Madeleine Dean, Esq., ’81

She goes by Mad. When you are the youngest of seven siblings, you learn how to simplify.  Maybe that explains just how Madeleine Dean, Esq., ’81, Representative of Pennsylvania’s 4th Congressional District which, recently redrawn, includes Montgomery County and parts of Berks County, has accomplished so much. 

A fresh graduate of Abington High School, Dean was elected a committee person in her hometown of Glenside, Pa., at the age of 18. Earning her bachelor’s degree in English from La ­Salle, she went on to graduate from Widener University Delaware Law School in 1984. 

She has served as a lawyer, an educator at La ­Salle, and as an Abington Township commissioner. Prior to her election to Congress, Dean represented the 153rd District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Today, she can be found everywhere from Washington, D.C. to CNN, representing her District and fighting for what she cares about most: oversight and government reform, appropriations, judiciary, transportation, and infrastructure. 

Growing up in a large, engaged family taught Dean more than just how to simplify. She told WHYY that it prepared her for public service and bipartisanship. “In a family like mine, we are diverse,” she said. “Diverse in our interests, diverse in our ideals, even though we all grew up under the same roof. We made sure to try to find a compromise.”

Her journey to Capitol Hill was highlighted by being part of the group, named The Fab Four, that brought women back to the seats of Congress in the Commonwealth. “Eighteen congressmen, two senators… 20 federal representatives, and
not one woman,” she said. “None.” Until, that is, she was
sworn in alongside Mary Gay Scanlon, Susan Wild, and
Chrissy Houlahan.

That’s why Dean, or Mad, remains mindful of exactly how she wants to represent her District and the Commonwealth. “I taught writing and rhetoric at La ­Salle University,” she said. “I always told my students, ‘Prize your words. Value your words. Don’t say things that are histrionic or untrue and make your arguments those ways.’”