Accounting Instructor Celebrates Daughter at Paris Olympics

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Posted on August 14, 2024 by Dionne Castor

Dionne Castor

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Ellen Madden, a senior instructor of accounting at the Mitchell College of Business, cheered at the Paris Aquatics Centre this month as her daughter, Paige, took home two Olympic medals for Team USA. The experience was particularly special as spectators were not allowed at the 2020 Tokyo Games due to COVID-19 restrictions.  

“It was so fun to watch her at the Olympics in person,” said Madden. “We were not able to do that in Tokyo when she won a silver medal on the relay. It was gratifying to see her grit and grace come to fruition. (In Olympic-size pools) she is now the second fastest American in history in the 800 free and the fourth fastest in history in the world!”  

Paige participated in three Olympic swimming events: the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, in which she won a silver medal, the 800-meter freestyle, in which she won an individual bronze medal, and the 400-meter freestyle, in which she finished sixth.

Ellen Madden, a licensed certified public accountant, worked in private industry before teaching at South. Her courses include Financial Accounting and Auditing. .

She has been named the Mitchell College of Business Instructor of the Year four times and in 2020 was awarded the Outstanding Educator Award by the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants.

“I fell in love with teaching,” Madden said. “After working in corporate accounting for so long, I am able to translate that experience into the classroom. So, when I teach inventory, since I worked for a corporation that had many different manufacturing facilities, I can talk about how we handled inventory on the corporate side and bring those real examples to light.”

Madden, an avid sailor, grew up on the shores of Fairhope, Alabama, where swimming and boating were a part of her everyday life, so it is no surprise that her daughter loved the water as well.

Paige, 25, graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Kinesiology and has been a professional swimmer since 2021. In the 2020 Olympics, delayed till 2021 because of COVID-19, she finished seventh in the 400-meter freestyle as well as second as part of the 4x200 relay team.

 “I always told my children that you do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do, and I think that’s what Paige is doing now,” said Madden. “Since she was very young, she loved to swim. So I'm so proud to see her hard work pay off.”

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