Maddie Fellner, '25, on Stern Plaza by autumn-colored trees

Understanding what makes people tick

November 6, 2024

The glow of a large-screen TV backlit University of Richmond’s Whitehurst Living Room, where students packed in to watch the presidential election returns last night. As they munched pizza and sipped beverages, Maddie Fellner explained that they would watch different stations throughout the night to ensure broad, diverse coverage. As president of the political science honor society Pi Sigma Alpha, she helped coordinate the watch party attended by College Democrats, College Republicans, and PSA members.

Participating in these kinds of activities exposes the senior from Atlanta to many political perspectives, tapping into her fascination with people and the motivations driving their behaviors. Similarly, her academics contribute to her understanding of people.

“I particularly love learning how to make a business work based on people,” said the aspiring human resources professional. “My leadership studies and political science majors and psychology minor are at the intersection of this question. For example, in Dr. Sam Director’s Leadership Ethics class, I am learning how people view the world, which will help me understand how they view the workplace. I just wrote a paper for this class on how utilitarianism can be used to approach ethical dilemmas in HR.”

For the past two years, Fellner has applied lessons learned in the classroom to her campus job as a peer advisor for Career Services. She advises students on developing resumes and cover letters and leads workshops on interviewing, job fairs, graduate school opportunities, and more. “I get a lot of fulfillment out of helping people find what they want to do with their careers,” she said, “and in the process, I’ve learned a lot about what I want.”

But she said it was her 2023 summer job as a human capital and leadership development intern at the financial services firm Edward Jones that convinced her to pursue a career in human resources. “I had a transformative experience working with the Edward Jones HR leadership development team,” she said. “I woke up excited to go to work every day, because I could see the impact our work had on people. I especially loved working on talent retention and leadership development.”

As a senior, Fellner continues to embrace campus opportunities to understand how and why people think and act the way they do. For the past two years, she has participated as a McDowell Institute Student Fellow in lively discussions with peers, faculty, and guest speakers who bring diverse perspectives to bear on important social and political issues.

“This year we’re discussing marriage—the implications of getting married or not getting married,” she said. “It’s important to have hard conversations like this. No one can find common ground if you’re not willing to have uncomfortable conversations.”

For her Jepson School of Leadership Studies honors thesis, Fellner is researching Florida’s 2022 Parental Rights in Education bill, with Dr. Crystal Hoyt serving as her faculty advisor. Referred to by detractors as the Don’t Say Gay bill, the law forbids public school teachers from teaching children in kindergarten through third grade about sexual orientation and gender identity. It requires that any classroom instruction and discussion of these topics in grades four through twelve be “age appropriate and developmentally appropriate.”

“Although the impact of this law on all LGBTQ+ students warrants research, my thesis will focus specifically on whether the bill has led to stigmatization of gay students,” she said.

Seeking to understand people’s stances on issues such as marriage and sexual orientation interests Fellner and, she hopes, will help her relate to a diverse workforce. “Understanding people’s motivations, what they have a stake in, makes you a better leader and colleague,” she said.