2025 Outstanding Recent Alumna
The Outstanding Recent Alumna Award was established in 1992 to honor an alum still in the early stages of their life’s work, but who nonetheless has “used her Scripps education in the quest for personal excellence; demonstrated a willingness to seek out challenges and take risks; and has maintained loyalty to the Scripps community.” The award is presented each year during Reunion Weekend. Read about past recipients here.
Maddy Ruvolo came to Scripps College as a chronically ill 17-year-old who didn’t know anything about disability politics and left as a burgeoning disability activist. These days, Maddy is a Principal Access & Mobility Planner at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, leading the Access Planning and Mobility Services teams in their work to improve the accessibility and usability of the local transportation system.
In 2022, Maddy was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Access Board, an independent federal agency that develops accessibility guidelines and standards. On the Access Board, Maddy chairs the Committee on Frontier Issues, which examines emerging topics in accessible design. In 2024, Maddy was reappointed to the Access Board for a second term.
A national leader on transportation accessibility issues, Maddy frequently speaks on panels, at conferences, and in the media about transportation access. She also mentors early-career urban planners, especially fellow disabled planners. Previously, Maddy worked for the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and the Oakland Department of Transportation. She began her career in disability rights organizations and remains active in Bay Area and national disability communities.
Maddy’s passion for disability issues stems from her time at Scripps, where conversations with friends and professors helped her understand her experience with chronic illness through a disability lens. She subsequently co-founded and led the Claremont Colleges Disability, Illness, and Difference Alliance. She was also a peer mentor and worked at the Writing Center. Maddy graduated summa cum laude in 2014 with a degree in American Studies and served as a Recent Graduate Trustee at Scripps College from 2014-2017. She later earned a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from UCLA.
Maddy lives in San Francisco with her husband and their cats, Muni and Bart.