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Madhavi Venkatesan

Degrees

  • PhD, MA, BA, Vanderbilt University
  • MA, Harvard University
  • MELP, Vermont Law School

Contact

Biography

Madhavi Venkatesan MELP’16 earned her doctorate, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in economics from Vanderbilt University and has published three economics textbooks under the series A Framework for Sustainable Practices: Economic Principles: A Primer, Foundations of Microeconomics, and Foundations for Macroeconomics. In 2019 she published her fourth text, SDG8 – Sustainable Economic Growth and Decent Work for All. She is presently under contract for her text, Economics of Sustainability, which is scheduled to be published by Springer in late 2024/early 2025.

Following her employment as an equity analyst and investor relations officer, in 2016, Madhavi established Sustainable Practices, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission “to facilitate a culture of sustainability as defined by reducing the human-made impact to the planet and its ecosystems” within Barnstable County, Massachusetts and is the organization’s executive director. In 2019, Sustainable Practices initiated the Municipal Plastic Bottle Ban campaign and in spring 2020, facilitated the Commercial Single-use Plastic Water Bottle Ban. As of year-end 2020, the Municipal Ban has been adopted by all 15 Cape towns that constitute Barnstable County, and the Commercial Ban was adopted at respective Town Meetings in nine. In January 2023, the organization began an additional campaign, the Plastic Reduction Initiative, which will focus on the elimination of single-use takeout materials and cutlery. Two towns have adopted the ban. Both the Commercial Ban and Plastic Reduction Initiative remain ongoing campaigns.

As of April 2021, Madhavi serves as the editor in chief of Sustainability and Climate Change.
Madhavi has received recognition across her career from an invitation to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, to a Fulbright Distinguished Lectureship, to a citation from the governor of Massachusetts for the efforts of the nonprofit she founded. Most recently, on February 29, 2024, USA Today recognized Madhavi as the Woman of the Year for the state of Massachusetts. In May 2024, MacMillan Learning recognized her as their inaugural Instructor Innovation Award recipient for her inclusion of sustainability in the teaching of economics principles.

Curriculum Vitae

Expertise

  • Economics
  • Sustainability

Departments

  • Online Learning Program

Courses Taught

  • Environmental Economics and Markets