Madden did her undergraduate studies at the University of Colorado.[1] She then spent two years with the Peace Corps teaching mathematics in Cameroon before returning to the US for graduate study.[2]
She completed her Ph.D. in 1994 at the University of Maryland, College Park; her dissertation, On the Existence and Consequences of Exotic Cocycles, was supervised by Nelson G. Markley.[3]
Before joining California State University, Bakersfield as associate dean in 2015,[1]
she was a faculty member in the mathematics department at Lafayette College[2]
and then at Drew University, where she also served as chair of the department and associate dean. At California State University, Bakersfield, she was appointed interim dean in 2016 and permanent dean in 2017.[1] She served in this position until 2021, at which time she retired to a part-time position in the faculty.[4]
