Madeline Chisholm

About the Author

Meet Madeline
Madeline Chisholm has spent more than 25 years as a teacher, mentor, and program director, guiding thousands of students toward meaningful futures. She has worked alongside surgeons, biomedical researchers, engineers, and community leaders to create sustainable work-based learning programs that connect education to life beyond the classroom.

From forging collaborations with professionals at the Naval War College to developing new opportunities with oncologists at Brown University, Madeline has made a career of transforming chance opportunities into lasting systems.

Her mission is simple: give every student the chance to imagine—and prepare for—the future they deserve.

The Book

Redesign: From Serendipitous to Programmatic
How Work-Based Learning Transforms Students and Schools

Redesign is both memoir and manual. It shares the stories of students whose lives were changed by access to authentic, hands-on learning, while offering practical guidance for teachers, administrators, and policymakers looking to build similar opportunities in their own schools.

Through powerful partnerships with pioneering organizations like University Orthopedics, the University of Rhode Island School of Pharmacy, and the Rhode Island Nursing Education Center, Madeline has transformed one-time internships into true, enduring pathways to success. She has done this not just by creating a program, but by building a movement—one that extends all the way to the national stage with Health Occupations Students of America competitions—to show our students that their dreams of a real career are within reach.

Why Now:
In today’s rapidly changing world, students need more than textbooks. They need confidence, transferable skills, and authentic connections to the industries shaping their future. This book offers educators and leaders the tools to make that happen.