Alex Guo, a fourth-year student at Michigan State University with a dual major in Humanities-Prelaw and Experience Architecture and double minors in Business and Leadership in Integrated Learning, is the sole student recipient of the 2026 Inclusive Excellence Award presented by MSU’s Office for Inclusive Excellence and Impact. The award recognizes her exceptional and innovative contributions in advancing inclusive excellence and making MSU’s campus a more welcoming place for all.
“I am deeply honored to be selected as the sole student recipient of the Inclusive Excellence Award,” Guo said. “As my time at MSU comes to a close, I’m filled with gratitude for my mentors like Dr. Casey McArdle and my partner Fern who have supported me every step of the way.”
Guo is distinguished by a deep commitment to leadership, advocacy, and service and holds multiple student leadership roles dedicated to equity and accessibility across campus. As an openly trans Asian woman and LGBTQ+ researcher, she also has delivered guest lectures and research talks on queer belonging, accessibility, and inclusive design in higher education.
Since her first year at MSU, Guo has worked as an Undergraduate Learning Assistant for MSU’s College of Social Science, supporting student success in the classroom. She also currently serves as an Outreach Assistant for MSU’s Gender and Sexuality Campus Center, where she connects students with resources and builds affirming community spaces.
Guo also serves on the Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force, a statewide task force that works to develop and implement recommendations to improve voter education and engagement among young people on college and university campuses in Michigan. She was one of the 23 students selected to serve on the task force from nearly 100 applicants from across the state. She will serve on the task force through December 2026. Read more about Guo’s work on this task force in the “College of Arts & Letters Student Named to Statewide Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force” article published by the College of Arts & Letters.
In January 2026, Guo was in Washington, D.C., where she attended and presented at the Creating Change Conference, which is the annual five-day political, leadership, and skills-building gathering for the LGBTQ+ movement and its allies, organized by the National LGBTQ Task Force. The session Guo helped present, titled “Voices for Religious and Queer Freedom: How We’re Fighting Christian Nationalism—and How You Can Too,” explored the intersection of religious freedom and LGBTQ+ equality, and shared concrete ways to push back against white Christian nationalism while building a more inclusive future for all.
Guo presented her undergraduate research project, “Beyond Rhetoric: Building Trans-Affirming Communities,” at the Ignite Talks MSU held on Oct. 29, 2025, and hosted by the MSU Museum CoLab Studio. Inspired by both her lived experience as a trans student and her ongoing work as an LGBTQ+ advocate on campus, Guo’s research project examines how writing, rhetoric, and design can be used to create spaces that affirm and uplift transgender individuals.
Guo served as the first transgender chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer for the Associated Students of MSU from April 2024 to May 2025. In this role, she represented more than 40,000 students advancing initiatives that strengthened inclusion across campus.
In January 2026, Guo began an internship with Teach Access, a nonprofit organization that bridges the accessibility skills gap between education and industry, providing free programs and resources to help students and educators learn the fundamentals of disability and accessibility.
As a Teach Access Intern, Guo focuses on digital accessibility, disability justice, and inclusive user experience design, with particular attention to how design decisions intersect with law, public policy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks.
Throughout her time at MSU, Guo has held more than 20 leadership and service roles actively contributing to over five committees, demonstrating a consistent dedication to institutional change and student empowerment. A true trailblazer in student advocacy, Guo continues to use her voice, scholarship, and leadership to create a more equitable future for all.
Guo plans to graduate from MSU in Fall 2026 and would like to go to law school to become a prosecutor so she can “focus on making our criminal justice system more equitable.”
Every year, Michigan State University recognizes individuals, teams and organizations with Inclusive Excellence Awards for their contributions to inclusive excellence in teaching, research, programming, service, community outreach, and organizational change. Guo and the other 2025–2026 Inclusive Excellence Award recipients will be recognized at the Celebrating Inclusive Excellence Recognition Program and Reception held on Friday, April 3, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center.
By Kim Popiolek
