WESTFIELD – Westfield State University President Elizabeth H. Preston announced today that Madeline Landrau and Dr. Linda Slakey have been named as the newest members of the Westfield State University Board of Trustees. Their appointments complete the full 11-member board.
Madeline Landrau has worked at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) for nearly 20 years, most recently in the office of Community Responsibility and as Marketing Director for multicultural market development where she is responsible for leading the development and execution of marketing and recruiting strategies to help the company reach the U.S. Hispanic and Latino markets.
Landrau’s community service efforts include past and current roles as a board member of Habitat for Humanity and Vice Chair at ALMMA, MassMutual’s Employee Resource Group. Previous roles include serving as Board Chair of the City of Springfield Personnel Department, Commissioner of the City of Springfield Libraries, and member of MassMutual’s Women Business Advisory Board. She earned her B.S. and M.S. in Human Services at Springfield College.
“I am looking forward to working with such an elite group of community leaders,” said Landrau. “For me this appointment poses the important questions of ‘What do I share and what do I learn,’ the outcomes of which will drive what we can do collectively. It is an exciting opportunity.”
Landrau is the first non-student Latina to serve on Westfield State’s Board of Trustees.
Dr. Linda Slakey serves as Senior Advisor for the Association of American Universities (AAU) STEM Initiative and as Senior Fellow for Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL)/Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U).
Her career in higher education and research began when she was first appointed to the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1973. Her scientific work focused on lipid metabolism and vascular biology, and was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the National Science Foundation. During her time there, she served as head of the Department of Biochemistry (1986-1991) and dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (1993-2000) and of the Commonwealth College (200-2006). As Dean of NSM and of Commonwealth College she was active in supporting teaching and learning initiatives throughout the university.
Slakey served at the National Science Foundation from 2006 through 2011, as the Director of the Division of Undergraduate Education, and as a Senior Staff Associate in the Office of the Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources. She earned her B.S. in chemistry from Siena Heights College and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Michigan.
“From my perspective in higher education, Westfield State is a campus that has already moved along the trajectory of understanding the importance of methods of instruction that engages students directly and I look forward supporting their further advancement,” said Slakey, professor emerita, University of Massachsusetts, Amherst.
About the Westfield State University Board of Trustees
Comprised of 11 members, the board of trustees is appointed by the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each member is appointed for a five-year term, with the possibility of one additional term of five years. Information about the selection and responsibilities of board members can be found on the DHE website at http://www.mass.edu/forinstitutions/trustees/home.asp
Current trustees including Landrau and Slakey are Robert Johnson ’70, ’72, former president of Special Olympics Massachusetts, Terrell M. Hill, ’92, principal, High School, Inc.; Steven Marcus, ’88, president/CEO of New England Geriatrics; Hon. Luis Perez, former First Justice, Worcester Juvenile Court; Kevin R. Queenin, ’70, Specialty Bolt & Screw Inc.; Hon. Elizabeth D. Scheibel, former Northwestern District Attorney (chair); James C. Hagan, ’84, president, Westfield Bank; and student trustee Joshua Frank ‘15.
