Madeline Landrau, Linda Slakey Named to Westfield State Board

WESTFIELD — Westfield State University President Elizabeth Preston announced that Madeline Landrau and Linda Slakey have been named the newest members of the WSU board of trustees. Their appointments complete the full, 11-member board.

Landrau has worked at 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’s Personnel Department, commissioner of Springfield Libraries, and member of MassMutual’s Women Business Advisory Board. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees 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.

Slakey serves as senior advisor for the Assoc. of American Universities STEM Initiative and as senior fellow for Project Kaleidoscope for the Assoc. of American Colleges & Universities. Her career in higher education and research began when she was appointed to the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry at UMass 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 Assoc., 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 (2000-2006). 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 bachelor’s degree 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 engage students directly, and I look forward to supporting their further advancement,” said Slakey.