Landman's first official trustee meeting will not take place until later this fall. "I did attend the trustees' retreat in the Berkshires in June, where the closest thing to a formal induction was a series of handshakes over a beer," Landman said.
Trustee Anne Melissa Dowling '80 said she is looking forward to working with Landman. "I had dinner with Jon and found him to be delightful and very to the point as a news professional would be," she said. "He will add a very practical dimension to our conversations." At the fall meeting, Landman will be assigned to at least one board
committee.
Landman majored in history and earned an M.S. in journalism at Columbia University. He has been the metropolitan editor of The New York Times since 1999 and edited "The Week in Review" section for five years prior. He has worked at The Times since 1987, and previously at Newsday, The Daily News and The Chicago Sun-Times.
As one of three candidates selected as finalists by the Alumni Trustee Nominating Committee, Landman was asked to prepare an answer to a question selected by the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council. "Amherst is in fine shape these days, justly confident of its place in a confusing world," Landman wrote in his answer, which also described his background. "I know this because in three years on the Committee to Nominate Alumni Trustees I was overwhelmed by the wisdom and warmth inhabiting so many branches of the Amherst family."