2008 Woodie Awards
Former lawyer named new UHCS director
Anne Baker
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: News
With a background as a successful lawyer, Madeleine Estabrook will bring a more business-oriented sensibility to University Health and Counseling Services (UHCS) and give it a fresh start, she said.
Estabrook, who began her term as executive director of UHCS Monday, comes from Boston law firm Edwards, Angell, Palmer and Dodge, where she specialized in health care law and advised health care providers, according to her biography on the law firm's website. Her background gives her an advantage in dealing with the problems UHCS faces, she said.
"I don't have a clinical background," she said. "I have, however, represented health care facilities and reviewed their systems from both an operational standpoint and a clinical standpoint to create ways of operation that are efficient, effective, high-quality and meet the needs that are identified by the administration."
Estabrook first started working with Northeastern last summer, said Philomena Mantella, senior vice president for enrollment and student life, when she was hired as a consultant to help evaluate UHCS. As Estabrooks began to work with the institution, she developed a fondness for UHCS and eventually applied for the position of executive director, Mantella said.
Estabrook's application came as a "big surprise," Mantella said.
"She kind of fell in love with the college environment and the center and the people in the center, and she actually applied for the job," Mantella said. "I would not have anticipated that we could ever have recruited Madeline."
The position had been left vacant after former director Roberta Berrien, who had been there for about 2 1/2 years announced her resignation last fall. Berrien's term as executive director, which Mantella called "controversial," saw 23 employees of the center resign, many citing poor employee-management relations with Berrien.
Chris Bourne, who is Student Government Association vice president for student affairs and served as the student voice on the search committee for the new executive director, said Estabrook's appointment had a fair amount of support from the staff.
Estabrook, who began her term as executive director of UHCS Monday, comes from Boston law firm Edwards, Angell, Palmer and Dodge, where she specialized in health care law and advised health care providers, according to her biography on the law firm's website. Her background gives her an advantage in dealing with the problems UHCS faces, she said.
"I don't have a clinical background," she said. "I have, however, represented health care facilities and reviewed their systems from both an operational standpoint and a clinical standpoint to create ways of operation that are efficient, effective, high-quality and meet the needs that are identified by the administration."
Estabrook first started working with Northeastern last summer, said Philomena Mantella, senior vice president for enrollment and student life, when she was hired as a consultant to help evaluate UHCS. As Estabrooks began to work with the institution, she developed a fondness for UHCS and eventually applied for the position of executive director, Mantella said.
Estabrook's application came as a "big surprise," Mantella said.
"She kind of fell in love with the college environment and the center and the people in the center, and she actually applied for the job," Mantella said. "I would not have anticipated that we could ever have recruited Madeline."
The position had been left vacant after former director Roberta Berrien, who had been there for about 2 1/2 years announced her resignation last fall. Berrien's term as executive director, which Mantella called "controversial," saw 23 employees of the center resign, many citing poor employee-management relations with Berrien.
Chris Bourne, who is Student Government Association vice president for student affairs and served as the student voice on the search committee for the new executive director, said Estabrook's appointment had a fair amount of support from the staff.
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