A Farewell Message from Founding Dean Tayloe Washburn
2016 promises to be a year of transformation and discovery for the people and companies of the greater Seattle region. Our Northeastern campus will play a growing role this year, and can be counted on for a great education and continued thought leadership.
Close to 4 years ago, I was approached with the opportunity to start a Seattle outpost of a major nonprofit research university in the heart of Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. I jumped at the chance and the high adventure, learning curve and fulfillment it promised. Several years later, I have not been disappointed, and in fact have enjoyed every day of the journey and working with students, local faculty and my colleagues in Seattle and Boston.
We set out to become true members of the Seattle community and a thought leader in areas that matter to this region. For example, our Seattle campus hosted Rev. Jesse Jackson on two occasions to talk about diversity in the tech sector, and out of these talks the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) and other community groups have put in place practical steps to promote greater diversity.
On campus our computer science ALIGN program makes it possible for students from a diverse background to enter the tech industry. Women and under-represented minorities make up over 75% of our ALIGN population. Our campus conference on Reducing Income Inequality helped inspire other civic leaders to really focus on this area at the last Seattle Chamber Regional Leadership Conference; the Chamber is now laser-focused on trying to retain and create more middle class jobs in this region.
This January, we will kick off in Seattle the first university “Bootcamp” in the high demand area of Data Analytics in our Level program. Intensive training over eight weeks in this program will equip participants to fill important high demand roles in any number of industry sectors.
We set out to help fill the unmet demand for talented students at the graduate level for our leading companies in this region, especially in the STEM and leadership fields. We have grown steadily each year, and now have close to 400 students. We have grown from one to three building locations to accommodate these students and those we anticipate in future years.
Many companies and nonprofits in the technology, retail, and engineering sector are looking to Northeastern for “Co-op” students as a terrific pipeline for new employees. Our growing visibility and reputation in the Pacific Northwest has led to greater applicants to our Boston campus for an undergraduate experience. Northeastern is consistently one of the top-ranked universities in the country for Career Services1 and is ranked in the Top 50 nationally2, making it the highest ranked institution in Washington State.
As I step down as Dean, exciting developments are underway, both at our Seattle Campus and throughout Northeastern’s Global Network. Here in Seattle our Director of Computer Science Director, Dr. Ian Gorton, is working with our computer science students on several research projects in the energy efficiency and sustainable agriculture areas. Further afield, we have recently opened a campus in Silicon Valley and have announced the creation of Northeastern’s first international graduate campus in Toronto. This opens up new possibilities for students, faculty and the companies in each region.
I will continue in 2016 to serve in a consultant capacity at our Seattle campus. We will be hiring my replacement in coming months; meanwhile the needs of our campus will be very well served by our Interim Dean and my trusted right hand colleague, Associate Dean Dr. Paula Boyum. Working with Paula and my growing team of staff and local faculty has been a great privilege and honor for me, and I will always cherish the wonderful experiences we lived through together.
Thanks to all in the community and on my team who have made this founding chapter of Northeastern University-Seattle a memorable time and adventure for me, and stay in touch!
– Dean Tayloe Washburn