Message From The Dean (cont.)

Insurers, hospitals, health care systems and university researchers here and across the nation are developing new ways to move our health care system to more of a patient-centered and preventative focus, following the lead which Group Health pioneered many decades ago; and where the Affordable Health Care Act is now placing greater emphasis and incentives.  In March, we hosted our first Local Leaders Global Impact Speaker Series on preventative care, a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Leroy Hood which included the Dean of Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Dr. Terry Fulmer.  I recently met with the University of Washington’s School of Public Health Dean, Howard Frumkin, to discuss ways in which the UW and Northeastern can collaborate to help this region become a national leader in promoting wellness.  Let me know if you would like to get involved as we move this issue forward.

In April, we focused our Speaker Series on the future of Video Games for education and health, also known as Serious Games.  Three Game Industry CEOs and Dr. Magy Seif El-Nasr from Northeastern explored what the region needs to do to help promote the use of this powerful medium to promote education.  Out of that forum has come a new regional initiative which I invite those interested to join.  In the STEM area, one of the greatest challenges we face as a state and nation is the tendency of girls in grades 4-7 to lose interest in science and math courses (and career interest in those fields).  If we can increase the number of girls at that stage who get excited about science and math, it would have a giant “bow wave” effect in creating STEM graduates desperately needed by our leading companies in the Northwest and the US.  We are gathering interest among game industry executives, game designers, STEM champions and female technology leaders who would like to see if we can develop a great game (and gaming tools) in this region, which we can test here and, if deemed effective, take to scale.  We plan to have a launch event for this ambitious effort on Friday, June 28 from 12-2 PM here at the Northeastern – Seattle campus.  Our next newsletter issue will give you more information on this.  Let me know if you are interested and want to get involved.

While school may be out on many campuses, here at Northeastern-Seattle we are finding a lot of interest in our Project Management, Information Assurance, Computer Science and other academic degree programs as we look ahead to fall registration.  We will be conducting a series of informational workshops for those interested in these programs.  Hope to see you there.  

Finally, I penned an Op-Ed for the Puget Sound Business Journal (subscription required) which was published last week, focusing on Seattle’s future and our challenges and opportunities.  I called for bold steps in four areas: education access, transit, income inequality and the green transformation.  Here is a link for those interested.  I would welcome your thoughts and suggestions on how we move ahead.

Tayloe