Message from the Dean (cont.)

In the last six months, many in Seattle now have some familiarity with Northeastern, and what it brings to the table in general, and here in The Pacific Northwest. We are most fortunate to have located our campus smack in the middle of South Lake Union.  I see an incredible Innovation Corridor in our region, starting in South Lake Union, extending up to the UW and its nascent west campus, and on north to the medical device cluster in the Bothell area. Branches of innovation extend outward in almost every direction.  As I see it, our welcoming culture, entrepreneurial and risk-taking attitude, and collaborative culture in this region and state are key attributes we must preserve and grow in coming years.  If we are strategic in attracting innovative people and companies to this region, there are no limits to what we can accomplish, in terms of economic prosperity, innovation, and positive impacts on the world.  To attain these lofty goals will require leadership at all levels.  Our civic organizations must identify what key infrastructure investments and regulatory incentives are required, and work with our elected officials to put these in place.  Our Seattle area economic development organizations must collaborate closely to attract and retain the captive people and innovative companies in our region.  And, our higher educational institutions need to work closely to produce the graduates needed to meet the region’s talent needs.

The good news on the higher education front is a lot of great collaboration is underway.  Locally, the colleges and post-grad institutions in the downtown area are starting to work collaboratively as a team.    We are encouraging the Downtown Seattle Association to affirmatively market the great educational resources downtown.  I have met recently with the Presidents of Seattle University and Bastyr University, as well as UW Provost, Ana Mari Cauce, to map out areas of research collaboration and pooling student services where we can work as a team. Fourteen higher education institutions are working as one team to improve our state’s computer science graduate capacity under an initiative sponsored by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA).  I would like to see the state as a whole pull together to aggressively market nationally and globally the expertise of our higher education institutions in many key areas of innovation.

Our newest initiative, highlighted in an accompanying article, is to pull together our higher education institutions that have expertise in interactive media (video games) to move the needle with a national initiative to develop one or two compelling games that all kids will enjoy, but is geared to inspire girls in Grades 4-7 to pursue STEM careers. There has been astounding interest in this initiative, which gets off the ground June 28 at the Northeastern University – Seattle campus.

-Tayloe