Campus community comes together for Dean celebration
On April 28, students, faculty and community partners joined us in celebrating the retirement of Founding Dean Tayloe Washburn and to welcome new Dean and CEO Scott McKinley to the Northeastern University–Seattle campus.
Philomena Mantella, Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Life at Northeastern, led the formal remarks acknowledging Dean Washburn for his incredible contributions and boundless energy in founding the Seattle campus. She shared anecdotes from his notorious sailing excursions to his dogged approach in launching new initiatives at the Seattle campus. Dean Washburn’s beloved desk made from the steering wheel of a sailboat was presented as a parting gift.
Next Chapter of Northeastern University–Seattle video:
“This is about what we’ve done together these past four years as a community,” said Dean Washburn, sharing three of his proudest accomplishments from his tenure as founding dean:
- 1) Widening the pipeline of STEM talent through the GAMES initiative and Computer Science ALIGN program
- 2) Elevating conversation around income inequality and increasing diversity in the tech sector
- 3) Bringing regional partnerships into the classroom, like the 20 computer science students in an Advanced Software Development course who collaborated with Institute for Systems Biology’s Project Feed 1010 this semester.
Dean Scott McKinley introduced himself to the crowd and said his goal is “not to try and fill Tayloe’s shoes, but rather stand on top of his shoulders and strengthen connection to community.” Dean McKinley invited everyone in attendance and in the surrounding community–from NGOs to informatics and health sciences to computer science, and more–to connect with him and discuss ways Northeastern can contribute and work together to address talent gaps and educational challenges in the region.
View photos from the celebration on Facebook or in our Flickr album:
