Tayloe Washburn, the founding dean and CEO of Northeastern University — Seattle, announced on Friday is he stepping down after three years at the helm of the university’s technology-focused satellite campus.
Washburn headed up a lot of the planning and early strategy of the program, which setup shop a stone’s throw away from Amazon’s campus in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. The program was established as a west coast outpost for the Boston-based university, right at a the heart of a “nexus of innovation.”
The program has grown from those early days, and now has three campus buildings where it offers more than 30 degree programs to about 350 students, with an emphasis on science and engineering. Following on the success of the Seattle campus, Northeastern recently announced plans to open a similar outpost in the Silicon Valley.
“Having fulfilled his charter these past three years, Washburn will officially step down at the end of the year,” a Northeastern spokewoman wrote in a release announcing the the news. “Still in its infancy, Northeastern University — Seattle is poised for significant growth and impact in the northwest market.”
