The Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering could become an independent unit at the University of Washington, after a task force recommended separating it from the College of Engineering.

Allen School faculty voted 83-0 in late September to support exploring independence, according to the school.

Thirteen faculty members did not vote because they were absent or on leave.

The task force report, as first reported by GeekWire, described a "difficult relationship" between the Allen School and the College of Engineering and "significant distrust" across campus over resources and priorities.

UW's successes in computing and AI, the report concluded, have come "not because of the organizational structures we have in place but in spite of them."

The stakes extend well beyond campus.

Nearly 100 graduates from the Allen School's 2025-26 class went to work full time at Amazon. More than 70 joined Google, Microsoft or Meta, according to a school survey cited by GeekWire. More than 150 companies hired its graduates.

As an independent, college-level school, the Allen School would control its own tuition revenue and research grant funding directly. Its leader would gain a seat alongside UW's other deans when the university sets strategy on AI. The task force said computing has largely lacked that voice.

UW President Robert J. Jones and Provost Tricia Serio said in an Oct. 19 letter to the UW community that they are not making a decision yet. They announced two implementation committees working in parallel. One will plan for a possible independent Allen School.

The other will develop a campus-wide "Federation of Information, Computing and Society" to coordinate AI and data science work across UW.

Both committees are due to report by the end of winter quarter, around March 2027. UW leaders plan to announce next steps in spring 2027. Any changes would still need Faculty Senate and Board of Regents approval, with a target of implementation by the end of the 2027-28 academic year.

College of Engineering Dean Nancy Allbritton, in a statement to GeekWire, called the relationship "complex rather than difficult." She said the college supports the university's decision to evaluate the recommendations and noted that the College of Engineering has nearly doubled in size over the past decade.

The Allen School awarded more than 800 undergraduate and graduate degrees in 2025-26.

It is roughly half the size of the rest of the College of Engineering. A separation would carry "significant short- and long-term financial implications," the report acknowledged, and suggested options such as permanent financial support for the college to offset the loss.

The nine-member task force was co-chaired by Andy Connolly of UW's eScience Institute and Kathy Yelick of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Members included Dan Grossman, the Allen School's interim director, and Anne Szeto of Amazon. The group gathered input from 437 members of the UW community through interviews, listening sessions and a town hall that drew 213 participants.

As an interim step, Jones and Serio invited Grossman to join the Board of Deans and Chancellors. Grossman called the invitation "a reflection of the Allen School's scale and reach."

The prospect of independence traces back to 2017, when a $40 million gift from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen created the school.

The gift agreement said the school would "remain a unit of the College of Engineering, at least for the time being."

It also anticipated the school could someday become "a free-standing School or College," according to a copy obtained by GeekWire.

The task force recommended that the Allen School's separation not be finalized until the proposed federation is up and running. Campus opinion on independence was "genuinely divided," the report said, with other units worried the Allen School would win independence while the federation never received real resources.