Carolyn (Carrie) Washburn is a retired Assistant Academic Dean.

Carrie Washburn, first hired in 1977 as Coordinator for Academic Programs and eventually an Assistant Academic Dean, remained for thirty years at the center of the university's academic development, directing several programs (Winterim, the Summer Session, Prelude and others) and overseeing the curriculum in the years of implementation of the new vision for the university brought by President Phil Phibbs and Dean Tom Davis. The university was increasingly centered in the faculty and the students, it was characterized by a collaborative style and, in spite of increasing pressure to corporatization in academia, it continued that way into the 21st century under the administration of presidents, deans and associate deans who were themselves academics. She characterizes the different styles of the academic deans, especially Tom Davis and Kris Bartanen, with whom she worked closely over the decades.

Carrie was a strong advocate for feminism and for the peace movement (as she says,"she brought all of herself to work"). She gives an account of the early stages of the Women Studies program, one of the first in the country to bring the women's movement, a force within the community, into the university curriculum.