CIO Welcome Letter
Welcome Villanova Class of 2029!
Dear students and family,
Congratulations on starting your journey at Villanova University! Technology is a crucial part of our core mission and goals, and it will play a central role in your educational experience. You are joining the Villanova community during an exciting time. Within the University Technology Services, formerly known as University Information Technologies (UNIT), we are committed to the principle of being firmly rooted in the Augustinian principles of Veritas, Unitas, and Caritas while remaining restless.
In the pursuit of this commitment, Technology Services has recently announced our new TechNova 2026 campus technology strategic plan. The plan will drive a revolutionary transformation of our campus technologies to meet your needs today and throughout your time at Villanova, from a new personalized digital experience to launching a next-generation learning management system next summer, to cutting-edge AI capabilities inside and outside the classroom, to advancing virtual reality through simulations in nursing and other fields of study, to building new modern, technology-enabled learning spaces.
In preparation for your transition to Villanova, Technology Services has created a New Student Guide that provides important information about technology use at the University. Additionally, I would like to highlight some key points for you:
- Please continue to work through your new student checklist, which can be found on MyNova.
- Review the student toolkit, which provides essential guides, like how to set up your account, computer requirements, and additional tools and tips to help you navigate campus technology with ease.
- Download Microsoft's Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and more) and is available to the Villanova community at no charge.
- Lastly, within the next year, you will be required to do security training in support of our Securitas program, which explains multiple security requirements and provides a framework for safeguarding information.
We encourage you to review our knowledge base section on how to protect our data, which includes your data.
We are excited to welcome you to Villanova.
Our team is dedicated to supporting your success and helping you make the most of your time here.
Best,
Tej Patel
Vice President for Information Technology
and Chief Information Officer