To kick off our inaugural issue of our newsletter, we sat down with Vice President for Information Technologies and CIO Angela Chen to discuss the road ahead for 2026. From the rise of AI to the invisible infrastructure that keeps our campus running, Angela shares her vision for a semester focused on partnership and practical innovation.

As we get into the spring semester, what would you most like faculty and staff to know about University IT?

As we enter the spring semester, I want faculty and staff to know that University IT is focused on being a thoughtful, dependable partner in your work—not just a provider of technology, but a collaborator in advancing the university’s mission.

Our priorities are stability, security, and service—making sure the systems you rely on every day simply work—while also investing carefully in modernization where it meaningfully improves teaching, research, and operations. We know technology should reduce friction, not add to it, and that principle guides how we set priorities and make decisions.

How do you see IT supporting the teaching, research, and administrative work happening across campus?

University IT supports the university in three core ways:

• Teaching & Learning: We work to ensure classrooms, learning platforms, and digital tools are reliable, accessible, and evolving to meet instructional needs. Our role is to enable flexibility and innovation while preserving academic integrity and student privacy.

• Research: We partner with faculty and research units to provide secure infrastructure, data stewardship, and computing environments that support discovery—while meeting sponsor, regulatory, and compliance requirements.

• Administration: We focus on modernizing systems and processes so faculty and staff spend less time navigating technology and more time on mission‑critical work. That includes improving data quality, system integration, and user experience across administrative services.

Across all three areas, our goal is the same: make technology an enabler, not a barrier.

What’s one area of IT work that you think doesn’t get enough visibility, but is critical to the university running smoothly?

One of the least visible—but most critical—areas of IT work is foundational infrastructure. We are currently executing a 10-year rolling plan for campus network maintenance and a 3-year strategic roadmap for identity and access management.

When these long-term strategies work, they go unnoticed—your Wi-Fi simply connects and your ID card opens the door. But that seamless experience requires constant, proactive planning behind the scenes to prevent friction before it ever reaches you.

Behind the scenes, teams are constantly working on:

• Identity and access management

• Data protection and cybersecurity

• System integrations and reliability

• Compliance with federal, state, and sponsor requirements

When these efforts are successful, they’re largely invisible—but they are essential to protecting university data, enabling collaboration, and keeping core services available around the clock. Much of IT’s work is about preventing problems before they affect the campus, which often means you never see the issue at all.

AI is top of mind for many across higher education. How is IT thinking about AI in a way that’s responsible, practical, and supportive of the university’s mission?

AI presents real opportunities—but also real risks—and our approach is intentionally measured and collaborative.

University IT is focused on:

• Responsible experimentation, supported by clear governance and review

• Practical use cases that demonstrably support teaching, research, or operations

• Strong attention to privacy, security, accessibility, and academic integrity

Rather than moving fast for its own sake, we are creating pathways for faculty and staff to explore AI tools safely. A prime example of this is our upcoming Tech Open House on March 10, where we are launching an "AI Alley" specifically for this kind of hands-on discovery.

This space will allow faculty, staff, and students to test our secure pilots for Gemini and Microsoft Copilot and see our UD Companion chatbot in action. Crucially, it also connects our community directly with the experts—attendees can meet the leadership of the First State AI Institute to discuss the broader implications of these tools.

Our goal is not to “deploy AI everywhere,” but to use forums like this to learn together where it adds real value—and where it doesn’t.

How can faculty and staff best share feedback or ideas with IT?

We strongly encourage engagement and feedback. One of the most effective ways to share ideas is by reaching out directly through your college or unit’s IT leadership and liaisons, or by participating in governance committees like the ICRSS within the Faculty Senate. We also invite you to join working groups and pilots when those opportunities arise, as hands-on partnership often leads to the best outcomes.

For broader input, please take the time to complete our upcoming customer satisfaction survey to help us align our goals with campus needs. You can also continue to use established channels like askit@udel.edu for specific requests. Ultimately, we value early input—regardless of the method—because it helps us prioritize and design solutions that actually fit how work happens on campus.

Looking ahead to the rest of the academic year, what is the fundamental commitment you want to make to our partners across the university regarding how IT will support their success?

I’d like to emphasize that University IT’s work is fundamentally about partnership. Technology decisions are never just technical—they affect people, workflows, and the academic mission.

As we move through the semester, my commitment is that IT will:

• Listen first

• Be transparent about tradeoffs and constraints

• Invest where impact is highest

• Support innovation without compromising trust or stability

Thank you for the work you do every day in teaching, research, and service. We look forward to continuing to support you—and learning with you—in the months ahead.