Welcome to the University of Mary Washington! As a UMW student, you'll find that having a computer is essential to a successful academic career. While we don't require that students bring computers to campus, we strongly recommend that they do so. Students use computers to access the Internet, search the library's electronic resources, register for classes, check their grades, write papers, create multimedia projects and communicate with others. Most faculty rely on email as a way of communicating with their students, and many instructors post class material in Blackboard, our course management software.

For these reasons, the UMW Department of Information Technologies (DoIT) is committed to supporting your technology needs, assuring your success and satisfaction as you bring a computer to campus. DoIT assists the entire University community in maintaining its commitment to academic excellence by supporting technology needs such as network access, training, troubleshooting, and other services. In particular, the technology resources available to you as a UMW student include:

• direct Internet connections in all residence halls,
• an e-mail account,
• access to computers in public labs,
• file storage space on central servers,
• training,
• computing help through the Help Desk, and
• wireless access in certain areas on campus.

Other services that the university provides are:

• cable TV connections, and
• telephone service in residence halls.

We've put together this web site to address any questions that you might have concerning these resources and student computing needs. As additional questions arise, we encourage you to contact the Help Desk via email: HelpDesk@umw.edu, or phone: 540-654-2255.