Visit to Villanova University by a Delegation from the Vatican Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems
Twenty-Five Years of Collaboration
Nearly twenty-five years after the first technical internship inside the Vatican carried out with students from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, a delegation from the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems of the Governorate of Vatican City State visited the campus of the American university, which had been previously attended by Pope Leo XIV.
The visit followed a structured program that included institutional meetings, in-depth discussions on ongoing academic projects, and tours of particularly significant technological facilities. The initiative represented an important opportunity to assess the results achieved over time thanks to the well-established exchange program between Villanova University and the Governorate.
The delegation from the Directorate, composed of Davide Giordano and Monica Giuliano, was welcomed by Prof. Daniel Joyce, Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Prof. Frank Klassner, a faculty member of the same department and director of the CAVE project (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment). During the day, a meeting was also held with several students who had taken part in the most recent edition of the internship, which took place between September and December 2025.
Subsequently, the delegation visited the Office for Education Abroad, where, together with its director Liz Campanella, they discussed the outcomes of the exchange program and prospects for the development of new joint initiatives. The visit continued with a tour of the campus, which covers an area of more than 170 hectares and includes academic buildings, student residences, common spaces, and student services.
In the afternoon, Prof. Klassner presented the CAVE project, an immersive multimedia environment used for applications in the museum, scientific, and educational fields. In this context, several examples of virtual tours were shown, including content developed by Villanova students as part of the collaboration with the Governorate. An augmented reality “sandbox” was also demonstrated, designed to simulate geological transformation phenomena of the landscape in real time.
During the visit, the delegation also met with Dr. Adele Lindenmeyr, Dean of the College, and Dr. Joseph Lennon, Associate Dean. During the meeting, the long-standing history of the exchange program was recalled, highlighting its progressive consolidation and strategic value for both institutions.
The visit concluded with a positive assessment and with the confirmation of the launch of the next winter edition of the exchange program, scheduled to begin in early February 2026, as further evidence of the continuity and strength of the collaboration between Villanova University and the Governorate of Vatican City State.
