About Us

Meet the Committee

The committee meets once a month to develop and coordinate monthly events. Committee members serve a two-year term, from January of even-number years to the end of odd-numbered years, at which time we accept applications for the new term. Committee positions are open to all WIT members; however, chair and co-chair positions are reserved for women employees in the Department of Digital Transformation & Technology. 

Urjita Dani, Chair
Assistant Director Finance HR Ecommerce Systems

Urjita has been with ODU since 2005 and takes pride in working closely with the Office of Finance, HR, Payroll, ISSS, Continuing Education, Procurement and other departments to provide IT support for ODU's ERP and Student Information System and supporting core university services. Urjita frequently collaborates with other departments within Old Dominion University to provide Ecommerce support and maintain online payment sites while ensuring those solutions are secure and PCI compliant.

She has worked on several new initiatives and provides primary IT support during fiscal year end, Internal Audits, State Audits and banner upgrades along with other IT projects throughout the year. Urjita has been active member with several user groups and works in partnership with peers from other Virginia schools.

Urjita has earned Bachelor's in Science, Bachelor's in Electronics Engineering and Masters in Computer Science. She has been recognized for the Gazelle and Roar awards. Urjita maintains certifications in oracle, project management and sysadmin areas - Oracle Database Administrator Certified Associate, Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate, PMI-ACP, and Sun Certified SysAdmin.

Dawn Witmer, Co-Chair
Director of Strategic Communications, DTT

Dawn joined the IT department at ODU in 2014 as a writer and designer, having very little knowledge of actual information technology. She didn't even know how much she didn't know at the time. But thanks to brilliant and patient colleagues and a healthy dose of curiosity, she is proud to share the stories of ODU's digital transformation and technology with a wide and technically diverse audience.

Dawn has a degree in Communications from Virginia Wesleyan University, but she is constantly learning new things, especially from her two children (both of whom are also proud Monarchs)!

Yin-Hsuen Chen
Senior Geospatial Data Scientist

Yin-Hsuen Chen is a Geospatial Data Scientist at ODU’s Center for Geospatial Science, Education, and Analytics (GeoSEA), where she has been working since 2022. She earned her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Florida and completed a postdoctoral fellowship focused on how human activities affect floodplain systems.

At ODU, Yin-Hsuen enjoys collaborating with faculty and staff across campus and using GIS and remote sensing to tackle real-world problems. Her projects range from studying flooding and hurricane impacts, mapping sea level rise and flood-prone communities, to exploring drone delivery solutions for rural and medically fragile populations. She is especially passionate about working with others to use geospatial science in support of more resilient, sustainable coastal communities, and is always happy to chat about maps, data, or new ideas.

Neha Niphadkar
Data Analyst Manager

Neha Niphadkar joined Old Dominion University in 2022 and holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from the university. She specializes in data analytics and reporting, DataOps, and data governance for higher education. Her expertise includes designing and developing responsible data workflows and systems. She is particularly focused on creating data infrastructure that supports institutional effectiveness while maintaining ethical standards in AI implementation.

Priya Sengar
Data Scientist

Priya joined the ITS team of ODU on September 10, 2020, and has been working as a Data Scientist, working primarily on building machine learning models to enhance students success. Prior to being a Data Scientist, Priya holds a Masters of Data Science from Northeastern University, Boston and Bachelors in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Mumbai University, India. She believes in continuous learning and growing.

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