2026
2026 CPS NEWS
- Following in Her Father’s Footsteps Toni Mascione ’26 CPS never planned to complete her bachelor’s degree, but a personal connection to Villanova through her late father inspired her to return to school while continuing her career in law enforcement. Through Villanova’s College of Professional Studies, Mascione found an online degree path that supported her work, family life and long-term commitment to public service. As she prepares to graduate, she reflects on how Villanova helped her grow as a leader and continue a family legacy rooted in purpose, service and transformation.
- Student Spotlight: Troy Vlahos CPS ‘26 Embraces a Life of Learning Troy Vlahos CPS ’26 returned to school to continue growing as a professional, teammate and person. After building a successful career with innovative global brands and sustainability-focused companies, Vlahos found in Villanova’s College of Professional Studies a learning environment that helped him strengthen his communication and reconnect with the human side of business. As he prepares to complete his bachelor’s degree, he reflects on how CPS deepened his commitment to lifelong learning and renewed his confidence to lead in a changing business environment.
- The New Supply Chain Stress Test Global supply chains depend on systems that can absorb disruption without losing momentum. As instability around the Strait of Hormuz renews concerns about energy volatility, freight costs and operational exposure, leaders are being pushed to rethink how resilience is built into everyday execution. Flexibility, digital visibility, workforce capacity and disciplined scenario planning are no longer secondary considerations but core capabilities for organizations building long-term resilience.
- Developing Talent from Within Organizations facing skills gaps can build stronger, more resilient teams by investing in the employees already doing the work. Internal upskilling supports retention, strengthens leadership pipelines and helps workforce capability grow in alignment with business priorities.
- Villanova’s College of Professional Studies Announces New Agreement with Williamson College of the Trades, Assisting Skilled Trades Workers on Path to Bachelor’s Degree Villanova University's College of Professional Studies (CPS) has entered an agreement with Williamson College of the Trades in Media, Pennsylvania to provide Williamson graduates additional access to degree and professional education programs at Villanova. This new partnership marks the first for the University with an institution that exclusively offers trade-based education, and will grant Williamson graduates and alumni a merit-based tuition reduction for students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Currently, CPS has existing partnership agreements with over a dozen community colleges and associate degree-granting institutions in the Greater Philadelphia area.
- Student Spotlight: Adam Richardson ’27 Provides Inspiration to His Sons, Through Education, Determination, and Selflessness Adam Richardson ’27 CPS made a promise to himself when he became a father. “I will never ask my kids to do something I haven’t done, or wouldn’t do,” he explained. “And that includes completing my college degree.” After dropping out of college three times in his late teens and early twenties, now, at age 35, Richardson is determined to earn his bachelor’s degree in organizational development and management.
- College Curious? Villanova's Pre-College Summer Academy Offers Immersive Campus Experience Villanova's Pre-College Summer Academy is a four-week intensive program, open to current juniors and seniors that gives students a taste of college life, earning them real college credits they can list on their transcript.
- Create a Better Performance Review Cycle: A Human-Centered Approach to Goals and Feedback If you work in HR, you’ve seen how quickly unclear goals and inconsistent feedback can derail a performance review cycle. You’re often asked to step in after expectations have already drifted and conversations have gotten tense. Putting the human back in performance reviews starts with raising the quality of goal-setting and feedback because they sit at the center of performance management, coaching, talent development and motivation, the very areas where HR leaders are poised to create the most impact.
- The Risk You Didn't See Coming Projects don’t unravel only when something dramatic breaks. More often, they drift off course because of a surprise that didn’t make it into the plan: a dependency that slips, a vendor delay that compounds, a stakeholder shift that quietly changes what “success” means.
- The Hidden Value of ROI in Process Improvement Process improvement has a branding problem. When leaders hear “Lean Six Sigma,” they often picture tools, templates and a lot of time spent mapping workflows. If they’re supportive, they’ll say yes because it feels like the responsible thing to do. If they’re skeptical, they’ll ask the question that shuts projects down fast: What’s the ROI?
- How to Build a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy Digital marketing works best when every channel, message and metric is pulling in the same direction. A clear strategy helps you define goals, focus resources and turn day-to-day tactics into measurable results. In this article, you’ll find the “why” behind digital marketing strategy, plus the tools and metrics that help you measure what matters and keep improving over time.
- What is the UCC If a contract involves goods, the UCC is often in the background, even when nobody names it. It influences how agreements form, how terms conflict and what remedies are available when performance breaks down. If you’re building NCMA-aligned contract knowledge or working toward becoming the contract expert your team relies on, this is one framework worth understanding early.
- How to Develop Purposeful Digital Content Why is it that some content performs while some doesn’t? Is your content underperforming, or failing to perform at all? Publishing is easy. Earning trust is harder. When content tries to do too much, audiences move on fast. Here are a few ideas to help you create content that serves a purpose so you can start earning attention by offering something clear, valuable and worth coming back to.
- Here's The Reason Your Gen AI Tool Sounds Right, But Might Be Wrong When an AI answer “sounds right,” it’s easy to trust it. But confidence doesn’t always mean correct. False predictions, often called hallucinations, are a real risk when using generative AI. To understand why models hallucinate and the types of errors professionals see most often, it helps to know how generative AI produces outputs, then apply simple guardrails that support responsible use in your work.
- New to Contract Management? Start Here First. Contract management often becomes part of someone’s role before it becomes their title. For professionals who are new to the field or beginning to take on more contract-related responsibilities, building the right foundational skills early can make a meaningful difference. Developing those skills can help strengthen judgment, reduce risk and support more strategic contributions across teams and organizations.
- The Top 5 Skills Project Managers Need Now Project management often looks straightforward from the outside: timelines, meetings and deliverables moving from start to finish. In practice, the work asks much more of the people leading it, especially when priorities shift, teams need alignment and the path forward becomes less clear. Building the right skills early can help project managers lead with greater clarity, adaptability and strategic judgment across the work that matters most.
- When Everyday AI Use Creates Risk: What Nontechnical Teams Need To Know AI is becoming part of everyday work across marketing, operations, administration and communications, often in ways that feel routine and low risk. But when people use AI tools without fully understanding how those systems handle instructions and sensitive information, small moments of convenience can create larger organizational vulnerabilities. For nontechnical teams, responsible AI use starts with recognizing how prompt injection and data leakage can show up in ordinary workflows and why stronger judgment matters.
- From Chaos to Clarity: How Lean Thinking Improves Flow When everything feels urgent, productivity decreases as teams struggle to prioritize workflow. Lean thinking helps teams create and improve workflow, shaping clarity around what creates value and eliminating what doesn't.
- Can Skills-Based Training Really Boost Your Resume? When it comes to job searches, most professionals don’t struggle because they lack ability. They struggle because hiring systems and promotion conversations can’t always clearly see their abilities.