Rajen Patel BBA '00

Rajen Patel named UW-Whitewater 2021 Distinguished Alumnus for Service to UW-Whitewater

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is proud to announce that Rajen Patel, who earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2000, has been selected as the university's Distinguished Alumnus for Service to UW-Whitewater for 2021. Patel is assistant director of University Housing, where he has worked in some capacity since he was a student on campus.

The award recognizes Patel’s outstanding dedication to the university in providing services for students, faculty and staff over the years.

When the Port Washington high school graduate came to UW-Whitewater to major in accounting and computer science, he thought he might do “something corporate” when he graduated.

“Sophomore year I started working for University Housing — Residence Life at the time,” said Patel. “By senior year I was still working with students at Residence Life, and I also had two positions at ICIT — one with the Helpdesk and one with the web team — where I worked with faculty and staff.”

Through work experiences he thought, “I can do this. I enjoy problem solving.” He left accounting behind and started down the road to a technology career — one that has led to an impressive record of service to UW-Whitewater.

After he graduated with a BBA in computer end-user technology in 2000, he started an LTE position at University Housing, which led to a permanent position in 2001.

Today, he serves as assistant director, in charge of the overall management, supervision, planning, upgrades and maintenance of all things technology for more than 4,000 students living in residence halls, 70 employees and 16 buildings.

"When you work with Rajen you become aware rather quickly that he is not just an employee or an alumni of our campus — he is a lifelong Warhawk who cares deeply and passionately about our students and our campus,” said Terry Tumbarello, director of University Housing.

“It does not take long working with Rajen to learn that he is willing to go the extra mile. If the internet goes down in the residence halls in the middle of night or on a weekend, time and time again he takes care of it, regardless of how late or early it is.”

Patel manages the network that provides technology to all students in the residence halls— more critical than ever during a pandemic. He leads the team that designed, installed and continuously expands the electronic access system that now serves the entire campus. Patel’s team is also the “cable company” for the campus, distributing TV signals to campus buildings.

“Now we live and breathe wireless and every student has multiple pieces of technology: a phone, their Xbox. We get it — the social involvement is critical.”

When it was time for the campus to implement electronic access to buildings, one of the challenges was making the process work for students with a variety of mobility issues.

“For me it was yet another kind of thinking activity — this is different, how do I approach this problem?” said Patel. “It became a side project — my curiosity was piqued.”

Patel eventually adapted gate technology that uses a transponder as a solution, even attaching transponders to wheelchairs and tags to dog collars.

“We work closely with students to make things work. We see the students in action and know what they need because they live with us.”

Patel works with students in another critical way, having supervised hundreds of them as employees through the years, patiently teaching, mentoring and helping them develop key skills — and often helping them find jobs after graduation.

“I try not to turn away any student,” he said. “I am very aware of representation in the field of technology. Female students, students of color, under-represented students — I try to probe them out. If they’re motivated, I’ll pick them. I’ve even had students convert their major to technology.”

“With my staff, I emphasize this is their opportunity to make mistakes,” said Patel.

“I want to develop critical thinkers. It’s the top skill. You can build everything else off of that.”