Inside the Office of Academic Partnerships

By Timothy Howard, Media Relations Coordinator

In our From Anywhere newsletter, we cover stories about our online and distance students, offer helpful tutorials and relevant articles to faculty, and highlight some of the ways Texas Tech is bringing educational programs to areas outside of Lubbock. To even better understand distance education initiatives at Texas Tech, we will explore the Office of Academic Partnerships.

The Office of Academic Partnerships at Texas Tech serves many functions for the benefit of students. Academic Partnerships creates institutional academic agreements in Texas to help make the transfer process as seamless as possible for future Red Raiders. The office also oversees the continuing education process for students seeking to earn non-academic credit and departments wanting to offer continuing education opportunities. Also, Academic Partnerships administers event registration for a wide variety of university events.

In order for all of these functions to be performed effectively, the Office of Academic Partnerships is staffed by some very talented and dedicated Red Raiders. Clay Taylor, director of Academic Partnerships, is supported by Senior Business Assistant Lauren Ritter, Senior Advisor Keeley Grant and Academic Admin Coordinator Stacy Gumula.

Taylor recently spoke to us about Academic Partnerships, reflecting on challenges that had to be met as the office was being established.

"For continuing education, the largest challenge has been educating the colleges and departments on what we do, what is required and why it is important to go through our office for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) guidelines," Taylor said. "We also wanted our partners throughout the university to know we are here to support them; not inhibit anything they want to do. With the academic agreements area of our office, the largest challenge has been centralizing all academic agreements the university has into one place (our office), renewing old or expired agreements, and tackling our goal of having a memorandum of understanding with all 50 community colleges districts in the state of Texas to better support transfer students transferring to Texas Tech."

Taylor also reflected on the progress that has been made since the formation of the office.

"Since the formation of Academic Partnerships, we have overseen the centralization of non-credit academic activities through one office," Taylor said. "This has been great for SACSCOC guidelines and reporting, and helps the university know what is going on externally in regards to outreach efforts. We have also been able to complete 18 new memorandums of understanding (MOU's) over the past year and five curricular new articulation agreements. We also have 10 more in the final edit stages."

In early 2018, Texas Tech announced a partnership with Rockwall Independent School District to help high school students earn credits towards a bachelor's degree by taking classes at the newly built Dr. Gene Burton College and Career Academy. The Academic Partnerships Committee that was formed earlier this year as well, comprised of leadership from the colleges across Texas Tech. The committee has "proven to be invaluable," according to Taylor, who leads the committee. The office has also participated in many signing ceremonies over the last year to celebrate the establishment of new partnerships with other partner institutions.

Taylor also spoke to us about the best part of being able to assist students.

"The most satisfying thing is that we know that we were a small part in the support of students both noncredit and for-credit," said Taylor. "If we host a CEU program for licensed counselors for example, we realize the behind the scenes work that we do allows them to gain the training they need to be more successful in their jobs and to keep their license. For students seeking to transfer to Texas Tech, we realize that the agreements that are in place support their transfer through making sure they are well advised prior to coming to Tech and that all of their credits transfer and apply to their particular degree. This is especially important for transfer students trying to graduate during the normal 4-year graduation time. We work very closely with undergraduate admissions on this effort."

There are some noteworthy projects ahead.

"We are really excited that we have agreements in the works with all 50 community districts in the state of Texas and have worked with neighboring community colleges in New Mexico and Oklahoma," said Taylor. "Once we get this accomplished, we will be able to grow the amount of articulation agreements we have and ensure students that transfer to Tech will be on the best path to graduate. We also have been working on some exciting new projects with South Plains Community College for both transfer students and non-credit students, a partnership for a coding academy in conjunction with the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance."

The Office of Academic Partnerships continues to make progress and ensure the success of Red Raiders far and wide. You can keep up with the latest news from Academic Partnerships on Facebook and Instagram. Search using the hashtag #TTUAP.

Clay Taylor, Ed.D., director of Academic Partnerships

 

Members of the Texas Tech University and Rockwall Independent School District administrators at a signing ceremony.