Office of Collaborative Partnerships and Distance Education

The Office of Collaborative Partnerships and Distance Education was established in June of 2017 at Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM). It exists to serve students in the rural and urban areas of the River Region, across Alabama, and in neighboring states (member states that are part of the NC-SARA agreement) by offering opportunities to access AUM’s academic programs through online education and community partnerships.

Collaborative Partners

Collaborative Partner Events

AUM Online/Distance Education

Chancellor’s Business Breakfast

Features and Offerings

Offers dual enrollment opportunities to junior- and senior-level high school students to take college-level classes while completing their high school degrees. OCP has nearly a dozen dual enrollment agreements with county and city boards of education, private/independent schools, and homeschool umbrellas across Alabama. (See a list of our current partners here)

Initiates partnerships with community colleges for their students to concurrently enroll in AUM courses while completing their associate degrees at the Community Colleges. These partnerships aim to help community college students complete their degrees in a timely fashion, provide flexible opportunities, and better prepare them to choose their pathways.

Collaborates with international universities to create faculty and student exchange opportunities in academic and research areas. It also creates articulation degree programs with international universities providing pathways for international students to attain an American bachelor’s and/or master’s degree from AUM.

Coordinates a Business Breakfast Series that provides a platform for national, state, and local speakers to present on cutting-edge topics relevant to the Montgomery and Prattville area business communities.

Develops new collaborative partnership initiatives with local businesses to create internship and work opportunities for AUM students

Oversees planning, development, organization and launching of new distance education programs

Collaborates with the campus community, working with regulatory and accreditation agencies

The OCP Team

We are located in the Administration Building Suite 107, at 7430 East Drive, Montgomery, AL, 36117. Our phone number is 344-244-3798 and our email address is ode@aum.edu.

Dr. Shanta Varma
Special Advisor to the Chancellor
svarma@aum.edu

About the Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Collaborate Partnerships and Distance Education Initiatives

Dr. Shanta Goswami Varma who currently serves as the Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Collaborative Partnerships and Distance Education Initiatives at AUM, has over 20 years of experience in National and International Higher Education in Academic Administration.

In addition, Dr. Varma assists with the development of assessment methodologies and tools for monitoring and improving the quality of distance education and partnership projects.

Dr. Varma’s expertise include: online teaching and learning, program development and implementation, marketing and outreach, faculty development (online learning), regulatory and accreditation requirements, curriculum and instruction, partnership building and recruitment and retention. Her research interests include e-learning, faculty development in online learning, gender roles, cultural disparity, leadership roles in higher education, and women in online learning. She also holds a concurrent appointment as an Associate Professor in the department of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology in the College of Education.

Prior to AUM, she held both administrative and academic positions at the Center for Distance Learning at Empire State College, University of Texas at Brownsville, and at The University of Houston – Clear Lake (UHCL).

Dr. Georgianna Laws
Director of Distance Education
glaws@aum.edu

Swati Dey
Blackboard Administrator
Administration Building
334-244-3124
sdey@aum.edu

Rachel Jones
Instructional Designer
Administration Building
334-244-3025
rjones27@aum.edu

Heather McCormick
Instructional Designer
Administration Building
334-244-3412
hmccormi@aum.edu

Lakayla Moore
Instructional Designer
Administration Building
334-244-3024
lakayla.moore@aum.edu

Dr. Xinyue Ren
Instructional Designer
Administration Building
334-244-5350
xren@aum.edu

Audrey Ross
Instructional Designer
Administration Building
334-244-3337
aross13@aum.edu

Xiaoke Jia
Student Services Coordinator
334-244-3121
jxiaoke@aum.edu

Lorina Schrauger

Collaborative Partnerships Coordinator
334-244-3018
lschraug@aum.edu