About Abrazo Partners: Our Principals

Darcy Walsh Hardy, Ph.D. | Rob Robinson

Darcy Walsh Hardy, Ph.D.

Dr. Darcy W. Hardy is Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Director of the UT TeleCampus, the virtual university of The University of Texas System that supports online delivery of System-wide collaborative academic programs from UT institutions. The UT TeleCampus serves as a portal for students and faculty to access courses, programs and virtually all services necessary for success when teaching and learning online. The TeleCampus offers over 17 fully online programs and sees approximately 10,000 enrollments annually. In addition to her position with the University of Texas System, Darcy is a principal with Abrazo Partners, a virtual education consulting firm. Recent Abrazo clients include Troy State University and the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools (SACS).

Darcy received her PhD in Instructional Technology from The University of Texas at Austin in 1992. She was a founding member and is a past president of the Texas Distance Learning Association (TxDLA) and has served two separate terms on the TxDLA Board of Directors. Currently, she serves as Chair Emerita with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), where she has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1999 and is a past president and past chair. She is a member of the Adobe Systems, Inc. Education Digital Innovators Advisory Board, and she is a past member and chair of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Distance Education Advisory Council. She is also past chair of the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) Division of Educational Telecommunications. From 2001-2003, Darcy served as the onsite host for the Institute for Managing and Developing e-Learning (MDE), presented annually by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET). She is a member of the WCET Steering Committee, representing the Southern Caucus.

Recently, Darcy was inducted into the Texas Distance Learning Association Hall of Fame (2006) and received the WCET Richard Jonsen award (2005) for "long-standing willingness to nurture and assist others in the distance learning community, significant contribution to the field, and innovative service to distance learning students." Her most recent publication, Dancing on the Glass Ceiling: Women, Leadership and Technology, which she co-edited, received the 2005 Charles Wedemeyer Publication Award from UCEA. In 2003, she received the Gayle B. Childs Award from UCEA for "exemplary long-term leadership, scholarship, and applied contributions to the field of continuing and distance learning." In 1998, she received the UCEA Nofflet Williams Up-and-Coming Leadership Award and the TxDLA Don Foshee Leadership Award. Other honors include the 2000 UCEA Wedemeyer Award as a co-author of Teaching at a Distance: A Handbook for Instructors. She is currently the Interviews Editor for The American Journal of Distance Education. Under her direction, the UT TeleCampus has been honored with over two dozen regional and national awards from such organizations as USDLA, UCEA, TxDLA, WCET and the International Association of Business Communicators for courses, programming, communications, and faculty excellence. The UT TeleCampus has been recognized nationally as a model and benchmark for multi-campus, collaborative online programming.

Darcy serves on several editorial and advisory boards and has delivered hundreds of presentations, keynotes and workshops on distance education. As a result, she is nationally recognized as a leader in distance education management, virtual university issues and collaborative online program development. She resides in the Texas Hill Country city of San Marcos with her family and a host of pets.
 

Rob Robinson

Rob Robinson is the Associate Director for the University of Texas System TeleCampus. The TeleCampus is the cutting-edge, award-winning, distance education arm of UT System, offering nine on-line Master's degrees and undergraduate courses with a current annual enrollment of 10,000.

As Associate Director, Rob heads up the strategic planning functions of the TeleCampus and oversees day-to-day operations. Rob is a frequent presenter at state and national conferences. He has over 17 years experience working in the technology field in higher education.

In his previous role as Technology Manager, Rob oversaw the creation of the TeleCampus Information System, a highly successful hybrid Student Information System connecting all UT System component institutions.

He also has been heavily involved in projects relating to UT System-wide information technology. Some project highlights include: a Common Data Warehouse, Smartcard deployment, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) standardization, and Digital Certificate deployment.

At the State level, Rob has served on the Telecommunications Planning and Oversight Council, and he is the past Chairman of the TEX-AN User's Group representing all State agencies, colleges, universities and public entities that use the statewide voice/data network. He currently serves on the Distance Education Advisory Council of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a certificate in Telecommunications Management from the University of Dallas, and holds an MBA from St. Edward's University. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.