Employee Directory

Andy Crocker joined Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Family and Community Health Unit in 2003. His role is to support County Extension Agents for Family and Community Health in their efforts to educate older adults, caregivers, and the professionals who serve them.

Crocker has authored, adapted, and adopted programs to help promote optimal aging with topics including caregiving, fall risk reduction, health literacy, and memory, among others. In addition to his programming responsibilities related to aging, Crocker administers grant projects addressing military family caregiving and building capacity to help support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He also leads AgriLife Extension’s Master Wellness Volunteer Program, leveraging Extension’s outreach and education related to health, nutrition, and food safety through trained volunteers.

Crocker is a popular speaker, providing education and training to a variety of audiences within the state and nationally. To-date, he has sought and received over $7.5M in competitive grant funding from local, state, and federal sources, including more than $6.8M as Principal Investigator. He is a past recipient of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Award for Superior Service, twice as an individual and as part of a team, and a two-time recipient of the Texas Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences’ Specialist Award for Distinguished Achievement.

Crocker earned a B.A. in Biology (2001) and an M.S. in Gerontology (2002) from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He earned a Ph.D. in One Health Sciences (2025) from the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo, Texas.

Ph.D. - One Health Sciences. Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine. Amarillo, TX. 2025.
M.S. - Gerontology. Baylor University. Waco, TX. 2002.
B.A. - Biology. Baylor University. Waco, TX. 2001.

• Texas Health and Human Services - Innovators in Aging Award, 2024.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service - Award for Superior Service, 2024.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension Center at Amarillo – Non-Professorial Researcher/Specialist Award for Excellence, 2018.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Award for Superior Service (Team), 2017.
• Texas Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences – Specialist Award for Distinguished Service. 2013.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Panhandle District Technical Achievement Award- Specialist. 2012.
• National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences – Program Excellence Research Award (Team). 2011.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Panhandle District Extension Excellence Award-Specialist. 2009.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Award for Superior Service. 2007.
• Texas Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences – Specialist Award for Distinguished Service. 2007.

Crocker, A.B., Samper, B.A., & Williams, R.B. (2025). Optimizing incentivized implementation of community-based Alzheimer’s disease education. Educational Gerontology, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2025.2500729

Crocker, A.B., Schmidt, M., Tejeda, J.D., & Rodriguez-Mori, H. (2025). Proof of concept: Leveraging large language models for qualitative analysis of participant feedback. The Journal of Extension, 63(1). http://doi.org/10.34068/joe.63.01.16

Crocker, A.B., Severance, J.J., Murphy, S.C., & Byrd, A.B. (2024). Equitable outreach: Leveraging a university–community partnership for fall prevention training with older adults in rural Texas. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2024.2416390

Crocker, A.B., Bradley, M.D., Vaughn, S.D., & Stalvey, B. (2022). Transformative partnerships: Expanding Extension’s capacity to support Texans with developmental disabilities. The Journal of Extension, 60(2). http://doi.org/10.34068/joe.60.02.06

Brauner, R.A., & Crocker, A.B. (2022). Ready to serve: Opportunities for Cooperative Extension to support Military families. The Journal of Extension, 60(1). http://doi.org/10.34068/joe.60.01.18

Washburn, L.T., Crocker, A.B., Leatherman, J. (2020). From territorial to transformational: A new framework for master volunteer engagement. The Journal of Extension, 58(4). http://doi.org/10.34068/joe.58.04.27

Falk, D., Cubbin, C., Jones, B., Carillo-Kappus, K., Crocker, A.B., & Rice, C.A. (2016). Increasing breast and cervical cancer screening in rural Texas with Friend to Friend plus Patient Navigation. Journal of Cancer Education.https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1147-6

Sellers, D.M., Bolender B.C., & Crocker, A.B. (2010). Beliefs about aging and implications for future educational programming in Kansas. Educational Gerontology, 36(10): 1022-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601270903534853

Sellers, D.M., Crocker, A.B., Nichols, A.H., Kirby, S.D., & Brintnall-Peterson, M. (2009). Creating the eXtension family caregiving community of practice. The Journal of Extension, 47(5). http://www.joe.org/joe/2009october/a1.php