Questions and answers. More questions than answers. At universities, they are everywhere – in the classrooms, online, in small groups, meetings, and office spaces.
Given what universities do, asking questions and seeking answers is so common it is almost instinctive. Students are guided toward learning via engagement, and faculty members are not exempt from any of it – they lead the exploration of questions in answers both inside their classrooms and as individuals even years following the completion of their doctorate. That, they know, is part of the culture.
Asking meaningful questions and seeking relevant answers and possible truths. Job titles and promotion rely on doing three things well: teaching and learning, research and discovery, and community service. Entire careers, not to mention reputations, are made of these things.
There is, however, another kind of research. In some ways, it is the same, but in some very significant ways, it is different. It is the kind of research that literally rolls up its sleeves and opens its doors and all of its resources to be of use to the community, the region, and every kind of possible entity out there on one condition: all they have to do is ask for help.
This, says Jeff Kirk, Ph.D. and Walter Murphy, Ph.D., senior leaders in the A&M–Central Texas division of research, is not too good to be true. It is real. It is actively engaged. And its name is the University Center for Applied Research and Engagement or UCARE, for short.
“The Texas A&M University System isn’t part of Texas in name only. We are literally rooted in being in every community, offering a kaleidoscope of services relevant to their daily lives and everyday needs,” Kirk said.
“That’s more than a mission statement,” he continued. “It is a serious commitment we make good on every day.”
Enter Sandra Blackwell. 62, Killeen resident. Mother of two boys and one granddaughter. And proud A&M–Central Texas alumna. Petite in stature but unmistakably purposeful, she moves across campus with quiet focus, a go-getter’s pace, with a couple of lanyards swaying casually over a polo, salt-and-pepper hair framing her face.
Blackwell credits her sense of purpose to the original UCARE Director, Elizabeth Brown Miller, Blackwell’s original boss when she was hired as a student to be part of the original research team in the Center. “I will always appreciate that original experience working in UCARE as a graduate research assistant,” she said. “Not only did it firmly plant my feet in research that provided real and practical solutions to vexing issues for real people, it reinforced that our work matters. That’s why I am still here.”
One of the original projects that Miller championed assisted the local transit service in identifying areas where service was needed but not available. Blackwell remembers going out into the field, walking routes, and talking to transportation users, canvassing food banks, and senior citizen centers to hear from them about their needs.
One of those they spoke to, an elderly woman with a walker, had been making daily trips for groceries via public transportation, which was like a lifeline to her, but project researchers quickly discovered that the return trip left her far from home, on the opposite side of the highway from her home, and in a small community whose streets lacked stop signs.
“Before our project, she was crossing underneath a busy highway because that is where the transportation stop left her. Other customers spoke of waiting for the bus out in the elements, sometimes unsure of whether or not it was on schedule,” she pointed out.
“The fact that we were able to identify areas for improvement that the transportation company embraced and put into action and then see that those changes helped real people with real need was so incredibly important to us and a tribute to our original director who led that project,” Blackwell continued.
Blackwell returned to UCARE 10 years after first working with Miller, with university degrees earned and experience gained. Now a director herself, she carries the same zeal with her, absorbed by the conviction that research matters most when it provides practical solutions and insights.
To date, she says, they have partnered with cities, school districts, housing authorities, and nonprofits across Central Texas to help solve practical problems — often in places where resources are limited and impact matters most.
And that work has grown. UCARE teams have conducted studies on bullying prevention in schools, analyzed HUD and fair housing data, produced salary equity reports for local school districts, and helped evaluate digital learning strategies. Every project is a collaboration, she says, designed around relevant questions and real-world insights and answers.
“She’s created a model of engagement that’s not just effective — it’s inspiring,” says Dr. Walter Murphy, Assistant Vice President in the Division of Research and Innovation. “It’s exactly what research at a regional public university should be: smart, collaborative, and deeply responsive to each client’s needs.”
Dr. Jeff Kirk, Associate Provost, Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation, and Chief Research Officer, agrees.
“Sandy brings empathy, intellect, and drive to everything she does,” he says. “She’s building bridges between the university and the people we serve.”
That’s intentional. UCARE offers its comprehensive services to any and all – from small businesses to independent school districts and nonprofits. Especially important in an economy when costs are always a factor. Not so at UCARE, she says. The costs are often covered by ongoing grants and the research budget for just this purpose.
“Being a part of the Texas A&M University System has always kept us mindful of our commitment to the people of Texas and all of the many communities that look to their regional universities as a resource,” said Kirk. “This is how we serve our communities.”
“That’s a very real responsibility to us,” he continued. “We measure how well we are doing by the projects that we take on that produce results – whether it is helping business reduce costs, identify new markets, or improving safer and more reliable bus routes, or making schools safer.”
A big part of what makes the A&M–Central Texas UCARE exciting, Kirk and Blackwell agree, is the quality and commitment of the students who are combining what they are learning in their degree programs with all of the practical ways to apply what they are learning and leverage results for the communities outside the university.
Looking ahead, Blackwell says, she hopes to expand UCARE’s work — not just in scale, but in visibility.
“We are here, and we are ready,” she says. “Our sleeves are rolled all the way up. Give us a call and put us to work.”