After 40* years on the job — first as a university police officer, now managing campus parking — Nebraska’s Bill Manning has pretty much seen or heard it all.
There was the 1986 snowball melee between “dormies” and “Greeks.” The naked guy hiding behind a door in a campus building after hours. Walking into a room where an individual tried to convince police that a broom was a shotgun. A phone chat with an individual impersonating a dead man. And thousands of excuses about why individuals shouldn’t have to pay for a ticket or tow.
“People make it so my job is never really dull,” Manning said. “Direct interactions with people have always been what I enjoy most. I never liked writing parking or speeding tickets. And, I never liked arresting people.
“For me, the public service side has kept me coming back.”
Manning is one of the more than 1,000 University of Nebraska–Lincoln employees being honored during the Celebration of Service on Sept. 25. He’ll receive a 40-year service award, though — this is where that asterisk plays a role — two years spent in a temporary parking role are not officially counted by the university.
When you tack on those two years plus time studying as an undergraduate, the Lincoln native has logged 46 years on campus.
“The reason I studied criminal justice was because I wanted to be in the state patrol like my cousin,” Manning said. “I thought it would be fun to drive around and talk to people all day.”
As an undergraduate — and these years also do not count toward the 40* — Manning served as a student worker in the residence hall security program. He joined the University Police Department Aug. 23, 1976, and was on patrol on campus for 26-and-a-half years.
He served in a variety of roles within the university police department, including patrolman, corporal supervising residence hall and academic buildings; sergeant supervising night shift; firearms instructor and armorer; assistant chief and chief.
“I enjoyed working in the University Police Department,” Manning said. “Some of my favorite moments were spent with students, talking with them in a lobby or room, helping with some problem.”
Manning joined parking enforcement as night manager in 2003 — a temporary post that accounts for his two asterisk years. In 2005, Manning served as interim director of parking and transit services until Dan Carpenter was hired later that year.
During the last 13 years, Manning has continued as operations manager with parking and transit services.
The job has allowed Manning to work directly with the campus community to prepare for big university events (like Husker football gamedays), planning for construction projects, maintaining university parking garages, assisting contractors and overseeing the student workers who conduct parking enforcement.
“Bill has an amazing knowledge base about campus which he uses to connect with and help people whenever possible,” Carpenter said. “Quite often, he’s here early in the morning and is one of the last to leave. His dedication is a tremendous asset.”
Most recently, that dedication showed as Manning left the office after dark on Sept. 18. As he walked out of his office in Stadium Drive Parking Garage, a student told Manning that someone was asleep in the driver’s seat of a car within the garage.
Manning ventured back into the garage, found the car and woke the student up. He also hung around a bit to talk and make sure the student was OK to drive.
“I can’t think of a time in the last 42 years of dealing with the public that something the public has done has made me want to quit or give up,” Manning said. “I love what I do, mostly because I get to deal with some very interesting people.”
