Bill Manning has met some memorable characters during his more than five decades on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln campus.
There have been football players he encountered while working the locker room and sidelines on game day, all the way up to legendary head football coach Bob Devaney. There have been countless maintenance, facilities and landscape services workers he collaborated with.
And a man he arrested repeatedly for public drunkenness.
“I’d get him down to jail and I could fill out the booking form from memory,” Manning said.
Manning, operations manager for Parking and Transit Services, will retire from the university on Aug. 30. Manning has seen the growth of campus and changes in technology from two university departments and gained a deep knowledge of every corner of the university.
There will be a reception in his honor from 3 to 5 p.m. Aug. 12 in the Nebraska East Union's Great Plains Room. The event is free and open to the public.
Manning arrived as a student in 1973. The following year, he got a student job in residence hall security, eventually leading to more than two decades with University Police.
“Back in the 70s there was a buildup of law enforcement on campuses because of Vietnam unrest,” Manning said. “There were about 70 students who would man the front desk, with about 18 working any given night the residence halls.”
He started full-time with the police department in 1976, going from writing parking tickets to building patrol, then patrol officer, supervisor to eventually serving 10 years as an assistant chief. As an officer, Manning would go around every summer and turn off the lights in campus parking lots in the 1970s for energy conservation.
In 2003, Manning transitioned to Parking and Transit Services. He was the interim director of the department for a time in 2005. The job started as a temporary offer from the director at the time.
“He said, ‘Well just do it for a little while,’” Manning said. “That was March of 2003 and we’re now in 2026.”
His regular responsibilities involve tasks like overseeing parking enforcement, coordinating staging for construction projects, maintenance of all parking facilities like lots, meters, garages and lighting. He played a big role in planning events on campus.
He’s adapted to changes in this arena, like new methods of payment for parking and changes in attitudes about lighting parking lots.
Throughout his decades on campus, Manning has also seen both the student population and the boundaries of the campus grow exponentially.
“The geographical footprint has easily doubled,” Manning said. “The newest buildings when I started were Harper-Schramm-Smith. When I was at police, I could lead you through every square foot of every building on this campus in the dark at night.”
The changes become a logistical puzzle for parking, Manning said. As new buildings are constructed, changing available space, or an increase in students raises demand, staff must plan and adapt to meet needs.
“Something else gets built, we lose a parking lot,” he said. “It’s working to try to figure out where we’re going to move people around to best utilize the space we have.”
Manning has always recognized the importance of community building in his work, both as a police officer and with parking. Manning started his law enforcement career during the rise of community policing, and Manning still integrates community input into his work with Parking and Transit Services.
“The term community policing started being used in the late ‘70s and ‘80s,” Manning said. “We worked a lot with the community on campus identifying issues, and we still do today.”
Manning and parking staff regularly hold campus walks with people from across the campus community to uncover issues with things like insufficient lighting. Inviting people from students to Landscape Service to Risk Management to the police helps all of them recognize and resolve issues, Manning said.
“It’s the perspective of everybody walking around together looking at the issues,” he said. “There’s a lot of follow-up and things that have been corrected by coming down at night.”
Manning started out as a student worker himself, and he’s also hired hundreds of student workers during his years. He still maintains relationships with some of these students even years into their adulthoods.
“One of the student workers who worked for me 35 years ago, we still get together every summer for a dinner,” Manning said. “I’ve got student workers from 40 years ago I still hear from.”
While Manning will miss making those connections with people, he’s also looking forward to taking some road trips. He’s been to all but four of the lower 48 states and plans to check the rest off the list this fall.
“I enjoy the travel along the way,” Manning said. “I enjoy stopping along the way.”
