Dan Mizer served as the Senior Associate Director of Residence Life at Texas A&M University from 1981 to 2020 and oversaw facilities and operations there since 1987.  At Texas A&M University, Dan approached his work with the student first in mind.  He did extensive work in Facilities Condition Analysis on his campus for 12,000 beds and 59 buildings.  He worked to ensure minimal interruption to students when there were large-scale repairs that needed to be made, and he always made decisions based on what will be best, safest, and most beneficial to students, even if those decisions were not the easiest or least expensive.

He served SWACUHO as a member of the Executive Board as Database/Marketing Coordinator from 1996-2007 and Historian from 2011-2016.  He also served the region as co-chair of the host committee for the 1998 Annual Conference and as chair of the Exhibits & Displays Committee from 1993-1995.  Dan received the Bob Cooke Distinguished Service Award in 2000 and the Jim Gibson Exceptional Service Award in 2009.  During his membership in SWACUHO, Dan actively advocated to incorporate facilities into the programmatic piece of SWACUHO.  Notably, he's received three Best of Conference Program and one Top 5 Conference Program Awards for programs dealing with facilities management.

His work in the field of facilities maintenance exemplifies the qualifications of the Facilities Maintenance Professional of Distinction AWard, which was named in his honor at the 2018 SWACUHO Annual Conference.

Dan Mizer Facilities Maintenance Professional of Distinction Award

Award recipients have created programs and initiatives that have had a positive impact on their housing facilities/custodial/grounds/maintenance program.  In addition, this facilities professional has enhanced their skills through training, educational opportunities, and learning on the job.  This person also exhibits traits and characteristics that foreshadow and reflect a successful career in housing.

This award will be presented in the form of a plaque to the selected individual or a representative from their institution, assuming the individual is not in attendance at the annual SWACUHO conference.

A maximum of one award will be given in any one year.

Criteria for Selection:

A successful nominee must meet the following criteria:

• Be an employee in facilities, maintenance, grounds, and/or custodial area that primarily serves on-campus residents at a member institution.
• Have provided new ideas, initiatives, and programs that have enhanced their housing program in the area of facilities, maintenance, grounds, or custodial.
• Have enhanced their skills through training, education, and development.

Past Winners:

2024 Guadalupe Almanza, University of Texas at Austin

2023  Teresa Simpson, Texas Tech University

2022 Lisa Marie Martinez, Texas State University

2021  Mackenzie Wysong-Bentley, University of Houston

2020 Tonya Gilbeaux, Texas Woman's University

2019 Drew Jahr, Texas Tech University

2018 Jeff Vienneau, Sam Houston State University