Bill Crockett is the 2024 recipient of NIRSA’s Honor Award

The NIRSA Honor Award is presented annually to a member who has provided outstanding service to the association and made significant contributions to the field of collegiate recreation. The NIRSA Honor Award Committee is excited to announce that Bill Crockett has been selected to receive the 2024 NIRSA Honor Award, sponsored by Mondo. Bill will be awarded NIRSA’s highest and most prestigious accolade in recognition of and gratitude for his over thirty years of dedicated engagement and profound leadership on his campus, in NIRSA, and to the profession.

Campus Leadership

Bill’s career began at the University of Maryland at College Park as he pursued his bachelor’s degree. Shortly after graduating, Bill took on the role of Director of University Recreation and Fitness at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). One of his first major projects was the planning and construction of the $58 million SMC Campus Center and Recreational Sports facility. This “beautiful facility that brings the UMB community together [is] due to Bill’s vision, collaborative spirit, and heart,” says his supervisor, Patty Alvarez, Ph.D., Chief Student Affairs Officer/Associate Vice President for Student Affairs. Throughout his career, Bill has progressively taken on more responsibilities, including serving as Executive Director of Student Affairs and Operations before assuming his current role of Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs – Business and Facility Operations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill led the effort to stand up a mass vaccination clinic command team. This included coordinating over 1000 volunteers and employees and overseeing their training. His outstanding work was recognized by a Governor’s Citation from the State of Maryland. He was also named a “UMB Champion of Excellence” for his “positive attitude, initiative, and leadership skills” during such an unprecedented event. In keeping with his character and leadership style, Bill artfully pointed the credit back to his team, saying, “My role has been to facilitate an orchestra at work. The music is created by those who are performing it. I just hope I’ve had an impact on influencing the way that it’s heard and gets performed.”

Other leadership roles Bill has held on the UMB campus include Staff Senate President; Past President and Senator and for the University System of Maryland (USM); and Chair, Past Chair, and Senator for the USM Council of University System Staff. In addition, Bill has served as an adjunct faculty member at Towson University for many years. Alvarez notes that through all of these roles on campus, Bill is known as “a life-long learner, operates with a continuous improvement lens, and is a much-respected colleague and leader…who is always willing to lend a helping hand and his expertise.”

A career mentoring professionals

Bill is widely known for his genuine and dedicated support of professionals through all aspects of their career paths. Anna Borgerding, Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Operations at UMB, who started her career in recreation, shared that Bill’s contributions “have left an indelible mark” on both the profession and the individuals within it. She notes how Bill’s “steadfast dedication to mentorship” can be seen in not only the opportunities he provides to staff members, but also through the support he provides them during these experiences that foster their personal and professional development. His “influence extends to many others on campus who have also risen to become Directors and Assistant Deans at UMB,” she says.

“Bill is always a listening ear when I was making career decisions, learning my way in the field, and navigating NIRSA,” says Jennifer Gudaz, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, the Robert E. Browning ’56 Director of Physical Education and the Helen Newman Director of Recreational Services at Cornell University. “He has been a mentor of mine since the early 2000s—it likely started when I, accidentally, volunteered to host the Region I conference in Ithaca,” she adds. “I appreciate his honest feedback and mentorship as a young professional, throughout my leadership positions with NIRSA, and as I grew into a director. One of the things that drew me to Bill was the fact he doesn’t let challenges get him down. He persists and sets the example that it is okay to not always be successful, but to keep trying to reach for success,” says Jen.

Leadership in NIRSA and the profession

Bill is a venerable volunteer leader in the association, representing NIRSA on association-wide, inter-association, and even global stages. Mick Deluca, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Campus Life at UCLA and past NIRSA President and Honor Award Recipient, aptly summarized Bill’s leadership, saying, “In each role or position whether it was state director, committee member or chair, regional leadership role, conference or workshop host, commission member, Foundation Board member, NIRSA Board member, or NIRSA President, Bill’s calm demeanor, inclusive style, data driven insights, voice of reason, and value-driven leadership has proven inordinately effective and truly moved many major initiatives forward in the Association.”

Bill’s contributions to NIRSA and the profession are innumerable. Some, like his presidency or his work promoting Red Ribbon Week, may be well-known to the membership, while others occurred on less public stages. The small sampling of Bill’s work highlighted below showcases the wide scope of his impact, as well as his unwavering commitment to NIRSA’s values.

Bill’s colleagues frequently laud the steadfast commitment to equity that is at the heart of so much of Bill’s work. In 2012, the NIRSA Board adopted six strategic values for the association and created commissions to help thoroughly embed each value within the work of NIRSA and collegiate recreation. Bill served as one of the initial members on NIRSA’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Commission, which in Bill’s own words, “was set on developing a framework for our leadership and membership to start the process of understanding the EDI landscape, creating alignment with the strategic plan, developing touch points, and positioning the Association within that framework.”

As NIRSA approaches its 75th anniversary in 2024, it’s critical to continually honor the association’s storied history, and Bill has been a driving force in this work. Given NIRSA’s founding by 20 intramural directors from 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), rebuilding NIRSA’s current connection and engagement with HBCUs is a priority. Jocelyn Hill, Associate Athletic Director for Recreation and Aquatics Facilities at American University and chair of the HBCU Coalition, shares that “Bill was directly involved with making the very first HBCU Summit meeting happen in 2006;” these Summits have been a critical touchpoint of engagement with HBCU recreation professionals. Bill continued to actively serve on the HBCU Summit planning committee for over a decade. And he currently serves on NIRSA’s History and Legacy Committee.

Another aspect of Bill’s impact on both NIRSA and the profession is his generous willingness to share his knowledge and expertise. Bill has been a great resource and support to colleagues as they embark on facility construction and renovation projects—initiatives that are innately dynamic, multifaceted, and involve significant resources. Bill has served in a variety of roles for the NIRSA Recreational Facilities Institute for over ten years, including chair, host, and presenter.

“From past experiences of working with Bill on several NIRSA Facility Institutes, I experienced first-hand his vast knowledge on facility design, construction, renovations, and operations. His willingness to share his expertise with colleagues and Institute participants throughout the years puts him as a major influence on dozens of facility construction and renovation project across the country, in which in turn has positively impacted thousands of students for generations to come,” says Silvia Chan, Senior Associate Director – Campus Recreation – Human Resources at the University of Connecticut. “His commitment to core values like sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion, health, and wellbeing is impactful when it comes to influencing facility design choices,” she adds.

Perhaps most notably, Bill has been a go-to resource for NIRSA members, always willing to answer questions and brainstorm ideas; he has been a lifeline for many, especially those who must navigate these projects for the first time. Bill’s support provides the knowledge and confidence for members to ensure those capital projects will meet the needs of the campus community.

During Bill’s service on the NIRSA Foundation Board, “his keen sense of finance and budgeting allowed the Board to use its resources wisely and present more opportunities for NIRSA members to receive funding in support of their own professional development. During this time, the Foundation was beginning to grow, and his thoughtful approach helped to ensure that growth would continue,” recalls Suzette Smith, Director, Bryan Williams M.D. Student Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center and longtime Foundation Board member. Bringing crucial skills, a thoughtful and value-driven approach, and a focus on evolving forward to NIRSA’s work has been a hallmark of Bill’s legacy.

“Over the years, NIRSA has consistently turned to Bill to represent collegiate recreation and NIRSA in the broader networks and coalitions in student affairs and higher education,” says NIRSA Executive Director, Pam Watts, CAE. From serving as NIRSA’s CoHEASAP representative to representing NIRSA on Capitol Hill to hosting an inter-association thought leadership summit on wellbeing, his inter-association engagement and connection has heightened NIRSA’s position of leadership and been an important part of advocating for the value of campus recreation.

“Bill’s NIRSA representation efforts have resulted in advancing professional relationships, enhancing common strategies, and strengthening NIRSA’s position in the higher education environment. Bill has been very strategic and purposeful in the enhancement of visibility, awareness, and impact of the profession and the association,” states Tom Kirch, retired director of recreation at Oregon State University and past NIRSA Honor Award Recipient. Mick Deluca further notes that Bill’s “commitment to inclusion and an inter-association approach has been an invaluable asset to NIRSA in telling the story of campus recreation and wellbeing, building collaborations within higher education, and focusing strategic direction.”

Furthermore, Bill has also served as a representative of NIRSA on the global stage; he represented the association at the Primer Congreso Internacional de Asuntos Estudiantiles: “Desafíos y Sentido” (NASPA LAC First International Student Affairs Conference: Challenges and Meaning) hosted at la Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. This first international conference for student affairs brought together participants from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Chile. It also fostered relationships and laid the foundation for information exchange and international representation at NIRSA conferences for the next several years.

“Bill embraces the richness of diversity and eagerly explores new horizons. He welcomes the beauty of difference with open arms and an open heart, ” says Victoria Lopez-Herrera, Senior Associate Director of Campus Recreation at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “As a result, he helped easily establish meaningful connections with international colleagues that have had a positive impact on the Association,” she adds.

In 2015, Bill hosted nearly 20 leaders from across the association for a summit to discuss the work of NIRSA’s Strategic Values Commission for Global Perspectives, providing participants with an environment that facilitated productive collaboration and thoughtful discussion.

A guiding force

The variety and extent of Bill’s contributions to the association and the profession during the last three decades are almost unparalleled. He works—consistently, humbly, quietly, strategically, impactfully, and authentically—to support NIRSA members and to improve the association.

While Bill is typically not one to stand in the spotlight, the praise of his colleagues speaks volumes: Bill’s “voice of reason remains a guiding force within NIRSA offering wisdom, support for leadership development, continued championing for strategic alignment, and deep commitment to providing opportunities for students and young professionals,” says Mick Deluca.

“A quiet, exceptional leader, Bill is a very good listener that processes information and develops a plan of action,” says Suzi Smith, “His integrity and advocacy of the principles of the Association, combined with his knowledge of higher education, guides the success of our profession.”

Celebrate Bill as the 2024 NIRSA Honor Award recipient

Bill is a truly exceptional higher education professional, NIRSA leader, and mentor. He is most deserving of this NIRSA Honor Award.

Please join the NIRSA Honor Award Committee in congratulating Bill Crockett as our 2024 Honor Award Recipient. The official award presentation will take place at the Opening General Session at the 2024 NIRSA Annual Conference in Phoenix, AZ on Wednesday, April 17 at 4:30pm local time. You are also welcome to congratulate Bill directly on his significant contributions to the profession and to NIRSA.