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CAHSS Facilities Operations Manager Cultivates Environments that Help People Thrive

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Susan Dugan

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Nathan McNichols

CAHSS Facilities Operations Manager Nathan McNichols’ dedication to nurturing, preserving and rehabilitating built and natural environments springs from a childhood rooted in a small agricultural town in Southeastern Illinois. “I grew up around cows, horses and my donkey, Buster, and have always been drawn to animals, conservation and understanding how natural and built environments can harmoniously coexist,” he said.

Nathan McNichols HOSA sign

Inspired by his mom, a registered nurse, he became interested in health care advocacy and in high school participated in HOSA, a student-led organization for future health care professionals. He was elected to lead the state organization, an achievement that earned him an early surge of fame when town leaders erected a road sign in his honor.

Intent on pursuing a career as a medical litigator, McNichols earned a BA in philosophy and legal studies at Murray State University in Kentucky and completed his first year of law school at the University of New England School of Law. But when a paperwork issue with the Department of Education resulted in losing his student loan for the following year, he decided to follow his early interest in fostering the wellbeing of natural and created environments instead. 

In 2019, McNichols landed a position with the IBM Global Real Estate team in Boulder and Denver, Colorado, where he received on-the-job training in management and acquisitions. He assumed his current role in the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences in 2021, hired to develop and implement an in-house CAHSS facility management support function. 

With help from his assistant, Facilities, Infrastrucure & Eqipment (FIE) Support Specialist Charles Rupert, he attends to all 14 indoor and outdoor CAHSS properties stretching across campus and beyond; terrain he mainly navigates on his electric scooter. 

“I like to think of us as being physicians for these buildings,” he said. “The buildings and landscaped environments change and move, breathe and talk to us. When they get sick, I coordinate their treatment and cure, whether that involves plumbing, remodeling or constructing a whole new building.”

McNichols strives to cultivate environments within which “everyone can thrive.” He manages all CAHSS safety-and health-related issues, working to maximize student, faculty and staff accessibility and usability. Over the past year, his tasks have included the ongoing project of overseeing all aspects — from redesign to reconstruction — related to relocating reorganized CAHSS support staff into reconfigured spaces. 

As liaison between CAHSS and DU’s Office of the University Architecture, Environmental Health & Safety, Enterprise Risk Management, Campus Safety and the Office of General Counsel, he ensures adherence to standards for interior and exterior designs, drafts capital-improvement project documents and oversees IT and capitalized assets. He also works with Campus Safety and central IT to manage the college’s access, surveillance and network infrastructures.

McNichol’s already hectic pace picks up following graduation. You may spot him around campus this summer supervising deep cleaning, repair and other CAHSS real estate wellness projects. 

After a long summer of such tasks in 2023, he rewarded himself with a trip to Isla Mujeres, an island off Cancun, Mexico, marking the first time he had ever left the United States. There, he met his soulmate Hermi, and a post-summer, long-distance romance bloomed. 

“We met on vacation while I was running away from the world and immediately hit it off,” McNichols said. He subsequently visited every few months and eventually took his mother with him to meet the man he loves.

They married in April after 18 months of McNichols working with an immigration attorney to comply with multiple U.S. government requests. “We had to go to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and provide text and email documentation of our relationship. The process is long and invasive, especially for same-sex couples.” Ultimately successful, Hermi and his two dogs, Brisa and Toño, arrived in the U.S. in February.

As McNichols prepares CAHSS to welcome students to the 2024-2025 school year, he counted his tenure as Chair of the University’s Sustainability Council’s Executive Committee among his greatest accomplishments. His role involves working closely with CAHSS student government representatives like recent graduate Sidney Barbier, who served as an undergraduate student councilor for the Executive Committee. 

“We rely on students like Sidney who led efforts to make DU a better place for everyone to tell us what our buildings are doing right and not right,” he said. 

McNichols credits CAHSS students for transformative contributions including providing a phased plan to implement gender-neutral restrooms. “I came to DU because I was interested in creative freedom in terms of building this department, but I stay because I see the commitment and contributions of our students and want to help them make DU a healthier place for us all.” 

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