A sign on Dan Evans’ office door reads in part “We can do great things, if it matters not who gets the credit.”

And Evans, the facilities manager for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, lives and works by that phrase. He’s willing to do anything from vehicle fleet policy writing to unclogging toilets to fixing air-conditioning units.

“I do whatever it takes to keep the faculty and staff here equipped to do their jobs,” Evans said. “That means my job is never dull and never really the same thing in any given day.”

Evans’ job duties are to manage the day-to-day operations of the facilities at the institute’s Lucy Cobb campus and the Cobb and Schretter Houses. He also works with the Vinson Institute’s offices in Atlanta to ensure things are running smoothly.

“My job’s very interesting in that it’s so wide in scope,” Evans said. “I call handling those things that come up, ‘putting out fires.’ I have to put out the fire before it hurts the scope of work here.”

Evans also acts as what he calls the “de facto” tour guide for visitors to the Lucy Cobb campus and the historic Seney-Stovall Chapel. He took on that role several years ago after the historian retired. Now Evans handles a couple of tours a month speaking to everyone from students in First-Year Odyssey classes to “folks who walk in off the street.”

Evans, who has been facilities manager for nine years, learned a lot of the skills he uses today from owning and running his own photographic color lab business for more than 26 years. He and his wife, Martha, worked in the Athens-based business until he was “ready for a new challenge.”

Ever since he worked at a local photography studio in high school, Evans has had a passion for being behind the camera or processing images. He opened his business after completing an apprentice program and taking several classes at Athens Technical College.

“I knew then that photography was going to be my passion,” Evans said. “I never knew that I would turn it into the first part of my lifelong career.”

The highlight of his photography career, Evans said, was working closely with Vince Dooley, former head football coach and director of athletics at UGA. Evans started working with Dooley and the UGA Athletic Association around 1988 as a contract photographer to photograph, document and archive his work at the UGA Athletic Association.

“He has been like a mentor to me in that I’ve watched him work and make (some of his) decisions,” Evans said. “Just being able to watch him taught me a lot about the university, but also how to manage on a day-to-day basis. I consider myself a lucky man just to have been able to have known an iconic figure and to work with a man like coach Dooley.”

As he reflects on his photography career, Evans takes pride in all he’s accomplished, but feels a lot of satisfaction for being the 2011 recipient of the Bill Powell Service Award, which is presented for outstanding service to the UGA Athletic Association by someone who is not a full-time employee.

Evans also takes great pride in the work he’s doing now. He especially was honored to receive the Public Service and Outreach Staff Award for Excellence in 2013.

Evans said that his current job shares a lot of surprising similarities with being the owner of a photo studio.

“This job is not very different from being in business for yourself because if it has to be done and you’re the only one around who can do it, then you roll up your sleeves and do it,” he said.

While managing five buildings that are more than 150 years old can be challenging at times, Evans said he enjoys his job mainly because of the constant need to learn.

“One of the reasons I fit in this position as well as I do is that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying ‘I don’t know that, but I’ll find out,’ ” he said. “It’s never-ending learning.”