Robi Calderaro, lead technical developer on the Employee Learning and Development team at University of Colorado (CU) system administration, has been recognized as the President’s Employee of the Year. Calderaro joined CU in 2017 and is responsible for ensuring online courses are accessible, user-friendly, and adhere to style guidelines.
Her supervisor, Laura Siedzick, described her as someone who is “always learning, at work and in life.” Siedzick added that Calderaro “seeks out and participates in technical training and conferences, sometimes at her own expense, and finds many tools and methods to share with us that improve our efficiency and quality. In all that Robi does, her primary concern is always to help and support others, whether it’s individuals on our team, external teams or leaders looking for efficiencies.”
Both Siedzick and Morgan Endsley nominated Calderaro for the President’s Employee of the Year Award. Last month, President Todd Saliman announced Calderaro as this year’s recipient. The award recognizes staff who demonstrate excellence across their work.
Reflecting on how she arrived at CU system administration, Calderaro said: “I completed my master of arts degree at CU Denver in 2007. At the 2017 COLTT (Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology) Conference, I met one of the people I had done the program with 10 years earlier. He said he was going to retire from his job at CU: ‘Robi, you have to apply.’
At the time, my kids were in elementary school. I was teaching at Community College of Denver. I wasn’t looking for a full-time job yet, but he was insistent. I decided, why not? The worst-case scenario is they say no. And they ended up hiring me.
I always loved teaching. I love active learning and creating learning activities to make our courses more interactive or visually pleasing. I also enjoy planning and paying attention to details.”
On what she enjoys most about her role at CU: “I like using my brain – using my past experience and unrelated knowledge to solve issues or create new templates for my team’s courses… when I started working for the University of Colorado, it was awesome because when I had ideas…they listened to me.
One of my strengths is connecting the dots so that maybe something that I did five years ago at work or in a course can solve an issue that happened today.
I also enjoy helping people with pretty much anything: how to use a system, how to access it, how to make it work better. For employees who cannot access our courses or have issues with them, I can jump on a call and we can review it together.”
When asked about maintaining a commitment to lifelong learning: “I compete with myself. I want to be better than the day before… It helps me be an effective member of my team.
I’m also a firm believer that whatever I learn in any topic or subject can be useful in different circumstances…That’s why I say I like connecting the dots.”
Calderaro recalled her experience earning a master’s degree at CU Denver as formative: “Analyzing the structure of online courses as I was taking them…the practical aspect of the program: learning authoring tools…and strategies for different audiences…They gave you a voice.”
On receiving this recognition from CU leadership: “It’s a huge honor. I spent the day I learned about it half crying with joy and half smiling all wrapped up in disbelief! …I am thankful to have been selected….this is confirmation that I am seen….I tend to do the work not expecting accolades or anything because honestly; I adore my job.”
The President’s Employee of the Year Award is given through System Staff Council (SSC) alongside the Office of the President. It acknowledges outstanding performance among system administration staff based on criteria such as integrity, responsibility, discovery/excellence, community involvement—and includes a $1,000 prize.
Other nominees congratulated by System Staff Council include Alisha Friedrichs (senior auditor), Deanna Uhler (program manager), Stefan Martorano (HR program director), and Thanh Nguyen (director).
