Enrollment Management superheroes prepare for spring retirements

Enrollment Management is bidding a fond farewell to nine superheroes who are retiring this spring with a combined 215 years of service to CU Boulder.

“While their numerous contributions cannot be adequately summarized here, we wanted to take this opportunity to briefly highlight a few key accomplishments and successes they leave behind,” said Kevin MacLennan, interim associate vice chancellor for enrollment management.

The staff members featured below are retiring in March, April and May––but they will not be forgotten by their colleagues.

“I want to thank all of our retirees for their hard work and dedication over these many years,” COO Patrick O’Rourke said. “I ask that the entire division join me in wishing them well as they embark on the next chapter of their lives and acknowledge the work that helped us better serve our students, staff and faculty.”

Deborah “Debbie” Anderson, who will retire on April 30, started her CU Boulder career as a temporary employee in the Office of Admissions––and wound up staying for another 30 years. For the first six years of her tenure, she worked as a temporary employee and then became a full-time admissions evaluator. Anderson’s proudest moments at CU Boulder consisted of training many employees and student workers in her department. Her favorite memories connected to the university date back to her days in grade school. She and her family lived “out in the country” on 76th Street, and they could hear the roar of football games when CU Boulder players scored touchdowns. Another fond memory was the day she and her grandparents ate at McDonald’s in Boulder––and she got to meet Ralphie. After retiring, Anderson says she looks forward to spending time with her husband, who is also retired, and the couple’s four grandchildren. They also plan to travel more and work on home improvement projects and gardening, which both enjoy.

Victor “Vic” Goldberg, who will also retire on April 30, has worked in the Office of Financial Aid for more than 15 years. During that time, Goldberg became well-known for his operational and systems expertise. A decade ago, he was asked to replace the Student Integrated System (SIS), and he is most proud of the enhancements he designed to provide a more effective solution. Goldberg’s favorite memory is the gratitude a nontraditional student expressed when, while he was moonlighting as a financial aid counselor, he was able to provide the student with a supplementary grant. The grant allowed the student to pay rent, supplement food from a food bank and finish the last semester of her undergraduate degree. The student was so happy and surprised by the grant that she “cried tears of joy and relief,” Goldberg says. After he officially retires, Goldberg looks forward to becoming his own boss as a certified financial planner. He says he also looks forward to visiting more of the United States when travel restrictions are lifted.

David Humphrey will retire on March 31 after 29 years at CU Boulder, all of them while working in Regent Hall. That includes 21 years in the Bursar’s Office. Humphrey ushered the Bursar's Office through the implementation of PeopleSoft, e-billing, payment plans, credit card payments and several reorganizations. He is most proud of the management decision-making that moved Lora Merriweather into student debt management; Susie Jacobs into communications; EJ Lee into cash management; and Nok Sitchawat into accounting and systems. In 1999, when the world was panicking over Y2K, Humphrey developed a backup plan to keep billing and payment services online––a critically important contribution before the start of the spring semester in 2000 and the 21st century.

Marina Maestas plans to retire on May 18 after more than 31 years of dedicated service in the Office of the Registrar. She has held many different positions over her tenure at CU Boulder, most recently as a valued part of the tuition classification team. She has reviewed residency as a tuition classification officer since 2016. Always willing to jump in and support in any way that she can, Marina has been an expert in quality control, customer service, transcripts, enrollment reporting and just about every process in enrollment and records services. Her positive attitude, influence and dedication to the Office of the Registrar will be missed, her colleagues say.

Nancy Judson plans to retire on April 16 after more than 19 years of service in the Office of the Registrar and the Office of Admissions and a combined 22 years of work in higher education. Deemed “a human encyclopedia of knowledge and information on Colorado’s tuition classification law” by her peers, Judson is also known as “one of the kindest people you will ever meet” and a proud wife, mother and new grandmother. Under her leadership as assistant registrar, Judson’s team implemented many improvements to the tuition classification experience for current and admitted students, including moving from paper admissions applications and tuition classification petitions to an online process. Reflecting on this key accomplishment, she says, “Thanks to the talents of our developers and the team’s effort to dream, test and revise the petitions, we have a really good process in place.” Her favorite Buff memory was working as a commencement day volunteer and watching excited graduates and their families taking photos in front of the bison outside Folsom Field. Judson looks forward to spending more time with her family, traveling and training a new puppy. She also plans to seek part-time employment to try something new.

Sally Page is retiring on March 31 after more than 33 years at CU Boulder. She started as a temporary employee in the Office of the Registrar and helped train staff in academic departments and in deans’ offices on how to use the university’s new student information system. Page has held multiple positions within the registrar’s office and has worked on various projects, including phone, Web and self-service registration, the Campus Solutions implementation, the Unified Student Experience Project/Buff Portal, and most recently the class search and registration tool at CU Boulder Class Search. Page says that, by far, the most challenging of these projects was Campus Solutions, for which she served as the student records lead for the Boulder campus and received the Chancellor’s Employee of the Year Award in 2011. Her favorite Buff memories are the times she brought her daughters to campus so they could see her working on the job. Page says, “I’m really excited about retirement and this next chapter in my life, which will include spending more time with family and travel––but I will definitely miss my CU family.”

Rhonda Rankin is retiring on April 16 after more than 31 years of service in the Office of Financial Aid. Since beginning her career at CU Boulder, she has served in several processing roles within the office, most recently as lead private loan processor. Rankin’s passion for serving students is reflected in what she sees as her key accomplishment: helping to provide students with the financial means necessary to earn their degrees. Her most cherished memories are of fellow staff members––many of whom she knows would prefer to stay out of the limelight. Even so, she says they know who they are and how much she values the time she has spent with them. As an advocate for ecological restoration, Rankin looks forward to volunteering more with Wildland Restoration Volunteers during retirement.

Loretta Sandoval is retiring on April 30 after nearly 20 years of service in the Office of Admissions. A point of pride for her is what she and her team accomplished in admissions. Sandoval led an “outstanding group of admissions professionals” who processed record-breaking numbers of applications during the last several admissions cycles. While working on the admissions transfer team, she helped with the successful implementation of the degree audit system and helped build many transfer articulation rules and tables. A personal accomplishment for Sandoval was using CU’s tuition benefit to take classes. She completed a bachelor’s degree in religious studies in five years and also studied Italian. A standout memory is when she attended the 2001 Colorado vs. Nebraska football game, which the Buffs won 62-36. “Experiencing the pure joy of the fans and players after beating our number one rival was an absolute blast,” she says. Sandoval looks forward to the freedom of sitting on her deck with a morning cup of coffee, running or walking when the weather allows, and taking her dog for long walks. Reviving her garden, growing vegetables, traveling and volunteering are among her other goals.

Lisa Vialpando is retiring on April 30 after more than 27 years of service to CU Boulder in the Office of the Registrar. She has served in various capacities within the office, including as withdrawal coordinator, assistant to the registrar and administrative and financial assistant. Vialpando has been instrumental in key office operations, including staff onboarding, payroll, purchasing and serving as a liaison with a range of other offices across campus, from human resources to the campus controller’s office. Her peers say she is highly organized, helpful and kind and regularly pitched in to assist other teams across the office during peak processing times. Vialpando also participates as a commencement volunteer each year in support of the broader Buff community.