After coming on board as a support specialist in the Office of Information Technology less than a year ago, Cristian Valerio has been promoted to senior information technology specialist at Daemen University.
Cristian Valerio
A native of the Dominican Republic, Valerio studied at the Universal Technology Center (CENTU) and worked at Xerox as a technical support representative before coming to the U.S. in 2016. He worked at Rochester Regional Health as an environmental assistant before joining Daemen in his role as an IT support specialist.
At Daemen, Valerio provides assistance and troubleshooting for audio visual events as well as computer and classroom technology setup, oversees the commissioning of all equipment, maintains computer lab integrity as well as serves as the point person for computer imaging, and more.
What made you want to work at Daemen?
When interviewing to work at Daemen, the interviewers were personable and I felt comfortable – it didn’t feel like a typical interview. This gave me a positive perspective about the workplace and I really wanted to be part of the team.
What does it mean to you to have this new role?
I feel grateful to be here at Daemen and to be given this new opportunity. It’s been a journey, but every step has brought me a little bit closer to where God wants me to be.
What inspired you to pursue your field?
I started dealing with computers in 1998 and enjoyed learning more about them.
I wanted to be able to apply my skill sets into a working environment to help improve the present and the future of a company or institution to move forward.
I always liked to approach a problem no matter what it was and be able to find different solutions.
What is one of your favorite parts of working at Daemen?
I enjoy talking with people and helping them with questions they have about IT.
I try to make it a positive interaction when I help people.I like to investigate, assess and provide a plan to address issues and avoid making them in the future.
How does being bilingual today benefit you in your career and in life overall?
Learning English helped me enter a different world. Before I could see it but I couldn’t be a part of it until I knew another language. It allowed me to participate more in society. I then understood the magnitude of what it meant to know another language. That really helped me move forward.
Also, knowing Spanish has been a great asset for me here in the US as well. When working at Rochester Regional Health, there was a large concentration of people who only spoke Spanish, while most of the doctors and nurses only spoke English. I was able to translate for them. With me there, they also knew help was on the way if they were struggling to communicate.
What are you looking forward to?
Overall, I want to continue to help people – it’s my calling.
Professionally, I want to continue improving myself every single day, so that I’m able to not only help myself gain more knowledge, but others as well.
I want to help people be prepared for new advances in technology so that when transitions happen, they feel more confident.
I want to keep current to help Daemen stay current.