Doing Good in Durham

Name: Theresa RobertsonPosition: Administrative manager, Facility Planning, Design & ConstructionYears at Duke: 35 years

What I do at Duke: I work in the finance section of my department, working with our budget and paying all the contractors. It’s mostly accounting and finance work to keep track of expenses from the smallest project up to something like the Duke Medicine Pavilion.

If I had $5 million, I would: Keep part of it for myself, but take a large part to put into autism research. I have a grandson, Mason, who is 5-years old and autistic. It’s been a huge learning experience since we found out. He’s non-verbal right now, but we’re hopeful he’ll start talking soon. He’s a smart kid – he knows how to use iPad apps and do puzzles and use learning tools – but communication is difficult.

My first ever job: I worked at the YMCA on Trinity Avenue in Durham when I was 13 years old. I was a game room supervisor. Kids would come in on Saturdays for swimming lessons and while they waited for parents to pick them up, they’d come into the game room with pool and Ping-Pong tables. You had to keep an eye on them or they would go crazy.

My dream job: To decorate cakes. My mother taught me and it’s been a hobby. I’d like to get good at it. I’ve done a few wedding cakes and decorated cakes for my kids when they were young. It had been years since I made cakes for them, but now I’ve got five grandkids so I hope to start again. 

The best advice I ever received: To stay strong. My husband had cancer in 2004 – a rare type of lymphoma. We went through a year’s worth of treatment and chemo, then a bone marrow transplant. He beat it, but back in August, he went to the hospital after a stroke and blood work showed his cancer had come back. This time around the treatment is more advanced and I have a good support system around me.

What I love about Duke: Once people come to Duke, so many stay forever. There are a lot of people in my department that have been here for over 30 years. The benefits are great. My kids used the tuition benefit to go to school and my husband has been treated at the Cancer Center.

When I’m not at work, I like to: Enjoy Broadway shows at DPAC. I’m a season ticket holder. I most recently saw The Sound of Music and The Lion King. The costumes were fabulous in the Lion King. Everybody knows the story, but the live version is incredible with what they’re able to do with those designs. 

Something most people don’t know about me: I was born on my sister’s birthday – Nov. 26. She’s one year older. We always had a family party, but of course, we’d each get our own cake.

An interesting/memorable day at work for me: Every year my department does a toy drive in December and we ask all the construction people we work with during the year for toys. This year we collected about 1,200 and we take them to Duke Children’s Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House and Lincoln Community Health Center. For some of those kids, it’s the only Christmas gift they’re going to get, so it’s really important to us.