THE AP SPOTLIGHT IS ON:
Edwin Hamada
Associate Director of Resident Life
Edwin Hamada’s sense of humor and dedication to his job as Associate Director of Resident Life are evident given the heartwarming and moving nominations that APAC received on his behalf for the 2009 AP Contribution Award. The three words that would best describe him as a supervisor were loyal, developmental and caring, and those sentiments were echoed by those who nominated him.
A snap shot of Edwin’s life notes that he was raised in Orange County, California long before there were “real” housewives there and fondly remembers smog. The University of San Francisco was the start of a great career in Residence Life. Besides getting his Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology at USF, he received his Masters of Science in College Student Personnel from Western Illinois University. Before coming to WSU in 2002, he worked for “a large university with a furry dog mascot J and a city that has a Major League baseball team that keeps breaking my heart” and is currently a Doctoral Candidate at UW in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program. All said, given his education and if we think back to our own crazy antics in that 18ish stage of life and multiplying it now by 4500, it’s clear he is well qualified to do what he does, plus it gives a person an idea of what he encounters on a day-to-day basis! Edwin does note that he has lots of stories too numerous to share; perhaps there is a book in the making?
An average day for Edwin consists of attending meetings, following up on emails, phone calls, supervision of staff, coordinating his department’s evaluation process, running analysis for staff, and lots of “other duties as assigned”. Although his children think his main job is attending meetings, he does get the opportunity to work with staff and students, plus he has a direct hand in nurturing young professional and emerging student leaders. He notes the hardest part of his job is “knowing your department is responsible for the safety and security residence hall students and that every decision made and any action taken is directly related to the safety and security issue”. Note worthy tidbit – “The use of the word Dorms is antiquated. We work in Residence Halls!” He claims the best part of his job is the opportunity to develop a mentoring relationship with the staff.
Edwin says one of the best parts of being an AP is the level of support received and the benefits that come along with that classification, plus he really enjoys being at WSU.
When asked our typical interview question “if President Floyd asked you for one piece of advice, what would it be?” Edwin’s response was “I could tell him which Chinese food restaurant was the best, and maybe give him some advice on how to fix his car (since I’m a “shade tree” mechanic).”
Despite Edwin’s admitted “Husky roots”, he likes Pullman and his children have begun their own version of lobbying dad with speeches that consist of “I have to graduate from Pullman High School!”, so it looks like WSU is lucky in the fact that we will have him here for a long time.
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