A LIFE DEVOTED TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE

By exceeding his self-expectations in his personal education and career, John Hamblin, executive dean of student development, is working to improve what students can expect from their own experience at MHCC. 

Hamblin knows firsthand what being a student in 2019 means, as he completes his doctorate program in community college leadership and prepares to graduate from Oregon State University next month. He will unfortunately miss the MHCC commencement on June 15, but that’s because he will be at his own graduation in Corvallis that day, because his doctorate work will be finished by September.

Hamblin has worked at Mt. Hood for seven years. Initially hired as the manager overseeing admissions, registration, and records, he has undergone a lot of change and growth in his roles on campus. Even though his position was shifting frequently, he found stability in his current role three years ago.

In addition to his day job, Hamblin is a Sandy City Council member. He first got involved with the city’s budget committee, but then his wife encouraged him to pursue a council seat. When a member left and their position opened, he was called about an appointment to the panel. He thought it would be a quick process, but instead was surprised by a couple rounds of public interviews; a council vote; a swearing-in, and finally, re-election by the public for a four-year term that ends Dec. 31, 2020.

That’s not the only thing he’s known for in Sandy.

Hamblin also programs a holiday light show at his house every Halloween and Christmas, where lights change in sync with music. It’s a huge time commitment, but he said the hundreds of cars that stop by to watch every year make the effort worth it.

He is clearly an active member of the community, a husband to his wife, Katie, and a father to his 8-year-old son.

EDUCATION

Hamblin’s educational journey truly found its footing at Lane Community College, in Eugene. He said, “Lane is where my story started.”

Hamblin was a first-generation college student, but he wasn’t new to being the first in his family to try new things. He was the first to dabble in new sports like baseball and track and field in high school, however.

At Lane, his chemistry instructor Gary Mort helped get Hamblin on a solid path.

“He pulled me aside and said, ‘John, you remind me a lot of myself. I feel like you’re trying to go somewhere, but you really don’t know where you’re trying to go, and I want to help you.’ He was not a faculty adviser, this was not his responsibility, he just reached out to me and offered to help out and about six months later I graduated from Lane,” said Hamblin.

He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix campus in Salem, then earned his master’s degree in college student services administration from OSU. He kept that momentum going to apply for his doctorate.

Hamblin’s parents had high expectations for his education, but he went far beyond those.

“I told my mom I was applying for this doctorate program and she responded, ‘Well, John, do you really need to do that?’ and immediately in my head I said, ‘I just exceeded expectations,’ ” he said.

It was a big life moment, especially to be doing something truly for himself, motivated by his own drive to learn more, he realized. 

“I actually kind of broke down on the side of the road on the drive there, realizing this is way bigger than anything I thought I’d accomplish. I thought I would do something somewhat big in my life, but doing that was a real big deal,” he said.

CAREER

With impactful educational experiences and mentors supporting him, Hamblin found his way on a career path that has allowed him to give back to other students and leave typical college-student type retail jobs in the past.

Reflecting on his gratefulness for Mort’s mentorship, Hamblin said, “That impact on my life – I wanted to be able to have that impact on others.”

He worked as the enrollment services adviser at Lane and as he began feeling the positive effect he could have, realized he was doing what he was meant to do.

“My passion is community colleges,” said Hamblin.

After some organizational changes at Lane, he decided to seek out new opportunities where he’d have room to grow, so he came to Mt. Hood, where he’s done just that. “As my job has changed, my ability to impact change is growing,” he said.

Not only is his job more stable now, but he said he’s helped stabilize the division as a whole and filled vacancies to better support students.

Most students who are involved on campus assume that Hamblin’s primary job is overseeing Student Life (Associated Student Government and other activities/clubs at Mt. Hood) because he’s always around to support various student groups. He said he loves that students feel that much support, because it means he’s doing his job, but Student Life is only one piece of what he does.

In reality, Hamblin oversees anything to do with student affairs and student development. Every service available to students on campus reports back to Hamblin, whether it be advising, AVID, Accessible Education Services, TRIO, Financial Aid, and more.

Hamblin usually starts his day off each morning at 5:30 a.m. Coffee plays a big role. He said, “I love Dutch Bros. I bought my own espresso machine and I make my own iced quad Kahlúa kicker every morning.”

Then he starts on some emails, hops on his exercise bike, gets ready for work, and then heads into meetings for most of the day. A typical week in his role can include 25-35 meetings. He juggles those meetings and the work that comes from them, but also finds time to make sure he takes care of himself, he said. He rarely has any quiet time on campus, but when he does, he likes to fill it by visiting with students.

Hamblin prioritizes spending time with his family and makes sure to get home at a reasonable time every day, and tries to disengage from work to be “present” with his wife and son, he added.

He said he looks forward to coming to work every day because of the people around him, and especially, seeing students succeed. 

Things aren’t always easy. Hamblin sometimes has to make hard decisions that no one else wants to make or face problems that nothing in his past could’ve prepared him, he noted.

He goes out of his way to offer support to anyone who needs it, meantime. Whether it’s reaching out to students and their families during hard times or getting a pink Mohawk as a way to encourage a greater student government voter turnout, he is doing what he can to make sure students feel like they had the best experience possible coming to a community college.

THE FUTURE

When talking about further career goals, Hamblin,39, said, “I really love where I’m at and what I’m doing.”

He said he wouldn’t be opposed to getting the opportunity to be a community college president somewhere, someday, but he also can see himself retiring from MHCC in his current position, because he always finds new ways to grow and improve what he’s doing.

Hamblin cares a lot about making sure his son doesn’t have a disrupted K-12 experience, and is more open to the idea of new opportunities in another 10 years, after his high school graduation.

“I’ve got an awesome job,” he said. “I’ve got an awesome team that I work with and I wouldn’t trade that for anything, so I’ve got a lot of things to be very happy about and very thankful about.”