Dana Hamdan

  • Executive Director, Career Development Center
  • Associate Dean of Students

Offices

Education

  • BA, Guilford College
  • MEd, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Biography

Dana Hamdan is the associate dean of students and executive director of the Career Development Center (CDC). In these roles, she develops and manages career programming and outreach initiatives, and leads efforts on student advising, leadership, engagement, and support. Hamdan also oversees the Center for Innovation & Impact, International Student Resource Center, and the Student Help and Resource Exchange, known as SHARE.

In the CDC, Hamdan focuses on expanding opportunities for Oberlin students as they explore careers and enlarge their personal and professional networks. She launched the Career Communities initiative, which allows students to connect with alumni, parents, and peers who share their passions, and to launch meaningful careers after graduation. The initiative includes paid summer internships for participating juniors and seniors and a course tailored to prepare students for the professional world.

Hamdan developed the Peer Advising Leaders (PAL) program to support first-year and transfer students with their transition to Oberlin life and learning. The program connects cohorts of 15 new students with an older student mentor throughout New Student Orientation and the fall semester. Each cohort also is supported by an academic advisor. The program helps students form communities through the cohort experience, and set a common standard for academic advising. it also ensures that “every new student has a PAL.”

Building on the success of PAL, Hamdan launched the Sophomore Opportunities and Academic Resources (SOAR) program. Cohorts of second-year students work with an older student and faculty member to develop five semester educational plans, look for internship and research opportunities, and build a sense of community within their academic department or program. Students also work with career development professionals to prepare for the Career Communities program following their second year.

Hamdan has a BA from Guilford College, where she majored in political science. She has an MEd from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She speaks Arabic and English fluently. She has worked at Oberlin since 2014.

Programs and Initiatives

Notes

Dana Hamdan publishes editorial in Inside Higher Ed

February 5, 2021

Executive Director of the Career Development Center and Associate Dean of Students Dana Hamdan published the editorial “Career Readiness in the COVID World” in the February 5 edition of Inside Higher Ed. Hamdan discusses how COVID-19 and uprisings for racial justice have called for a thorough transformation of how we prepare students for the professional world.

News

Educator in Death Valley National Park: Marcus Hill ’19

February 21, 2020

Geology graduate Marcus Hill is working alongside seasoned park rangers to run education programs for elementary school students. As one of the few geologists on staff, he’s discovering that visitors are excited to learn about rocks from someone who spent the last four years working with rocks.