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The College of Education’s Advanced Studies in Education & Counseling Department is CED’s largest academic department offering seven master’s degree programs along with post-baccalaureate credential and certificate options. Led by Department Chair Dr. Hiromi Masunaga, the department is supported by Regina Pao and Gaspar Torres, both new CED staff members. 

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Supporting a large department with dozens of faculty and hundreds of students can be a challenging job. But for both Pao and Torres, the College’s welcoming culture has made them feel right at home. Pao shares, “Although I have yet to meet and get to know everyone, my favorite part of the job are the people I work with. Everyone has been so kind and helpful and I could not ask for a better team!”  

While both Pao and Torres’ roles support the department and students, they do so in different ways. Pao, the office’s Department Coordinator oversees academic scheduling, faculty hiring, workload reporting, and the department’s budget and fiscal records. While Torres serves as Administrative Assistant providing support to Dr. Masunaga, Regina Pao, ASEC faculty, and students enrolled in the department’s many programs.  

Passion for the field of education and supporting students guide both Pao and Torres in their everyday work in ASEC. “While in college, I discovered that I wanted to work in Education. My end goal is to become a professor because I love helping others…being able to pass on knowledge to help others advance in their life is something that is amazing to me,” shares Torres. 

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Recently completing her master’s degree in Education, Pao who set (and accomplished) a personal goal of becoming an academic department coordinator after completing her degree said, “I have always been very passionate about education, and the varying jobs, volunteer, and research opportunities that I had in my undergrad – as well as some amazing education professors - made a career in higher education the obvious choice. It was never something that I had to second guess.”