• Home
  • News
  • American Academic Loving Life in Hawke’s Bay

American Academic Loving Life in Hawke’s Bay

May 27, 2009

Napier feels a natural fit for American Edmond Otis, recently appointed senior lecturer in health at EIT Hawke’s Bay.

Moving here from Carlsburg on the Californian coast has “gone as well as we could have hoped and better than we could have expected”, not only for Edmond but also for wife Roberta and the couple’s two sons, 15-year-old Nikos and Gabriel, 9.

“For changing countries, it’s been a relatively easy transition. We speak the same language,” Edmond laughs, “and then there’s the Americanisation of popular culture – for better or worse.”

Choosing Napier as a new home town has also proved a good move.

“It reminds me of the Californian town I grew up in except it’s more personal. People know each other.”

The family moved from the USA 12 months ago, having holidayed in New Zealand three years earlier.

“We toured the North Island, which was really grand, and we thought it would be kind of interesting to live here,” Edmond says.

Researching the possibility of settling here, the couple discovered immigrating wasn’t all that easy – “New Zealand sets a high bar.”

Edmond and Roberta’s qualifications and work experience helped with their applications, however. A trained psychotherapist, he had worked at the University of California for 24 years – latterly in a three-way role.

One of his areas was teaching health, mainly curriculum development and presentation skills for teachers in the Graduate School of Education. He also worked in the honours programme, developing a number of courses for small groups, such as medical students, for applying theory to daily life. The final half of his job was working in the prestigious university’s athletic department where he was a performance resource for athletes, as well as director of the largest collegiate martial arts programme in the USA.

Roberta is a PhD in physiological psychology whose particular specialities are brain research and personality.

“My wife is detail-orientated while I’m more the big picture,” says Edmond, who started in a temporary position at EIT mid-last year.

The couple’s plan is for a long-term stay in New Zealand.

“If you’re going to move halfway around the world, you may as well go where you want to go, and that’s Hawke’s Bay,” he says.

The family is enjoying the bay’s weather, living close to the ocean, Napier’s small size and the region’s friendly people.

“They are so nice. In general, people in New Zealand listen to what you say and make more time for conversation.”

A karate instructor who travels to the USA and Europe four or five times a year to run seminars and training courses for world-calibre athletes, Edmond recently set up a community karate club in Napier.

And, in addition to his busy role at EIT, he also consults with businesses and agencies offering organisational development and employee training.

“Sport, athletics, competition – they teach us so much,” says Edmond. “After all, the challenge of life, especially in tough or critical times, is to figure out what skills you bring to the table and then to figure out how to use them as effectively as possible.”

Edmond continually tries to explore the parallels and principles of excelling when something important is at stake.

“Competition, psychology, business, karate, life – the challenge is always, how do you do your best when you really need to be your best?”