Summary of the July 1, 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting
Published on Jul 1 2025I want to provide a quick summary of the July 1, 2025 Regular Meeting. I only touched on a few items. I refer you to the minutes of this meeting if you want to know the details of each specific agenda item.
Consent Calendar Action Items
The Trustees approved the employment of three new classified staff, one manager, and two faculty members. Michael Bell (Custodian I, Facilities and Maintenance), Luz Cisneros (Custodian I, Facilities and Maintenance) and Kelly Mottershead (Student Development Advisor, Student Accessibility Support Services) will join our classified service. Jordan Walsh will start as our Assistant Director of EOPS/CARE on July 2, 2025. We also welcome Geraldine Fitzgerald and Peter Korin as Assistant Professors of Nursing effective August 1, 2025.
The Board ratified my acceptance of Nadia Richardson’s resignation as the Student Development Advisor on the Del Norte Campus. Her last day of employment is July 10, 2025.
The Trustees approved several capital project-related recommendations that will allow us to proceed with our Student Housing, Del Norte Healthcare and Revitalization, and the perspective Baseball/Softball Field projects. Specifically, we want to invite proposals from qualified professionals in Geotechnical Investigation and Reporting, in Lead and Asbestos Assessment, and in CEQA and Coastal Development permitting for the Del Norte Healthcare and Revitalization Project. We want to invite proposals from qualified professionals in CEQA and Coastal Development permitting and in Geotechnical Investigation and Reporting for the Eureka Campus Main Parking Lot for a combination baseball/softball field. There are two potential sites in the main parking lot, to the east and west of the main entrance driveway. We also want to invite proposals from qualified professionals for Constructability and Waterproofing Review for our Student Housing Project. For those of you not familiar with the term “constructability,” this is a process of evaluating a project's design to ensure that we can efficiently, safely, and cost-effectively build our new residence halls. It is an initiative-taking approach, involving construction professionals in the design phase to identify potential problems early on. This helps prevent costly delays and other issues during the construction phase. In the past, groups like Wilsey Ham have conducted our constructability reviews.
Action/Discussion Agenda Items
The Trustees agreed to add COLA to my salary for 2025-26—which we anticipate will be 2.3%. All other items in my contract remain unchanged. The Board also approved the salary schedules for administrators, managers, and confidential staff to reflect the COLA increase of 2.3%.
Organizational and Administrative Reports
CSEA President Rachel Warze noted her appreciation to the Professional Development Committee for organizing the “Celebrating Our Strengths” and recognized Giselle Cabrero, Christina Morse, Tatiana Robinson, Gary Ronne, and Linda Phelps for presenting at the event. Management Council President Leigh Dooley thanked outgoing President Morgan Solem and outgoing Secretary Irene Gonzalez for their excellent service to the Management Council last academic year. She also introduced Amber Cavanaugh as the new Secretary and Courtney Sousa as Vice President. Student Trustee Dalila Shelton wrote that she communicated with Katrina Hanson to inquire about existing data on student usage of the Basic Needs Center (BNC). Katrina shared that the BNC currently serves approximately 250 students per week and that the center regularly collects student feedback through surveys and a suggestion box. A recent survey from Fall indicated a student preference for fewer but higher-quality food items. Katrina also informed Dalila about an existing partnership with Shively Farm, through which students receive market vouchers and access to fresh produce at the on-campus farm stand. Additionally, the BNC includes fresh produce in its offerings when available and plans to increase this in the upcoming academic year. Dalila’s future goals include relocating the healthcare vending machine to a more private and accessible area and creating and maintaining a sensory-friendly room on campus that will provide neurodiverse students with a much-needed space to decompress and recharge. Crystal Morse will work with Dalila to explore how we will support her goals.
In my administrative report I mentioned that the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) will visit CR on September 23, 2025, as part of the continued approval process for CR's nursing program. I also provided an FTES enrollment update based on our 320 reports. You can see that we surpassed our enrollment goal for 2024-25. Surpassing our enrollment goal is a testament to the dedication of our faculty, staff, and administrators who are committed to transforming lives through education.
Academic Year FTES Year to YearIncrease or Decrease
2019-20 3780
2020-21 2749 -27%
2021-22 2567 -7%
2022-23 3103 21%
2023-24 3445 11%
2024-25 3843 12%
Looking ahead, we will continue to expand access to our curriculum, strengthen collaboration
with local high schools, Cal Poly Humboldt, and industry partners, and prepare students
for the workforce needs of today and the future.
Julia Morrison noted that Physical Education Gym and Fieldhouse and the Del Norte Healthcare and Revitalization projects are progressing with the construction of the fieldhouse retaining wall, trenching for the utilities, laying of the PE building foundation and holding a kickoff meeting with the Del Norte Healthcare and Revitalization Project design team. Julia also wrote that we assumed that our Total Computational Revenue (TCR) as per the Student-Centered Funding Formula (SCFF) calculation was $40,699,776 and the estimated revenue deficit was 7.1165%, or $2,896,387 when the Chancellor’s Office released the Period 1 Apportionment Report. However, Period 2 Apportionment Report, released on June 25, 2025, our TCR is now $40,877,996 and the estimated revenue deficit is 0%. So, we gained about $178,000 in general fund revenue and we will not have to assume a deficit factor in our budget calculations. Even as I write this, it is important to remember that the state’s budget is still uncertain, and several economic factors could change over the next year that may affect our budget. Crystal Morse noted that the Staff Development Day 2025, themed "Celebrating Our Strengths," took place on June 24, 2025, and featured a variety of activities designed to enhance professional skills and foster community. Marty Coelho thanked Kristen Kelley, CEO of the Humboldt Association of Realtors, for initiating a two-year annual scholarship program for students studying real estate, law, or construction trades. He also noted that CR Rodeo is a “Chute Sponsor” for the July 16–17 Fortuna Junior Rodeo, the Foundation secured three sponsorships for CR’s Native American Running & Trails Building Camps, and Dr. Mindy Yuan (CR alum) and her husband, Mr. Patrick Wong, established an endowed scholarship supporting first-generation students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).