Summary of the December 16, 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting

Published on Dec 16 2025

In this last regular Board meeting of the calendar year the Trustees elected Trustee Carol Mathews as its next President, Trustee Richard Dorn as Vice President, and Trustee Lorraine Pedrotti as Clerk. They will assume their new roles beginning with the January regular meeting. The Board also approved several items including the CSEA retirement incentive, sixty-seven personnel related items, sabbatical leaves for three faculty colleagues, the academic calendar, and an addendum to the Facilities Master Plan. Below is a summary of a few agenda items from this meeting. I refer you to the minutes of this meeting if you want to know the details of each specific agenda item.

The Board directed me to research potential search firms they may use to search for the next president. They also asked me to move forward with creating a president search webpage.

Consent Calendar Action Items

By Board action Caitlin Fowler will join our college community as a Graphic Artist and Talia Squires as a Student Services Specialist II. Both new colleagues will start on January 5, 2026. We also welcome several associate faculty colleagues: Donna Aiken (Nursing), Deborah Carpenter (Student Accessibility Support Services), Zachary Claus (Coaching), Kyle Clayton (Construction Technology), Mike Davis (Nursing), Suan Fishman-Tudor (Nursing), Ashley Mitchell (Nursing), Aidan Murphy (Forestry), Kelsey O’Donnell (Nursing), Daniel Sedgwick (Music), Samantha Smith (Nursing) and Katarzyna Tomkiel (Nursing). We can congratulate Amy Moffat and Bob Brown for gaining Board approval for their employee change of status. Amy’s title will change from Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research to Dean of Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness. Bob’s title will change from Director of Physical Education, Recreation, Kinesiology, and Student Life/Conduct to Dean of Students. These changes will not necessitate a change in their compensation. In other words, their salaries will not change. While we are welcoming new members to our college community, we must get ready to say goodbye and farewell to Tom Cossey. Tom will retire from the District on July 31, 2026. We also say adieu to three colleagues who resigned from the District: Alexis Camacho (Campus Safety Officer), Sierra Lucky (Administrative Office Assistant II), and Courtney Sousa (Manager of Registration Services). 

Twenty-eight contracts, agreements or MOUs were approved. I want to add some specificity to two of those contracts. Following a competitive bid process, we selected CWDL CPAs to provide auditing services for our Measure I funds. You may remember, but this firm served as our auditing firm of choice for Measure Q. Additionally, we entered into a contract with Collaborative Brain Trust (CBT) to provide an innovative professional development program called Pivot in 60 for our directors and deans. 

When you read Julia Morrison’s written report, you will see that she participated in the Wheelhouse Fellowship program. I was fortunate to go through the program several years ago and Crystal Morse has been accepted into the next class of fellows.

A question was raised about the difference between Wheelhouse and Pivot in 60? 

The Wheelhouse program focuses on resources for current and aspiring CEOs. When CBT first started Pivot in 60, they collaborated with me and other presidents to determine the core needs in the program. And the need that came up repeatedly in our conversations was desire for support for directors and deans who want to move to the vice-presidential level. Pivot in 60 works with entire teams from community colleges, whereas Wheelhouse provides more one on one support for an individual who is a CEO or aspires to be one. Additionally, Wheelhouse has a fixed curriculum, whereas Pivot in 60 lets each college select the curriculum that best fits their needs. I am happy to say that twenty-two of our administrative and managerial colleagues are going to participate: Amber Cavanaugh, Sheila Hall, Bob Brown, Collin Trujillo, Rebecca Robertson, Alan Price, Rory Johnson, Jessica Howard, Anna Duffy, Katy Ferrier, Leigh Dooley, Irene Gonzales, Ryan Bisio, Jose Serrano, Ericka Barber, Montel Vanderhorck, Leah Westerbrook, Anthony Finck, Pyuwa Bommelyn, Tory Eagles, Nate Kees, Molly Blakemore, and Ashley Mitchell.  

The Trustees approved several important curriculum changes. I want to point out three of those changes. Two new courses—FT 100 The Fire Fighter 1 Academy and TOLD 1A Tolowa Dee-ni’ Wee-ya’ 1A—were approved. These two new courses will go a long way to meeting community needs and make CR a destination community college. With the Board’s approval today, we will offer the new AST Degree Mathematics 2.0 for Transfer fall 2026. 

The Board approved my recommendation include an addendum to our Facilities Master Plan. I wanted to memorialize critical facilities related items that we have been discussing in the District’s integrated planning document prior to my departure from the presidency. This will provide evidence of how our integrated planning process is aligned with our future actions. The addendum addresses the potential uses of the demolished Old Creative Arts Building site, the demolition of the old Administration and Forum Buildings and the departments and functions displaced because of the demolition, our new Measure I Bond projects, new projects proposed to the Chancellor’s Office in FUSION, and other locally funded projects. 

I am incredibly pleased that the Board approved my recommendation to grant sabbatical leaves to Professor Dr. Ryan Emenaker (Fall 2026), Professor Ruth Rhodes (2026-27 academic year), and Professor Christopher Callahan (Spring 2027). I want to mention that the faculty contract calls for the District to set aside $60,000 for sabbaticals. However, I decided to allocate $76,000 to fund these three praiseworthy projects. 

The administration offered a three-year retirement incentive to faculty and the AMC. For purposes of equity and fairness, the Board approved my recommendation to offer a three-year retirement incentive to classified staff. The incentive provides one-time stipends to classified staff who commit to retire sometime within the next three years. The amount of the stipend will depend on the retirement date. Classified staff electing to retire at the end of this academic year will receive $12,500, less statutory withholdings. Classified staff committing to retire at the end of fall 2026 or spring 2027 will receive $6,500, less statutory withholdings or $3,000 if committing to retire in the 2027-28 academic year. 

Informational Reports

In the recognition report, the Board acknowledged our student-athletes who completed sports in the fall semester: Football, wrestling, volleyball, cross country, rodeo, and soccer. The also recognized Tim Wolcott and Sky Kirsch for their presentation “Lifting the Fog: A New IR Team’s Journey Toward Clarity and Collaboration” at the California Association for Institutional Research annual conference in San Diego on November 19, 2025.

As part of the informational report section, we reported that our Fall 2025 Fulltime Faculty Obligation number (FON) is 54.2 while the total full-time equivalent faculty the District has on staff is 70.9. Therefore, the District has 16.7 more full-time faculty than we are obligated to have. In comparison, the Fall 2024 compliance number was 51.2 with a total full-time equivalent faculty number of 72.3, or 21.1 above the number required. 

We also noted that in fiscal year 2024-25, the District spent $22.78 million on salaries and benefits of classroom instructors and the total current education expense was $42.70 million resulting in a 50% law calculation of 53.34%.

Organizational and Administrative Reports

CRFO President Michelle Haggerty noted that she attended a screening of the movie “Adjunct” that highlighted the challenges that part time college faculty experience. After the movie, Stuart Altschuler and Shannon Mondor participated in a panel along with two Cal Poly Humboldt faculty members. She also informed the Board that Erik Kramer will be taking on the role of CRFO President while she is on sabbatical in the spring. Management Council President Leigh Dooley congratulated CR coaches, athletic director Ryan Bisio, and athletic team support staff for their diligent efforts in the recruitment, retention, persistence, and participation of over three hundred student athletes this academic year which is the most ever in the history of athletics at CR. She also congratulated Chong Geyer for her selection as an honoree for the California Adult Education Students Succeed Project. Amber Cavanaugh presented Chong with her award last month after Jonathan Maiullo nominated her. CSEA President Warze wrote that CSEA is actively participating in a campaign to extend Proposition 30/55 through a new ballot initiative, the “California Children’s Education and Health Care Protection Act of 2026.”

In my administrative report, I noted two important actions that I believe we must consider as a District within the next twelve months. The timing of my deadline is not arbitrary. I want to make sure that the College is on firm ground when the next president assumes office. I also want to make sure that we are in a strong position to continue increasing our enrollment. 

First, I am going to convene a small group of faculty, administrators, and managers to have an initial conversation about the future of assessment at CR. I want to be clear: I am NOT suggesting our assessment process is flawed or broken. Far from it! We have done an outstanding job implementing an assessment program that ACCJC recognized as meeting its rigorous accreditation standards. Every employee of the District should all be immensely proud of the fact that the College's assessment methodology has provided an invaluable opportunity for reflection led by faculty members on what faculty are trying to teach, what students are learning, and how to map a road through the curriculum. Moreover, CR’s assessment program has also done an excellent job helping the College understand what students get from the larger experience that wraps around classroom learning.

The future of institutional assessment is poised for significant transformation, driven by the integration of artificial intelligence, the need for more diverse kinds of evidence, and the shift from compliance to institutional improvement. With the CR’s reaffirmation of accreditation for the next seven years, now is an opportune time to engage in a broad conversation about the future of assessment at College of the Redwoods. Furthermore, the District’s Education Master Plan calls on the District to engage in a robust and meaningful dialogue about how CR can move away from a culture of compliance to a culture of improvement where assessment practices are not just something the institution has to do to meet an external requirement but a necessary function that drives institutional change and improvement. 

Second, faculty, administrators, staff, and trustees who have been at CR for a decade or so may remember that severe accreditation sanctions were placed on the College after the Commission found that we were not updating our curriculum and course outlines of records (COR). Thanks to the herculean efforts of many faculty and staff we were able to address these accreditation compliance recommendations. To ensure that the District continues to meet accreditation standards related to our CORs and help our faculty maintain curriculum currency, we developed a “curriculum stoplight (red, yellow, green).” 

The administration estimates that approximately 50% of the District’s curriculum (that includes courses and programs) is out of date—or “in the red”. Despite the communications from Dr. Crystal Morse and Curriculum Chair Dr. George Potamianos, we have been slow in updating the curriculum. To encourage faculty to fulfill their contractual obligation and keep us compliant with ACCJC standards related to curriculum updates, I informed administrators with instructional responsibility recently that I directed Dr. Morse to ensure that only updated courses, or courses that are in the curriculum approval process, will be offered in Spring 2027. We will not schedule courses and programs that are out of date. 

I believe that keeping the District’s curriculum updated is essential to student success, preserving the College’s accreditation, and maintaining trust with the community. Moreover, the educational landscape is continuously changing through advances in technology, shifts in job market expectations, evolving transfer needs and requirements, and ongoing research into effective teaching methods. Regular curriculum updates are necessary to ensure that students are learning relevant and current information and the District is supporting their engagement, achievement, and preparation for the future.

In my verbal remarks, I provided a brief update on our enrollment. We are sitting at 2,039 FTES for fall 2025 compared to 1,845 in Fall 2024—an almost 10% increase. Our Spring enrollment is looking strong too: we are tracking at about 15% increase in the number of units students are enrolled in this spring than the previous spring. I expect that number to increase further when our new fire tech and welding faculty member starts in spring. I committed to provide a more detailed enrollment update to the Board at the January meeting.

In Julia Morrison’s written report, she provided a summary of her administrative sabbatical. I want to provide her phenomenal report in its entirety for this blog post. 

In the month of October, I had the opportunity to take advantage of three professional development opportunities in the Los Angeles (LA) area over a two-week period. The first opportunity was the second convening of the Wheelhouse Advancing Leaders Institute (ALI) on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus. The second opportunity was the Association of Chief Business Officials (ACBO) Fall 2025 Conference in Long Beach. The third opportunity was the California Community College Chief Instructional Officer (CCC CIO) Fall 2025 Conference in Irvine.

Instead of dealing with the possibility of a cancelled or delayed flight I chose to drive to the LA area. I left early enough in the morning to ensure I would arrive at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center in plenty of time before the first ALI session, which started at 5:00 pm on a Monday. I mention this because I could not imagine a better way to prepare for convening with fellow California Community College (CCC) colleagues and discuss the future of our system than to see a large swath of our diverse State and the CCC-served communities. From the north coast, through wine country, the Bay Area, the Central Valley, and into the sprawling LA metropolis.

The introductory ALI session was an opening circle that allowed for self-reflection on what our “why” was as leaders and how to refine it. I found that throughout the convening I kept returning to the idea of what my “why” is. In short, at that point in time, my “why” as a leader is to have the ability to make a positive difference for many stakeholders. 

As with the first ALI convening back in July, there were several invaluable sessions that helped me gain a better understanding of how to prepare for one’s first presidency and how to be a successful leader. Two sessions I would like to highlight are “Navigating Relationships of Friction” and “Equilibrium and Compassion: Navigating the Chaos, Part 2”.

“Navigating Relationships of Friction,” presented by Elaine Ling Hering, focused on the behavior of avoiding certain relationship as much as we can because it frustrates, challenges, and drains us. We were introduced to methods that could be employed to help navigate through these relationships with less friction and more ease and anticipate and preempt friction points in the future. One key take away for me was to use the practice of frequent feedback early in the professional relationship, both positive and constructive. This can help pave the way to effective discussions related to constructive feedback if the sharing of feedback has already been a regular practice.

The “Equilibrium and Compassion” session, facilitated by Celia Esposito-Noy and Daniel Martin, guided participants through advanced strategies for sustaining emotional resilience, managing systemic pressures, and nurturing human-centered practices amidst uncertainty and change. Three concepts that resonated with me from the session were the importance of self-compassion in having the ability to be compassionate towards others (even though self-compassion is quite challenging), to not forget to support those who support you, and the importance in developing and maintaining a culture of care.

After wrapping up with a closing circle I said goodbye to my follow ALI cohort members and was on to Long Beach and the ACBO conference. With a robust two and a half day schedule the conference delivered relevant information for seasoned, new, and prospective CBOs. Day one started with Eloy Oakley, President and CEO College Futures Foundation and former CCC Chancellor, as the keynote speaker. One of the main topics he presented was the idea of Return on Investment (ROI) of academic programs. In my CBO brain I automatically thought of assessing revenues and expenditures at the academic program level and how College of the Redwoods’ (CR) Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) was already trying to do this. The ROI being discussed by President Oakley was something quite different. 

As he went on in his presentation, I learned that the ROI being referred to had a more student-centric focus. He tasked the audience with taking a hard look at each academic program and to determine which have a positive ROI for students. Do they “do no harm,” or in other words, do they improve income for students, or do students end up losing future income as a result? The continuation of offering programs that “harm” students helps fuel the idea that post-secondary education is a waste of time and money, and if the CCCs fail to reimagine how business is done the system will face serious challenges in the future. 

Some additional ACBO sessions I would like to highlight are “Arbitrage Rebate – It’s Back!” “Journey Through a Cyber Breach,” and “HR Tips and Tools for Resolving Workplace Conflict.” 

The “Arbitrage Rebate” session, presented by Melissa Thornsberry from Kern Community College District, Katie Dobson, and Eorl Carlson both from Jones Hall, provided helpful guidance for those districts with General Obligation bonds on appropriately managing interest earned. More specifically, the interest earned above the bond yield, in most cases, will have to be paid to the Internal Revenue Service rather than being spent on bond projects. The “Cyber Breach” session, facilitated by Chris Dela Rosa from Foothill DeAnza CCD, also offered practical advice by way of examples from three different community colleges who had experienced data breaches. Each college shared what the experience was like, how they responded, and the support they received through cyber insurance coverage.

The “Resolving Workplace Conflict” session, presented by Robin Devitt from the California Teachers Association and Cindy Vyskocil from South Orange CCD, focused on tips and tools to help administrators effectively facilitate conflict resolution meetings between two or more employees. Causes of conflict were briefly touched on, including behaviors that erode trust. Also discussed were recurring concepts from some ALI sessions, such as the importance of open and constant feedback as well as building a culture of care.

With all the amazing sessions to participate in my time at the ACBO conference went quickly and before I knew it, I was on my way to Irvine to capture the tail end of the CIO conference where I joined my fellow CR colleague Dr. Crystal Morse and a majority of my ALI cohort.  The first and most impactful session I attended was led by Mac Powell, President of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). Amazingly enough President Powell’s message was in alignment with what President Oakly had relayed – the importance of academic program ROI. 

President Powell’s approached the subject from a slightly different perspective. He began by talking about data storytelling to restore faith and confidence in higher education. This would entail using metrics and data to assess the price of education to future earnings and show that there is value in obtaining a certificate or degree from a higher education institution. Like President Oakley, President Powell was calling on CCCs to act but with a specific ask of aiding in the data storytelling effort. It was shared that there will be a future ACCJC convening scheduled specifically for this purpose. 

There were additional sessions at the CIO conference with topics that mirrored items discussed at ALI as well as at the ACBO conference. What was interesting, in addition to the wealth of information, was the way in which the messaging varied depending on whether the lens was that of a CEO, CBO, or CIO.

As I began my trek back to the northern part of the state, I reflected on the knowledge I had gained and the people I had connected with. I felt extreme gratitude for having the opportunity to take advantage of two weeks’ worth of professional development. With exposure to so much information it was challenging to identify the most impactful takeaways, but there are two concepts that resonate the most with me. The first is the concept of assessing the ROI of academic programs for our students to ensure we are not causing loss of income or other harm and to use positive examples to support the value of higher education. The second is the importance of cultivating and maintaining a culture of care for students, faculty, and staff. I know that there are ongoing efforts at CR in support of this, such as Caring Campus, and I have renewed determination to assist.

Crystal Morse noted that the College hosted the Dual Enrollment Cross-Institutional Summit. This event convened thirty key stakeholders representing eight high schools, two County Offices of Education, and the Redwood Coast K–16 Educational Collaborative. She also mentioned that CR continues to make considerable progress in the development of the Indigenous Language Institute (CRILI), designed to support regional Indigenous language revitalization efforts. The newly formed CRILI Advisory Council held its inaugural meeting on November 10, 2025. This critical meeting successfully established a gathering of local tribal language expertise, partnership, and strategic framework for the Institute.

Marty Coelho’s report noted that the Foundation supported the Basic Needs Center’s food campaign through a targeted social media effort and direct appeals for donations, continued its role as a Platinum Sponsor of the annual Redwood Coast Region Economic Development Summit, and launched an annual holiday matching-gift campaign. He also informed the Board that the Del Norte Healthcare District Board responded to follow-up correspondence with a grant award of $59,000 to support the development of CR’s new healthcare programs.