Summary of the September 1, 2026 Board of Trustees Meeting
Published on Sep 1 2026Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that College of the Redwoods is located on the unceded territory of the Wiyot, Hupa, Karuk, Mattole, Tolowa, Wailaki, and Yurok people where they have resided from time immemorial. We encourage all to gain a deeper understanding of their history and thriving culture. As an expression of our gratitude we are genuinely committed to developing trusting, reciprocal, and long lasting partnerships with the Wiyot people as well as all of our neighboring tribes.
Consent Calendar Action Items
The Board of Trustees approved several personnel-related items including the hiring of Corinne McKenzie as an Account Clerk III in the Business Office and Amanda Beardsley as an Early Childhood Education Assistant II. Also approved was the change of status for Luz Cisneros from Custodian.625 FTE to Custodian I 1.0 FTE, and Julie Przepiora from Professor, Nursing Science/Clinical Practice to Professor, Psychiatric Technician. We also welcome four new associate faculty to our community this fall: Anthony Freeman (Fire Technology), Brook Hoalton (Fire Technology), David Terry (Fire Technology), and Kimberly Cisneros (Guidance).
The Board approved or ratified nineteen contracts, agreements, or MOUs at this meeting. I want to highlight the MOU between CR and the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria. This MOU creates a 20-year partnership between CR and the Bear River for the shared use of baseball and softball facilities at the Bear River Recreation Center. Bear River will construct, operate, and maintain the facilities, while CR will use them as its home baseball and softball venue and promote Bear River amenities to athletes and visiting teams. Tribal Chairwoman of the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Josefina Frank’s quote in the press release was a perfect portrayal of the MOU.
This partnership has been a long time coming, and I am incredibly proud to see it reach this point. Relationships like this do not happen overnight. They are built over many years through the work of people who saw the potential of what Bear River and College of the Redwoods could accomplish together. I want to acknowledge the groundwork that was laid years ago and the continued work that has brought us to this 20-year commitment.
For Bear River, this agreement represents much more than baseball and softball fields. It reflects our commitment as a Tribal Nation to invest in opportunities that strengthen our community and the greater community around us. We have worked hard to develop facilities that our Tribal members can be proud of while also creating opportunities to build meaningful partnerships with organizations like College of the Redwoods.
I am especially proud that Bear River can provide a home where CR student-athletes can practice, compete, and have their families and community come out to support them. This partnership shows what can happen when we build relationships with a long-term vision in mind. We are excited about what this next chapter will bring and look forward to continuing to grow our relationship with College of the Redwoods for many years to come.”
The District took a tangible step toward constructing our new state-of-the-art student housing on the Eureka Campus. The Board approved four contractors to be added to the District’s General Contractor Prequalification List for the Student Housing Project: Wahlund Construction, Inc., Joint Venture: Wahlund Construction, Inc & Sequoia, Modern Building Inc., and Broward Builders Inc.
Action/Discussion Items
I am happy to announce that the Board of Trustees approved the recommendation to grant Dr. Karen Reiss professor emeritus status.
Informational Reports
In my recognition report, I recognized Dr. Rebecca Robertson for authoring the article “How College of the Redwoods is Responding to AI” in the September 2026 edition of the Senior News and Sergeant Corrie Watson for graduating from the POST certified Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute. I verbally recognized Wendy Butler for her article “Educational Guidance in an AI Age” that was also include in the Senior News.
Dr. Rebecca Robertson Dr. Tatum Loso did a wonderful job sharing the work of the AI Ad Hoc Committee, describing the process the community used in developing the guidance report, and framing the next phase of the college’s artificial intelligence work.
Organizational and Administrative Reports
In her report, Academic Senate President Wendy Riggs recognized the seventeen faculty who worked together during August to develop their courses for 8-week delivery: Jeffrey Frederick, Jeffrey Gonzalez, Jocelyn Heaney, Laura Kirkpatrick, April Klingonsmith, Emily Lavrador, Kristen Luke, Shannon Mondor, Mike Peterson, Cyncy Phillips, Stephen Quiggle, Armeda Reitzel, Susan Rosen, Liam Slacuni, Katheryn Schopp, and Henry Solares. Wendy also welcomed the ten new tenure-track faculty: Pyuwa Bommelyn, Aaron Coyle, Amanda Cuttler, Gabriel Holtski, Kristen Luke, Robert Satava, Kelly Scott, Amy Turpin, Katie Woerner, and Brad Zwiefelhofer.
In her organizational report, President Michelle Haggerty noted that Professor Emeritus Dr. Peter Blakemore was elected to serve as a board member on the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) and Associate Faculty Eli Naffah will serve on the Part-Time Faculty Committee. Having more representation on FACCC from CR faculty can only help forward our unique needs as a college to the state level.
CSEA President Rachel Warze’s written report mentioned that classified staff are in involved in advocacy. Over the next several months they will be participating in phone banking and other outreach efforts in support of Proposition 3. She thanked Andre LaRocque, Gustavo Vasquez, Christina Morse, and Leigh Dooley for organizing the staff learning summit.
President Amber Cavanaugh’s written report recognized the Ryan Bisio and shared that the large-scale 1972 wall sculpture Untitled by Melvin Schuler was installed at the Eureka Downtown Site.
My written administrative report mentioned that CR’s application for candidacy in the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) has been granted for the practical and associate nursing programs. Although the College is already accredited through the Board of Registered Nurses (BRN), national accreditation through ACEN would be great because it would mean that CR’s Nursing Program was reviewed by a respected, independent accreditor using nationally recognized quality standards. ACEN accreditation will provide students, families, and the community with added confidence that the curriculum, faculty support, and clinical training are designed using national evidence-based standards. It will also strengthen the credibility of the Program beyond the District’s service area.
With my verbal comments, I provided a preliminary snapshot of our fall 2026 enrollment versus fall 2025. This is a snapshot as of September 1. There are a few things I ask you to keep in mind as you look at the enrollment numbers below: 1) Enrollment count is the number of section enrollments and is an apples-apples comparison—this point in time this year to point in time last year; 2) the remaining three elements for 2025F are as of the end of the term versus 2026F point in time because we don't yet have computational models to capture those elements in past tense at a point in time Bottom line: enrollment count is the only true year-over-year growth measure in this report; the remaining percentages should be considered preliminary for now. Funded FTES may not move proportionally with total FTES due to effects on funding from nonresident enrollment (nonresident credit enrollment does not generate apportionment, while certain nonresident noncredit enrollment does). The cumulative combination of these two factors can result in funded FTES behaving differently from the other measures. Last year's FTES counts were calculated using the old accounting method, with this year being calculated with the new Standardized method. With it being brand new for us, we do not exactly know how to treat/interpret these percent changes just yet (attributing true changes vs calculation method "noise").
Fall 2025 Fall 2026 Growth
Enrollment Count 14,292 14,937 4.51%
Active Student Headcount 5,183 5,366 3.53%
FTES 2,015 2,110 4.71%
Funded FTES 1,940 2,011 3.66%
Julia Morrison’s administrative report repeated the revenue and expenditure information she shared with the Trustees at the Board’s workshop on August 22nd. She wrote that the Business Office is working with Institutional Research and Human Resources to develop more precise methods of calculating revenues and expenses by location. It is important to note that, while fiscal solvency is extremely important, qualitative factors are important as well. While some of the district’s locations may cost more than they bring in, they exist to serve students and the community, which involves the provision of certain services no matter how many students are being served.
In her written report Dr. Crystal Morse noted that discussed faculty and staff participated in professional learning and conversations focused on student success, including basic-needs support, accessibility and the experiences of students with disabilities, online learning, curriculum and the transition to Coursedog, Canvas and instructional technology, artificial intelligence, program review, and information literacy during the fall 2026 Convocation activities held August 19–21.
In his report Marty Coelho thanked the sponsors of the CR Dinner and Auction including Title Sponsors Blue Lake Casino Hotel, the McLean Foundation; Maroon-level sponsors Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt Fence Company, and The Mill Yard; and Gold-level sponsors Coast Central Credit Union and Harper Motors. He also thanked Dan and Cynthia Phillips for their extraordinary $100,000 gift, which serves as the initial contribution to the naming campaign for “McAuley Field” at CR’s Community Stadium. He also recognized the many individuals and businesses whose generosity, expertise, and hard work made possible the restoration and return of the historic Corsair 671 speed car to the CR Eureka Campus.