by Nick Escalada
Cal Poly Humboldt’s newest president, Dr. Richard A. Carvajal began his work this past Tuesday with a series of introductory appearances throughout campus. He kicked off the day by greeting students and faculty in the quad next to a tantalizing table of free donuts, before dropping in on several departments’ classes to spread the energy indoors.
Carvajal’s debut culminated with a talk at the semester’s first University Senate meeting, where he divulged more about his connection to Humboldt and his intended approach toward leading the institution. He led his speech by expressing its personal significance to his life.
“I told my wife about it, and she said, ‘do you realize that that will be the last first speech you ever give?’” Carvajal said. “And the reason I say that is because this is the final job I will ever have. I will retire from this position. In so many ways, this position is the culmination of my career. It’s such an honor for me to be here.”
Carvajal was previously the longest-serving president of Valdosta State University in Georgia, where he stated he had no intention of leaving until he listened to a Humboldt forum expressing a desire for a new president to understand the local area. Despite hailing most recently from the South, Carvajal spent a portion of his childhood in Humboldt County and attributes his understanding of the campus community to his ties to the region.
“After being born in Los Angeles, we left when I was really young. We came here and so this is the place that made me, me. I was here through middle school… I still wish we could have stayed.”
At the climax of his speech Carvajal explained his leadership philosophy being rooted in the community he directs.
“What I bring is a process in which I firmly believe that if you have a group of people who know a place, who love a place and they’re working together, moving in the same direction, there’s almost nothing that they cannot accomplish,” Carvajal said.
After a series of enthusiastic “Go Jacks,” Carvajal ended by addressing one of the major issues facing the university.
“Why is enrollment such an issue? Because there is this thing called the demographic cliff. We know back to the Great Recession, in 2008 we can track it for the first time in America, we started having less babies,” Carvajal said. “Why? There are financial reasons for that, but we know year over year, that’s the case. And so here we are, 18 years later, because you can’t inject more babies back into the population, right? Once, when you clear a year, you clear the year. And so what we have to do to be successful? Well, we got to figure out a way to get a higher and higher market share and percentage of that smaller 18 year old class to come. And we’ve got to figure out a way to reach non-18 year olds, people who have some college and no degree and help them get to a finish line.”
Nick Escalada is the News Editor of The Lumberjack. He studies wildlife and aspires to be a nature journalist. Find him bouncing between Gist Hall and the science buildings and reach him at ne53@humboldt.edu!