CMC President's Board of Trustees recap and news for December 2025

Hi folks. This is Daren Otten, Superintendent/President of Copper Mountain College. This is the follow-up from yesterday’s December 11, 2025 board report.

The board did have a closed session where they went through several items, but the primary item was they completed my annual evaluation. And so they did report that out as we went into the open session.

Moving into the open session items, there was a couple of things that were shared. Primarily, the annual organizational meeting happens every December. And so what that really means is that the Board of Trustees reorganizes on an annual basis for president, vice president, clerk of the board, the other assignments. And so for this year, Board President Lombardo will remain as board president for 2026. Vice President will be Tyler Fowlkes. The clerk will be Dick Rogers. Anna Stump was appointed to the representative to the School Board Association, and Chuck  Uyeda is the representative to the Foundation. And so with the reorganization, that is ultimately the roles that each one of the trustees holds for this next calendar year.

Moving into the regular meeting as board president, Lombardo was presiding again, started off with a Star Award recognition for Ramon Valadez, and then moved into an amazing retirement celebration for Kathy McBride, honoring her many, many years of service here. Her smiling face and even her blooper reel. That was super entertaining for everybody to watch. So there was a great celebration for Kathy. A brief break before we got into the rest of the board meeting.

So, moving into the rest of the board meeting, there were all the normal reports that are always there. And then Dean Evelyn Sheffield presented our annual Career and Technical Education update. The primary focus this year was to talk a little bit about some of the growth constraints that currently are in place around space needs, and so she presented several things that we do expect to build into some ongoing planning over the next several years as we look to really meet the space needs of programs like Construction Trades, programs that might come, such as Welding or HVAC, or some of these other areas that are in high demand, have high wages and have regional job opportunities. But of course, that means we ultimately have to figure out how do we accommodate those programs on this campus with those students. And so that is something that we are currently in the planning stages for. And Evelyn is the point person in that particular space.

Moving into the general reports, there were several consent items, but one that I want to highlight is the reassignment of Heather Sanchez from the Career Services area, where she’s done an amazing job to now serving as our K through  12 liaison counselor. Heather will be missed over in the Career Services area, but we’re excited for Heather and her new opportunity associated with the K through 12 liaison.

And that’s essentially the report for the balance of this meeting. I want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday, and I hope everyone has an enjoyable break, gets to recharge, and will be ready for 2026. Looking forward to an amazing new year.