Interview with CPH’s new president, Richard A. Carvajal
It only took one phone call to bring Cal Poly Humboldt’s new president, Richard A. Carvajal, back home to Humboldt.
Carvajal was appointed CPH’s ninth president by the California State University Board of Trustees, and began his term on Jan. 20. He previously served as president for 9 years at Valdosta State University in Georgia.
“It’s just different when home calls,” Carvajal said. “And so when I got the phone call in early June, somebody asked if I’d have any interest in coming home. This is so much the place that I feel made me, me. I dreamed of attending this university as a kid, it seemed like Mars.”
Carvajal started his first day by visiting classrooms and meeting students in the quad while handing out donuts.
“I really wanted that to be the very first thing of my presidency because I wanted to communicate as clear as I could to folks that I will go out and I will try to put myself in positions where folks have an opportunity to interact with me and give me their thoughts,” Carvajal said.
Returning home
Carvajal moved to Humboldt at a young age and as he grew older, he spent his free time helping his father with his janitorial business for a reward of a Pepsi and Hostess cherry pie. Amidst his family’s financial struggles, they left Humboldt and moved to Oklahoma for better job opportunities. This change didn’t fix their problems and in high school, Carvajal called the back seat of his car home.
“So that’s right. Your president is the president who was once homeless,” Carvajal said during the campus reception on Jan. 22.
Carvajal is a first generation college graduate and CPH’s first Latine president. When his mother married his Mexican-American father, her family disowned her for making that decision. History repeated itself when Carvajal married his wife and her family did the same, cutting off all ties for their 32 years of marriage. He hopes to bring a personal perspective that connects with students who have felt on the outside or judged for who they are.
“Everybody’s story is different but at the very least it means I have an appreciation for what it’s like to be thought of as different and to suffer because of it. I bring that to my work, I always have,” Carvajal said. “And so I love that I’m in a place where our values are so clear that we want this to be a place where all feel supported and I take a lot of pride in hopefully being someone that folks will see as trying to carry that mantle and to try to continue to make that a lasting value of this place and maybe even build on it.”
Moving forward
With CPH being his fourth presidency, Carvajal emphasizes that every plan has been different across each campus because his plan is informed by the place.
“I come in and I ask people who already know and love this place, folks like you, what do you love about it,”
Carvajal said. “I’m doing that so that I can hear what needs to be protected and enhanced and I’m already hearing some of the same things over and over again. That’s what I look for, what are the themes that I hear? And then I ask what needs to get better.”
Student activism has been a core part of CPH’s history. Stepping into this role, Carvajal recognizes the need to give attention to student voices.
“What I love is that there’s clearly, there’s just, an unequivocal commitment to making sure that free expression is protected here, that voices are protected here,” Carvajal said. “There certainly are some changes with how we do that, but frankly, those changes have been put in place to try to protect those voices. And so I look forward very much to diving in with our team to what that looks like, how can we do that?”
After growing up with this university in the back of his mind, Carvajal said that CPH will be the place he retires from.
“Now I’m here and I feel so honored to be at a place where our charge every day is to make this place even better,” Carvajal said. “And I can’t wait to join with folks who similarly love this place to decide how to do that.”
