I’m Pete Blakemore and I believe I have the kind of background that would make me an asset to the FACCC Board of Governors. My 35 years of experience as a college professor help me understand teaching and the problems faculty face in the current environment. I also served in multiple leadership and administrative roles and thus know how California Community Colleges function from the inside out.
I began teaching at the University of Montana in 1985 and taught at UNLV, College of San Mateo, Solano College, the University of Oregon, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before joining the faculty of College of the Redwoods, where I taught English and environmental studies for 20 years. I served as curriculum committee chair and as academic senate president as well as president, grievance officer, and vice-president of College of the Redwoods independent faculty union. I served on multiple negotiating teams and facilitated interest-based bargaining (IBB) negotiations and offered IBB trainings for the Redwoods Community College District Board, administrators, and faculty.
In 2021, I moved into the administration and retired from College of the Redwoods as the Executive Dean of Arts & Sciences in July of 2025. I also served on multiple accreditation teams over the years, and, as Accreditation Liaison Officer, I oversaw the authoring of the college’s last self-study, which resulted in no recommendations and a glowing review from our ACCJC visiting team.
I have always been a strong advocate for FACCC, and as an officer in our faculty organization I promoted CR becoming a FACCC contract school. I know how important FACCC is and I’ve participated in multiple FACCC sponsored conferences and published essays in the FACCC Journal. I recount all of this to show that I understand how things work in California higher education. I know what the issues are because I’ve spent a good part of my career working to improve the lot of college teachers and their students and communities. Moving my family back to California was one of the best decisions of my life—I want to give back to the system that gave me so much.
College teaching faculty know perhaps better than anyone else the real challenges facing our society. We know that our state cannot maintain a just, fair, and free democracy unless the people who work, vote, and live here are educated. I always knew this was a struggle, but one that is well worth it—we simply have no choice but to keep going, no matter how difficult things seem. If we want to improve our institutions and communities, we need to engage and push hard. We owe it to the people we love, to the people we don’t know, and to those who have not yet been born.
Thank you.
Education
BA University of Iowa, English & History (1981) MA, MFA University of Montana, English Literature & Creative Writing (1988-89) PhD University of Oregon, American Literature/Environmental Studies (1998)
