The new president of College of the Redwoods wasted no time putting his institutional research staff to work.

“The first question I asked: what is the penetration rate by ZIP code for CR?” Jeff Marsee said from his office on his third day on the job.

“The state average for community colleges is 67 students per 1,000 population,” he said. “We know we’re not there. The general rule of thumb is any program that’s 20 minutes driving time or greater is not going to draw students.”

Marsee said CR’s remoteness, service over four counties and lack of programs in many areas are factors in a student body that has lost roughly 1,000 students in six of the last seven years. But he needs data to assess under-represented areas and what CR needs to do to recover that student body.

“That’s why environmental scanning is so important,” he said. “A really strong environmental scan and assessment tells us this is what you did well, this is where you should be putting emphasis to strengthen what’s strong, eliminate what’s bad or fix what’s broken,” Marsee said.

Marsee said that data is the trailhead for the strategic plan for 2020 and beyond.

“The kindergarten class is half the size of the high school graduating class,” Marsee said. “The pool (of students) is drying up. What do you do about that shift?

“That’s where the planning process comes into place where we assess what’s going to happen so we can prepare for real life and adjust as opposed to responding, ‘Oh my God, the students didn’t come this year. What happened and what are we going to do? That’s what the accrediting commission is correctly saying we haven’t done.”

Marsee is certain that expanding online courses is part of CR’s future. He compared CR to a college in Kern County serving an area similar to CR in a district that requires a 5 1/2-hour drive to cross.

“They have 19 to 20 percent of their courses online. We have about 3.5 percent,” he said.

CR Vice President of Instruction and Student Services Keith Snow-Flamer said the school would increase by 60 percent its online offerings from the 24 courses offered last fall.

The virtual campus has already attracted 1,190 students to its 39 offerings next term.

“They’re on the right track, but it will take a consolidation of resources to make it so it can grow into a critical core,” Marsee said.

Marsee said more online growth will require additional expertise for training for curriculum development technology and faculty.

“We may be looking at teaching a course or two in advanced placement (for the high schools) or at the centers so students can get a degree there,” he said.

Another possibility: outreach into the prison system. The Del Norte campus is working that direction with Pelican Bay — anger management courses are an obvious possibility — but Marsee sees greater potential in developing a relationship with the 1,300 employees.

“We have a wonderful criminal justice program,” he said. “We could better prepare new and exiting employees. There’s no reason why if we can find an online mechanism in which to approach then we can push that out to the other correctional institutions in California . . . or Nevada, or New York.”

Collecting data and asking questions give him time to work on his top priority: getting to know the administrative staff and faculty, not all of whom may be onboard with data-informed decisions that are not exempt from logical fallacies.

“All the great ideas in the world are going to lie dead on the floor — DOA — if the organization doesn’t embrace them,” Marsee said. “I need to get to know the human resources.”

From that knowledge he’ll identify the “change missionaries” and the “culture keepers.”

“We have a culture to keep in place and it’s very important we know how to do things and where things are going,” he said. “But we are also talking about a culture shift. The culture missionaries help us to do it without threatening the culture. We have to get everyone comfortable that we are not trying to tear the organization apart. We are trying to strengthen it.”

Marsee allows that the college troubles the past few years, from accreditation sanctions to budget worries to an enrollment plunge, will make it easier to have a presidential impact.

“Is it part of the appeal? Yes,” he said. “They are ready to change.”