Pictured, top to bottom: James McDonnell, Chris Mangels and COS President Brent Calvin. Sources: McDonnell is in a COS Facebook video screenshot; Mangels photo provided by COS public information office; Calvin image taken from COS website.

By Doug Hoagland

and Donald Munro

In a situation that is unprecedented in California – and perhaps the nation – a theater arts professor at College of the Sequoias who teaches costuming, makeup, and other theater classes has earned nearly $3 million in total pay since 2012, including a reported $367,152 in 2023. With benefits included, his compensation totaled $3.6 million.

During the same period, his theater department colleague earned $2 million in total pay, including a reported $314,272 in 2023. With benefits, he received $2.6 million.

The startling salaries aren’t the result of fraud or hidden bonuses but of contract provisions that allow the two professors to teach twice the standard course load – collecting extra pay for every extra course and for hundreds of film students. James McDonnell and Christopher Mangels have legally turned this workload loophole into paychecks that some experts say are unheard of in American theater education, all funded for years by local taxpayers.

Educators in the arts whom The Munro Review contacted were astounded that any professor could handle that workload. They noted many other community colleges in California consider the standard 15-unit course load as a full-time position and place a limit on how many classes professors can teach.

Both McDonnell and Mangels appear on track to keep earning the large paychecks in the 2025-26 academic year, which begins Aug. 11.

McDonnell, the highest-paid employee on the Visalia campus, received the largest salary seven times and the second-highest salary five times from 2012 to 2023, according to Transparent California, a database of public employees’ salaries. Mangels was the third-highest-paid COS employee from 2021 to 2023. (2024 data is not yet available.)

COS has more than 700 full and part-time employees, according to the college’s website. McDonnell and Mangels are the only full-time theater arts professors at COS. 

COS Superintendent/President Brent Calvin was No. 2 on the salary list at $329,400 in total pay in 2023. Since 2012, he has earned $2.6 million in total pay and $3.1 million with benefits added. Calvin has served as superintendent/president since 2018. Before that, he worked as vice president for student services from 2013 to 2017, and he was a dean in 2012.

Calvin said he fully supports the large salaries for McDonnell and Mangels. “Our approach makes business sense on several fronts,” he said, including saving money by not hiring additional full-time theater arts faculty. Furthermore, he said, McDonnell and Mangels are “two of the best professors in the business,” and the high salaries are a “nice incentive for these talented guys to stay.” Finally, Calvin added that not hiring additional theater faculty would avoid layoffs if budget problems developed.

Calvin expressed concern about The Munro Review reporting on the salaries. “I hope you have not been misled as to there being some kind of ‘problem’ here when, in fact, our students continue to excel under the guidance of our faculty.”

But Calvin acknowledged that the big salaries have led to questions over the years when people learn what McDonnell and Mangels receive. “I mean, we all get the optics,” he said.

bree valle, an award-winning professor and artistic director of the Cuesta College Theatre Program in San Luis Obispo, gave voice to an outsider’s view. After learning of McDonnell’s salary, she said, “My head blew off my shoulders.” (valle doesn’t capitalize letters in her name.)

valle said McDonnell and Mangels might be the highest-paid theater professors in the nation. 

In addition, when contacted by The Munro Review, six people in Valley theater circles – who support the arts but asked not to be identified for the sake of candor – were shocked by the COS salaries.

They emphasized that theater professors and others involved in the arts often work long hours, particularly when preparing for a show, concert, or recital. But as one person said of McDonnell and Mangels: “If you’re looking for wrongdoing, you aren’t going to find it. But if you’re looking for opportunism, you’ve found it.”

(If you’re reading this on a mobile device, story continues after “McDonnell and Mangels: An Introduction” and the pay table)

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McDonnell and Mangels:

an introduction

James McDonnell and Christopher Mangels grew up on opposite sides of the country with a shared passion for the arts.

McDonnell lived outside New York City as a boy. “I’d see Broadway plays – I’d go and I’d wonder and I cared deeply,” he said. 

Mangels grew up on an apple farm near Exeter, about 15 miles east of Visalia. As a top student in high school, he said, a scholarship committee reacted with disappointment – “oh, that’s too bad” – when he indicated his college major would be theater. Mangels was stunned: “All I could think was, how could you say that to me? I’m an exceptional student. I’m an exceptional person. I’ve given myself to this school. And now you act like I’m throwing it away. I believe the arts build empathy.”

Mangels graduated from the theater arts program at College of the Sequoias and transferred to Fresno State, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in acting. He also earned a master of fine arts degree in musical theater from San Diego State and a master of theater studies degree in production and design from Southern Oregon University.

He first taught at COS as an adjunct professor in the early 2000s, left due to local and state budget problems and returned to full-time teaching at COS in 2007.

McDonnell began teaching at COS in 2001. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in acting/directing from DeSales University, a private Catholic university in Center Valley, Pa. He also earned a master of fine arts degree in design/technology from the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

‘I’m sacrificing’

McDonnell and Mangels told The Munro Review that collecting a big paycheck is not their motivation to maintain a heavy workload. They mount four productions each year, and each teaches up to eight drama classes in person or online each semester. In addition, both McDonnell and Mangels have taught as many as four film appreciation classes each semester, some of them with hundreds of students in each section.

Mangels, who estimated he works 60 to 70 hours a week, said the workload is “daunting.” He said he does more work than most full-time faculty and is paid accordingly. “It’s not that I’m better compensated. I’m compensated for the work I do, and I do an exceptional amount of work. I’m earning every cent I get.”

He elaborated about his compensation: “Does it make the sacrifice I give more palatable? Definitely. Am I grateful that I’m at least compensated for the significant work I’m doing? Unquestionably. I don’t ever want to sound like I’m not glad to have this money. I am – but not to the point where I’ll continue to do it so I can have the money.”

The Munro Review asked Mangels whether it’s a paradox – especially in the San Joaquin Valley, where incomes are low – that a college professor who makes more than $300,000 speaks of “sacrificing.”

Mangels replied: “The way you phrase that suggests that you’ve already got an opinion on this – that I’m sacrificing to make $300,000 a year. I’m sacrificing to make the program run.”

McDonnell said he earns his salary through a labor contract that has “scrutiny and rigor.” He added: “Did I earn every dollar of that money legally, the hard way and deservingly? Yes, every penny, every moment of the day. As a teacher, I believe I’m exemplary, not to a point of pride or gloating, but in terms of dedication, humility and hard work.”

He acknowledged: “Yes, I think some things have worked out really well for me in this world. I try to remain humble, respectful, focused and recognize the incredible privilege I have.”

Other professors at COS could take on a similar workload and have the “same opportunities” to boost their salaries, McDonnell said. But “they choose other things to do.” He added: “Is there inequity in this world? There can be. I don’t think my tiny salary is inequitable compared to the $350 billion that Elon Musk has, who certainly did not work many more hours than I did, to earn so much more money – more money than I could ever have.”

The COS faculty union supports McDonnell and Mangels. “Chris and James are members of our association and are very hard workers dedicated to the theater department, COS, and the community,” said Tracy Redden, president of the College of the Sequoias Teachers Association.

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Comparing salaries

McDonnell’s and Mangels’ salaries are at least double what The Munro Review found in checking into more than a dozen theater programs at public colleges and universities in California – many with larger enrollments than COS.

At many campuses of the California State University system, including Fresno State, theater instructors with directing roles earned less. By comparison, the highest-paid member of Fresno State’s theater department with directing responsibilities received $122,254 in total pay in 2023. The chair of Fresno City College’s theater department, who also directs, earned $137,626 in total pay during the same period.

No theater instructor in the programs surveyed by The Munro Review earned more than the nearly $160,000 that valle at Cuesta received in 2023 as the only full-time theater professor at her community college.

The Munro Review contacted valle because Cuesta and COS have comparable total enrollments (COS: almost 14,000; Cuesta: 10,000) and because both theater programs have won prestigious awards from the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival.

In 2025, COS’ production of “Reefer Madness: The Musical” won 17 awards for COS students and for both Mangels (Outstanding Direction of a Play or Musical) and McDonnell (Outstanding Costume Design). In addition, “Reefer Madness” was cited as Outstanding Production of a Play or Musical. Two COS students, Brittney Martorana and Anu Perry, received national Fellowships from the Kennedy Center.

Said Mangels: “To my knowledge, we were one of the most recognized college or theater programs in the nation this year. Two National Fellowships and 17 separate areas of recognition – not bad for a community college.”

Martorana told The Munro Review that her accomplishments at COS – winning three national awards as a student director and choreographer, attending master classes in Washington D.C., and securing a summer internship at the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – would not have been possible without the guidance of McDonnell and Mangels. Martorana added: “Chris and James both have created a home for young artists in our Valley to expand their potential, and I believe myself to be proof of that.” 

Also impressive – with far less money invested in its theater faculty – Cuesta College received 11 awards from the Kennedy Center in 2023 for its production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.” The awards included Distinguished Production of a Play and Distinguished Direction of a Play for valle, who in 2021 also was honored with the Kennedy Center’s Gold Medallion for excellence in theater education.

(If you’re reading this on a mobile device, story continues after “In brief” and “How to support The Munro Review” below)

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In brief

If you don’t have the time to read this 4,000-word investigative story, here are some key points:

• James McDonnell and Christoper Mangels – theater professors at College of the Sequoias in Visalia – combined to earn nearly $700,000 in 2023, according to public records compiled by Transparent California. Their salaries are at least double most of their theater colleagues in the state’s community colleges, California State University system and University of California system.

• McDonnell earned more than Brent Calvin, the Superintendent/President of COS in multiple years.

• Calvin defends the high salaries, saying it’s more efficient to pay full-time professors extra pay than hire adjuncts, and that the financial rewards for McDonnell and Mangels reward two talented educators.

• Over the course of several interviews, Calvin painted a picture of the two professors basically doing all the creative jobs associated with the four productions that COS stages each year. However, the reality is more complicated — and involves more people, including two staff technicians.

• No one is disputing the strong professional reputation of the two men. They and their productions were nationally honored by the American College Theatre Festival in 2025. They each say they are overworked, but they agree to put in those extra hours to keep up the excellence of the theater program.

• COS’ faculty labor contract set the stage for McDonnell and Mangels to earn big salaries. Both men teach more drama classes (in person and online) than the standard five classes taught by full-time community college professors. In addition, each teaches up to four sections of film appreciation a semester, both online and in person, and are paid $75 extra per student after reaching an enrollment of 40. In fall 2022, McDonnell taught 705 film students, and Mangels taught 402 students. Neither had any teaching assistant to help grade papers.

• Theater professionals and educators question how McDonnell and Mangels can effectively manage their academic workloads while also mounting four theatrical productions each school year.

How to support

The Munro Review

The Munro Review has no paywall but is financially supported by readers who believe in its non-profit mission of bringing professional arts journalism to the central San Joaquin Valley. You can help by signing up for a monthly recurring paid membership or make a one-time donation of as little as $3. All memberships and donations are tax-deductible. The Munro Review is funded in part by the City of Fresno Measure P Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Fund administered by the Fresno Arts Council.

‘Only so much bandwidth’

valle said she knows Mangels and described him as a “great guy” and a “very generous human being.” Stressing that she doesn’t believe that he and McDonnell are doing anything wrong – “they should be compensated for their work” – valle nevertheless is skeptical about their ability to handle their workload. “I’m not buying it. I don’t know how anyone can do this amount of work. You know, is it quantity or quality?” She added: “There are only so many hours in a day, and there’s only so much bandwidth in a person’s mind.”

In a move that could have lessened that workload, COS officials recently considered adding a third full-time theater arts professor. The position barely missed out on approval due to budget constraints and priorities in other departments.

The Munro Review asked President Calvin: Given the high salaries going to McDonnell and Mangels, shouldn’t adding another tenured theater arts position have been a priority of his administration?

Calvin replied that a group of COS administrators decides which departments get new faculty positions, and the competition is intense. Most positions go to core departments like math, English, and nursing. Then, he added, “Your question seems to imply that there would be a cost-benefit to hiring more full-time faculty in [theater arts]. In fact, I think that is the premise to your whole story. And it is flawed.”

Calvin continued: “There is an argument against the way we are staffing these classes – namely, sustainability, because how can guys like Chris and James ever be replaced – but cost effectiveness is not it.”

Mangels pushed for the third faculty position as chair of the COS Fine Arts Division, another of his responsibilities. He described himself as “crushed” at the outcome, and he said he’ll continue advocating for the position, reiterating that he cannot indefinitely continue with his current workload. “I love what I do, and how lucky am I that I get to be an artist and educator and do this amazing job. But it’s not something I can sustain.”

Life choices

Meanwhile, McDonnell said not having a family is a “significant contributing factor” for him in handling a big workload. “I may not have set up my personal life to be enviable. I’m not scared or sad. This has been my whole life’s dedication, and I don’t have much else.”

McDonnell said he has no regrets about his choices. “I don’t think ‘Poor James.’ I think how wonderful it is that I’ve gotten to do this thing.”

In an hour-long interview with The Munro Review, McDonnell repeatedly brought up being single and not having much of a private life. The Munro Review did not prompt his responses by asking about his marital status or private life, and The Munro Review did not ask follow-up questions when he broached the subjects.

As an example, when addressing why he teaches double the standard number of classes, McDonnell said: “I have not had much of a personal or private life. I work seven days a week, 12-14 hours a day. I feel this is a mission to be here to work with students. I am unmarried. I do not have children. I lost my parents many years ago. I’m just kind of a single guy who has really found a lot of excitement, redemption and fulfillment through work.”

But McDonnell’s Instagram account points to a more complex reality. A photo shows him in Paris kneeling before a woman to propose marriage with the Eiffel Tower in the background. He posted that she said “yes” and “now we get forever, together.” The post is dated Jan. 6.

The Munro Review learned of the Instagram post after interviewing McDonnell and followed up with several questions. McDonnell responded in an email, “Your interview consistently revolved around questions of my salary, and I tried to answer with thoughtfulness and consideration and truthfulness from my perspective.” He confirmed that he recently became engaged and added: “That does not change the facts that I shared with you about the salary that I earned as a public employee.”

McDonnell said he supports extended family members financially and sponsors scholarships for COS students. Listed on the college’s website is the Carolann and James McDonnell Arts Scholarship ($2,500).

“I believe that education has been the salvation of my life, and I want to give that to other people,” McDonnell said.

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Dissecting those salaries

The salaries that McDonnell and Mangels receive are a combination of three categories of pay, according to Transparent California. The categories are regular pay, overtime, and “other pay.” Transparent California’s data on COS employees comes from information submitted by the college. (President Calvin said the college uses the term “overload” – not overtime.)

In an interview, Mangels initially questioned the accuracy of Transparent California’s salary information but said, “It’s not like I think it’s constantly, horribly wrong.” McDonnell did not raise any questions about the accuracy.

Regular pay for McDonnell and Mangels compensates them for teaching 15 units a semester, which is considered a full-time job, equivalent to a 40-hour work week. Along with it come expectations of five hours of office time each week, grading, preparation, and committee work.

Regular pay for McDonnell and Mangels is comparable to other professors. It’s overtime (or overload) and “other pay” that boosts their salaries, and three factors are at play: 1) COS allowing professors to teach a double load of classes; 2) McDonnell and Mangels teaching the Film Appreciation classes with hundreds of students; and 3) McDonnell, and then Mangels, serving as Fine Arts Division chair at the college and still opting to teach the double load. Each factor leads to a bigger salary.

McDonnell and Mangels, on average, teach double the standard 15 units per semester that many professors teach, and they can earn $68–$89 an hour for teaching the extra classes during a semester, Calvin said.

In the fall 2025 semester, according to the COS class schedule, Mangels is scheduled to teach 11 classes that add up to 31 units, while McDonnell is scheduled to teach 12 classes that add up to 36 units. (For purposes of calculating pay, several of their fall 2025 courses that cover the same subject material and are taught at the same time are counted as one class.)

Calvin estimated it would take four or five full-time professors to cover what McDonnell and Mangels currently do. A full-time professor teaching a standard 15-unit course load earns up to $200,000 in total pay and benefits each year, Calvin said. That would mean spending $1 million to hire five professors. Compared to the $750,000 to $850,000 that COS recently spent per year on McDonnell and Mangels, the college is saving money, Calvin said.

But it turns out that COS already spends more than the $1 million it would take to hire five professors. In 2023, total pay and benefits for the COS theater arts staff – McDonnell, Mangels, and two theater technicians – was $1.1 million. (By comparison, Cuesta College in 2023 paid less than one-third of that figure to compensate valle and two part-time staffers in total pay and benefits.)

Has COS ever considered reallocating the $1.1 million to hire more full-time theater professors? Calvin did not answer the question in an email exchange.

He did say that McDonnell and Mangels have the prerogative to take on their heavy course load because 1) there is no limit on the number of units a COS professor can teach above the standard 15 units, and 2) COS administration does not have the contractual right to tell professors they cannot teach more than 15 units. (Community colleges in California are divided into separate districts, each with an elected board of trustees. Accordingly, each district has its own labor contract.)

In Calvin’s telling, McDonnell and Mangels are workhorses who do all the creative jobs associated with a show, thus proving their value to COS and justifying their large salaries. Said Calvin: “If we weren’t doing the productions, their jobs would begin and end in classes, much like a history, math or English professor. But in addition to the classroom instruction, they’re also the ones that build the sets, they sew the costumes, they do the makeup, and they do the lighting for the stage.”

The reality is more complicated – and involves more people. McDonnell and Mangels, for sure, take on significant roles, as they did in the four shows staged in 2024-25 when both directed and mentored students in various behind-the-scenes jobs. In addition, Mangels served as scenic designer, and McDonnell worked as a costume, hair, and makeup designer.

But the two COS theater technicians also consistently have major responsibilities in all COS shows. The technicians – Nicholas Terry and Kourtnie Haney – are classified employees and earn less than McDonnell and Mangels. In 2024-25, Terry worked as technical director, lighting designer, and co-sound designer, and mentored student designers in various shows. His bio in the program for “Reefer Madness” states that Terry has served as director, production designer, assistant technical director, scenic designer, sound designer, and master carpenter during his career at COS.

Haney worked as assistant technical director, sound or co-sound designer and mentored students in 2024-25.

The point: McDonnell and Mangels don’t do it all, as Calvin seemed to say, and COS already spends what it would take to hire additional full-time theater arts professors.

Adding film to the equation

There’s yet another complication here, which is the second factor in boosting their salaries. It is the Film Appreciation classes taught by both McDonnell and Mangels. In fall 2025, they will teach close to 700 students – some online and others in person – in seven film classes. McDonnell will teach four, and Mangels will teach three of those classes. The seven classes have room for a total of 672 students, and as of August 9, 671 had signed up. 

In the past, McDonnell and Mangels have taught film classes with even more students, and that has meant more money for them. For instance, in fall 2022, McDonnell taught three courses for a total of 705 students, according to the online schedule of classes (see graphic above.) One of the three classes, conducted online, had a limit of 425 students, with 380 actually enrolled. That fall, Mangels taught four film classes for a total of 402 students. The Munro Review asked COS to confirm this information, but a spokesperson did not respond before publication.

Any time classes have more than 40 students, professors can earn a union-negotiated large-lecture rate of roughly $75 per student for a three-unit class, according to Calvin. “Our instructors would have every right to just stop at 40. But obviously, we have [student] demand,” he added.

COS asserts that paying the large-lecture premium to professors is more cost-effective and generates “significantly more revenue” than if the college opened up more classes with fewer students, Calvin said.

At other colleges surveyed, film professors – not theater professors like McDonnell and Mangels – teach film classes. Those film professors are sometimes adjunct faculty who don’t work full time at one college.

The Munro Review asked Calvin whether, as president, he and other COS administrators have ever discussed hiring adjunct instructors to teach the film classes. “There’s very little reason to ask that question, really, from a cost standpoint,” he said. “It’s more economical to have your full-timers do it.” But there’s also another issue: Full-time faculty members have priority in choosing course loads over part-timers, a practice that allows McDonnell and Mangels to keep the film classes. So McDonnell and Mangels choose to teach the large cinema courses? “Correct,” Calvin said.

The Munro Review twice emailed the COS Adjunct Faculty Association for comment but received no response. The Association represents adjunct or part-time faculty.

Other community colleges run their film classes with far fewer students than COS. At Mt. San Antonio College in Los Angeles County, Introduction to Cinema is limited to 30 students, and at San Diego City College, the same course, both online and in person, is limited to 45 students per class, according to those colleges’ online schedule of courses.

COS has offered Film Appreciation for many years, but enrollment exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic as classes moved online, Mangels said. By taking the class, students could satisfy a humanities requirement for graduation or use it as a transfer credit to the California State University or University of California systems, he added. Enrollment remains strong following the pandemic, and the number of students results in hundreds of written assignments to grade. McDonnell estimated it takes 30 hours a week to do it, and Mangels pointed out that community college professors cannot pass off that task to student assistants, as is common at universities.

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Taking the lumps

The third factor in McDonnell’s large 2023 salary: his position as Chair of the Fine Arts Division, which includes art, dance, music, and theater arts. He served in that position for 13 ½ years, according to Mangels, who took over in 2024 and continues in it now.

The Chair carries a normal course load of 15 units, but nine of those units are given over to administrative responsibilities associated with the position. That leaves a Division Chair teaching only six units a semester, which equates to two classes.

But if a Chair chooses – as McDonnell did – to teach beyond those six units each semester, all classes above the six units are paid at the $68-$89-an-hour rate. An adjunct professor would get paid roughly the same hourly rate for teaching the extra courses that a Chair chooses to teach, Calvin said.

With Mangels now serving as Chair, his salary might exceed Calvin’s, Calvin said. “I get it that James or Chris, depending on who’s Division Chair, makes more than me. I get the optics. But you know sometimes we have to do what’s best for our college, our region, and take the lumps for whatever the optics are.”

When The Munro Review asked McDonnell if he considers the optics bad for COS and him, he said, “I have always worked hard to be worthy of the check I earn. Optics? Does this make us look good or bad? I don’t know. But everything I do is quality. Everything I do is absolutely above board.”