THE CUBE By Lucas Carroll Cube Contributor
Issue 3 Volume 32 December 7, 2017
President Neupauer reflects on his 10 years at BC3
In 50 years Butler County Community College has had a tradition of “pioneering” our legacy. From being the first community college in the western half of the state to so much more. BC3 president Dr. Nicholas Neupauer has taken this attitude to heart during his 10 years here as president. After coming to the college in 1999 as the dean of academic affairs, Neupauer was promoted by the board of directors to the presidency in August of 2007. During the last decade Neupauer has focused his efforts as president to grow the college and the programs that we have to offer to students.
When Neupauer took office the partnerships BC3 offered were very minimal compared to what they are today. Going into this school year Bc3 now has degree completion programs with Chatam Uni-versity, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Franklin University, La Roche College, and Univer-sity of Pittsburgh. According to Neupauer, these schools have come to BC3 because of our showed success in academics and our fundraising efforts as well. “We were named the number one community college in the state for a second straight year. That’s significant,” Neupauer said. Neupauer believes the partnerships stemmed from our academic programs and great facul-ty as well.
“We have our accreditations by middle states and other forms of accreditations as well, but at the core of it all I am blessed to work for great people,” Neupauer said. Neupauer believes that from these partnerships, the negative stigmas of community col-lege that people have held for years have been reduced by a significant amount. “I’ve said it many times before but with an average debt load reaching 40 thousand, peo-ple want to come here and graduate debt free as 75 percent of our students do,” Neupauer said. Since BC3’s diplomas can be used for a variety of reasons, whether to transfer to a senior institution, enter the workforce, or continue a degree with a partnered school, thats what Neupauer said makes us live up to our “Smart Place to Start” motto.
With the addition of these partnerships with other colleges since 2007, BC3 has grown academically and regionally to service other counties than just Butler. During this time BC3 has opened three additional locations with the openings of Lawrence Crossing, Brockway, and Lin-den Pointe sites, while also enhancing the BC3 at Armstrong location Being the northwestern most community college and in a location being able to serve oth-er areas, Neupauer asks “Why should our education be constrained within one county’s lines?” “These additions have helped to diversify our student population, our enrollment, and bring revenue from other areas.” Neupauer said.
See Neupauer on page 3
New partnerships allow for four-year degree completion at BC3 By Tyler Pollock Cube Contributor Students of Butler County Community College will be looking to transfer to another school as the semester comes to an end, but new partnerships with the college will give the students the alternative to stick around. As a college student, one will look to find the best and most convenient way to further their education. BC3 has tried to make this possible at their very own campus. These partnerships have a lot to offer to students who are looking to save money and stay close to home. According to Nicholas Neupauer, president of the college since 2007, the college is very “student centered”, and these partnerships are a prime example of that. He stated that the biggest benefit that BC3 gets out of these partnerships, is giving the students the opportunity to earn an associate’s degree, or now even stay for an extra year or two, to further their education while staying in the Butler area.
According to Neupauer, the other colleges “get students who are ready to matriculate after being successful at BC3. Retention rates for the senior institutions are very high”. It is clear that both BC3, and the partnering universities benefit from the partnerships, but they are not the only recipients of these advantages. William-Lucas Franklin, a psychology major at BC3, is thrilled to see that the college is partnering up with these universities, as it will personally benefit him. “I did not want to leave BC3, but I didn’t think I had a choice, until I was told that there was a way for me to stay here and continue to pursue my degree in psychology on this campus,” Franklin said. “There isn’t one reason, there are several advantages. There’s the cost and the location, but also, I have several great ties with the people here at BC3”. This number one community college prides itself on making the students feel welcome and at home, and according to Franklin, they are succeeding. The students are never alone when it comes to getting information and coming up with
decisions. The college has a faculty that has been known to help with any student in any way possible. Mary McGinnis, Transfer Coordinator and Academic Advisor at the college, is among this hardworking faculty, and helps students on a day to day basis. “I work with students that are already here who plan on transferring to a four year school. These partnerships seem to be something that the students are very interested in and can benefit from,” McGinnis said. Although the faculty help the students through situations, does not mean that the students’ decisions are being made for them in any way. “I do not try to convince students to do one thing or another. I believe it’s the students’ choice and I am here to give them information and ideas, and support the decision they make”. The college has a great support system, and seems to have everyone on board with these partnerships, and look for the number of student enrollment in these programs to go up.
William-Lucas Franklin. Photo by Tyler Pollock
Butler County Community College Student Newspaper P.O. Box 1203, Butler, PA 16003 Tel: (724) 287-8711, ext. 8370 Email: cube.staff@bc3.edu