Nick Neupauer

Nick Neupauer, president of Butler County Community College since 2007, has been selected as the recipient of the third Jean B. Purvis Community Cornerstone Award honoring those who make significant contributions to Butler County and who, when recognizing a need, “try to fill it,” the award’s 97-year-old namesake said.

“This award isn’t about me,” Neupauer said of the honor. “It’s about the strength of BC3 and the impact on our local communities.”

Neupauer will receive the award June 21 at the Butler Country Club, following former recipients Dr. John Reefer, retired chief medical officer and vice president of professional affairs at Butler Memorial Hospital, in 2017; and Larry Berg, a longtime radio personality who has served as a board member of more than a dozen Butler County nonprofit organizations, in 2018.

Purvis helped establish the Community Health Clinic of Butler County, which is now known as the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center of Butler County, in 2008, and the Visiting Nurses Association of Butler County in the mid-1960s. She was also a decades-long board member of the BC3 Education Foundation.

The Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center of Butler County is a nonprofit, community-based volunteer organization established to provide primary health care, dental care, behavioral health care and health and wellness education to individuals who have no or limited health benefits and do not qualify for other services.

The award in her name celebrates those who, like Purvis, improved Butler County through their time, actions, talents and dedication.

“I think we all, when we see a need, try to fill it,” Purvis said. “Dr. Neupauer has done so much for the community, as well as for the college. As president of the community college, his influence and achievements stretch far beyond Butler County.”

Neupauer is a board member of the Community Development Corporation of Butler County and serves on its executive committee, and is an advisory board member of the newly created Butler County Growth Collaborative. He has served as chairman of two Butler County Heart Association walks; with his wife, Tamatha, as co-chair of a Butler County March of Dimes walk; and as chairman of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce.

He was also a board member of the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center.

The award, Neupauer said, represents having “a great connection to the community. We take such great pride in being the community’s college, which, no question, probably resonates now more than ever. This ties to that community connection.”

Under Neupauer’s leadership, BC3 has been selected as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania in three consecutive rankings by Schools.com, in 2015, 2017 and in 2019; and by Bestcolleges.com in 2017.

“There is a lot to be said for Butler County Community College being ranked No. 1 for the third ranking in a row,” said Kimberly Reamer, executive director of the community health center. “That says a lot. He is very attuned to what the town needs and the way it is evolving.”

BC3, founded in 1965, has added locations in Brockway, Jefferson County; Ford City, Armstrong County; New Castle, Lawrence County; and in Hermitage, Mercer County; since Neupauer became president in August 2007. That same month, BC3 also established its first presence in the city of Butler by creating an office for its coordinator of community leadership initiatives on South Main Street.

“It’s really symbolic of our role. It’s the strength of the community college sector and the impact we have in our own backyard,” Neupauer said. “I would argue that few community colleges out there are doing things better than BC3 and this award is proof of that.”