BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College will offer classes in Armstrong County for the first time in more than a decade.

Lenape Tech in Ford City again will be an instructional site for students, called BC3 @ Armstrong, offering classes in three majors: general studies, psychology and business administration.

The new site was mentioned at the BC3 trustees meeting Wednesday. Trustees will vote on a lease later.

From 1982 to 2002, BC3 had evening classes at the vocational technical school. The number of Armstrong County students attending the BC3 campus dipped in the years after the instructional site closed.

“It’s been a number of years since we had a presence in Armstrong County,” said Nick Neupauer, BC3 president.

Dawn Kocher-Taylor, administrative director at Lenape Tech, talked to the college about trying to re-establish a partnership. The vocational technical school recently opened an adult learning center, called The Next Tier Adult Learning Center at Lenape Tech, which has more space for more adult programs.

“I think there’s a need and a want for a community college in this area. I think it’ll help residents go to the next level with their education,” Kocher-Taylor said. “In rural areas, there are limitations with people taking advantage of post-secondary programs.

“BC3 was just the perfect partner for us.”

BC3 will offer daytime, evening and online classes at Lenape Tech, and there will be a BC3 office and on-site instructors, which had not been the case before.

Classes will be offered there beginning July 1.

This is another expansion for BC3. The college has four other off-campus sites: BC3 @ Brockway in Jefferson County, BC3 @Cranberry Township, BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in Lawrence County and BC3 @ Linden Pointe in Mercer County.

The instructional site at Lenape Tech will be smaller than the other off-campus sites because it isn’t a dedicated BC3-affiliated building. However, it is a good way to re-establish BC3 presence in Armstrong County, Neupauer said.