Nick Neupauer next week will become the longest-serving president in the history of Western Pennsylvania’s first community college.

Neupauer, Butler County Community College’s eighth president, will pass the tenure of Thomas Ten Hoeve, the college’s second president, on Nov. 15.

Ten Hoeve was named BC3’s president in May 1970, five years after the college was founded, and served 5,219 days to September 1984. Neupauer began Aug. 1, 2007.

Neupauer’s 14-year-plus tenure as president at the same institution is more than double the recent national average of 6.5 years. It is also longer than that of any current president among the state’s 14 other community colleges, its 14 public four-year institutions and its four state-related institutions.

Neupauer, an Ellwood City native, was selected as BC3’s president by the college’s board of trustees.

Trustees have four times renewed his contract. Under his leadership, the college created additional locations in Western Pennsylvania counties underserved with higher education, has received six $1 million gifts, has nearly tripled assets in its foundation to $24.3 million and has been selected as the top community college in Pennsylvania six times since 2015.

“When I was president starting in 1970, I would characterize my presidency as one of providing early stability and development of the institution,” Ten Hoeve said. “Now, at this era, I believe that Dr. Neupauer has provided excellent enrichment and expansion of the institution with financial stability.”

Stability in an institution of higher education’s top office, said Elizabeth Bolden, president and chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges, “is important because the leadership role of a community college president is all about communication and relationships in the broader region that they serve.

“And you cannot establish those kinds of relationships and trust if there is not stability in the leadership,” she said.

Janice Phillips Larrick said she asked Neupauer how long he planned to serve as BC3’s leader when she considered a $1 million gift to the BC3 Education Foundation on behalf of the Janice Phillips Larrick Charitable Trust in 2017.

Phillips Larrick’s gift will help to fund the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building on BC3’s main campus that had a ceremonial groundbreaking Oct. 20.

BC3 in 2008 created BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in New Castle, an additional location in Lawrence County that has often been BC3’s most student-populated; in 2013, BC3 @ Brockway in Jefferson County, an additional location also that serves students from Clarion, Clearfield and Elk counties; and in 2015, BC3 @ Armstrong near Ford City, all under Neupauer.

BC3 @ Brockway in 2018 became the only BC3 additional location to offer a career program in registered nursing.

BC3 has 530 employees and 2,545 students enrolled this fall in associate degree or certificate programs on its main campus in Butler Township or at its additional locations that include BC3 @ Cranberry in Cranberry Township and BC3 @ LindenPointe in Hermitage, Mercer County. The college enrolls more than 20,000 credit and noncredit students each year.

Neupauer began at BC3 as the dean of humanities and social science in 1999, and later served as vice president for academic affairs.

BC3 has been ranked as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania since 2015 by Schools.com, BestColleges.com and by Niche.com, each of which factored into their decisions information about BC3 from the U.S. Department of Education.

“One reason that Nick’s tenure at BC3 is so remarkable is that, in my opinion, I have observed him to be absolutely radically committed to that college, its students and its community,” Bolden said. “I know for a fact that he would be an appealing candidate for larger institutions in bigger places. But I don’t think that appeals to him because of his commitment to Butler County Community College.”

BC3’s trustees in June extended Neupauer’s contract to June 2025.

Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.