(Butler, PA) Butler County Community College today received a $3 million gift, the largest in its 58-year history and the seventh of at least $1 million in the past nine years.
The late Tim Shaffer, a former state senator from Prospect, left half of his estate to the BC3 Education Foundation. Shaffer also contributed $1 million to the foundation in 2018.
The BC3 Education Foundation received the donation during a memorial celebration in Butler of Shaffer, who passed away at age 76 in May 2022.
“He loved our mission,” said Dr. Nick Neupauer, BC3 president. “He absolutely loved our students. And he believed in the vision and the strategic plan that related to the college.
“Tim wanted to give to a winner, and clearly BC3 has demonstrated that it is a winner, whether it’s with our No. 1 rankings, our outstanding programs and faculty, or our community partnerships.
“The largest gift in our history is symbolic of his belief in BC3.”
“I have seen how money can really go for good things. It can go for good things.”
“A gift of opportunity and a gift of access”
Shaffer’s gift will establish a BC3 scholarship in memory of his parents, John and Jean Kaufman Shaffer, and fund another created in 2010 and in memory of his only sibling, John “Stephen” Shaffer.
“He’s left a history-making gift to this institution,” said Megan Coval, executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations.
“But what is particularly notable is that he chose for those funds to be designated to BC3’s scholarship program. This is a gift of opportunity and a gift of access to higher education, which will, of course, have exponential impacts not only on the student, but on the entire community.”
Shaffer’s brother, a Navy veteran and member of BC3’s inaugural class, was killed in an automobile crash at age 23 in 1967.
His father, a Butler County commissioner who served on BC3’s board of trustees, died in an automobile accident at age 56 in 1968.
His mother died at age 59 seven years later.
“I love my parents, and I have never done anything publicly to acknowledge them,” Shaffer said in February 2018. “As I get older, it is becoming more important that I acknowledge things that I never really thought about before.”
"This is a gift of opportunity and a gift of access to higher education, which will, of course, have exponential impacts not only on the student, but on the entire community.”
“A love and a passion for wanting to help the students”
Zoey Hillwig was the most-recent BC3 student to be awarded the John “Stephen” Shaffer Memorial Scholarship, according to Bobbi Jo Cornetti, development coordinator of the BC3 Education Foundation.
The 20-year-old Chicora resident received $4,974 from the scholarship during the 2022-2023 academic year, and was among the 75 percent of BC3’s Class of 2023 to graduate debt-free.
“It covered all of my tuition,” Hillwig said. “That was a relief to me because I knew I would be transferring after BC3. … I feel like (Shaffer) had a love and a passion for wanting to help the students.”
Hillwig was a guard on BC3’s women’s basketball team. She earned an associate degree in general studies in May and graduated summa cum laude, a distinction for students with a final grade-point average of 3.75 or higher.
She will begin pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania this fall.
BC3 “represents the future,” Shaffer said in February 2018. “The future are the people who live here. The people who live here need to be educated.”
“We are a student-centered institution”
The BC3 Education Foundation in the 2022-2023 academic year awarded a record $280,000 in scholarships.
Among them, the endowed John “Stephen” Shaffer Memorial Scholarship, which is available to full-time BC3 students who live in Butler County.
BC3 will determine the criteria to ensure the endowed County Commissioner John and Jean Shaffer Memorial Scholarship properly honors Tim Shaffer and benefits as many students as possible, college administrators said.
“We are a student-centered institution, and (Shaffer’s $3 million gift) will go a long way,” Neupauer said.
Shaffer’s gift in February 2018 to BC3 helped to fund construction of the state-of-the-art Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health Building, a 25,000-square-foot facility that will open this month on BC3’s main campus.
The facility will house the college’s 5-year-old Shaffer School of Nursing and Allied Health, which as of Wednesday had the most students enrolled for fall among BC3’s five academic divisions, according to Sharla Anke, the college’s assistant dean of institutional research and planning.
Shaffer school programs most popular
Nursing, R.N., and health care science are the top associate degree programs being pursued by BC3 students for the fall 2023 semester, Anke said.
Medical coding and billing specialist, and practical nursing are the top certificate programs, according to Anke.
Licensed practical or licensed vocational nurse, and registered nurse are high-priority occupations in the Tri-County Workforce Development Area, which includes Armstrong and Butler counties.
The Shaffer school in December graduated six students in practical nursing and in May, a record 74 in Nursing, R.N.
“I know that that would make Tim very, very proud,” Neupauer said. “He was always so concerned about his constituencies and the community as a whole. The fact that we are filling that high-priority occupational need at a time when RNs and LPNs are needed would make him proud as well.”
” … We have quality academic programming … ”
Approximately half of the BC3 Education Foundation’s named financial awards are memorial scholarships, Cornetti said.
BC3 has been ranked as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania eight times since 2015, including for 2023 by Niche.
Shaffer served as a lieutenant in the Army during the Vietnam War, as an attorney and as a district judge. He represented Pennsylvania’s 21st senatorial district for 16 years.
BC3 has received six $1 million gifts since 2014.
Contributions from the Janice Phillips Larrick Family Charitable Trust in 2017, Shaffer in 2018, Concordia Lutheran Ministries in 2020 and from an anonymous donor in 2021 helped to fund construction of the Victor K. Phillips Nursing & Allied Health Building.
“People believe in our mission,” Neupauer said. “There’s no question about that.”
“Members of the community have seen our successes,” Coval said. “We don’t just talk about what we want to be. We have demonstrated time and again that we have quality academic programming and also care deeply about serving our community.”
“He loved our mission. He absolutely loved our students. And he believed in the vision and the strategic plan that related to the college. ... The largest gift in our history is symbolic of his belief in BC3.”
Shaffer’s gift increases assets in the BC3 Education Foundation to $23.8 million, according to Lynn Ismail, assistant director of the foundation and its financial manager.
“I have seen how money can really go for good things,” Shaffer said in February 2018. “It can go for good things.”
