(Butler, PA) Three Butler County Community College employees were recognized Thursday for their dedication to excellence and received 2023 Above and Beyond Awards in the Succop Theater on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township.
Deans Matt Kovac and Ann McCandless, and secretary Donna Smith were honored by BC3 President Dr. Nick Neupauer during convocation, which marks the unofficial start of the college’s academic year.
The awards date to fall 2013 and are presented to those who demonstrate outstanding customer service.
Qualities may include their willingness to assist others by going the extra mile; their acts of kindness related to their job; their outstanding work in their job area; their new or innovative ideas or practices initiated at BC3; or their extra effort to help someone or a group at BC3.
Matt Kovac is dean of the college’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics division.
He was recognized for serving on numerous on- and off-campus committees; coordinating advisory board meetings with local employers; developing articulation agreements and partnerships with high schools, career and technical centers; and working with businesses and industries, and colleges and universities.
He was also commended for helping a foreign student who wanted to enroll in only a selection of transferrable courses to find on-campus employment and to later enroll in a STEM program at BC3.
McCandless is dean of BC3’s educational technology division.
She was lauded for meeting more than two dozen times with BC3 staff members in leading the implementation of the college’s new virtual programs. McCandless also ensured that all new BC3 online programs met the same rigorous academic standards as traditional classroom-based programs and complied with all regulatory and accreditation standards.
Smith is the student accounts receivable secretary.
She was recognized for learning to manage all aspects of a software program that included online tuition payment and payment plans. She was also honored for helping to incorporate a student-debt forgiveness program that will allow students with past-due accounts to enroll again at BC3 and complete their degree with the possibility of having their past-due account forgiven.
