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07/31/2008 08:06 AM

 

College President Learned His Lessons In Ellport July 28, 2008 ECO Staff -- Laure Cioffi, senior journalist BUTLER – Growing up in Ellport, Nick Neupauer didn’t realize that the work ethic he picked up from his parents and grandparents would take him so far. But today he is the youngest college president to have served at Butler County Community College. A position he took last August at the age of 40. He often puts in 10-hour-days between his administrative work and teaching a few courses at the school. “I had a fellow professor ask me once `Why do you work so hard.’ But it’s not really hard work compared to what my father and grandfather did,” he said. Son and grandson of steelworkers, Neupauer realized what hard work meant. That’s why it was even more important to get an education. After graduating from Lincoln High School in 1985 he pursued a career in sports journalism working at area newspapers and even covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for a time. “I realized that I enjoyed going to the games with my brother and my friends much more than as a reporter,” Neupauer said. That’s when he decided to return to school, getting into the master’s degree program for sports information at Clarion University. Neupauer credits another Ellwood City native, Rich Herman, with helping him get into the program and getting a graduate assistantship. Herman is sports information director at Clarion University. After graduating in 1993, Neupauer said he interviewed at numerous colleges and universities for sports information positions, but he also applied to West Virginia Univeristy’s doctorate program. “I said to my girlfriend (Tammy, who is now his wife) whatever comes up first, I will take,” he said. Well, the offer to join West Virginia University’s doctorate program came at about noon on a Monday and 15 minutes later he was offered a sports information position at a college in Illinois. “Had those calls been reversed I might be a sports information director and not a college president today,” he said. After getting his doctorate degree, Neupauer taught at colleges in West Virginia and New York. But he and wife, Tammy, -- who now have two children -- decided they wanted to return this area and in 1999 Neupauer became the dean of humanities and social studies at Butler County Community College. Neupauer said he is in Ellwood City often to visit his mother, Patty, who still lives in Ellport and brother, Mike, a member of the Ellwood City Area School Board. Patty and Mike Neupauer operate HomeInstead Senior Care, a Wampum-based business that provides services for the elderly including meals, personal care and other things. Nick Neupauer said he is proud of the fact that Butler County Community College is opening a new facility in Lawrence County, located at the site of the former Riley’s Fun Spot on U.S. Route 224 in Union Township. “I’m honored to be in the position of president at Butler County Community College. I’m doubly honored that we are moving toward being a regional college and we are moving to Lawrence County, a place near and dear to my heart,” Neupauer said. (Laure Cioffi can be reached at LaureCioffi@ellwoodcity.org)