A Mars resident who volunteers with suicide prevention coalitions in Western Pennsylvania and a Butler resident who advocates for marginalized populations in the greater Pittsburgh area will be honored Saturday as Butler County Community College’s 2023 distinguished alumni.

Shanea Clancy and Ivory Dunlap represent the 19th class of former students to be recognized by BC3 for their success and their commitment to community service.

The Oak Hills Celebration on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township will also serve as an opportunity for current BC3 students who received a record 155 named scholarships from the BC3 Education Foundation in 2023-24 to meet their benefactors.

Lucas Ray, of Butler, a sophomore psychology student at BC3 whose goal is to become a psychiatrist, will speak at the Oak Hills Celebration on behalf of scholarship recipients.

Clancy and Dunlap bring to 56 the number of BC3 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients since 2004. They are among the about 26,000 former students who earned at least 45 credits at BC3 since the college’s first class assembled in 1966.

Clancy is employed with the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in Washington, D.C. Dunlap is director of the Office for Inclusive Excellence at Slippery Rock University.

“They represent the best of our BC3 alumni who have come here to receive an education, gone out into the greater community and used their education and skills to make an impact in these very important ways,” said Megan Coval, executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations.

“Shanea working with suicide prevention and Ivory with marginalized groups extend what they have learned and the experiences they have had at BC3 to making the community a better place.”

Their professions and volunteer efforts “speak to BC3,” said Nick Neupauer, the college’s president.

“Shanea and Ivory went into fields where they can pay it forward and help others,” Neupauer said. “We are absolutely proud of them and of the recognition they deserve.”

Clancy, a 2004 graduate of Seneca Valley High School, earned 64 credits at BC3 as a general studies student from 2004 to 2007.

She achieved a nursing diploma from West Penn Hospital; a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Clarion University of Pennsylvania; and a master’s degree in forensic nursing and a doctoral degree in nursing practice from Duquesne University. Clancy is pursuing an executive Master of Business Administration degree in health care from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dunlap, a 1991 graduate of Butler Senior High School, earned an associate degree in early childhood education (Pre K-4) from BC3 in 1996.

She achieved a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from what is now La Roche University, and a master’s degree in student affairs in higher education from Slippery Rock University.