BC3 names Center for Economic Education after longtime director
The Professor David C. Huseman Center for Economic Education has debuted in the north wing of Butler County Community College’s arts and hospitality building, where Huseman’s office has been located since 1970.
Huseman, 78, of Butler, has been director of the BC3 Center for Economic Education since its founding in 1983, and an employee of the college for 56 of its 58 years.
The center offers a 30-week Stock Market Game to students in Grades four through 12 that begins in September, and 10-week competition in the fall and spring.
Students competing in BC3’s Stock Market Game receive a hypothetical $100,000, make buy-and-trade decisions and track how those decisions would have played out in the market had they been real.
The center also administers the BC3 Entrepreneurship Challenge.
High school students competing in the challenge have 15 minutes to pitch a business plan idea to judges, who consider factors such as creativity, the effectiveness of an introductory speech, and students’ ability to identify the competitive advantage their business would have.
“That makes them better consumers, maybe better at savings plans,” Huseman said. “And they learn about things that go beyond the stock market.”
A representative from the former Economics Pennsylvania contacted Dr. Thomas TenHoeve, BC3’s second president, about establishing a center for economic education that would help to teach economic concepts to pupils as young as those in elementary schools.
“And I thought that with David’s knowledge and his skills and his interest, he would be the appropriate person to lead that,” TenHoeve said. “And it took off from there. He has done wonders.”
The college’s most recent Stock Market Game included 397 teams from 26 schools in Armstrong, Butler, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, Lawrence and Mercer counties.
“By David bringing this show on the road, it is very clearly displaying our outreach as the community’s college,” said Dr. Nick Neupauer, BC3’s president since 2007. “Professor Huseman delivers incredibly important content not only to teachers, but to students throughout northwestern and central Pennsylvania.”
Huseman teaches principles of economics and American national government courses at BC3. He also has been a director on the BC3 Education Foundation board since 1999 and a member of the board’s finance committee since 2004.
The creation of the center followed discussions among the BC3 Education Foundation, its directors and the college’s board of trustees, Neupauer said.
“Once the idea was generated, there was just an overwhelming show of support,” Neupauer said. “There are several names over the years that are synonymous with BC3, and certainly Professor Huseman is one of those names.”
“It is an honor,” Huseman said. “Hopefully it will mean a little bit of longevity so people will be aware of it.”
The center will include a 44-inch-wide by 14-inch-tall plaque that will feature a color portrait of Huseman and information about his service to BC3.
