(Butler, PA) Recipients of Butler County Community College’s Distinguished Alumni Award, a college administrator said, have made a difference in their community or in their profession.

“An outstanding contribution,” said Bobbi Jo Cornetti, scholarship and development coordinator with the BC3 Education Foundation.

The contributions of the late Glenn T. Miller and of Rebecca Clouse will be recognized Saturday with the presentation of 2026 Distinguished Alumni Awards during BC3’s Oak Hills Celebration in Founders Hall on the college’s main campus in Butler Township.

The college’s Alumni Council reviews nominations annually and recognizes former students whose qualities include integrity, character and success.

Recipients include advocates, college coaches, county commissioners, educators, judges, physicians and a World Series pitcher.

“We are so proud of our distinguished alumni,” said Megan M. Coval, BC3’s president. “They have obviously had remarkable careers in which they have not only done well professionally but have made the community a huge part of who they are.

“It’s fitting and a really nice part of the story that they chose to begin their post-secondary education here at BC3. They experienced that community early on and have gone on to live that out in their lives and in their careers. And we could not be more thrilled to honor them.”

 

 

“It’s an incredible honor”

“I think he is a perfect example of what a distinguished alumni should be because of what he put his efforts into,” Brian Opitz said of Miller.

Opitz retired in June as BC3’s executive director of operations and worked with Miller for 26 years on the trustees’ facilities committee. He will speak on behalf of Miller and Miller’s family at the Oak Hills Celebration.

Miller and Clouse bring to 62 the number of former students to be recognized with BC3 Distinguished Alumni Awards since the honor debuted in 2004.

“It’s an incredible honor,” Clouse said. “It’s just incredible. When you look at that group you wonder, ‘Wow, do I belong?’”

The Oak Hills Celebration also serves as an opportunity for BC3 students who received one of a record 166 named scholarships through the BC3 Education Foundation in 2026-2027 to meet their benefactors, Cornetti said.

“I think it is really meaningful for the students to meet the person behind the scholarship and vice-versa,” Cornetti said. “Donors get to hear the students’ stories about how that gift impacted them and the students get to hear why the donor decided to create a scholarship.”

 

 

Accomplished BC3 student chosen as speaker

Denver Ott, a Boy Scout, a student ambassador enrolled in BC3’s business administration associate degree program, will be the student speaker at the Oak Hills Celebration.

The 19-year-old Sarver resident this fall qualified to join Rho Phi, BC3’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society for two-year colleges and programs.

The Eagle Scout with Boy Scout Troop No. 58 in Middlesex Township has attained BC3’s president’s list twice in the past year with a by earning a grade-point average of at least 3.75 following a semester.

Approximately 27,500 students have earned at least 45 credits at BC3 since its founding in 1965.

Among them, Miller and Clouse.

 

 

“He recognized what BC3 does for students”

Miller, of Butler, earned an associate degree at BC3 in 1981, worked with three other graduates to help form the college’s Alumni Association in 1997 and served 28 years as a BC3 trustee until he passed away Jan. 27 at age 66.

He was a trustee longer than any other except Ray D. Steffler, who served 34 years, the final 20 as board chairman. Steffler passed away in 2019 at age 82.

“Glenn was an alumni, his wife is an alumni,” Opitz said of Leslie Miller, who graduated from BC3’s registered nursing program. “They were both successful in their careers and he recognized what BC3 does for students who were similar to him and his wife. So he turned his efforts on how he could give something back.

“And he certainly did that in a big way.”

Miller, Opitz said, also traveled to BC3’s main campus while Opitz and his staff were addressing damage from a severe storm.

“We were cleaning up and he wanted to make sure that we were OK and to see the condition of the campus so he understood what we were dealing with. He wanted to see first-hand the damage, what needed to be done and to give us a little pat on the back.”

 

Working to assure patient needs addressed

Clouse, of West Sunbury, earned 69 credits as a general studies student at BC3 from fall 1999 through fall 2002.

She has been employed at Butler Memorial Hospital for more than 16 years and has worked as a community health program manager for Independence Health System at the hospital since February 2022. Clouse oversees programs that establish processes to assure all patients have their health-related social needs identified and addressed.

“If they don’t know where they are going to lay their head at night then chances are they are not going to go to a follow-up appointment or they are not going to get their prescriptions filled or take care of themselves,” Clouse said.

“We’re not going to just hand them a phone number and wish them the best. We’re going to reconnect with them even after they leave here any time there is a need identified.”

Clouse leads the patient and family advisory council that helps to promote information-sharing between Independence Health System and the patients, families and communities the system serves. She also led an Independence Health System initiative focused on identifying and reducing racial and ethnic health care disparities; and worked as a community wellness liaison and began a program to address social determinants of health.

 

“A great way of connecting with people”

Miller earned a bachelor’s degree from Slippery Rock University and a diploma from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. Miller was a third-generation director with the Thompson-Miller Funeral Home in Butler.

Miller was also a member of the Butler Township Fire Department, the Butler Area Street Machine Association and the Butler County Chamber of Commerce.

“He was one of the most unique guys I have ever met,” Opitz said. “Just a super people person. He had a great way of connecting with people. It was something I tried to watch for a long time and tried to learn from him because he was really good at understanding what people needed, or what he could say or do that would make them feel better.

“And he did it.”

 

BC3 “a great school and a great foundation”

Clouse chose BC3 after graduating from Butler Senior High School in 1999 because “it was close and affordable.” She said she started in pre-nursing, changed her program to early childhood education (Pre K-4), and then to psychology.

“So it was not a straight line,” she said. “It was not straight and narrow at BC3. But that is the beauty of BC3 because you can explore different things. … BC3 is a huge asset to the community. It’s such a smart, smart decision to go there.

“It’s a beautiful campus. It’s a great school and great foundation.”

Clouse earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Geneva College.

She is a founding member of Rise Up Rides, a transportation resource. She is a member of the Butler Collaborative for Families, the Butler County General Transportation Council, the Butler County Area Agency on Aging and the Butler County Mental Health / Early Intervention / Intellectual Disabilities program.

It was as a teenager when she realized she wanted to pursue a career helping people, Clouse said.

“My grandmother was in the hospital with medical struggles,” Clouse said. “I remember a social worker walking into the room. I knew then that I wanted to be in a hospital setting and working with people.  It was kind of like a light bulb went off. Looking back, I remember that clearly.”

Clouse and her husband, Richard, have a son, Maverick, 16, and a daughter, Emily, 14.