Community College’s Lower Bucks Campus Receives New Name

Bucks County Community College’s Lower Bucks Campus in Bristol Township has a new name.

The 10-year-old campus was renamed recently the Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks to recognize their gifts to the community college, which features its main campus in Newtown Township and a satellite facility in Perkasie.

The Wrightstown-based Gene and Marlene Epstein Humanitarian Fund set up a scholarship fund at the community college in 2007 that helps those in need. The large gift has helped 79 high school graduates fund their education at Bucks County Community College. According to a press release, the gift was the largest in the community college’s 53-year history.

“Gene and Marlene have impacted the lives of thousands of people through their care and generosity,”Dr.  Stephanie Shanblatt, the college president. “Through their family foundation, they continue to inspire others to help champion many charitable causes addressing education, healthcare, homelessness, hunger, and unemployment.”

The Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus sits on 14-acres of land off Veterans Highway (Route 413) and is 55,000-square-feet.

At an event naming the new campus last month, four champions of the campus were honored for their contributions to the facility.

James Ewart, a recently retired guidance counselor at Harry S. Truman High School in the Bristol Township school district, where he created partnership programs with Bucks to ease the path of Truman students to college.

Bill Pezza, an adjunct faculty member, author and civic leader who put the Lower Bucks Campus in the national spotlight by frequently hosting and moderating political debates and forums.

Rodney Miller and Rose Marie Strippoli, two artists whose passion for the artistic community in the region sparked them to partner with the college to launch the Gallery at Lower Bucks Campus, which holds three exhibitions a year and has raised thousands of dollars for student scholarships through its art sales.