Wednesday
May 1, 2024 
Regina Young
Bucks County Community College’s board of trustees confirmed the appointment of Dr. Felicia L. Ganther as the fifth president in the college’s 57-year history during a special meeting April 23.
Ganther, who takes the helm from Dr. Stephanie Shanblatt, begins her three-year term July 1. The board unanimously selected Ganther, the associate vice chancellor of student affairs for Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Ariz., following a national search that began last year after Shanblatt announced her plans to retire this summer.
“We are delighted Dr. Felicia Ganther will be joining Bucks County Community College as our next president,” stated David Breidinger, board of trustees chair. “The board entered this process wanting to select an individual with a strong vision and a commitment to our students, faculty, alumni and staff, as well as the ability to expand the relationship we have with the community.”
Ganther earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from Norfolk State University in Virginia. She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s John Marshall Law School and her doctorate degree in community resources and development from Arizona State University.
The Los Angeles native, BCCC noted, has extensive experience in crisis management, retention initiatives, student life, strategic planning and academic quality improvement.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to build on the strong foundation at Bucks County Community College,” Ganther stated. “With our continued focus on the implementation of our strategic commitments, a successful reaccreditation and efforts towards inclusivity, Bucks will continue to innovate and reimagine how we serve and support our students towards transfer opportunities and career placement. I am honored to have been selected as the next president of the college and look forward to becoming a part of this wonderful community.”
The six-month search for BCCC’s next president was conducted with the assistance of Greenwood/Asher & Associates, an executive search firm specializing in higher education.
“We purposefully determined that our search would be strategically focused, intended to galvanize the college, lift up its values, enhance our visibility and renew our shared sense of purpose and vision for the future,” trustee Blake Eisenhart, who led the search committee, explained during the meeting, which was streamed live on the college’s YouTube channel Friday morning. “We were exceptionally careful to bring along every college constituency with us as our board made the final decision.”
“Dr. Ganther will be a transformative leader for our students, our faculty, our staff, for Bucks County, for the region and perhaps for the country,” added trustee Philip Wursta. “She has a record of success, a wealth of community college experience and a dynamic personality that propelled her to the top of our list.”
Shanblatt, who is retiring after nine years as college president, joined trustees in welcoming Ganther to BCCC, which serves more than 7,000 credit-seeking students and 70,000 students in noncredited programs, and has campuses in Newtown, Perkasie and Bristol. The college’s fourth and fifth presidents will work together over the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition.
“I join the campus community in welcoming Dr. Ganther to Bucks,” Shanblatt stated. “Her academic credentials, experience and commitment to the high ideals of the community college make her amply suited to help write the next chapters in Bucks’ story.”
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