Register for Fall!

Classes begin as early as September 14—secure your spot today!

Start My Application Upcoming Sessions

Important: Switch to Duo Mobile MFA

Graduation cap icon

90+

Transfer and Career-Ready Majors

Find A Program
Research.com Best Value Pennsylvania 2024 badge

#1

Best Value Community College in Pennsylvania

Best Value
Icon of person

14:1

Student-to-Faculty Ratio

Learn More

Graduate Spotlight

Shining a spotlight on the graduating Class of 2026.

Save Up To 68% On Your Bachelor's Degree

Completing your first two years at Bucks means big savings with our 2+2 dual admission transfer partners.



In the News

All recent news


Sepia photograph of two smiling women in wide-brimmed hats posing outdoors among foliage.

Seeing Stella Exhibit Opening Reception

 Imagine a world before Pinterest and online sites influenced our design choices and tastes. That is the world you enter when you step inside the Hicks Art Center Gallery’s “Seeing Stella: An Installation by Jen Blazina” September 9 to October 17 at Bucks County Community College’s Newtown Campus. The solo artist exhibition examines the life and impact of Stella Elkins Tyler (1884 - 1963), on whose estate the College was founded more than 60 years ago. Jen Blazina, a Philadelphia-based sculptor and printmaker, creates an immersive tableau of sculptures, reliefs and 2D works inspired by Tyler’s decoration of her Newtown mansion built in 1930, her personal objects on display there, and the flora and fauna that surround the estate. “The exhibition continues the theme of cultural evolution in America’s history during this semiquincentennial year, following our highly successful ‘Visions of America’ show this summer,” said Clifford Eberly, the College’s senior manager of galleries and exhibitions. The public is invited to an opening reception on Wednesday, September 9, from 5 to 7 p.m. with remarks at 6 p.m. Admission to the gallery and reception is free. A visit to Tyler Hall sparks creativity The seeds of the show were planted two years ago when Blazina visited the Newtown Campus and Tyler Hall to prepare for her contribution to the 2024 group exhibition “Skull Sessions” at the Hicks Art Center Gallery. Blazina’s imagination was sparked by seeing some of Tyler’s personal items on display, such as a comb and brush vanity set, crystal eau de parfum bottles, and her suitcase imprinted with her initials “S.E.T.” and still emblazoned with stamps from traveling on trans-Atlantic steamships more than 100 years ago. The artist recognized a kinship in Tyler’s fascinating belongings with her own curiosity in uniquely designed, highly decorative historical objects that function in utilitarian daily life and rituals. Eberly says he worked closely with the artist to select pieces for the exhibition. “Jen and I talked and texted for many months attempting to get inside Stella Tyler’s decorative consciousness for Indian Council Rock, her and George Tyler’s country manor estate,” Eberly recalled. “The French Norman architecture and formal gardens, the hand-painted wallpaper, the opulence of the tapestries Stella made, combined with the stories written and related to us, all contributed to Jen’s creative process of realizing this installation.” The serene gallery exhibition subtlety alludes to the peace Tyler found in creating art and in being outdoors, noted Eberly. “Jen’s sculptures, reliefs and patterns visually communicate how Stella took pleasure in nature and the arts to find mental peace and to ameliorate the effects of losing loved ones on the Titanic and living through two world wars,” said Eberly. Stella Tyler’s uncle and cousin, members of the Widener family of Philadelphia, went down with the Titanic on April 15, 1912. George Tyler (1883 – 1947), a former state commander of the American Legion, was devoted to helping veterans of The Great War return to society and overcome “shell shock” – what we now know as PTSD. He also collected original WWI propaganda posters, many of which remain in Bucks County Community College’s permanent collection. Questioning our collections Through her installation, the artist invites us to question the purpose of our collected belongings and find the answers within our own minds. For instance, what is the function of a cast glass, perfume bottle poof in this exhibition? The glass poof clearly no longer functions as its soft, spraying original. However, as art, it takes on new, cultural value as an object of potential collectible desirability; a symbol of this mutable, transformative process. Some viewers might remember using a poof to spray a beautiful scent on their skin. That memory now becomes a nostalgic transaction between artist, the sculpture, and the viewer. While some may view conjuring nostalgia in art as a sentimental shortcut to comfort, Blazina digs deep, embracing it to signal personal and collective memories, and at the same time, celebrating both historic decorative design and critiquing consumer culture. Underneath it all, the artist asks, “Can we find total happiness in the objects we make and collect?” In a note found in her exhibition catalogue to her art instructor and mentor Boris Blai, Stella Tyler wrote: “To my Maestro and ‘Pupil’!! With all my thanks and deep appreciation for helping me to open the doors of Happiness.” While we may not always be joyful, Tyler found her true happy place expanding her creative repertoire while courageously starting to make sculpture in her later years. “Seeing Stella: An Installation by Jen Blazina” - funded by the College’s Cultural Affairs Committee – is on view September 9 – October 17 at the Hicks Art Center Gallery at Bucks County Community College, 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, Pa. Admission and parking are free.
‘Souls Shot Portrait Project’ Honors Those Lost to Gun Violence

‘Souls Shot Portrait Project’ Honors Those Lost to Gun Violence

 From a cherubic child to a middle-aged veteran and more, their faces and stories are memorialized in the “Souls Shot Portrait Project,” an exhibition on display through September 17 at Bucks County Community College’s Gallery at Lower Bucks Campus. The project, on display in Bucks County for the first time, pairs fine artists with families who have lost loved ones to gun violence, creating deeply personal portraits that honor the unique lives of the victims. Speakers at the August 28 opening reception included Bucks County District Attorney Joe Kahn, Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler, and several people who shared stories about loved ones taken too soon. The gallery, which is free and open to the public, is located at the Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks in Bristol, Pa. Youth Commissioner of Philadelphia Makayla Myers listens to speakers at the opening reception for the “Souls Shot Portrait Project” at Bucks County Community College’s Gallery at Lower Bucks Campus. Myers, 23 years old, told the dozens in attendance about the shooting deaths of her boyfriend, best friend, and two other loved ones, several of whom are memorialized in the exhibition that runs through September 17. Walter Mims (foreground), executive director of Neighborhood First, awaits his turn to speak at the opening reception for the “Souls Shot Portrait Project” at Bucks County Community College’s Gallery at Lower Bucks Campus. Mims runs the Bristol-based nonprofit aimed at preventing gun violence by providing mentoring, monitoring, and guidance to youth. The portraits, honoring those lost to or affected by gun violence, are on display through September 17 at the College’s Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. A visitor to the Gallery at Lower Bucks reads the story of a veteran who lost his life to gun violence. It’s among dozens of victims remembered in the “Souls Shot Portrait Project” at Bucks County Community College’s Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks Campus in Bristol, Pa., on display through September 17. Visitors to the Gallery at Lower Bucks Campus examine an interactive display that tells the story of a young man lost to gun violence as part of the “Souls Shot Portrait Project” on display through September 17. The project pairs fine artists with families who have lost loved ones to gun violence, creating deeply personal portraits that honor the unique lives of the victims. The Gallery, which is free and open to the public, is located at Bucks County Community College’s Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus in Bristol, Pa. Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler (left) and District Attorney Joe Kahn (right) greet Bucks County Community College President & CEO Patrick M. Jones (middle) at the opening reception for the “Souls Shot Portrait Project” at the Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. The project pairs fine artists with families who have lost loved ones to gun violence, creating deeply personal portraits that honor the unique lives of the victims. Photos by Mel Evans for Bucks County Community College
A diverse group of students and instructors in public service uniforms poses for a photo, holding certificates in a bright indoor setting, commemorating a community college graduation or ceremony.

Firefighters are Ready to Serve After Graduation Ceremony

 Bucks County Community College celebrated its most recent firefighter graduates with an August 13 ceremony at the Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. A total of 19 volunteer firefighters completed Basic Fire Academy Training at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon and earned national certifications, enabling them to help fill the critical shortage of first responders. Training included a structural burn session, fighting a controlled blaze that replicated a real-life emergency. Steve Coyle of Yardley, a volunteer with the Yardley Makefield Fire Department, was recognized for his leadership with the outstanding student award. Bucks County Community College is the largest provider of fire and emergency services training and certification in Pennsylvania, training approximately 45,000 first responders annually in all 67 counties in the Commonwealth. Friends, family, and fellow first responders attended the graduation ceremony for the most recent firefighter graduates at Bucks County Community College’s Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. The 19 volunteers earned national certifications to better serve their communities. Recent graduates of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training show off their certificates of completion after an August 13 ceremony at the Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. The 19 first-responders volunteer with fire departments in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. Steve Coyle of Yardley (center), a volunteer firefighter with the Yardley-Makefield Fire Department, earned the Outstanding Student award for his leadership among 19 first responders who graduated August 13 from Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training. He was congratulated after the ceremony at the Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks by Patrick M. Jones, Ph.D. (left), the College’s President and CEO, and Ronni Fuchs, Esq. (right), chair of the College’s Board of Trustees. Volunteer firefighters prepare a ladder to fight a controlled structural burn at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon this summer. The hands-on preparation was part of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training course, in which 19 first responders earned national certifications to better protect their communities. Volunteer firefighters train a firehose on a blaze in a controlled structural burn at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon this summer. The hands-on preparation was part of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training course, in which 19 first responders earned national certifications to better protect their communities. Volunteer firefighters participate in a controlled structural burn at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon this summer. The hands-on preparation was part of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training course, in which 19 first responders earned national certifications to better protect their communities. (Photo Credit: Eric Parker, Bucks County Community College)