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WCU chancellor diagnosed with brain tumor

Julie Ball
jball@citizen-times.com

CULLOWHEE - Western Carolina University Chancellor David Belcher notified the campus community Thursday that he has been diagnosed with a small brain tumor.

The tumor is affecting Belcher's speech and expression, according to an email that went out to the campus Thursday.

“The resulting condition is called expressive aphasia. At this point, I do not have many specifics to share; however, I am optimistic and in the process of engaging with medical specialists to learn more,” Belcher wrote in the email to faculty, staff and students. “I felt it important that you hear this news immediately and directly from me. I know that you care deeply for our university and I also know that you care for me personally. I am sure that this news will prompt many questions, many of which I cannot currently answer.”

Belcher said in the email that he and the university’s executive council have a plan in place “to ensure that we continue to move the university forward.”

“Provost Alison Morrison-Shetlar will be my primary representative when I am unavailable. That said, I am fully committed as chancellor of Western Carolina University and will fulfill my executive responsibilities even when I am not on campus. That has not changed,” Belcher wrote.

The email went out around 10:30 a.m.

The WCU campus was "totally shocked" by the news, psychology professor David McCord said.

“He (Belcher) is very, very well liked on a personal as well as a professional level,” McCord said.

Bill Studenc, a spokesman for Western Carolina, said he didn’t have any additional details about Belcher’s condition or treatment.

Belcher was hired in 2011 to replace John Bardo.

A native of Barnwell, S.C., Belcher had been serving as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock before coming to WCU.

David Belcher