Western Carolina University has announced a 21-member committee will search for the school's next chancellor. Current chancellor David Belcher will go on medical leave at the end of this year. Belcher is fighting a recurrence of brain cancer, and says he does not expect to resume his duties when his medical leave is done. He has been chancellor since 2011.
Patricia Kammerling, the chair of the university's board of trustees, will lead the search committee to find Belcher's replacement. Alison Morrison-Shetlar, the school's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will serve as acting chancellor in the meantime. Once three finalists are determined, the school will send those candidates to UNC system president Margaret Spellings, who will make the final choice.
Members of the 21-member search committee -
• Pat Kaemmerling, search committee co-chair and chair of the WCU Board of Trustees
• Bryant Kinney, search committee co-chair and vice chair of the WCU Board of Trustees
• Kellie Angelo Monteith, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, WCU
• Gorham Bradley, former director of the WCU Catamount Club and current commercial risk adviser for Stanberry Insurance of Western North Carolina
• Casey Cooper, CEO, Cherokee Indian Hospital
• Keith Corzine, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, WCU
• Ken Hughes, member, WCU Foundation Board
• George Little, former member of the WCU Board of Trustees and current member of the UNC Pembroke Board of Trustees
• Ricardo Nazario-Colon, chief diversity officer, WCU
• Kenny Messer, secretary of the WCU Board of Trustees
• Chris Parrish, associate director of undergraduate admissions and former Staff Senate chair, WCU
• Bob Roberts, member, WCU Board of Trustees
• David Powers, member, UNC Board of Governors (and WCU liaison)
• Brandon Robinson, chair of the WCU Board of Visitors
• David Shapiro, Robert Lee Madison Distinguished Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, WCU
• Katherine Spalding, president, WCU Student Government Association
• Wes Stone, associate professor of engineering and technology, WCU
• Vicki Szabo, associate professor of history, WCU
• Kevin Trudell, president, WCU Graduate Student Association
• Teresa Williams, former chair of the WCU Board of Trustees
• Bill Yang, associate professor of electrical engineering and former Faculty Senate chair, WCU
