Faculty Spotlight: Beth Belcher

There are many delightful and charismatic people who make up the staff and faculty of Carteret

Community College. Beth Belcher is one of those people.

Beth is the director of the Student Support Services TRiO Program. The program is designed to identify

and provide services for people from disadvantaged backgrounds from low-income and first-generation

college students to people with disabilities. Beth double majored in Clinical Psychology and History of

Religions at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. She then went on to graduate school at North

Carolina A&T and received her Master’s degree in Educational Psychology, with a focus in Human

Resources Development.

When asked about how she started her career in higher education, she stated that it began while she

was in graduate school. She got her foot in the door at Guilford Technical Community College teaching

the Human Resources Development program. That program helps those who are unemployed or

underemployed find employment. Beth also taught a federally funded program called JTPA, to help

people hone and develop job skills, as well as English as a Second Language.

After she graduated, Beth moved to California where she took a job as an Academic Advisor for the

University of San Francisco. After moving back to North Carolina in 1995, she was offered positions at

several community colleges around the state but decided that the beach and Carteret Community

College was the best choice for her.

When asked to describe herself, Beth said she has a passion for first generation students. She has seen

the benefits of education, and what it can do to change lives. Education gives her an intrinsic

satisfaction, and is the main reason that she still does what she does.

“Education not only enlarges your world, but then you see how small the world truly is, because when

you travel around the world and interact with other cultures, you see how much we are alike, and have

the same values,” said Beth.

If you meet Beth you immediately see she likes to laugh, often heard saying “If you can’t laugh every

day, then what is the point?”

Story by Ryan Daw, Public Affairs Intern