While normally Betsy is the voice you hear from in the Daily Deac, I am jumping in today to announce some happy news. I am Minta McNally (’74, P’02, ’06) and I head the Office of Family Engagement. Betsy and I have worked together for 20 years, and today I am pleased to present her as Dr. Betsy Chapman! Betsy defended her dissertation last week and has completed all requirements for her Ph.D. in Higher Education from UNC-Greensboro. I also want to thank the parent and family constituency for helping Betsy with the survey she used on parent and family engagement as part of her dissertation. You were instrumental in her ability to complete her degree, and we thank you for it.

We hope to see many of you on campus next weekend for the activities of Family Weekend.  For those of you who will be here, I encourage you to seek out Dr. Betsy and offer your congratulations. I know Betsy will be at the Parents’ Campaign reception on Friday at 4:30 in the Green Room of Reynolda Hall (for those who had received an invitation to that event), and she will be working at Registration on Saturday morning in the Benson Center from 8:30-10 am.  This really is a remarkable achievement – especially considering Betsy didn’t miss a beat with the Office of Family Engagement while also pursuing her Ph.D.

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Many thanks, Minta – and thanks to the Wake families who helped me with my dissertation research. It feels good to be Dr. Chapman 🙂

Back to business…we are rounding out a busy week on campus, with an even busier week next week with Family Weekend. I was reminded by a Deac Mom that one of the great features of Family Weekend is the University Theatre production of The Crucible, a really tremendous American classic:

This searing play is set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during the infamous Salem Witch Trials.  Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to intentionally resonate with the Red Scare and McCarthy hearings and, of course, it does so brilliantly. But the resonance doesn’t end there. How often have we heard the words “witch hunt” tossed around recently? How many examples of whipped up mass hysteria scroll past our news feeds? How do we respond to standing up for one’s beliefs when the belief may be a lie and the lie destroys lives? The Crucible is a powerfully entertaining drama that resonates just as deeply now as it did in the 1950’s.

You can buy tickets online here. If you have never been to a Wake theatre production, you will be amazed at the experience. We are rich with talented actors, directors, set designers, lighting, sound, and costuming – among many other essential roles. Come on out and support the arts!

In other events news, I wanted to send a shout out to all the Daily Deac-ers in Seattle. I am going to be out your way for a conference, and we are planning a Meet the Daily Deac parent and family reception on Thursday, November 7th. If you are in the area, please come out if you can – I’d love to meet you for casual conversation (and a little inside baseball on the Daily Deac) and life at WFU! Registration is available here.

To close out the week, I ran across an article last week about overparenting. It’s an old one, but this one quote stuck out to me and I thought I would share:

So much of parenting involves how we feel about ourselves. As psychologist and author Pat Love has said, the best thing adults can do as parents is to have their needs met by other adults and not by their children. Our kids need us to be the best, most developed, and most fulfilled versions of ourselves in all areas of our lives in order to feel independent and secure in theirs. That way, they can emulate and learn from us without feeling they must fill the voids we experience in our own lives.

That quote has given me some food for thought as I do my best for Class of ’27 🙂

Have a great weekend, Daily Deac-ers!

 

— by Betsy Chapman Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)

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