Dr. Lisbeth (Betsy) Chapin was hired as an assistant professor of English in 2004, awarded tenure in 2019, and achieved full professorial rank in 2023. She designed and taught writing and literature courses, Signature Seminars, and courses for the Honors Program. She also team-taught a variety of courses with colleagues in humanities. Her passion lies in teaching and exploring written texts with her students. She also derives great satisfaction in working with students to improve their critical thinking and writing skills. Dr. Chapin creates a respectful space in which students feel confident in sharing their ideas and engaging in complex literary analysis.
Dr. Chapin is also an active scholar, having published articles and book chapters and presented her research at regional, national, and international conferences, including the International Gothic Association Conference at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism in London, England. She also volunteers her expertise as one of nine scholars working on the Humphrey Davy Notebooks Project, a digital project dedicated to transcribing the journals of one of the preeminent scientists in the British Romantic Period. Her latest project is a volume dedicated to the works of Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley as part of the Companion Series of the 19th-Century Authors.
In addition to teaching and scholarship, Dr. Chapin served as the assistant dean for the former School of Arts and Sciences, the chairperson of the former Language, Literature, and Fine Arts Division, and the coordinator of the English Program. Her other service activities include membership on search committees, task forces, and faculty standing committees, including the Strategic Assessment and Alignment Task Force, the General Education Committee, the Educational Policy and Planning Committee, and the Honors Program Committee.
Dr. Chapin has earned the respect from faculty colleagues and students alike, who recognize her professional excellence, her collegiality, her intellectual curiosity, and her wonderful and infectious sense of humor.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (Univ. of Delaware), a Master of Arts degree in English (Temple Univ.), and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English (Univ. of Denver).
