Berry College honors Dalton educator with distinguished service award

Published 5:16 pm Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Harlan L. Chapman, a longtime faculty member at Dalton College, is one of five graduates of Berry College to be honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2010. Chapman and the other winners were recognized during a semiformal gala held in conjunction with Berry’s recent Alumni Weekend celebration.

As a recipient of Berry’s Distinguished Service Award, Chapman was lauded as a career educator who excels at motivating others to work together in support of a particular goal or vision.

“He is an exemplary leader, strong but humble, giving credit and showing appreciation to those who work with him,” said Carolyn T. Smith, a fellow graduate who now holds the honorary title of Berry Alumni Director and Advancement Officer Emerita. “He has a gift for inspiring and motivating others and letting them know they are making worthwhile contributions to their team’s efforts on behalf of Berry and the education of today’s students and our nation’s future.”

Chapman served as an educator for 34 years, 22 of which were spent at Dalton College. He distinguished himself as a teacher, department head, professor, admissions director and registrar. Other contributions to his profession include service as president of the Georgia Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and as a member of the University System of Georgia advisory committees on admissions and records, research and planning, and computer operations.

Derrell Roberts, who was then president of Dalton College, wrote a letter to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia when Chapman retired and recommended that the 1958 Berry alumnus be given emeritus status. In 1989, the regents conferred on him the honorary title of Registrar, Director of Admissions and Professor Emeritus.

In addition to his work as an educator, Chapman has also made a difference in the local community through board service for the United Way and Cheerhaven Inc., an organization dedicated to helping people with mental disabilities train for employment. He is a past member of the Dalton Rotary Club and continues to be active at Dalton First Baptist Church, where he has been a deacon since 1974.

Chapman’s work on behalf of Berry includes three terms on the Berry Alumni Council, one of which involved service as a vice president, and two terms as president of the Carpet Capital alumni chapter.

He has played a role in numerous other initiatives, including reunion planning for his graduating class, chairing Make a Difference Day for his alumni chapter, an oral history video project, and the Berry High School/Academy book project. He was also instrumental in the establishment of two class scholarship funds.

“There is no one who is more devoted to Berry than Harlan,” said classmate Katherine Armitage. “I can think of no one who has done more to promote the college and its motto: ‘Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.’ He is richly deserving of this award.”

Chapman’s wife, Doris, is also a Berry graduate. The couple have three children: Kent, Kay Chapman Humble and Kimberly Chapman Painter. His mother is Mrs. Fields Williams Chapman of LaFayette.