“This semester feels like Christmas is around the corner,” Betsy Caceres sighed.
She was seated in a white pointy-sided swivel chair, pillow behind her with a subtle flower design along the side and back. This nook of her cozy home emanated ease and peace under the seashore painting above us.
Betsy Caceres, assistant professor of chemistry, is a thoughtful and peaceful woman. She has been a professor of biochemistry at Union for seven years now, and has been performing cancer research with Union students over the last two summers.
This year marks a new season for the Caceres family as they join the faculty-in-residence staff on Union’s campus. Life on campus seems to increase the pace of life in the Caceres home, but it has already brought many unexpected blessings for the family.
Dr. Caceres’s husband, Leo Alfonesca, works at Pictsweet Farms, a frozen vegetable company. Together they are raising three beautiful school-aged children, all with tight, curly brown hair and bright blue eyes. Amelia and Elana attend Augustine School, and Adrian attends the preschool at Trinity Christian Academy.
“I know it was a lot harder for Leo not being a professor,” Dr. Caceres said, reflecting on their family’s transition to living on campus. “He was on board, though. Not two weeks after [moving in], he was like, ‘This is really good.’”
The family of five has already helped with the freshmen move-in and the church fair earlier in the semester. Caceres took her girls to the ResLife Girls’ Night in McAfee, and their family has hosted freshmen in their apartment for dinner.
Caceres recalls her husband telling her, “Why would anyone not want to do something like this?” That is, moving onto campus with students and living alongside them.
They even brought their children to run in the ResLife ½ K, the first ResLife event of the school year. To this day, Amelia, their oldest, repeatedly asks her mother when the next ½ K race will be.
Both Leo and Betsy grew up in the Dominican Republic, speaking Spanish as their first language. Interestingly, the couple didn’t meet until Betsy was studying for her Ph.D. and Leo was beginning his MBA studies at Utah State University.
The Caceres-Alfonesca family came to Union seven years ago when doors for teaching in Utah were closing, and Caceres was looking to teach at a Christian university. Immediately, she found Union University at the top of her search. When she read Union’s statement of faith, she sensed that there was a genuine Christianity at Union, so she “placed all her eggs in one basket,” applying solely to Union for a new chemistry professor job. Since then, she has been a beloved professor and researcher.
Caceres loves learning, and she has since high school.
“Learning is my happy place,” she said with a sparkle in her eye. “I’m learning, and then I’m sharing what I learn. I get paid to learn more.”
Caceres is influencing her students, many future medical doctors, to both care deeply about their faith in an intelligent creator and desire excellence in learning. Abby Keathly, a junior general chemistry major with a biology minor, expressed how grateful she is for Caceres’ care for her students, specifically in the classroom. Keathly wishes to become a medical doctor. She explained how Caceres is open to questions from the students, creates diverse ways to learn, and speaks boldly about intelligent design.
Admitting this design is a very hard task, explained Caceres as she talked about how she helps her students discover their creator by studying biochemistry.
“It’s hard because we are complex, and the more complex, we get a glimpse at the mind of God,” Caceres said.
She wants her students to experience wonder and amazement at their maker more than anything.For instance, Caceres takes five to six lectures to study the complexity of enzymes. Their machinery can react with 400 million molecules per second.
“Our machines imitate this, but they’re not as efficient,” Caceres said.
We are created by a powerful, creative God.
As the Caceres-Alfonesca family has adjusted to life on campus, having her kids close has been helpful for Caceres to attend on-campus events, such as Student Members of American Chemical Society (SMACS) meetings. She can easily leave the kids with her husband after his workday and walk over to events. The Caceres-Alfonesca children have lots of space for play while their mother teaches and their father works.
Keathly again expressed gratitude for Dr. Caceres hosting SMACS (Student Members of American Chemical Society) in her home, explaining how intentional Caceres is to know each of the students individually in the classroom and beyond.
Before I left the apartment, Caceres showed me their lawn in the back — a grassy, fenced-in oasis for play. A raised garden is tucked to the side, their outdoor patio has a six-person table, and the tall pines in the back provide a sense of privacy.
Above all, Keathly explained, Caceres tells her students she is a Christian. Next, she is a wife and a mother, then a professor.
Union is fortunate to have Betsy. They are a wonderful family. We are so pleased to know them. They bless our lives and their being on campus will bless Union students.