wfn.org | North Carolinian receives Racial Ethnic Minority Fellowship

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

May 31, 2002	News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.     10-30-71B{239}

NOTE:  A photo will be available for use with this story

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)--United Methodist Communications (UMCom) has
selected David O. Malloy II, the assistant sports information director at
the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, as the 2002-2003 recipient of
the Judith L. Weidman Racial Ethnic Minority Fellowship. 

Malloy, 27, is the fifth recipient of the fellowship, which provides a year
of working with an experienced director of communications in an annual
conference of the United Methodist Church.

He will work in the West Ohio Annual Conference from July 1 through June 30.
The Rev. R. Thomas Slack, director of communications, will be Malloy's
mentor during the fellowship year. The conference center is located in
Worthington, Ohio.

"We are excited about David joining the West Ohio communications team for
his year of learning and sharing," said Barbara Nissen, director of UMCom's
Communications Resourcing Team, which coordinates the fellowship. 

"With a talented and experienced communications staff, West Ohio will be
able to offer David a variety of experiences in all aspects of conference
communications," Nissen continued. "We feel it is a good match on all
sides."

UMCom developed the fellowship in 1998 to encourage people of ethnic
minority background to consider religion communications as a career. Among
the 65 annual conferences in the United States, there are fewer than 10
conference communicators of ethnic minority heritage in leadership
positions. The fellowship carries the name of the late Judith L. Weidman who
encouraged its development during her tenure as UMCom's top staff executive.

"The unique challenge that religion communication provides is to communicate
deeply held convictions and values to a wide audience," Malloy wrote in his
fellowship application. "Religion communication is not a marketing strategy
for a product but a part of a church mission in explaining an experience-an
experience that seeks to address vital issues of the heart and soul."

A North Carolina resident, Malloy graduated last December from the
University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a bachelor's degree in
communications with a public relations concentration. Since graduation, he
has served as assistant sports information director at the university.

A member of Jerusalem United Methodist Church, Laurinburg, N.C., he has been
a tutor in the church's after-school program and also served as a youth
outreach coordinator. While in high school, he was delegate to the Youth
Annual Conference and served on the Conference Council on Youth Ministries.

Malloy was one of 14 candidates applying for the fellowship. An eight-person
selection committee chose finalists who were interviewed May 20 and 21 in
Worthington, Ohio. 

The 2001-2002 recipient, Ciona D. Rouse, will complete her fellowship year
on July 31. Dean Snyder, Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference director of
communications, is her primary mentor.

Larry Hygh, Jr. was the first recipient and spent a year working in the New
England Conference. He is now director of communications in the
California-Pacific Annual Conference. Nicole Benson, the third recipient,
became communications coordinator and editor in the Texas Conference after
spending her fellowship year in the Southwest Texas Conference. Eunice
Dharmaratnam, the second recipient, enrolled in graduate school after her
fellowship year in the Indiana Area communications office.

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United Methodist News Service
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