wfn.org | Communicator of the Year

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (411
notes).

Note 405 by UMNS on Oct. 27, 1997 at 15:37 Eastern (5969 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green				  	   593(10-71B){405}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470 		 Oct. 27, 1997

Church communicators name Struchen communicator 
of the year; induct three into hall of fame
	
MESA, Ariz. (UMNS) —- Shirley Whipple Struchen, director of communication
education for United Methodist Communications, was 
^From 1957 to 1966, he served as a short-term then regular missionary to India.
^From then until his retirement, he served on the executive staff of the United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries in both print and electronic
communications named the 1997 Communicator of the Year by the United Methodist
Association of Communicators (UMAC) here Oct. 24.
	The association also inducted three communicators into its Hall of Fame
during its annual meeting and continuing education event.
	Struchen, also director of the United Methodist Teleconference Services,
consults and coordinates satellite teleconferencing programs for the church
and ecumenical agencies and informs communicators in the use of new
technologies.
 	A native of Olean, N.Y., Struchen attended the University of Buffalo, the
Announcers Training School in New York City and graduated from Oral Roberts
University in Tulsa, Okla., with a bachelor of arts degree in
telecommunications. 
Following graduation, she worked with the Rev. Pat Robertson at the Christian
Broadcasting Network and started a religious TV station in Indiana. She
returned to western New York to further her studies in electronic media and in
1979 received an M.A. degree from Canisius College of Buffalo.
Struchen formerly served as communications director and newspaper editor of
the Western New York United Methodist Conference. 
 	She began working for United Methodist Communications in 1976 to help
develop and later coordinate the Television Awareness Training program,
developing resources for viewers to be more intentional and selective in their
TV viewing. 
During her 20 years with the national communications agency, Struchen has
worked with such varied projects as the cable TV series "Catch the Spirit,"
"the Word & Music," Christian radio script service, and the "PEP TALK"
newsletter for electronic media producers. She was a supervisor of the agency
s former field staff and producer of numerous television programs including
the ABC-TV network program, "Light for the World," which linked a United
Methodist church in Decatur, Ill., and a congregation in Berlin, Germany, on
Christmas Eve 1990.
For the past 10 years, she has been the agency’s liaison with annual
conference communicators and UMAC.
Struchen’s leadership in religion communications extends beyond United
Methodism. She is president of the Religious Public Relations Council, an
ecumenical association of 660 religion communicators, chair of the steering
committee for the Religious Communications Congress 2000, president of the
Media Action Research Center, chairwoman of the media education committee of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and an active member
of the North American Broadcast Section of the World Association for Christian
Communication. She is a member of American Women in Radio and Television and
of the National Association for Female Executives.
She lives in New York City with her husband, the Rev. Donald E. Struchen. 
The association also inducted the Rev. Gilbert Galloway, Laura Okumu and the
late Rev. D. L. Dykes into its Hall of Fame. Only retirees or deceased
communicators are eligible for this distinction.
A multi-talented communicator, Galloway devoted four decades of his
professional life to Christian communications as sound engineer, filmmaker,
scriptwriter, producer, broadcaster, educator and administrator to mission and
ministry in communications. He retired from the church’s mission agency in
1996.. In 1988 he became the ‘voice of missions’ as coordinator of conference
relations and special projects. 
He was instrumental in setting up the first Global Gathering held by the
mission board in 1987 and continues to work even in retirement as the
technical coordinator-producer of the Assembly of United Methodist Women
scheduled for next May in Orlando.
 	Okumu retired from United Methodist Communications in July 1997 as director
of the church’s three language program journals and calendars. She had been
editor of Interpreter magazine (1988-1992), during which time she brought full
color throughout the magazine and redesigned its content.
She joined United Methodist Communications in 1983 as assistant editor of
Interpreter, with additional duties in connectional giving promotion. 
A native of Newcomerstown, Ohio, Okumu spent her early adult years teaching
high school biology and chemistry in Monrovia,  Liberia. Later, she taught
educational courses at the University of California at Los Angeles from which
she holds an M.A. degree in education. 
Prior to her career in the church, she was English editor for Khartoum
University Press in Sudan (1977-78), senior editor for Eastern African
Publications in Tanzania (1979-1980) and regional delegate for the Southern
African Program of the League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva (1981-83).  In
1991, she was UMAC’s Communicator of the Year.
Dykes, who died Feb. 21, was the retired senior pastor of First United
Methodist Church, Shreveport, La., and was known as a pioneer in religious
communications. He began telecasting his worship services at First Church in
1955.
He founded the Alternate View satellite television network in 1982 and was
active in its operation until shortly before his death. 
During the civil rights era, Dykes actively worked to improve race relations
in his community. He was a graduate of United Methodist-related Centenary
College in Shreveport and attended Emory University in Atlanta. 

#  #  #

	* This article was adapted from a release written by Dan Gangler, associate
editor of the Dallas-based United Methodist Reporter.

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