wfn.org | Hafften Resigns as ELCA News Director

[Frank Imhoff <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 2, 1998

HAFFTEN RESIGNS AS ELCA NEWS DIRECTOR
98-31-184-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ann E. Hafften, 45, has resigned as director for
news and information of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
effective Sept. 18.  She will become director of communications for Luther
Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., beginning Sept. 21.  Luther is a seminary of the
ELCA.
     "We are very grateful for the wealth of experience she brings and for
her familiarity with the church and its national and global communication
systems," said the Rev. David L. Tiede, president of Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn.  "Ann brings a tremendous gift to the mission of the seminary."
     "We worked through a very extensive call process," Tiede added.  "Ann
emerged with the greatest strengths for exactly what we described as our
needs."
     Hafften joined the ELCA Department for Communication staff in August
1992 as assistant director for news and information.  She became news
director in May 1993.
     "Ann Hafften was chosen as ELCA news director because of her
expertise in journalism and knowledge of and love for the church," said the
Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director of the ELCA Department for Communication.
"These qualities have served the church well."
     "She will be greatly missed," Shafer said, "but we are one church,
and Ann will continue to serve the ELCA at Luther Seminary."
     Before moving to Chicago, Hafften was director for communication and
development for the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College,
Minneapolis.  She was involved in writing projects for units of the ELCA,
edited the newsletter of the ELCA's Minneapolis Area Synod and served as a
staff member of Lutheran Peace Fellowship.
     Hafften was associate director for interpretation in the Office of
Communication and Mission Support of the former American Lutheran Church,
Minneapolis, 1981-1987.  She also worked for Wright County Community
Action, Waverly, Minn., 1978-1981, and for the "Lutheran Vespers" radio
ministry, Minneapolis, 1975-1978.
     Hafften graduated in 1974 with a degree in public relations from the
College of Journalism at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.
     Hafften is a member of the Religious Public Relations Council and the
Associated Church Press.  She has served on the board of Holden Village, a
Lutheran retreat center in Washington state, since 1982.  She is a member
of Edison Park Lutheran Church, Chicago.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director 1-773-380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html