The ACP extends its heartfelt congratulations to Shirley Whipple Struchen, who was inducted into the United Methodist Association of Communicators Hall of Fame on October 24, 2023!
Many of you know Shirley as the director of the RCC from the joint ACP/RCC conferences and coordinator of the Religion Communication Congress, but you may not know she served professionally as a United Methodist and ecumenical communicator for more than half a century, retiring in 2022.
Struchen began her communication ministry with The United Methodist Church as communications director for the Western New York Conference of The United Methodist Church. Struchen worked for United Methodist Communications from 1976 to 2001. In that time, she is perhaps most remembered for serving as associate producer for the cable TV series “Catch the Spirit.”
The United Methodist Association of Communicators named Struchen United Methodist Communicator of the Year in 1997.
She served as executive director of the Religion Communicators Council (RCC) from 2002 to 2022 and was coordinator for the global, once-a-decade Religion Communication Congress in 2000, 2010, and 2020.
She is an active member of St. Paul and St. Andrew UMC in New York City where she is currently serving as co-chair of the “25 in 5 Capital Campaign” Committee with a goal to raise $25 million in five years.
Details of the UMAC annual communications awards can be found here – https://umcommunicators.org/2023/10/31/umac-honors-hundreds-with-communications-awards-2/