Hafften Resigns as ELCA News Director

     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