Board Member Profile: Shelley Welsch

 

Despite not knowing much about the Missouri Humanities Council before joining the board three years ago, University City, Mo. Mayor Shelley Welsch is no stranger to the humanities or service.Shelly Welch

“I believe that to be a true citizen of a community, state, or nation you have to commit to getting involved in different areas and felt that this was a good fit for me with my background.”

Welsch has been an active community volunteer for decades. She was one of the founders and the first Executive Director of the Green Center, a center for outdoor environmental education and the arts located in University City, Mo. She has also served on the boards of directors of the Literacy Council of Greater St. Louis, ALIVE (Alternatives to Living in Violent Environments), UCityUnited and was one of the founders and on the board of the Sutter-Meyer Society. Prior to being elected mayor, Welsch served on the city council of University City for four years, from 2002-2006.

For Welsch, the best part of being on the board is the opportunity to explore Missouri and get to know its citizens.

“I very much appreciate meeting people from around the state and getting to know the state better through traveling and reading grant proposals,” said Welsch. “You get a sense of the interest in rural and urban areas as far as what they propose to the council, and you realize how different and similar people are in all parts of Missouri.”

Welsch began her professional career in the broadcast news business in 1975, working in local radio in St. Louis, Mo. and Memphis, Tenn. She then spent ten years with ABC Network News in Washington D.C. and St. Louis where she worked as an assignment manager, producer, writer and special events producer. In this job she produced, among other programming, President Ronald Reagan’s radio addresses from the White House and Camp David; a documentary on the first Reagan/Gorbachev Summit; the 1986 Presidential caucuses and primaries in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin; and special programming on the return of the bodies of Marines after the bombing of their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

Welsch has a B.A. in History from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She is married to architect Bill Chilton and they have one daughter, Madeleine (Maddi) Chilton. The Welsch/Chilton family resides in University City, Mo.

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