The winner of the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award:

The Rev. Margaret “Peggy” A. Muncie, '74

The Rev. Margaret “Peggy” A. Muncie (Class of 1974) was the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award. Muncie, along with the late Paige Bigelow, was one of the first women to graduate in the MDiv program at GTS, and has written and spoken engagingly and movingly about what that was like. She has always sought to forward the profession of chaplaincy through practice, advocacy, and writing.

Muncie was ordained Deacon in June, 1974 for the Diocese of Long Island by the now deceased Rt. Rev. Jonathan Goodhue Sherman, also a General alum ('33) and a former President of our Board of Trustees. She credits the Bishop for supporting her postulancy at that critical time for the acceptance of female ordinands, and hopes he has “a smile on his face for me and for his brave stance sending me to GTS.” She was then priested for the Diocese of New York on April 25, 1977 by Bishop Sherman at the request of Bishop Paul Moore of New York. The ordination took place in the chapel at Vassar College where she served on the campus ministry team.

Muncie is a Board Certified Chaplain in the Association of Professional Chaplains. She has carried out her distinguished ministry as a chaplain in both long-term care and acute settings for over 30 years, including service as Director of Pastoral Care and Education at St. Luke's — Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City.

She is now engaged as Executive Director of Canterbury Counseling Center (CCC) in Greenville, South Carolina. CCC is a non-profit, church-sponsored organization that offers a healing ministry of pastoral counseling, integrating psychotherapy with behavioral sciences, spiritual issues, wholeness and health. They offer a broad spectrum of services, conducted by fully licensed mental health professionals trained in both theology and pastoral psychology. The services at CCC are available to individuals, couples, families, clergy, and congregations regardless of race, faith affiliation or financial status.

Muncie accepted her award at the Alumni Memorial Eucharist during the Alumni Gathering, November 6, 2014.