WATERLOO - A respected award-winning journalist with nearly three decades of experience has been named editor of The Courier.

That journalist has spent her entire professional career at the Courier, covering the people and events of the Cedar Valley.

Courier Publisher Nancy L. Green announced today that Courier Managing Editor Nancy Raffensperger Newhoff will succeed Saul Shapiro as Courier editor, effective immediately. In May, Shapiro accepted a position at Wartburg College in Waverly after 24 years at the paper. Newhoff, with 28 years at the Courier, has served as interim editor since his departure.

Newhoff, 50, becomes the first woman in the Courier's 148-year history to hold the top spot in the paper's news operation - but she has been its drivetrain for the past 16 years, as city editor and managing editor. Prior to that, she followed a Courier tradition with her hard-charging police and courts reporting, for which she won numerous writing and reporting awards - a competitiveness she continues to impart to her staff.

Green knew Newhoff was the woman for the job - before Newhoff even knew herself. Though Newhoff initially did not seek the position, Green quietly mentored her through the summer.

"One of the things that I saw was Nancy has always been really well organized," Green said. "She knows news and she knows local news and that's what we're all about. It was a matter of her taking the reins and having the opportunity to see that she could really do the job, and I think she's done exceedingly well this summer."

"I'm flattered that I was asked to take this job," Newhoff said. "I initially told Publisher Nancy Green no, that I didn't feel that I was ready for this job and that an outsider's viewpoint would be helpful. She apparently saw something in me that I didn't see. By the end of the summer, I felt a lot better about it. And when she asked me again, after some careful thinking and consultation with family, I decided I was ready for the challenge.

"And it will be a challenge," Newhoff said. "I have a lot to learn yet, but I don't make any decisions without consulting with people around me. There's some really good people to turn to, to ask questions and discuss issues."

Green praised Newhoff's performance in the interim period. "I think we've done a really good job of ramping up local (news) focus on our Web site, and in our news columns, and Nancy has really led through this transition very successfully," Green said.

Newhoff said Shapiro, her predecessor, "gave me so much freedom to grow in overseeing the newsroom" and still provided comfort as a sounding board, which she no longer had with his departure.

"I had some hesitancy about whether I could step into those shoes and still have confidence in myself," she said. "I had to convince myself, and that's what I think I've finally done."

"And she's got so many years here," Green added. "Twenty-eight years in this community and at this newspaper gives her such a wealth of understanding and knowledge. It's invaluable to us, especially at this time when the Cedar Valley is growing and changing. And Nancy can put that all in perspective."

Some changes have already been made, Newhoff said, including moving Courier editorials to the middle of the editorial page, and establishing an in-house editorial board to discuss issues of potential editorials.

"The changes will be subtle," she said. "Some of our biggest challenges are continuing to put out a great print product and have the dual job of putting out a great on-line site. That means creating unique material for the Web site that does not mimic the paper, so that readers can enjoy news in the paper and still go to the Web site, or the converse, and feel like they're not reading the same thing again, or getting the exact same news. That's one of the challenges newspapers have today, is keeping both products viable."

Newhoff graduated from the University of Iowa in 1979 and began working at the Courier in August of that year. As the Courier's police and courts reporter, she won numerous state writing and reporting awards for several stories, including the 1981 slaying of Waterloo police officers Michael Hoing and Wayne Rice, and the subsequent manhunt, trial and conviction of James Michael "T-Bone" Taylor for the shootings.

Newhoff also was honored for her coverage of a 1982 pipeline explosion near Hudson; the circumstances surrounding the 1985 death of a 4-year-old Cedar Falls girl at the hands of her mother; and a man's slow recovery from a bullet wound to the head caused by a robber. Newhoff and former Courier City Editor Dan Dundon also were honored for a 1982 investigative piece on how much time government officials actually spent on the job.

In 1989, Newhoff was named assistant city editor. In September 1991 she took over supervision of the Courier's day-to-day news operations when she was named city editor, responsibilities she continued to hold after taking on additional duties as managing editor in 1995.

In 2001 she won an Iowa Associated Press Managing Editors award for column writing, and was named master columnist by the Iowa Newspaper Association in 2002.

In 2003 she and Shapiro won the First Amendment award from the Iowa Associated Press for their successful efforts in an open meetings violation lawsuit the paper filed against Hawkeye Community College in 1999, concerning the circumstances surrounding the departure of former HCC president William Hierstein.

Newhoff, raised mainly in Davenport and West Des Moines, has deep roots in the Cedar Valley and in journalism. She is the granddaughter of Leonard Raffensperger, a well-known East High School football coach and teacher, who went on to coach football at the University of Iowa in 1950 and '51. Her father, East graduate Gene Raffensperger, enjoyed a long career at the Des Moines Register as a reporter, city editor and sports editor. He is a member of East High's Hall of Fame.

"He has written me a wonderful note about how proud he is of me and how he knew I was up for this challenge," Newhoff said.

Newhoff is married to Courier Sports Editor Doug Newhoff. They met at the Courier and will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary next year. They have two children, Drew, a senior at Wartburg; and Nicky, a freshman at Clarke College in Dubuque; a new puppy, Kirby; and two cats.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com