Behind The Scenes Meet A Few Of Thenew Faces Who Have Recently Joined The Staff At The Spokesman-Review

Some readers have noticed that many new bylines now appear in The Spokesman-Review. It’s true. The newspaper lost more than a dozen reporters and editors in 1997. Some changed professions, but most were snared by bigger newspapers in places such as Portland, Seattle, Kansas City, Detroit and Sacramento.

Though many in Spokane might not know this, The Spokesman-Review has a reputation nationally as a newspaper where very good journalists work. So when other newspapers have hiring frenzies (and 1997 was one of those years) they come looking to the good papers for staffers.

It’s a compliment to be a newspaper that is raided, but it also provides a real challenge to find gifted journalists to replace those who leave. We believe we found those journalists.

On today’s page, and again in October, we’ll introduce you to some of the women and men behind the new bylines and behind the scenes in our newsroom.

Torsten Kjellstrand

Duties: Photojournalist.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in English from Carleton College; master’s in journalism from University of Missouri-Columbia. Experience: Staff photographer, The Herald, in Jasper, Indiana for three years. Taught a bit here and there. Writer at The New Ulm Journal, one year. Nordic ski instructor. Raced on the Finn-Sisu Nordic ski team, after four years of college racing. White water kayak instructor, then I got common sense. Construction worker for two years. Freelance writer and photographer in Madison, Wis. for two years. Fulbright scholar in literature in Uppsala, Sweden. Had some short stories published.

Personal: Born in Sweden. Accent is under control until I get really excited. A little too tall and a little too skinny. Father of two children, Bjorn, 6, and Maria, 4. Spouse of one adult woman, Jean.

Outside activities: Mountain biking, nordic skiing, road cycling, canoeing and anything else that gets me far from telephones, televisions, teleportation and telling the news.

Scott Stoddard

Duties: Page designer; designs and writes headlines for feature pages.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore.

Experience: Art director, The Greenville News, Greenville, S.C.,; Director of design, The Idaho Statesman, Boise; Sports writer/photographer/designer, Grants Pass (Ore.) Daily Courier; Sports editor, The World, Coos Bay, Ore.; Sports editor, Peninsula Clarion, Kenai, Alaska.

Personal: Age 30. Single. Born and raised in Monterey, Calif.

Ouside interests: Mountain climbing, backpacking, mountain biking, kayaking, soccer, tennis, trivia, travel (I’ve visited 45 of 50 states; Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida have escaped me).

Kathleen Gilligan

Duties: Lifestyles and Trends editor. Responsible for lifestyle and trends coverage in features and across departments, represents features department in daily news meetings, works with newspaperwide marketing committee and consumer marketing group.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Washington State University.

Experience: Copy editor and lifestyle editor, health and social issues reporter at The (Bend) Bulletin. Then worked as health, general assignment reporter and columnist and finally managing editor-news for the Yakima Herald-Republic. Writer/generalist working with strategic planning, marketing, advertising, public relations and media buying at Steve Dahl and Associates, Inc.

Personal: Age 32. Born in Yakima, Wash.

Outside interests: Running, ballet, downhill skiing, reading, animals, writing, humor.

Andrea Vogt

Duties: Daily news and features writer in North Idaho bureau; covers public and higher education.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and minor in German from the University of Idaho.

Experience: Intern at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News; then reporter at the Lewiston Morning Tribune. From August to October 1996, was a guest foreign correspondent at the Munchner Merkur, a daily, regional newspaper in Munich, Germany.

Personal: Age 26. Born in Moscow, Idaho, raised in nearby Potlatch, and currently residing in the Lake City with my cat “Sleg the Barbarian.” I love chocolate, especially on deadline, and good pilsner, especially after deadline.

Outside interests: Bluegrass fiddle and guitar, songwriting, hiking, skiing, recreational sports, foreign travel.

Tracy Ellig

Duties: General assignment reporter on the city desk.

Education: B.A. Philosophy from Montana State University.

Experience: Reporter, The Havre Daily News, Havre, Mont.; The Idaho State Journal, Pocatello, Idaho; The Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Bozeman, Mont.

Personal: Non-smoker, no pets, quiet, single, always pay rent on time, excellent references, good credit. I’ve never owned a TV and never will.

Outside interests: Hiking, skiing, soccer, unrestrained sarcasm.

Laura Crooks

Duites: Our Generation editor; coordinates and edits weekly Our Generation section.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, University of Arizona.

Experience: Covered neighborhoods and schools for The Phoenix Gazette/The Arizona Republic for three years and then edited the teen section for the newspapers until January. Started as a teen correspondent for The Phoenix Gazette in high school.

Personal: Age 28. Born and raised in Arizona. Married to assistant news editor Gary Crooks. Have one son, Calvin, born in January.

Outside Interests: Playing with my son and two dogs, camping, hiking, white-water rafting, the television show “er,” playing on the computer and creating projects around the house that my husband dreads doing.

Hannelore (Lori) Sudermann

Duties: Agriculture, business and labor reporter on the business desk.

Experience: The Daily of the University of Washington, editor in 1992. Interned at The News Tribune in Tacoma, then worked as a full-time everything reporter at the Ellensburg Daily Record. City edition reporter for the Neighbors section of the Sacramento Bee. During 1996-1997, I earned a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism and covered Congress and the Democratic National Convention for the Orange County Register from Washington, D.C. and Chicago, and interned for The Wall Street Journal in Brussels, Belgium.

Personal: Born in Muenster, Germany. Age 27. Grew up in Seattle (before grunge). My closest farming relation is Uncle Pat who raises pigs in Indiana. I’m fluent in French and want to learn Spanish.

Outside Interests: I just got a mountain bike. Hiking. Running. Photography. Hanging out in bookstores and cafes. Movies - especially old and foreign films. Vanilla malted milkshakes. Explaining my first name (It’s an old German name that my parents hoped would always remind me of the country where I was born.)

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 7 photos