The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University seeks an experienced and innovative professional to teach and lead a team of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in reporting, writing, editing and publishing digital content for Cronkite News—the school’s student-staffed, faculty-led news outlet—and in related Cronkite courses.
This role combines editorial leadership, mentorship and teaching, ensuring students develop professional-level skills in digital journalism while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy, fairness and thoroughness. Success in this role is measured by the success of students and their ability to synthesize skills and knowledge from earlier courses inside a working newsroom environment.
The successful candidate will be a journalist of the highest caliber with strong digital news experience, a creative thinker who is comfortable in a highly energized news environment, and a student-first instructor inspired by the future of news. The candidate demonstrates a commitment to accuracy, fairness and collaboration; possesses the skills to inspire, support and instruct a team of student journalists; and delivers clear direction and feedback.
As a member of the faculty, the professor will have teaching and service responsibilities with the Cronkite School. In this role, there are no research or creative activity responsibilities. Teaching assignments are made on a semester-to-semester basis. Assignments may include a combination of editing within the Cronkite News capstone course and other media courses.
This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, 9-month (academic year) appointment on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus. It is not a tenure-track appointment. The professor will hold the rank of assistant, associate or full clinical professor, or assistant, associate or full teaching professor.
Essential Responsibilities
- Leading, editing, teaching and mentoring a team of upper-level undergraduate and graduate journalism students in a full-time, daily news environment (typical hours are approximately 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday)
- Teaching lower-, upper- and graduate-division courses in media skills
- Coaching students through the ideation and reporting of compelling, meaningful stories, cultivating beats and sources, and executing day-turn and enterprise stories
- Managing daily story assignments together with fellow Cronkite News faculty, and collaboratively planning, managing and producing innovative and professional news content
- Editing written student work and related multimedia elements for publication on the Cronkite News website, social media channels, as well as for distribution to more than 150 clients across the country
- Fostering a culture of innovation by harnessing fresh ideas and experimenting with new tools, technologies and techniques that enhance digital and social media storytelling in ethical and responsible ways.
- Leading experimentation with AI tools in reporting and/or storytelling
- Collaborating with other newsroom faculty, students and staff
- Performing service both internally (e.g., committee assignments, student recruitment) and externally (e.g. professional workshops, contest judging)
- Performing other duties as assigned
Required Qualifications:
- Candidates pursuing a clinical professor rank must have a master’s degree at the time of appointment, and at least 7 years professional experience in journalism, or equivalent specialized experience.
- Candidates pursuing a teaching professor rank must have a terminal degree at the time of appointment, and at least 7 years professional/teaching experience in journalism or equivalent specialized experience.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience leading, managing and editing a team of journalists, particularly early-career journalists
- Mastery of AP Style
- Measurable success in engaging audiences around news content, including through digital and social media storytelling
- Experience developing a news beat
- Experience developing and producing deeply reported enterprise journalism
- Ability to create audio, photo, graphics, interactives, video and/or broadcast storytelling to complement written reporting
- Experience teaching journalism or related topics at the university level
- Demonstrated proficiency in new and emerging multimedia storytelling tools and platforms
- Ability to report and edit Spanish-language journalism
- Familiarity with communities and newsmakers in Arizona
About Cronkite News
Cronkite News is a multi-platform daily news operation that produces daily and enterprise news coverage of critical issues on Arizona PBS and digital, audio and social platforms. The newsroom serves more than 1.8 million households with its nightly broadcast and Arizona and national audiences with its digital content, regularly published by more than 100 media outlets. Cronkite News also serves as an immersive and innovative learning laboratory for students, who create content under the guidance of award-winning, experienced professionals. Cronkite News is anchored inside a state-of-the-art newsroom located on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus in the nation’s 11th-largest media market, with additional bureaus in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
About the Cronkite School
The Cronkite School is widely recognized as the nation’s premier mass communication school, ranked No. 1 by the Broadcast Education Association for three consecutive years. Rooted in the time-honored values that characterize its namesake—accuracy, responsibility, integrity—the school fosters excellence and ethics among students as they master the professional skills required to succeed in the digital media world of today and tomorrow.
Based on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus in the heart of the nation’s fifth-largest city, the School is known for its hands-on, “teaching hospital” approach to learning led by a faculty composed of Pulitzer Prize-winning professional journalists, strategic communications leaders and world-class media scholars. More than 2,500 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students regularly lead the country in national competitions as they prepare for careers in journalism, PR, marketing, strategic media and related communication fields.
About Arizona State University
Arizona State University, ranked No. 1 “Most Innovative School” in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 11 years in succession, has forged the model for a New American University. Repeatedly ranked No. 1, ASU has topped more than 30 lists in the last three years: No. 1 in the U.S. for global impact (Times Higher Education) and No. 1 in the U.S. for sustainable practices (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education).
ASU is a comprehensive public research institution, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves. ASU operates on the principles that learning is a personal and original journey for each student; that they thrive on experience and that the process of discovery cannot be bound by traditional academic disciplines. Through innovation and a commitment to accessibility, ASU has drawn pioneering researchers to its faculty even as it expands opportunities for qualified students, attracting some of the highest-quality students from all 50 states and more than 130 nations.
Application Instructions
Applicants will be asked to create or use an existing Interfolio Dossier to submit the following:
- A cover letter stating qualifications
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- Contact information (name, address, email, telephone number) for three professional references
Successful candidates will demonstrate throughout their materials how their teaching, research, and service will contribute to the fulfillment of the ASU Charter.
The applicant’s name should appear in each uploaded file name. Cover letters may be addressed to the Search Committee Chair, Assistant Dean Melanie Asp Alvarez. Questions about the position should be directed to the search committee chair at melanie.alvarez@asu.edu
Application deadline is October 17, 2026. Applications will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis for a reserve pool. Applications in the reserve pool may then be reviewed in the order in which they were received until the position is filled. Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/193790
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement. A background check is required for employment. Arizona State University is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor and an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by law.
(See https://www.asu.edu/aad/manuals/acd/acd401.html and https://www.asu.edu/titleIX/.)
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