The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University seeks an experienced journalist to teach and lead a team of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in international reporting and teach other skills and foundation courses across the school.

This professorship lends focus to international reporting and global communities, advancing both coverage and student learning. Each spring break this professor leads a group of students to an international location to report on its communities; previous trips have included reporting from Panama, Costa Rica, Hungary, Tapachula, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and more. Upon return, students produce digital content (including text, photo, audio and video) as well as a magazine and a gallery exhibit.

The role combines editorial leadership, mentorship, teaching and oversight of immersive field reporting experiences. The professor ensures students develop professional-level skills in 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 unfamiliar reporting environments.

The successful candidate will be a journalist of the highest caliber with strong digital or visual news experience, a creative thinker eager to find new stories in new places, and a student-first instructor inspired to play an active role in the future of news. A deep understanding of international communities and the challenges they face is critical. The candidate demonstrates a commitment to accuracy, fairness and collaboration; possesses the skills to inspire, support and instruct a team of student journalists; and thoughtfully delivers clear direction and feedback.

As a member of the faculty, the professor will have teaching and service responsibilities with the Cronkite School. This role carries no research or creative activity responsibilities.

This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, 9-month appointment with the faculty rank of clinical assistant or associate professor. It is a career-track appointment, not a tenure-track appointment, based on the Cronkite School’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

Essential Responsibilities

● Teaching lower-, upper- and graduate-division courses in media skills and concepts

● Coaching students through developing meaningful stories, cultivating beats and sources, and in-depth reporting

● Editing written student work and related multimedia elements for publication

● Leading, editing, teaching and mentoring a team of upper-level undergraduate and graduate journalism students in an annual (spring) student reporting trip to a newsworthy international region

● Managing logistics of field reporting including identifying and hiring fixers, guides and interpreters.

● Compiling and editing an annual book highlighting the student work produced from the trip

● Fostering a culture of innovation by harnessing fresh ideas and experimenting with new tools, technologies and techniques that enhance storytelling

● Collaborating with other faculty, students and staff

● Working within project budgets

● Performing service both internally (e.g., committee assignments, student recruitment) and externally (e.g. professional workshops, contest judging)

● Performing other duties as assigned

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 the annual reporting project

Each year, an advanced student reporting team travels abroad during spring break to cover international issues. Recent projects include 2023’s An Island Divided: Haiti & The Dominican Republic. 2022’s Tapachula Mexico: Lives in Limbo, and 2019’s Seeking Stability: Venezuelans in Peru. The reporting project receives generous funding from The Howard G. Buffett Foundation and has benefitted thanks to support from the Adelaida and Barry Severson Cronkite Global Initiatives fund. Students pursuing reporting projects abroad and in global communities may also benefit from financial assistance provided by the Angela and Bill Silcock Global Experience Fund.

About Arizona State University

Arizona State University, ranked the No. 1 “Most Innovative School” in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 10 years in succession, has forged the model for a New American University. Repeatedly ranked No. 1, ASU has topped more than 20 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.

Required Qualifications

Candidates must have a master’s degree at the time of appointment, and at least 7 years professional journalism experience in a major-market or national media organization, or equivalent specialized experience.

Desired Qualifications

● Experience reporting, producing and editing written stories for local, regional or national audiences, ideally Arizona audiences

● 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

● 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

● Spanish language proficiency

● Graduate degree

Applicants will be asked to create or use an existing Interfolio Dossier to submit the following:

1. A cover letter stating qualifications
2. Curriculum vitae or resume
3. 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, Jessica Pucci. Questions about the position should be directed to the search committee chair at jepucci@asu.edu

Application deadline is May 10, 2025. 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.