Arizona State University - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Professor of Practice, Health Reporting
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Professor of Practice, Health Reporting
Description
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University is seeking an experienced professional journalist to lead a team of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in multimedia journalism coverage of health disparities in the Southwestern United States.
This faculty role leads a partnership between the Cronkite School and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to provide quality news and information about health-related topics and issues that impact residents of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas and Southern California. Coverage focuses on underserved communities including Latinx, Indigenous and Spanish-speaking border communities. Content is published in English and Spanish across a variety of media outlets including Cronkite News (the award-winning, student-staffed, faculty-led news division of Arizona PBS) and national distribution partners.
Holding the rank of professor of practice, the successful candidate will be a journalist of the highest caliber with strong digital news experience, and an innovative thinker who is comfortable in a highly energized news environment. The candidate demonstrates a commitment to accuracy, fairness and collaboration, and possesses the skills to inspire, support and instruct a team of student journalists and deliver clear direction and feedback.
This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, grant-funded, 12-month appointment on ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus. This is not a tenure-track appointment.
Duties & 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 5 p.m. Monday through Friday), and/or related courses
- Leading and managing the health news desk, continuing to cultivate it as a key source of health news and information in the Southwest, with a strong focus on underserved communities including Latinx, Indigenous and Spanish-speaking border communities
- Coaching students through the development and reporting of stories on health disparities, emphasizing enterprise reporting techniques
- Editing written student work on deadline for national distribution through a network of publishing partners
- Teaching students to engage audiences through multimedia and social media content creation
- Engaging key audiences, including policy makers, health care leaders and residents of the targeted areas to enhance and inform coverage
- Growing and nurturing a network of media partners to distribute health-related news and information throughout the region
- Leading and producing impact reporting for school leadership and funders
- Managing budgets together with school leaders
- Working collaboratively with other faculty and media partners to plan, manage and produce innovative and professional news and information content across platforms
- Fostering a culture of innovation by harnessing fresh ideas and experimenting with new tools, technologies and techniques that enhance digital and social media storytelling
- Performing other faculty responsibilities, such as committee assignments and assisting in student recruitment, as assigned
Required Qualifications
- At least 10 years professional journalism experience in a major-market or national media organization, or equivalent experience
- Bachelor’s degree
Desired Qualifications
- Experience producing and editing text stories for national audiences
- Experience leading and managing a team of journalists, particularly early-career journalists, and editing their work according to AP Style
- Experience covering or directing coverage of health issues, and developing and producing deeply reported digital enterprise health journalism
- Measurable success in engaging audiences around news content
- Experience building relationships and working with partner news organizations
- Thorough understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion issues in all aspects of newsroom culture and reporting and presenting news content, including experience covering or directing coverage of DEI issues
- Ability to create and edit audio, photo and video storytelling
- Ability to edit content in Spanish
- Master’s degree
About the Cronkite School
The Cronkite School is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier colleges of journalism and mass communication. 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 they need to succeed in the digital media world of today and tomorrow.
Located on ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus in the heart of the nation’s fifth-largest city, with additional centers in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., the school has 70 full-time faculty members and more than 100 full-time professional staff and annual resources of more than $40 million. The Cronkite faculty is made up of award-winning professional journalists, strategic communications specialists and world-class media scholars. Cronkite professors include five Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, digital media thought leaders, top TV producers and correspondents, major metropolitan newspaper editors and strategic communications experts.
Cronkite offers bachelor’s degrees in journalism and mass communication, sports journalism, digital audiences, mass communication and media studies, and digital media literacy. The School offers master’s degrees in mass communication, sports journalism, investigative journalism and digital audience strategy as well as a Ph.D. program in journalism and mass communication.
Nearly 2,500 undergraduate, master’s degree and doctoral students are enrolled at Cronkite, preparing for careers in journalism, strategic media and related communications fields. Of the undergraduate residential student population, more than 60% come from out-of-state and more than 37% are students of color. The retention rate consistently exceeds 90%, and Cronkite students regularly lead the country in national journalism competitions.
The school champions a “teaching hospital” model of education, for which it has received international acclaim. Cronkite News is among more than a dozen full-immersion capstone programs at the school, in which students work in intensive, real-world settings under the guidance of top-flight professionals and in collaboration with research faculty.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Southwest Health Reporting Communications Initiative
The Cronkite School is a national leader in news media coverage of communities along the U.S.-Mexico border and across the Southwest. Cronkite is also a leading provider of Spanish-language news and information on digital and broadcast platforms. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Southwest Health Reporting Initiative, launched in 2019, has built on and significantly expanded those efforts, and is now providing critically needed news and information to underserved communities, with a particular emphasis on Latinx, Indigenous and Spanish-speaking border communities.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is committed to improving health and health equity in the United States. In partnership with others, we are working to develop a Culture of Health rooted in equity that provides every individual with a fair and just opportunity to thrive, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.
About Cronkite News
Cronkite News, the news division of Arizona PBS, is a multi-platform daily news operation that serves as an immersive and innovative learning laboratory for students and provides daily and enterprise news coverage of critical issues on audio, broadcast, digital and social platforms. Students create content under the guidance of award-winning, experienced professionals, working out of a state-of-the-art newsroom located on ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus in the nation’s 11th-largest media market. Cronkite News also serves as a test bed for innovation, experimenting with new forms of storytelling, audience engagement, digital interactivity and data visualization for the rest of the industry. Cronkite News has more than 100 media outlets that regularly publish or air student content.
About Arizona State University
ASU is one of the largest and most innovative public research universities in the country, undertaking a bold reinvention of higher education as a New American University. With four campuses in the Phoenix metropolitan area, it serves more than 127,000 students on campus and online. For the past seven years, it has been ranked No. 1 for innovation by U.S. News & World Report.
In the past decade, ASU has developed numerous new programs and units that bridge disciplinary boundaries to enable the exploration and discovery of new knowledge, while developing practical solutions to serve Arizona and the world at large. The university has strong and simultaneous commitments to educational access, excellence, and impact, and assumes significant responsibility for the cultural, social and economic vitality of its surrounding communities.
Applications
Application materials must include:
- A cover letter stating qualifications
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- A link to work samples, with a written explanation of the role the applicant played in the creation and execution of each work sample
- Contact information (name, address, email, telephone number) for three professional references
- A diversity statement that addresses their experience and commitment to social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion over the course of their careers and outlines how they would advance DEI goals at the Cronkite School. The statement should be no longer than 500 words
The applicant’s name should appear in each uploaded file name. Cover letters may be addressed to the Search Committee Chair, Cronkite Assistant Dean for Instruction and Partnerships Brett Kurland. Questions about the position should be directed to the search committee chair at: Brett.Kurland@asu.edu.
Application deadline is March. 4, 2023. 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. Applicants must apply online at:
https://apptrkr.com/3816199
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/.)
In compliance with federal law, ASU prepares an annual report on campus security and fire safety programs and resources. ASU’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is available online at https://www.asu.edu/police/PDFs/ASU-Clery-Report.pdf You may request a hard copy of the report by contacting the ASU Police Department at 480-965-3456.
COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements - Arizona State University is a federal contractor and subject to federal regulations which may require you to produce a record of a COVID-19 vaccination. For questions about medical or religious accommodations, please visit the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s webpage: https://cfo.asu.edu/workplace-accommodations