Professor of Practice, Southwest Health Reporting

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, a national leader in digital media education, seeks to hire two Professors of Practice to lead a new initiative covering health news for the Southwest and developing the next generation of health reporters.

The initiative is 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 California.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Professors of Health News will create and lead a team of student reporters dedicated to reporting on health issues across platforms, with a particular focus on underserved communities, such as Latino, American Indian and border communities. Content will be published in English and Spanish through partnerships with professional media outlets and on Cronkite News, the student-staffed, faculty-led news division of Arizona PBS.

Cronkite News is one of more than a dozen immersive professional experiences at the Cronkite School that reflect the school’s “teaching hospital” approach to education. Students engage at least two full days a week in programs that include a nightly television newscast distributed on Arizona PBS, an innovation and entrepreneurship lab where students create new digital products and services, news reporting bureaus in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, and a Spanish-language bureau where students report and produce news content across media platforms for Spanish-speaking audiences.

The new Professors of Practice will join the award-winning faculty who direct Cronkite School professional programs, including former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., former BET Vice President Retha Hill, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and editor Jacquee Petchel, Pulitzer Prize-winning data editor Sarah Cohen and Peabody award winner and Emmy-award winning news anchor Vanessa Ruiz.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Leading and managing the health news desk, establishing it as a key source of health news and information in the Southwest, with particular focus on under-served communities, including Latinos, American Indian and border communities
• Leading, editing, teaching and mentoring upper-level undergraduate and graduate journalism students in a daily news environment, developing the next generation of health reporters
• Building and nurturing a network of media partners to distribute health-related news and information throughout the region
  Engaging key audiences, including policy makers, health care leaders and residents of the targeted areas to enhance and inform coverage
• Working with other professional program directors at the Cronkite School to plan, manage and produce innovative and professional news and information
• Driving experimentation and teaching new tools and technologies that enhance digital and broadcast storytelling
• Performing other faculty responsibilities, such as committee assignments and student recruitment, as assigned

These appointments are 12-month positions and hold the faculty rank of Professor of Practice. This position is funded by external sources and may terminate when funding is no longer available.

Application deadline: March 1, or if not filled, every two weeks thereafter until the search is closed.

Application procedure: Materials must include: 1) a resume, 2) web-based samples of work created or produced, and 3) names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of three professional references.

Submit materials via email only to: cronkitejobs@asu.edu.
Attn: Julia Wallace, Frank Russell Chair and Professor of Practice
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
555 N. Central Avenue, Suite 302 Phoenix, AZ 85004