Career-track Clinical Professor (Carnegie-Knight News21)

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication seeks an experienced and collaborative journalist to lead the Carnegie-Knight News21 Reporting Initiative each summer and teach additional Cronkite classes in fall and spring semesters based on their expertise.

The successful candidate will demonstrate extensive experience editing and producing enterprise reporting and multimedia storytelling as well as a track record of leading innovation use of AI tools and experimentation with new approaches to engaging audiences.

This is a highly collaborative role working closely with the Cronkite Schools award-winning faculty staff and students as well as colleagues at other universities and newsroom partners.

This is a full-time benefits-eligible 12-month (not academic year) faculty appointment on ASUs Downtown Phoenix Campus; this position holds the rank of assistant associate or full clinical professor. It is grant-funded and not a tenure-track appointment.

Leading the Carnegie-Knight News21 Program

The News21 program brings top students from journalism schools across the country to the Cronkite School each summer for a 10-week fellowship to report and produce award-winning multimedia projects of national scope and significance. Recent News21 projects include:

Upheaval Across America (2025)

Fractured: News21 examines the state of American democracy (2024)

American After Roe (2024)

(Find full archive here)

News21 has earned a national reputation for excellence not only as an exceptional student newsroom but also as an industry leader in innovation and high-impact reporting. News21 stories are republished by newsroom partners hundreds of times each year and the program has earned national awards in both student and professional categories. For example News21 has earned five Robert F. Kennedy College Journalism Awards and the RFK Grand Prize which is typically reserved for a professional newsroom. News21 projects have also earned honors from the Society of Professional Journalists EPPY Investigative Reporters and Editors the Online News Association the National Association of Black Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists among others.

Students apply for the News21 program in the fall and the executive editor works with Cronkite School leadership to recruit and select fellows for the following year. Fellows Zoom into a News21 seminar class led by the executive editor once per week in the spring semester to learn about the topic of the summer project. Fellows then work full-time on the project for 10 weeks each summer traveling across the country and in some cases internationally to develop high-impact work.

The Executive Editor manages the team of faculty staff and student fellows requiring strong organizational communication and project management skills. Projects are intentionally cross-platform and interdisciplinary. The Executive Editor determines areas of focus and aggressively pursues opportunities for innovation.

The News21 fellowship is a career-defining experience for students typically just as they are launching their journalism careers. The Executive Editor must cultivate a supportive educational environment where emerging journalists can learn to thrive in a rapidly evolving dynamic industry.

Teaching assignments

Work leading the News21 program is concentrated largely in the spring seminar and the summer newsroom opening opportunities for teaching other Cronkite courses in fall and the fall semester the executive editor will teach three courses or the the spring semester the executive editor will team teach the spring semester with additional News21 faculty and teach two additional courses or the equivalent. Courses will be assigned by the dean and aligned to the executive editors expertise.

Additional support

News21 is supported through a grant from the Knight Foundation as well as additional grants and resources from across the Cronkite School. These resources include additional faculty as well as staff operations equipment technology and administration. The program is ambitious and the expectations are high. However this is a school-wide priority and the Executive Editor does not work alone. Successful candidates will be comfortable identifying and leveraging resources and leading a multidisciplinary team.

Essential Functions

Teach three courses per semester or the equivalent including the News21 seminar.

Lead teach and mentor upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in a highly energized News21 newsroom environment Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each summer

Provide hands-on coaching mentoring and editing for students throughout the reporting and production process to create an in-depth News21 reporting project

Advance innovation in reporting and storytelling

Develop publishing partnerships for distribution of News21 content

Work collaboratively with colleagues at the Cronkite School and News21 partner schools to recruit high achieving student fellows

Support students employment pursuits by fostering networking connections job/internship opportunities and professional development

Manage initiative budgets together with school leaders and other professional program faculty

Complete reports for funders reflecting News21s progress and accomplishments

Perform service internally (e.g. committee assignments student mentorship) and externally (e.g. professional workshops contest judging etc.)

Perform other duties as assigned

About Carnegie-Knight News21

Carnegie-Knight News21 is a national reporting initiative headquartered at Arizona State Universitys Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication which brings top journalism students from across the country to report and produce in-depth multimedia projects for major media outlets including The Washington Post NBC News and USA Today.

Students selected for the News21 program study a topic in-depth during a spring seminar and then complete a 10-week reporting fellowship during the summer. Reporting fellows work out of a newsroom at the Cronkite School and travel the country and sometimes to other countries to report and produce in-depth multimedia projects. Recent News21 projects have focused on immigration enforcement American democracy reproductive rights and police reform.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation joined forces in 2005 to launch News21 as a cornerstone of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation provides core support for the News21 program. Individual fellows are supported by their universities as well as a variety of foundations news organizations and philanthropists

About the Cronkite School

The Cronkite School is widely recognized as the nations premier mass communication school ranked a top collegiate program by the Broadcast Education Association for four consecutive years. Rooted in the time-honored values that characterize its namesakeaccuracy responsibility integritythe 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 ASUs Downtown Phoenix campus in the heart of the nations 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 2500 undergraduate masters 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 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

At least 7 years of journalism experience at the national or major market level

A masters degree

Desired qualifications

Deep experience managing complex reporting projects

Experience working with undergraduate and/or graduate students in a university or newsroom setting

Experience leading journalistic collaborations involving multiple newsrooms or partners

A portfolio of published multimedia storytelling

Experience editing national enterprise projects