Description

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication seeks an experienced professional and expert to lead its Advancing the Understanding and Impact of Artificial Intelligence Initiative. This new initiative is embedded in the school’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, and it is designed to examine AI technology through an accountability lens, leverage AI technologies in investigative journalism and produce investigative reporting about AI technology.

The Professor of Practice in Artificial Intelligence and Investigative Journalism will work collaboratively with the faculty and students in the Howard Center, serving as an instructor, subject matter expert and collaborator throughout the school, the university and the journalism industry. 

This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, 12-month (not academic year) faculty appointment on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix Campus; this position is grant-funded and not a tenure-track appointment.

 Essential Duties:

• Oversee an expansion of the Howard Center curriculum and Cronkite School offerings in the AI space, working collaboratively with students and other faculty 
• Lead Howard Center experimentation with AI technology in news gathering, data analysis and storytelling
• Create, grow and distribute digital content and monthly e-newsletter focused on uses of AI in investigative journalism
• Create and distribute a quarterly review of the latest products and applications of AI technologies based on testing and usage in investigative journalism
• Design and deliver a training certificate in the use of AI in investigative journalism, working closely with Cronkite faculty and staff
• Advance the Howard Center as a source of subject matter expertise in the area of deploying AI in investigative journalism
• Foster increased interdisciplinary collaboration with other academic units and experts within and outside ASU

About The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the Cronkite School is a groundbreaking journalism program that advances deeply researched watchdog journalism. The Howard Center, supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation, focuses on training the next generation of reporters through hands-on investigative journalism projects. Students work side by side with faculty in the Howard Center, uncovering, researching and publishing stories of significant importance – many of which have won national and regional awards.

Top-performing graduate and undergraduate students produce national and regional investigations in partnership with professional news outlets across the country. Howard Center alumni have gone on to careers on investigative teams at the most respected newsrooms in the country, including The Associated Press, the Center for Investigative Reporting, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, International Consortium for Investigative Journalism, Inside Climate News, NPR, OpenSecrets, PBS NewsHour and Univision.

Investigative Journalism at the Cronkite School

The Cronkite School has a deep tradition of award-winning investigative journalism. In addition to the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, the school hosts the Carnegie-Knight News21 Reporting Initiative and the nation’s first master’s degree in investigative journalism. Investigative journalism produced by Cronkite School newsrooms have earned top honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors, Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Online News Association and the Society of Professional Journalists among others. The Cronkite School is also the only school to ever win an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award or the Robert F. Kennedy Grand Prize.

About the Cronkite School

The Cronkite School is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier colleges of journalism and mass communication. 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 Cronkite faculty includes award-winning professional journalists, strategic communications specialists and world-class media scholars. Cronkite professors include 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, digital audience strategy, and strategic communication, as well as a PhD program in journalism and mass communication.

About Arizona State University

Arizona State University, ranked the No. 1 “Most Innovative School” in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for nine years in succession, has forged the model for a New American University. Year after year, ASU ranks at or near the top of the list in areas that matter. 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.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• At least 10 years of professional journalism experience in a major-market or national media organization, or equivalent experience
• A bachelor’s degree

Desired Qualifications:

• Expertise in artificial intelligence technologies, emerging technologies and investigative journalism
• Evidence of thought leadership in the journalism industry
• Experience leading experiments and/or research with in AI technologies
• Experience teaching in a higher education environment and/or mentoring early-career professionals
• Experience producing/leading in-person and/or online training for working journalists
• Strong collaboration and interpersonal communication skills
• A graduate degree

Application Instructions

Submission materials must include:

1. A cover letter stating qualifications
2. Curriculum vitae or resume
3. Contact information (name, address, email, telephone number) for three professional references

The applicant’s name should appear in each uploaded file name. Cover letters may be addressed to the Search Committee Chair, senior associate dean Rebecca Blatt. Questions about the position should be directed to the search committee chair at: rebecca.blatt@asu.edu.

Application deadline is July 24, 2024.  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: apply.interfolio.com/148425

Successful candidates will demonstrate throughout their materials how their teaching, research, and service will contribute to the fulfillment of the ASU Charter.

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.