Knight Chair for Audience Engagement and Trust in Media

Location: Tempe, Arizona
Job Category: Academia
Job ID: 73478
Employment Type:
Salary:
Posted: 11.18.2025

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Occupations:

Job Description:

Knight Chair in Audience Engagement and Trust in Media
 
Isaacson Miller is pleased to assist the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass communication with this search.
 
Applicants must apply online at: https://apptrkr.com/6729626
 
Application deadline: December 12, 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.
 
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is seeking an accomplished industry professional and/or scholar with an industry-focused research portfolio for its Knight Chair in Audience Engagement and Trust in Media.
 
This is one of 26 Knight chairs endowed across the country by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Knight Chairs in Journalism are top professionals who bridge the newsroom-classroom divide with innovative teaching, major outreach projects and their own research or creative activity. The chairs have helped lead journalism and media education — and journalism itself — toward a better future.
 
Depending on qualifications, the Chair will hold the rank of Professor with tenure or Administrative Professional with continuing appointment. Both appointment pathways carry similar privileges and benefits, including an expectation of continuing appointment, sabbatical leave opportunities, and academic freedom protections.
 
This is an academic year appointment (fall and spring semesters) based on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix Campus, but summer projects may be available.
 
Essential Functions
The specific assignments and opportunities for the Knight Chair at the Cronkite School are, by design, flexible. The Knight Chair will teach classes in audience engagement, media transparency and trust, and/or related topics, for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, with specific course assignments to be determined in consultation with the dean. The endowment provides resources for support of Knight Chair research and creative activity, including but not limited to a dedicated graduate assistant. The Knight Chair also collaborates with other Knight Chairs across the country to advance innovation in journalism education.
 
1. Teaching: Teach one course per academic year, or the equivalent. This course will focus on audience engagement techniques but the format and topic of the course may vary. For example, one course assignment may be teaching a skills course while another could be embedded within a capstone course such as the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism or the Carnegie- Knight News21 program. (10% allocation of effort)
2. Research/creative activity: The Chair is expected to maintain an active research and/or service portfolio. Scholars are expected to publish in academic publications and work directly with the news community and outlets themselves to improve using their insights. Both professionals and/or scholars are expected to provide thought leadership to drive innovation in the industry and the academy, including development of groundbreaking training and education programs for ASU’s Learning Enterprise. (70% allocation of effort)
3. Service: The Chair will be expected to make meaningful contributions to the school, academy and/or industry, and the community at large. Specific service opportunities will be determined in collaboration with the dean, but for example the Chair may serve on School and University committees, mentor undergraduate and graduate students, and represent ASU and the Cronkite School through active roles in industry and/or academic associations, public scholarship and thought leadership, community and/or industry outreach, and similar service activities. (20% of effort)
 
Required Qualifications
This position may be filled by a leading professional and/or an accomplished scholar. Successful candidates will be national thought leaders in the area of audience engagement and media trust.
 
Candidates for the role of Administrative Professional with continuing appointment must have a strong and extensive career background in journalism, preferably at a major market or national media organization, mentoring experience and a record of national leadership, success and impact in news. For the administrative professional role, the Chair will follow an internal process of evaluation upon hire, much like expedited tenure review of the professor.
 
Successful scholars applying for the tenured full Professor role will have a Ph.D in journalism, mass communication, or other relevant discipline, have previously earned tenure at a peer institution and/or have a strong teaching and applied research portfolio and national reputation commensurate with the rank of a tenured full professor at a Research 1 university. For the academic role, the Chair must earn tenure and rank through an expedited review process.
 
Desired Qualifications
 
• Leadership experience in audience engagement and media trust, in industry positions and/or scholarship and teaching;
 
• Expertise in emerging technologies, including in the use of artificial intelligence and open- source intelligence tools and techniques;
 
• Evidence of national thought leadership and impact;
 
• Strong collaboration and interpersonal communication skills;
 
• Passion for inspiring and training emerging journalists with varied skill and experience.
 
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 media world of today and tomorrow.
The Cronkite School is 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 journalists, strategic communicators, digital media thought leaders, media entrepreneurs and world-class media scholars.
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 strategic communications, mass communication, sports journalism, investigative journalism and digital audience strategy as well as a PhD program in journalism and mass communication.
 
About ASU
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.
 
To Apply
Applicants must apply online at: https://apptrkr.com/6729626
 
Application deadline: December 12, 2025
 
1. A cover letter stating qualifications
2. Curriculum vitae or resumé
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 Julia Wallace, chair of the search committee. Questions about the position should be directed to CronkiteKnightChair@imsearch.com
 
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.

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