Job Description

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University—one of the nation’s premier professional mass communications programs—seeks a professor to teach and lead within the school’s L.A. Content Studio and instruct courses related to media production and content creation.

Hosted in the ASU California Center in Downtown Los Angeles, the Content Studio is an immersive strategic content learning experience in which students activate their multimedia content creation skills to build their own content brands, and work with existing brands to expand their content footprints.

The L.A. Content Studio is one of the Cronkite School’s signature professional immersive learning experiences, exemplifying its “teaching hospital” model of education through hands-on learning and faculty mentorship. In the Content Studio, students cultivate their media and audience development skills as independent content entrepreneurs, producing video, digital, social and immersive media content; measuring content performance; and optimizing content strategy. Students work to build (and often monetize) their own independent content brands through YouTube channels, TikTok accounts, Substack newsletters, brand partnerships and more. The program’s faculty leader will nurture students’ content creation skills, and develop their strategic approach, content measurement skills and audience development acumen.

The successful candidate is an experienced multimedia content creator of the highest caliber with an entrepreneurial spirit and a firm understanding of how to thrive in the creative economy. The candidate must be a creative problem solver who is comfortable in an energetic, dynamic, startup environment while demonstrating a commitment to innovation and collaboration.

As a member of the faculty, the professor will have teaching and service responsibilities within the Cronkite School. In this role, there are no research or creative activity responsibilities.

This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, 12-month appointment based in the ASU California Center in Downtown Los Angeles. It is not a tenure-track appointment. The salary range for this position is $110,000 to $120,000. The professor will hold the rank of assistant, associate or full teaching professor, or assistant, associate or full clinical professor. This is not a tenure-track position.

Essential Responsibilities

• · Teach lower-, upper- and graduate-division courses (four classes in the fall semester, and four in the spring semester)
• · Foster a culture of innovation by harnessing fresh ideas and experimenting with new tools, technologies and techniques that enhance strategic communication and client impact
• · Lead the L.A. Content Studio, an immersive incubator for video, digital and social content creators, and support undergraduate and graduate students in meeting the Content Studio course learning outcomes
• · Teach related courses for graduate and undergraduate learners (the equivalent of four courses each semester, including the Content Studio)
• · Guide students in goal-setting, content strategy and launch/growth for their own content brands, and ideate compelling content guided by those strategies
• · Supervise student content production from conception to completion, for content produced both in the field and in the ASU California Center’s production studios, editing rooms and control room facilities.
• · Develop students’ content measurement and analytics reporting capabilities, and lead optimization and monetization.
• · Develop and engage clients for the Content Studio across a variety of industries, and lead brand activation and strategy within the course.
• · Foster a learning culture that inspires students with relevant content, tools and techniques that enhance digital storytelling and audience connection.
• · Serve as a disciplinary thought leader, proactively staying abreast of new content creation and strategic communication techniques and technology updates; curating exemplars of superior research and professional work; and highlighting superb student work.
• · Collaborate with leadership, faculty and staff to assess, optimize and develop curriculum
• · Perform service both internally (e.g., committee assignments, student recruitment, thesis direction) and externally (e.g. professional workshops, contest judging, academic/industry leadership)
• · Perform other duties as assigned

About the ASU California Center

At ASU’s flagship Los Angeles campus, students can access internships and learning

opportunities only available in a global city, and world-class faculty and innovative media projects only available at the Cronkite School. The California Center hosts the L.A. Content Studio, where students build their own content brands and produce content for existing brands; Cronkite News‘ L.A. Bureau, where journalism students create award-winning news and sports content; the MA in Narrative and Emerging Media, which develops storytellers specializing in AR, VR and emerging media techniques; and a growing portfolio of learning experiences.

The heart of ASU’s California Center campus is the flagship Herald Examiner Building, located at 11th Street and Broadway. Commissioned by William Randolph Hearst and designed by architect Julia Morgan, the building has stood in downtown L.A. since 1914. For decades, the building housed the Hearst Corporation’s Herald Examiner newspaper; now, it’s home to the L.A. Content Studio, Cronkite News’ L.A. Bureau, as well as video/audio editing bays, a broadcast studio, a 3D studio, classrooms, a two-story event space and more.

About the Cronkite School

The Cronkite School is widely recognized as the nation’s premier mass communication school. 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 required to succeed in the media world of today and tomorrow.

Based on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus in the heart of the nation’s 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 communication leaders and world-class media scholars. More than 2,500 undergraduate, master’s 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.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Candidates pursuing a clinical professor rank must have a master’s degree at the time of appointment, and at least 7 years professional experience in strategic communication, or equivalent specialized experience.
• Candidates pursuing a teaching professor rank must have a terminal degree at the time of appointment, and at least 7 years professional/teaching experience in strategic communication, content creation or equivalent specialized experience.

Desired Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience creating strategic content and campaigns for a brand, organization or media outlet with measurable success
• Expertise in content strategy, including goal-setting, audience targeting, funnel strategy, audience measurement, engagement and current approaches
• Exceptional video, digital and social content creation skills in mobile and studio formats
• Experience using native analytics tools and reporting content performance
• Demonstrable video editing ability, including knowledge of Adobe Premiere or equivalent nonlinear software
• Demonstrated leadership and supervisory experience in a content-creating team or role
• Experience cultivating and managing client, brand and/or partner relationships
• Experience working with students in a university, agency or production setting and/or mentoring emerging content creators
• A network of content creators, strategic communication practitioners and related experts who can advise on the field

Application Instructions

Applicants will be asked to create or use an existing Interfolio Dossier to submit the following:

• A cover letter stating qualifications
• Curriculum vitae or resume
• 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 the Search Committee Chair, senior associate dean Jessica Pucci. Questions about the position should be directed to the search committee chair at: jepucci@asu.edu

Application deadline is October 29, 2026. 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

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

A background check is required for employment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, 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.