The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University is seeking a leading visual journalist to serve as the Howard G. Buffett Foundation Visiting Professor of Visual Journalism.
The Buffett Visiting Professor will join the award-winning and highly collaborative Cronkite School faculty and will teach, edit and mentor undergraduate and graduate journalism students producing visual storytelling in the Southwest and across the country.
This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, visiting faculty appointment on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix Campus. Dates of employment are January 1, 2027, through Aug. 15, 2027.
Essential Functions:
- Teaching an on-campus course(s) for undergraduate and/or graduate students in producing photo and/or video projects. The specific teaching assignment will be determined based on the Visiting Professor’s experience, in consultation with the Cronkite School dean. (Spring 2027 semester)
- Serving as a guest photo editor and coach in Cronkite News, the student-powered, faculty-led newsroom. This involves meeting with photo and/or video students in the newsroom, editing their work and helping them develop stories. (Spring 2027 semester)
- Teaching assignments may involve national or international travel to support student reporting.
- Leading and editing visual storytelling content development – produced by student reporting fellows in the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, which draws top students from more than a dozen universities each year to produce one national enterprise reporting project. This is a highly energized newsroom environment at the Cronkite School, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Summer 2027 semester) Date of employment: January 1, 2027, through Aug, 15, 2027.
This appointment holds the faculty rank of Visiting Professor.
Required Qualifications
- At least 10 years of high-level professional journalism experience in visual storytelling
- Ability to travel nationally and internationally to supervise and support student field reporting.
- Bachelor’s degree.
Desired Qualifications
- Publication/distribution of work by national or international news organizations
- Experience with both photojournalism and video production
- Experience mentoring, editing or teaching students or beginning reporters
- Experience leading teams of reporters and/or producers
- Ability to report and produce content in Spanish
- A graduate degree
About the Cronkite School
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier journalism programs. Rooted in the time-honored values that characterize its namesake—accuracy, responsibility and integrity—the school fosters journalistic 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, the School has 70 full-time faculty members, more than 100 full-time professional staff and annual resources of more than $40 million.
More than 2,000 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students are enrolled at Cronkite, preparing for careers in journalism, strategic media and related communications fields. The school champions a “teaching hospital” model of journalism education, for which it has received international acclaim. Cronkite offers more than a dozen full-immersion capstone courses in which students work in intensive, real-world settings under the guidance of top-flight professionals and in collaboration with research faculty. The programs enable students to put into practice what they have learned in the classroom, producing news, information and community engagement on critical issues for the state, region and nation.
The Cronkite faculty is made up of 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.
About Arizona State University
Arizona State University, ranked No. 1 “Most Innovative School” in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 11 years in succession, has forged the model for a New American University. Repeatedly ranked No. 1, ASU has topped more than 30 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.
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
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 October 18, 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. Applicants must apply online at: apply.interfolio.com/193963
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.
