Arizona State University — Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Degrees offered

The Cronkite School offers a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication, a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and Media Studies, a Master of Mass Communication, a Master of Arts in Sports Journalism, and a Ph.D. in Journalism and Mass Communication, the latter launched in 2011 with its first cohort admitted that fall. Degree programs are also available online.

Programs and emphasis

The school organizes professional immersion programs in digital media, public affairs reporting, broadcast news, digital innovation, public relations, sports reporting, and Spanish-language news, among others. It houses Arizona PBS (KAET), the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, the Carnegie-Knight News21 Initiative, the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship, and the National Center on Disability and Journalism. Students are required to complete field-reporting coursework that produces content for professional distribution, an approach the school describes as a "teaching hospital" model.

History

Journalism instruction at Arizona State University began in 1931 under the English Department, becoming a Division of Journalism in 1949 and a Department of Mass Communication in 1957. The program was named in honor of CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite in 1984, following outreach from longtime Phoenix broadcaster Tom Chauncey. The school gained independent-school status within ASU in 2004 and chose Christopher Callahan as its founding dean in 2005. It moved into a new 223,000-square-foot building on ASU's downtown Phoenix campus in 2008.

Key faculty and leadership

Battinto L. Batts Jr.: Dean and professor, the school's second dean, in the role since August 2021; previously director of journalism strategies for the Scripps Howard Foundation.
Christopher Callahan: Founding dean, served 2005–2019; later became president of University of the Pacific.
Kristin Gilger: Senior associate dean, who served as interim dean between Callahan's and Batts's tenures.
Nicole Carroll: Executive director of NEWSWELL, a local-news-innovation nonprofit housed at the school.

Student-run media

Cronkite students staff Cronkite News, the school's student-produced nightly newscast broadcast on Arizona PBS and digital platforms across the state.

Location and contact info

Address
555 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone
(602) 496-5555
Website
https://cronkite.asu.edu