The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication has hired Shelby Grossman as its inaugural Professor of Practice in AI and Investigative Journalism—a position funded by a $1 million grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation.
Grossman was most recently a research scholar at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and the Stanford Internet Observatory, where she led research projects on child safety, covert influence operations and scams, and taught classes on open source investigation and online safety.
At Stanford, she co-founded the Journal of Online Trust and Safety and the Trust and Safety Teaching Consortium. Previously she was an assistant professor of political science at the University of Memphis. She holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University.
“The fast growth of artificial intelligence presents us with a choice: We can either see AI simply as a threat, or we can seek toalso understand its capabilities to advance our journalism and public service missions,” said Battinto L. Batts Jr., dean of the Cronkite School. “Here at Cronkite and at ASU, we will do both. Hiring Dr. Grossman, who has immense expertise and garners tremendous respect among her peers, will help us investigate artificial intelligence while also charting a course to leverage the full potential of AI in journalism and media.”
The Scripps Howard Foundation grant funding Grossman’s teaching and research will also support the creation of a professional certificate in investigative journalism with a focus on AI, as well as graduate students and annual workshops—all housed within the Cronkite School’s award-winning Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.
Grossman’s professorship is just one of several Cronkite initiatives designed to leverage emerging technology to propel the media industry forward. Earlier this month, the Cronkite School announced a $10.5 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to launch the Knight Center for the Future of News and accelerate transformation in the news ecosystem.
ASU’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism is a groundbreaking hands-on learning experience supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation. In the Howard Center, Cronkite School graduate and capstone-level undergraduate students learn how to produce deeply researched watchdog journalism, often in partnership with prominent national newsrooms.
