Kristy Roschke named News Co/Lab managing director

The News Co/Lab at Arizona State University, a collaborative lab aimed at helping people find new ways of understanding and engaging with news and information, has named Kristy Roschke as its first managing director.

Roschke joins the lab from KJZZ in Phoenix, where she is executive director of the public radio station’s SPOT 127 program. SPOT 127 empowers teens to find their voices and engage with their communities through storytelling.

“With her background in education, media literacy, journalism, and management, Kristy Roschke brings a wealth of experience,” said Dan Gillmor, ASU professor of practice and News Co/Lab co-founder.

At KJZZ’s SPOT 127, Roschke has been the executive editor for all student multimedia content creation. In collaboration with the KJZZ newsroom, students produce news and feature stories for radio and online.

During Roschke’s tenure, SPOT 127 journalism won numerous awards including five Rocky Mountain Emmy Student Production Awards. With a staff of full-time employees and student interns, she was instrumental in securing grant and private donor funding and oversaw the development of a youth digital media curriculum based on university undergraduate journalism programs.

At ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Roschke co-created a massive open online course (MOOC) in digital media literacy for thousands of participants. She is in the final stages of earning a doctorate with a focus on media literacy and has taught a number of advanced courses in the journalism school. She also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cronkite School.

“We know Kristy and her work,” said Kristin Gilger, Cronkite School senior associate dean. “We’re very glad to have her back at the Cronkite School driving this important new initiative.”

Before returning to ASU for her advanced degrees, Roschke taught high school in the Phoenix area. At Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria, Arizona, she developed and implemented curriculum for journalism courses and advised award-winning student publications.

From 1999–2001 she was public relations supervisor at Porter Novelli in San Francisco, where she developed and managed strategic communications plans for companies in the high-tech industry.