Sue Clark-Johnson joins Cronkite faculty

Sue Clark-Johnson, the former head of the nation’s largest newspaper group and now director of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University, is joining the faculty of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Clark-Johnson came to ASU last May to lead the Morrison Institute after stepping down as president of the newspaper division of Gannett Co. Before leading Gannett’s newspaper division, she served as chairman and CEO of Phoenix Newspapers Inc., which operates the Arizona Republic, and senior group president of the company’s Pacific division.
Clark-Johnson, already a faculty member in ASU’s College of Public Programs, which houses the Morrison Institute, will now have a joint faculty appointment with the Cronkite School.

“Sue is extremely busy leading the Morrison Institute, but her affiliation with the Cronkite School will be invaluable to our journalism students and faculty,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “Sue was one of the leading voices in journalism for many years. She will be a tremendous asset as we continue to build the nation’s leading journalism school for a digital future.”

Clark-Johnson said she’s “honored and proud” to be joining the Cronkite School faculty. “Under Dean Callahan's leadership, the Walter Cronkite School has become one of the best in the country,” she said. 

Both Callahan and Clark-Johnson said the faculty appointment will help foster joint programs between the Cronkite School and the Morrison Institute, which was established in 1982 to bridge the gap between scholarship and public policy through research and education.

“The relevance of Morrison's research combined with Cronkite's considerable news expertise across all platforms will hopefully serve Arizonans well,” Clark-Johnson said. 

Morrison and Cronkite already are planning a joint event next month to explore the upcoming elections and their ramifications on Arizona.

Clark-Johnson left Gannett in May 2008 after 41 years as a reporter, editor, publisher and senior executive. She began her career as women’s editor and family reporter for the Press & Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y., after graduating from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She rose to publisher of the upstate New York daily and later was promoted to senior group president and president and publisher of the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal.

In 2002, Clark-Johnson won the Distinguished Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Association of Minority Media Executives and the following year won the Woman of Achievement Award from the National Association for Female Executives. She also has been recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the Washington Women’s Center.

She served as chairwoman of the Newspaper Association of American and is a member of the Knight Foundation Journalism Advisory Committee, the Council of Foreign Relations and the Phoenix Council of Foreign Relations.

She joins a faculty with rich professional experience. Cronkite professors include former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, former Minneapolis Star Tribune Editor Tim McGuire, former Sacramento Bee Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez, former Lexington Herald-Leader Executive Editor Linda Austin and digital media leaders such as Retha Hill, Dan Gillmor and Jody Brannon.