Educators Academies
Program Years: 2018-Current
Pictured: Fellows at the 2026 Educators Academy. Photo by Hannah Carroll
The Solutions Journalism Educators Academy is a multiday training on teaching solutions journalism at the collegiate level. Held in summer on a university campus, the academy covers teaching the four pillars of solutions journalism; framing, sourcing and finding solutions stories; advocacy, rigor and impostors; community engagement and interviewing; story structure; creating learning goals and objectives; and refining assignments and instructional activities.
Graduates of the academy have established new courses and modules on solutions journalism at their universities.
2026 Educators Academy
Seventeen educators from colleges and universities across the United States gathered in June 2026 at the downtown Chicago campus of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications to explore ways to teach solutions journalism and incorporate it into college media projects, particularly on topics relating to reporting on student mental health and covering crises and elections. The Academy was co-hosted by the Solutions Journalism Network and the Medill Solutions Journalism Hub.
2025 Educators Academy
Fifteen educators from colleges and universities across the United States gathered in July 2025 in Los Angeles to explore ways to teach solutions journalism and incorporate it into college media projects, particularly on topics relating to student mental health and climate change. The 2025 Educators Academy was co-hosted by the Solutions Journalism Network, ASU — one of the five Solutions Journalism University Hubs — and NEWSWELL, a nonprofit supporting local newsrooms that was launched by ASU.
2024 Educators Academy
Youth mental health was the theme of SJN’s 2024 Educators Academy, an annual convening for journalism professors to expand their expertise in teaching solutions journalism. Held at Stony Brook University, a Solutions Journalism University Hub, the two-day gathering immersed 17 educators in the ever-evolving best practices of journalism instruction, with a special emphasis on how to inspire and prepare student journalists to cover the critical mental health issues faced by young people and college communities.
