MFA Program
See writers who attended this programPoetry: Jennifer Franklin, Mark Nowak, Suzanne Parker, Iain Haley Pollock
Fiction: Jeff Bens, Jeffrey Rotter
Nonfiction: Lorraine Fontanes
Dramatic Writing: Sharbari Ahmed
The program offers partial funding. The program offers fully-funded teaching fellowships, partial funding through scholarships, Writing Center fellowships, editorial positions, and other positions within the college. Merit scholarships are available.
The program also offers degrees in Graphic Narrative and Television/Screenwriting. Cross-genre theses are accepted.
The program places an emphasis on social justice, sponsoring events and service opportunities using writing to promote social action. Past years have focused on hunger and food justice as well as writing in the prisons. Faculty member Mark Nowak is founder of the Worker Writers’ School through PEN America.
The program offers on-campus graduate housing, and hosts the annual Summer Writers’ Week, the Fall Writers’ Weekend, and the “Meet the Writers” reading series, which features interdisciplinary artists. While many students complete the program in two years, there is flexibility for working adults, especially teachers, who need to balance active careers with their study of the craft of writing and storytelling.
The Master’s in Writing program was established in 1997; the MFA program was established in 2012.
James King, Barbara Perez Marquez