Pacific University

MFA Program

See writers who attended this program
Program Established: 
2004
Location: 
Forest Grove, OR
Genre: 
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Residency: 
Low
Duration: 
2 Years
Incoming Class Size: 
15
Application Deadline: 
December 1, 2023
Application Fee: 
$50 for one genre, $75 for two genres
Website: 
https://www.pacificu.edu/mfa-writing
Contact E-mail: 
mfa@pacificu.edu
Contact Name: 
Scott Korb, Director
Core Faculty Includes: 

Poetry: Ellen Bass, Eduardo C. Corral, Kwame Dawes, Danusha Laméris, Dorianne Laux, Shara McCallum, Joseph Millar, Mahtem Shiferraw

Fiction: Claire Davis, Siddhartha Deb, Jack Driscoll, Pete Fromm, Frank X. Gaspar, Molly Gloss, Cate Kennedy, Valerie Laken, Mary Helen Stefaniak, Willy Vlautin, Kellie Wells

Nonfiction: Chris Abani (multi-genre), Sanjiv Bhattacharya, Claire Dederer, W. Ralph Eubanks, Mike Magnuson, Kao Kalia Yang

Funding/Employment Opportunities: 

The program offers merit and need-based scholarships, including the Kwame Dawes Mapmakers Scholarship, to exceptional students of color and the Katherine Dunn Scholarship, awarded to exceptional female students in need. The program also offers teaching associate positions to MFA graduates. In addition, the program offers the Mapmakers Teaching Assistantship and the Mapmakers Alumni Institute, teaching and ongoing outreach opportunities for students and alumni who’ve been awarded the Mapmakers Scholarship.

Other Features: 

Students attend two 10-day residencies each year, in January and June, and one final 10-day residency at the end of the program. The June residency takes place at the Pacific University campus in Forest Grove, Oregon, and the January residency takes place in the beachside resort town of Seaside, Oregon. The program hosts a nightly reading series, lectures, panels, roundtable discussions, and the annual storytelling event BoxerSlam. Other features include the opportunity to take an elective semester in disciplines such as digital publishing, playwriting, or screenwriting.

The priority application deadline is September 1 for the spring term and March 1 for the fall term. The program accepts applications two and a half months after the priority deadlines for each semester, December 1 and May 31 for respective semesters.

As part of the program’s mission to welcome writers from underrepresented communities, we offer a Masterclass for Writers of Color, online, once per term.

Graduates: 

Jamaica Baldwin, Michelle Bitting, Catherine-Esther Cowie, Anastasia Edel, Bryan Allen Fierro, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Pingmei Lan, Mariana Lin, Marti Mattia, Rooja Mohassessy, Lisa Allen Ortiz, Deborah Reed, Leigh Camacho Rourks, Sam Roxas-Chua