MFA Program
See writers who attended this programPoetry: Janine Joseph, Soham Patel, Khadijah Queen
Fiction: Matthew Salesses, Sophia Terazawa, Matthew Vollmer
The program offers full funding to all incoming students through three-year Graduate Teaching Assistantships, which includes a full tuition waiver, student health insurance, and an annual stipend of at least $25,500. Students have the opportunity to work in the Writing Center, as well as teach composition and creative writing. Students teach one course over their first year, three courses over their second year, and three courses over their third year. Students also receive funding to attend AWP in their final year.
The program offers training in Creative Writing Pedagogy and encourages cross-genre exploration, with courses in playwriting, creative nonfiction, hybrid writing, new media creative writing, and literary editing. It hosts a Visiting Writers Series, an MFA Salon, and the student-run collaborative Connecting Ridges reading series. Home to The New River Journal, the first and oldest journal devoted exclusively to the publication of digital art and literature, the program offers a new Graduate Certificate in Publishing open to degree and non–degree seeking students.
Past visiting writers include: Roz Chast, Terrance Hayes, Douglas Kearney, Beth Macy, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Cheryl Strayed, Divya Victor, Ocean Vuong, Kevin Young, and Charles Yu.
Fez Avery, Anuradha Bhowmik, Dashiel Carrera, Weston Cutter, Carrie Meadows, Uche Okonkwo, Soraya Palmer, Shaina Phenix, Xan Forest Phillips, KMA Sullivan, Adele Elise Williams, Lamar Wilson, Bessie Flores Zaldívar