MFA in Creative Writing

The MFA program provides a chance to explore aspects of writing and literature that interest you. Although you will concentrate in one literary genre (fiction, nonfiction, or poetry), you may elect to take workshops that cover topics such as form in poetry, short story, novel, novella, memoir, essay, travel writing, screenwriting, and playwriting. Workshops serve as the core of our program. To complement the workshop experience, you will take literature courses and an array of electives. Through these, you will have the chance to explore book, magazine, or electronic publishing by taking courses offered by the master's program in Publishing & Writing. You may also elect to take the Teaching Freshman Writing course, which will help you to acquire the credentials to teach writing at the university level. You will conclude the MFA program by producing a thesis of professional quality in a single genre: a novel or novel excerpt; a nonfiction book or excerpt; or a collection of poems, short stories, or essays. The thesis often forms the basis for future published work.

The M.F.A. program requires 52 credit hours, including a minimum of 20 credits of writing workshop courses, 12 credits of literature courses, and 12 credits of department electives. 8 credits are given to the master’s thesis. At the conclusion of their coursework, students must submit and defend a manuscript in one genre to be approved by a thesis committee.