克利夫兰州立大学

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is offered as part of the NorthEast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, a four-university consortium incorporating the faculty and resources of Cleveland State University, Kent State University, Youngstown State University, and the University of Akron. The degree program offers four different concentrations: fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, and poetry. Curriculum focuses on the techniques of professional writing and the analysis of literary works from the point of view of the practitioner while electives enable the study of whatever subject area will further the student's writing interests. A required internship offers practical workplace experience from a wide range of fields, including teaching, editing, grant writing, arts marketing, and arts administration.

The program is designed to meet the needs of both part-time and full-time students. Workshops and craft and theory courses are routinely offered in the evenings. Students can register freely across institutional boundaries for graduate courses offered at any of the participating universities and taught either by regular faculty or by visiting resident writers.

A NEOMFA Executive Committee, made up of representatives from each Consortium university, governs the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing, oversees the subcommittee on the admission of students, appoints NEOMFA graduate assistants, and makes policy decisions for the Master of Fine Arts program. It also hears student petitions that specifically address NEOMFA arrangements or policy.

CAREER INFORMATION

Students interested in a career teaching creative writing at the college or university level should apply to the MFA program in Creative Writing. An MFA will by no means ensure a college level teaching job. Substantial publication is increasingly the qualifying factor, but under the professional guidelines which govern such programs, the MFA has become a minimal degree requirement. Program students should select workshops and arrange their studies to help them write as productively as possible. An MFA program is designed to provide focus and to support creative work in ways the rest of the world does not. The quantity and quality of the writing itself, rather than the formal degree, is the proper measure of a writer's success. Therefore, time in the program should be as productive as the student can make it. It is also important for students to plan for a writing life which offers no guarantees of financial reward or of teaching positions. When selecting an internship, it will be useful to keep this writing-life conundrum in mind: few jobs make space for the demands of creative writing, but many jobs demand people with writing skills.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

(48 credits minimum)

WRITING WORKSHOPS (15 CREDITS)

Students will take 12 hours in their areas of emphasis (fiction, nonfiction, playwriting or poetry) and at least 3 hours in a second area.

CRAFT AND THEORY COURSES (6 CREDITS)

Students will take at least 3 hours of craft and theory in their areas of concentration; a second craft and theory course must be taken in another area.

LITERATURE COURSES (9 CREDITS)

These courses, which focus on the reading of texts, will normally be taken in the Departments of English. Literature courses in languages other than English or in translation may be taken through the language departments.

ELECTIVES (9 CREDITS)

Students will take nine hours in an advisor-approved area such as literature, foreign languages and translation, theater, arts administration, fine arts professional writing, or education. These credits may range widely in support of the student’s writing interests and projects.