WestConn Offers MFA In Professional Writing

DANBURY — This summer, WestConn will launch the only low-residency master of fine arts (MFA) in professional writing program in the nation.

Developed in response to the lack of a multigenre, distance-learning course of study that culminates in a writing degree, this graduate program will welcome its first students in August.

Applications are now being accepted and the deadline to apply is March 1.

The 60-credit program was designed to meet the needs of individuals who, in many cases, are already working in a field of writing. It will enable them to acquire and demonstrate professional-level proficiency in more than one realm of writing, including the creative genres of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction to the practical, such as advertising, copywriting, journalism, business writing, and web authoring.

Anyone who’s tried to make a living as a writer can attest to the fact that it can be difficult, noted WestConn English department faculty members Dr John Briggs, Dr Edward Hagan, Dr Oscar De Los Santos, and Dr James Scrimgeour, when they proposed the program last year.

Dr Brian Clements, recently hired as the coordinator of the program, knows that reality first hand. An accomplished poet with a doctorate in English and creative writing, he has worked as a technical writer or editor at times when opportunities for a creative writing professional were scarce.

“As long as you’ve written something substantial that you can submit with your application, you’ll be considered for the program,” Dr Clements assured. “It could be poems, marketing reports for work, or a newsletter from a community organization.”

Once enrolled, each student will select a primary and secondary writing genre, one creative, one practical, on which to focus their efforts. With the guidance of mentors who have expertise pertinent to the student’s selected areas of study, the MFA candidate will then embark on a two-year program that will include a combination of self-designed online courses and one-on-one interaction with mentors.

Two weeklong on-campus residencies in August and January will immerse students in writing from the start, and enable them to interact and form a community within the larger WestConn and Danbury communities. They will participate in workshops, attend lectures and public readings and receive feedback from the program’s panel of Writers in Residence.

Upon successful completion of the requirements, each student will have authored a thesis in the form of a book-length collection of work and established a useful network of mentoring and collaborative relationships with other writers. The program will confer its first MGA in Professional Writing degrees in 2007.

For more information, contact the MFA in professional writing office at 837-8876 or visit www.wcsu.edu/English/mfa/.