Wilkes receives approval for MFA in creative writing

In 2005, Wilkes University began a graduate program for a Masters of Arts in creative writing. Two classes have graduated since and from those classes came published short stories, articles, and even books from Jim Warner, Marlon James, Donora Hillard.

According to Dr. Bonnie Culver, Director of Graduate Programs in Creative Writing, due to the proven success of the MA program, the State of Pennsylvania granted full approval this summer for the new Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing at Wilkes University.

"The MFA is considered a terminal degree equivalent to a PhD in writing programs or in arts programs," Culver explained. It's considered to be the final degree in areas in fine arts such as dancing, sculpting, writing, or theatre. The new program will prepare graduate students to either pursue a career in teaching or work in publishing.

Before applying for admission into the MFA program, students need to complete thirty credit hours for the MA.

"In the first thirty hours, they study the life, business, and craft of writing. We include editors and agents in all of our on-campus activities. We actually make the students talk to them as they would approach them in a business way," said Culver.

While still in the MA progam, students also need to pick a concentration area which is similar to a picking a major for a Bachelor's degree. Concentrations offered include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, play writing, and screenwriting.

"We're one of the few in the country that do that," Culver noted.

If accepted into the MFA, the students attend one more year worth eighteen credits. All together, the MA and MFA can be completed in two and a half years with five residencies and five online semesters. The first semester of the MFA is a literature semester and the second consists of either a publishing internship with publishers, agents, and editors or an arts and education internship which includes adjuncting at a college level, working in a high school, or working in a library.

Though many schools offer a Masters of Arts in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, there are very few that offer the MA in Creative Writing nationally. Because of the new program, Wilkes already stood out to aspiring writers from 22 different states and the MFA brings in many more qualities that make the program unique.

"The neat thing about the program is that you don't have to have your undergraduate degree in English or Creative Writing. The admission to the program is based on the writing samples you provide," Nicole DePolo said. DePolo, who has already had a short story published and is currently working on a novel through the program, graduated with her Masters of Arts in Creative Writing on Sunday and expects to attain her MFA in June of 2008.

A writing related undergraduate degree is not necessary because both the MA and the MFA are "not English degrees," Culver stressed. "It's [about] learning how to be a professional writer."

The department's faculty also add some individuality to the program. The program places a high level of importance on one-on-one relationships between students and faculty mentors.

"All of them are working writers, not academics," Culver explained. "It brings about a very different way to look at literature. They have to turn in what they're working on each year."

A total of eleven books are scheduled to come out between both faculty and students this coming year.

Finally, the capstone for the MA that leads into the MFA makes the program stand out among the rest. "Our capstones are thesis projects. They actually have to go through the experience of what it would be like in their area. For example, if they are playwriting, they get a play read in New York… They go to New York and hear it read after meeting with the director and in the audience are producers and at least one agent there to hear it and respond to them."

Screenwriters also go through a similar process. For those in the fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry areas, the capstone is not unlike a book signing. A twenty minute reading of their work is followed by a question and answer period.

Jim Warner, the Assistant Director of the Creative Writing Programs and author of an upcoming collection of poetry entitled Too Bad It's Poetry, graduated with his MA in 2006 and plans to start his MFA work in January of 2008.

"For me, the most important part is the sense of community that's established. Bringing the [low residency] program to campus twice a year gives the program some soul… You spend six months interfacing with email and discussion boards and any kind of writing that you do is a lonely process. It's just you and your work at the end of the day… To have the ability to come here and talk to people about writing who understand that and all the distractions that go with it - you don't get that from day to day." He added, "Coming to a program like this is emotional."

There are currently 92 active students in both the MA and the MFA.