Creative Writing
Qualified students admitted to the Creative Writing MA program receive two years of funding through teaching assistantships and fellowships sponsored by the English Department. Teaching Assistantships are designed to enable graduate students to develop their abilities as teachers of English literature and creative writing as they teach courses directly under the supervision and with the guidance of faculty members in the English Department. Fellowships are awarded to aid students in preparing manuscripts in their final semester. These funding opportunities are intended to complement the academic and scholarly training that students receive in graduate courses, and is thus an important means by which the graduate program is able to produce scholarly teachers and writers.
Continued financial support and teaching re-appointment is contingent upon timely and successful completion of coursework in each semester (see "Eligibility" below).
Teaching Assistantships: During their first year of study, students who have been awarded teaching assistanships typically assist two semesters of E316K, a survey literature course in World, American, or British Literature. During the first semester of their second year, creative writing students who have been awarded teaching assistanships assist E318L, an introductory creative writing course. For information about the duties, reappointment, and salaries of T.A.s, visit the English Department's page on Teaching Assistantships.
Fellowships: In the final semester of their second year, when they are preparing their M.A. Reports, students currently receive a semester-long fellowship sponsored by a grant from the James A. Michener Endowment. The Fellowship pays tuition and a stipend.
Eligibility: Teaching Assistants and fellowship recipients in the English Department must be certified to be in good academic standing and to be making satisfactory progress toward an advanced degree. "Satisfactory progress" is defined as having a grade point average of 3.5 or better, and having a record of completed course work. Students with acceptable averages will be considered to be making satisfactory progress if they have no "incomplete" grade for the prior long session, or if the finished work for all previous "incompletes" has been submitted to the instructor by the Friday before the first day of the subsequent semester. (The student is responsible for notifying the Graduate Advisor that materials have been submitted to remove an "incomplete" grade.)