Dec 10, 2024  
2022-2023 Graduate Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

English MA, Professional and Creative Writing Specialization


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The Professional and Creative Writing specialization provides students with the opportunity to practice writing in a wide variety of professional and creative genres. The program provides mentorship from award-winning writers working in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction; it also provides opportunities for students to hone their professional, rhetorical, and technical writing skills, using advanced research methods. Students develop individual courses of study, which culminate in a graduate-level portfolio of student writing. The program prepares students to begin writing-intensive careers, advance in the workplace, or prepare for further graduate programs; students awarded a teaching assistantship will also be prepared to teach at the college level. This specialization may be fully completed online.

Program Learner Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

  • Employ inclusive and anti-racist practices in the disciplines of professional and creative writing, including collaborative feedback strategies for improving creative work.
  • Incorporate critical mentoring and peer feedback in the development of professional-level final projects.
  • Apply professional-level skills in writing and visual rhetoric through the creation of a web-presence for self-marketing.

English MA Core


The Department of English offers a comprehensive Master of Arts program with two disciplinary specializations: Literary Studies and Teaching and Professional and Creative Writing. These disciplinary specializations share a set of core courses and electives and provide opportunities to study with a dual-modality cohort, allowing students to complete the degree both in-person and online. Both specializations offer a limited number of teaching assistantships on a competitive basis for resident on-campus students. Students with a teaching assistantship generally complete the program within two years, and those without an assistantship can complete the program in four quarters (10-15 credits per quarter).

Program Learner Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

  • Analyze diverse global variations in writing, literature, language, and professional presentation in our changing culture.
  • Apply professional-level writing skills by successfully meeting the rhetorical needs of situations requiring the application of a variety of genres and styles.
  • Appraise a range of literary and professional theoretical perspectives, genres, conventions, projects, and forms.
  • Employ scholarly research practices appropriate to the discipline of English studies.
  • Identify opportunities for professional development.

Core Courses


Select three of the following core English Studies courses:

Total Core Credits: 15


Professional and Creative Writing Specialization


Required Courses Credits: 8


Required Intro Course Credits: (3)


Select ONE of the following Literary Genre courses Credits: (5)


Department-Approved Electives Credits: 20


Select a minimum of 20 credits of department-approved electives. Up to two 400- or 500-level Literature courses may be counted for elective credit.

Final Portfolio Credits: 2


Total Credits: 45


College and Department Information


English Department  
College of Arts and Humanities  

Online Availability
​The program will have both a designated online only option and an in-person or hybrid option.

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