Program Overview
Residency
Each semester begins with a short residency. One takes place in June on Pacific University’s 155-year-old campus set among groves of oaks, towering redwoods and firs. The other takes place in January on the Oregon coast in the small, resort town of Seaside. Over the 10 intensive days of literary events, students study with some of the best minds of the literary world. The schedule includes workshops, lectures, classes, and readings featuring core faculty and an array of guest writers. In addition to the formal sessions, each day includes time set aside for quiet contemplation, writing, and informal gatherings. Each student is paired with a writer advisor to design semester plans for independent work completed during the correspondence semester. The residency is both a rich reward and a stimulus for the months of solo work that lie ahead.
Correspondence Semester
During the residency session, each student works with a writer advisor to develop a study plan for the correspondence semester that will follow. These study plans grow from the student’s own interests, needs and developing vision. Students send work to their advisors and, in turn, receive criticism, guidance and support, including specific suggestions as well as general advice for the developing craft and course of study. Student work sent in the exchanges includes new poetry or prose, revised work, and commentaries on the readings assigned as part of the study plan. Students are expected to devote 20 to 25 hours each week to the semester study project, but the flexible structure of the exchanges allows them to carry out family and job commitments while still pursuing the art of writing.
Program Completion
The MFA degree requires successful completion of four semesters of study (four correspondence semesters and five residency periods). Degree recipients will demonstrate mastery in creative writing, applied criticism, contemporary letters, and literary tradition. Students should expect to complete the following during the course of the program: read 60-80 works of literature; complete an analytical paper on a topic of literature, the writer’s craft, or contemporary letters; prepare a manuscript of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry; give a public reading; and prepare and deliver a class, presentation or lecture to fellow students during the fifth residency.