Master of Fine Arts - Creative Writing (Non-Thesis)

Program Description 

The program provides graduate students the opportunity to concentrate on the study, practice, and teaching of Creative Writing in a highly focused writing environment facilitated by writers for writers. At 60 hours, this three-year program will ensure that graduates build multi-genre backgrounds in the popular discipline of Creative Writing through workshops, forms courses, topics courses, a wide variety of electives, and specialized teaching and editing practicums. To ensure individualized attention, the program admits 5 to 8 students annually, with a total population of under 25 students. UCA offers two publishing assistantships, one with the award-winning national magazine the Oxford American, and one with the school's new online magazine, Arkana.  

After being trained in both composition and creative writing pedagogy, some students will be offered graduate assistantships for teaching undergraduate writing classes; others work as graduate assistants in the Center for Writing & Communication, in Sponsored Programs or the Graduate School, among others. All students complete a thesis project. Students will earn practical, hands-on experience by serving on the editorial staff of the new online national literary magazine Arkana. They also have the opportunity to pursue internships with local arts organizations and non-profits as well as with the nationally recognized literary magazine the Oxford American. In addition, a unique course in “The MFA Experience” will help students to maximize their time in this program as they develop as writers and artists.