Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Publishing

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Juilene Osborne-McKnight, MFA
Program Director
Professor, English
610.282.1100, ext. 1661
juilene.mcknight@desales.edu

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in an artistic field (creative writing, theater, fine arts, graphic design, and dance) is considered the terminal degree in that field. The MFA presupposes that the owner of the degree will be a practitioner of the art. Students in the MFA at DeSales University come from al walks of life, including medical professionals, marketing, education, business, law enforcement and more but the practice of the art form of creative writing is the primary criterion.

DeSales University offers a low-residency MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing, which means that students are in residence only twice each year (ten days each January and ten days each summer). In between residencies, students read and research extensively in assigned areas of literature. They do close reading and deep written analysis of their residency and of selected writers and guest speakers they encounter in their residency. Students also continually compose and revise their own work are in regular contact with a mentor and the members of their own cohort via Blackboard.

There are four extraordinary differentiators for the MFA in Creative Writing and Publication program at DeSales University:

• A unique five-year undergraduate-to-graduate MFA program plan of study allows DeSales student writers to progress straight through undergraduate studies to the MFA residencies and practicums, while external adult students can continue to work while earning a terminal degree.
• The summer residency takes place in the Celtic World and will include Europeanand Canadian writers as guest speakers.
• Students choose either a track in Poetry, Narrative Non-fiction or Fiction, but all students are required to complete a track in Publishing.
• The program includes some study of spiritual writing with students participating in a day devoted to ‘Writing in the Spirit’ as part of the January residency. This day includes guest speakers who write from a faith-based viewpoint as well as a candlelit evening retreat of music, prayer, storytelling, art and poetry.

Mission Statement

The low-residency MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing at DeSales University welcomes aspiring and committed writers into an intellectual and artistic community established in the spirit of the guiding mission statement of DeSales University. Indeed, as St. Francis DeSales, himself a powerfully evocative writer, is also the patron saint of writers, we believe there exists no graduate degree better suited for DeSales University than the MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing.

Through its two intensive annual residencies and year-round exchanges among highly accomplished mentors and their students, the MFA provides a demanding yet mutually supportive learning environment focused on mastery of craft, embrace of the writing life, and an introduction to opportunities in professional writing and publishing fields. Through its unique positioning at the intersection of creative writing and the spiritual life, the program also offers traditional and non-traditional age students a crucial vision of wholistic centeredness that will complement and enrich their artistic pursuits. As the program’s capstone, the book-length thesis that completes the MFA experience will reflect that mastery and that vision.

In addition, following the model of the Catholic intellectual tradition established through long centuries, the DeSales MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing will graduate not merely highly-trained writers duly capable of embracing market opportunities available to them, but also informed and committed citizens who will seek out ways to enhance the lives of their communities through the skills they will have mastered in pursuit of this, the terminal degree in their field. Moreover, in all their endeavors toward the accomplishing of the degree, but especially through their residencies throughout the Celtic world, they will be conscious of their citizenship within the greater global artistic community.

Learning Outcomes

The University specifies that its graduate programs will enable its students to demonstrate:

• specialized competence in a field of study, so that graduates will provide leadership and make significant contributions to their fields,
• the skills necessary for advanced research/application in their specialized fields,
• an enhanced formation of a Christian conscience as it applies to the ethical problems in their fields of interest.

Graduates of the MFA program in Writing and Publishing at DeSales University will demonstrate:

• an awareness of the spiritual dimension of creative writing and contemplative silence
• knowledge of writers, literary-historical periods, movements and writing styles in the English language
• knowledge of the craft of writing and the ability to assess that craft in other writers
• competence in the production of creative works of fiction, poetry adn narrative non-fiction by utilizing their knowledge of craft
• knowledge of the publishing industry in all its variations

Admissions Requirements

Option One: The five-year BA/BS to MFA

Two types of undergraduate students can apply to this program:

1. High school seniors accepted to DeSales University with an SAT score of 1150 or higher (ACT of 23 or higher). Applicants must demonstrate serious interest in writing during their high school years, such as work on the school newspaper, the yearbook, the literary magazine, attendance at and submission to our Poetry Festival, etc. They must submit a ten page writing sample in applying to the MFA program. . If they are accepted, their position will be held and they will enter the program during the summer residency preceding their undergraduate senior year.
2. Fall semester juniors at DeSales University who have maintained a 3.0 cumulative GPA and who have evinced serious interest in writing throughout the undergraduate years. This may include staff work on the university newspaper, literary magazine, or creative writing honor society..  All undergraduate students entering this program must complete a minor in Creative Writing, so students who show interest in the MFA will be advised to begin that minor in their sophomore year. All candidates must also submit a ten page writing sample. If they are accepted, they will enter the program during the summer residency preceding their undergraduate senior year.

Option Two: The five semester MFA

The DeSales five-semester MFA program option is designed for working professionals who have earned a bachelor’s degree and:

1. want to work for magazines, either full-time or freelance.
2. seek employment at publishing companies as editors, editorial staff members, copy-editors and proof-readers.
3. desire focused time to write and information to assist in publishing their own creative writing.
4. want to teach full- or part-time in college or community college creative writing programs.
5. aspire to work in a university setting as adjuncts, visiting writers, or as administrators.
6. desire to pursue advanced studies simply as an enrichment experience.

External students may enter the program at either the summer or winter residency.  Students who plan to enter the program for a summer international residency must have completed all paperwork and submissions by April 1 in order for the program to facilitate travel plans. Students who are applying to begin with a January residency must have completed all paperwork and submissions by December 1.  A complete application to the program will include:

• A completed Application for Admission
• Official transcripts of all college work, undergraduate and graduate
• A personal statement
• Two letters of recommendation
• A 25 page writing sample. The writing sample may be a short story or stories or a chapter from a novel if the applicant desires the fiction track or a collection of poems if the applicant desires the poetry track or a memoir or collection of essays it the applicant desires the narrative non-fiction track.

Academic Schedule

MFA students will spend five semesters in the program, with two domestic residencies and two abroad. Their fifth semester will be the preparation of their thesis, their reading and defense, which will take place on the DeSales University campus.

The Academic Year of the MFA program consists of the following sessions:

Student Status

The MFA in Creative Writing and Publication program follows a prescribed curriculum, meaning that students are encouraged to follow the defined plan of study for the BA/BS to MFA and Five-Semester MFA options.

A student will be deemed inactive after twelve months of non-enrollment. The student must reapply to be reinstated to continue in the program.

Application Procedure

Acceptance into the program is determined by the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Publication Committee for Admissions, Academic Standards, and Policies. Applications are considered at regular committee meetings throughout the year. Application information and information about admission can be obtained online or by contacting the director of the MFA program at juilene.mcknight@desales.edu.

Transfer Policy and Prior Learning Assessment

Transfer credits are not accepted into the MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing program.

Registration

Registration for classes normally begins eight weeks before the first class. The University reserves the right to limit enrollment, or cancel a course if registration is insufficient. Once a student has been accepted to the MFA, registration will be completed through the department. New students will need to contact the program director or program administrator, maryanne.charlton@desales.edu for registration information.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees are available at www.desales.edu.

Refund Amount

Residency Courses:

• No refund is made after winter residency has begun.
• Student who must withdraw from summer residency will forfeit a $200 travel deposit.

Practicums:

• Withdrawal during the add/drop period: 100% of tuition refunded.
• Withdrawal after the 1st class after the close of the add/drop period: 80% of tuition refunded.
• Withdrawal after the 2nd class after the close of the add/drop period: 65% of tuition refunded
• Withdrawal after the 3rd class after the close of the add/drop period: 50% of tuition refunded
• Withdrawal after the 4th class after the close of the add/drop period: 25% of tuition refunded
• Withdrawal after the 5th class after the close of the add/drop period: No refund

Graduation Requirements

Students must complete the following degree requirements:

• Four intensive ten day residencies alternating at DeSales and in Europe or Canada.
• Four practicum semesters with a writing mentor.
• An additional semester to produce, complete and refine an original creative manuscript of poetry or fiction.
• A defense of the creative manuscript, including a meeting with the thesis review committee as well as a public reading and q&a defense.

Program of Study

The MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing consists of the following:

The MFA paradigm does not utilize the ‘typical’ course descriptions or syllabi or standard classroom courses. Its structure is immersion followed by practicum. Its purpose is to provide students with two years of complete immersion in the practice of writing and in works produced by practitioners of their art.

• Prior to each residency, students will receive a list of required readings. These will be the fiction, poetry and essays of their visiting writers.
• Prior to each immersion, the student will receive a full schedule of events. This schedule will be in the form of a booklet and students will be required to attend every event. The booklet will list specific times, specific rooms, specific speakers and mentors and the biographical details of all visiting writers, editors and publishers. The booklet will also include policy and deadline information for the program.
• Practicum begins immediately after immersion, with the first assignment drawing directly from immersion, as all students are required to write a 10-12 page “assessment” of their residency. That assessment is not focused on what they enjoyed or did not enjoy, but rather assesses what they learned about craft and from whom and in what context, what they learned about publishing and which aspects of that learning might be relevant to their practice or to their job search, if they intend to work in publishing. That assessment instrument is due to the student’s mentor within ten days of departure from the residency.
• Immediately following residency, the literary and creative portion of the practicum begins. In practicum, each student individualizes what s/he intends to do within the framework of practicum’s requirements. This will include intensive literary research, reading and writing as well as work on the student’s own creative writing.

The five-year BA/BS to MFA

Internal students will enter the program with the summer international residency at the end of their junior year. Their second residency will take place over Christmas break during their senior year. They will have completed two semesters of the five semester program by the time they complete their undergraduate work. Two more residency semesters will follow, one domestic, one international, each followed by a practicum. Their final semester, which does not include a residency will be completion and finalization of the thesis, reading and defense. They will graduate with a terminal degree.

Manuscript and Defense

In the final semester of the program, students must present a book-length collection of poetry, essays or memoir, short fiction, or a novel. All manuscripts must be bound. Poetry manuscripts must be 48-64 pages. Fiction or essay manuscripts should be between 150-400 pages, depending on format (short stories, novella, novel, essays, memoir).

Tables of contents are necessary for poetry, short fiction and essays. Title page is necessary.  An ‘Acknowledgements’ page for any included work previously published is necessary. All manuscripts must contain a cover page with name, date, student’s previous academic degrees and the statement, “This manuscript is submitted as the thesis in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing & Publishing at DeSales University” followed by the date.

Students will confer with their mentor on the thesis manuscript; these conferences will begin as early as the first semester and will continue throughout the program. By the fifth semester, students should already have produced significant material toward a complete draft of the thesis. The thesis semester will consist of intensive review and editorial work, individually and in conjunction with the mentor. When the thesis is complete, the following protocol will occur:

• The mentor will inform the Director in writing that the thesis is ready for review and defense.
• The student will submit three bound copies of the manuscript to the Director at least four weeks before the defense.
• The Director will assemble a committee to review the manuscript over a ten-day period. If it is not accepted by all committee members, it will be returned to the student for revision.
• Once the manuscript has been accepted, the defense is scheduled. All members of the committee and the student’s mentor will attend the defense, during which the student will present the work, discussing its intent, its appropriateness within the student’s chosen literary tradition, and the process that went into the creation of the work.
• The student will then presents a public reading to an invited audience, followed by a question and answer session. The reading from the manuscript will immediately follow the defense and will be open to the public.

Programs

• Creative Writing and Publication (MFA)

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