Master of Fine Arts in Writing

Graduate & Post-Baccalaureate Degrees
MFA in Writing

	Writing Faculty
	MFA Course Descriptions

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The first one wakes me. The second gets me up. Downstairs, my slippered feet grind glass in the dark—a lamp in three parts, the bulb split in half. Outside, my wife is sitting on the back bumper of the car, our son’s B-B gun across her lap. Her wet hair shoots down as if there are magnets on the ground and bits of iron in the ends of her hair. Her eyes are closed. She must hear me shuffle across the patio because she holds out her hand as if to say Stop! She picks up the gun, aims at our bedroom window and fires. A tiny hole appears, so perfect it looks like you could peel it off. She turns to me and smiles as if to say, You see there? She gets up, walks over to me, hands me the gun and says, “I’m going to go clean up the mess inside. Careful. There’s glass.” I just feel the shard in my heel, see the blood soak the slipper as I stand on the patio holding my son’s gun. I look at the hole in my bedroom window. It is so tiny, so perfect.

Perfect Night
Derrick Hogue, 2000

Master of Fine Arts in Writing

The Master of Fine Arts in Writing program is for writers in all genres, as well as for artists who work with image and text. It is an integral part of the School’s graduate division and is closely associated with the Master of Fine Arts in Studio. The School’s writing program is distinct from more conventional programs in that it brings together a community of writers and artists at one of the nation’s leading colleges of art and draws on a distinguished faculty with diverse artistic and intellectual concerns. Core faculty — writers of poetry and prose and artists in performance; film, video, and new media; visual communication; printmedia and painting — are augmented by visiting writers, artists, and scholars. In this unique community of writers and artists, hybrid works, new forms, and collaborative projects are encouraged.

Writing students at the School of the Art Institute have access to studio facilities — and a strong community of artists and critical thinkers. In addition, the School’s Visiting Artists Program brings artists, writers, critics, and scholars to the School to teach, lecture, and participate in critiques. Recent visiting artists have included DJ Spooky, Robert Ashley, Valerie Steele, Jeffrey Kipnis, Arturo Herrera, Michael Ray Charles, Roger Shimomura, Xu Bing, Marjorie Perloff, Joe Sacco, Cai Gno-Qiang, Renata Stih, and Freder Schnock.

The program’s flexible structure accommodates individual needs and exploration. Three-fourths of the course work is devoted to the development of student writing through workshops, generative seminars, and tutorial projects or thesis advising. Electives offer the opportunity for writers to take interdisciplinary seminars on a variety of subjects or courses offered by studio departments. Students may also select from an array of courses in art history, theory, and criticism; liberal arts; arts administration; art education; or historic preservation to satisfy their electives. Students complete a writing project of appropriate length in their final semester.

See admissions and services for further details.

Master of Fine Arts in Writing Curriculum Requirements

Area Credit Hours

Graduate Writing Workshops 6

Topics in Writing Seminar 6

Writing Workshop, Topics, or Interdisciplinary Seminar 12

Graduate Projects

(min. of 12 cr. with writing advisers)
24

Electives*

from any studio or academic department
12

Completion of the thesis

Total Credit Hours 60

*Students may elect internships to satisfy up to 6 hours of elective credit.

1. Students have a maximum of four years to complete the degree (this includes time off for leaves-of-absence).

2. A minimum of 45 credit hours must be completed at the School. Up to 15 transfer credits may be requested at the time of application for admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.

3. During their final semester, students are required to submit a thesis of appropriate length in any genre.

4. Individual studio space is not provided to students in the MFA in Writing program.

5. Graduate Projects enrollments must be in increments of 3 credit hours. Normally, students enroll for 6 credit hours each semester with one adviser from the MFA in Writing program. Students may elect to enroll for 3 credit hours with an adviser from the MFA in Writing program and for 3 credit hours with an adviser from another area of the School, but only with permission from both the director of the MFA in Writing program and the adviser from another area of the School, but only with permission from both the director of the MFA in Writing program and the adviser from another area of the School. No more than two advisers and a total of 6 credit hours may be scheduled for a given semester. Exceptions to this require permission from both the director of the MFA in Writing program and the graduate division chair.

6. Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours.