The new Creative Writing Major (30 hours) and Minor (21 hours) emphasize experimentation and interdisciplinarity through exploration of poetry, fiction, hybrid genre and multimedia literature. The current curriculum includes a comprehensive approach to creative writing that incorporates both experience with critical reading and thinking and experience with multimedia, multigenre writing practices. We offer a sequence of three workshops that introduces students to a wide variety of writing styles, methods, and forms as well as enables them to focus on a selected area of interest. By reading and critiquing their peers’ works, students will deeply engage in a culture of peer collaboration and review.  By reading literary models, students will sharpen their ability to read in a variety of styles, genres, and contemporary trends as they are trained to attend to the linguistic textures and structures of texts.  In addition, through classroom visits, specialized workshops, and a formal reading series, students will enter into dialogue with local and national authors.  Students completing this program will have both interacted with professionals in their field and witnessed several versions of a professional literary convention, the reading. Elective courses are designed to broaden students’ interaction in a larger arena of the arts and encourage students to take an interdisciplinary approach to their own writing. For this reason, we encourage students to consider Art, Philosophy, or Communication and Theater Arts as possible minors, and we include selected upper-level courses from these programs as eligible for our Restricted Electives. The program guides students’ exploration of creativity and the arts as well as the personal and social role of language and literature. The Creative Writing Major promotes community engagement through two capstone projects—a public reading and publication of a chapbook. In addition, students will also have the opportunity to work on Cellar Roots, an award-winning undergraduate literary magazine.  The Creative Writing Major is designed to prepare writers for a range of writing possibilities and language-centered options, especially teaching creative writing, writing innovative and interdisciplinary fiction and poetry, and editing and publishing literary books and journals.  

Download the Creative Writing Major Advisee Checklist.

Download the Creative Writing Minor Advisee Checklist.

All majors must, in the beginning of their final semester, sign the Capstone Project Contract with an advisor.

For more information email one of the following Creative Writing Advisors:

Christine Hume (on sabbatical leave 07-08)
Janet Kauffman
Tracie Morris

Or call (734) 487-1310