35-credit program lowers barriers of cost and time, creates path into MFA program
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (April 29, 2019)—Spalding University’s newly created low-residency Master of Arts in Writing program is now accepting applications for its first incoming class. Applications are due by August 1 for entry into the Fall 2019 semester, which begins with a residency in November.
Offering tracks in both creative and professional writing, the MA in Writing (MAW) program is offered in a low-residency format, in which each semester begins with a residency course conducted on campus or abroad, followed by an independent study course that the student completes from home while working one-on-one with a faculty mentor.
The MAW program is founded on the core principles of Spalding’s School of Creative and Professional Writing: providing a supportive environment and offering a highly individualized and flexible curriculum tailored to each student’s goals. The MAW program addresses the need for writing mastery, a key for advancement in nearly all workplaces, in a 35-credit, two-semester course of study that culminates in a capstone residency.
The School of Creative and Professional Writing also houses Spalding’s 65-credit-hour Master of Fine Arts in Writing, nationally distinguished as one of the most innovative and affordable low-residency graduate writing programs in the U.S. The new MAW degree lowers barriers of cost and time for students for whom the MFA may be out of reach, while at the same time allowing MAW students to matriculate into the MFA program if they like, earning both degrees for about the cost of the MFA alone.
“The MAW meets the needs of writers who want advanced writing study but don’t necessarily need or want the terminal degree,” said Kathleen Driskell, Chair of the School of Creative and Professional Writing. The MAW may be completed in about a year, for a total tuition cost of about $20,000.
Students who take the MAW’s creative writing track study in one of six areas: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, screenwriting, or playwriting. These students spend both semesters working extensively on their own original creative projects, reading books or scripts in their area, and writing short commentaries on those works. Creative writing MAW students finish the program with a completed chapbook-length work of original writing.
In the professional writing track, the first semester offers students a deep dive into the workplace writing of their chosen profession or sector. For instance, a student who works for a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization might create documents for a clean water campaign or develop parts of a grant narrative; a student interested in sports information might take a case study approach to a local professional team to practice the types of writing required to run the organization as well as communicate with its public.
The second semester immerses professional writing students in the editing and publishing process from acquisitions to publication and offers opportunities for exploring myriad publication forums for professional writers. Students develop a self-designed long writing project and finish the degree with a completed portfolio of professional writing.
Tuition for all programs in the School of Creative and Professional Writing is currently set at $585 per credit hour.
Application deadlines for programs in the School are August 1 for entry in the fall (November) semester and February 1 for entrance in spring (May) and summer (July) semesters.