MFA - Master of Fine Arts

Ashland University offers the only two-genre, low-residency MFA in the country:

• Degree tracks in one primary genre, poetry or creative nonfiction
• Cross-genre option for students interested in both genres
• Single, annual-residency model: 14 days each summer for three summers
• Six total weeks of intensive residencies on campus during entire program
• Four non-residential semesters of study via the internet
• Maximum of 5 students per faculty mentor
• Writing packets exchanged four times per semester
• On-going, intensive online discussion of assigned books

The low-residency format is based on the sort of mentorship relationships that informed the development of many accomplished writers prior to the establishment of traditional, residential MFA Programs. Throughout all aspects of the Ashland MFA Program, students will:

• Connect with and learn from distinguished writers
• Develop writing relationships to last a lifetime
• Build a basis in reading for a life of writing
• Create and revise poetry and/or creative nonfiction
• Complete a book-length manuscript
• Deepen an ability to assess literature critically
• Re-energize a commitment to the literary arts

Two-Genre Focus: Poetry and Creative Nonfiction

While many traditional and low-residency MFA Programs offer degree-tracks in four or more literary genres, the Ashland MFA Program offers a sharper focus on poets and nonfiction writers exclusively. During intensive summer residencies, in craft seminars, faculty readings, and through Visiting Writer sessions, the program emphasizes a dialogue between these two genres, even for students who choose to take workshops only in one genre. The cross-genre option—the option of studying for one non-residential semester outside of a primary genre—offers a further opportunity to deepen an understanding of the interrelationship between poetry and creative nonfiction.