Physical Education Requirement | |
---|---|
Swimming requirement, plus four physical education courses for eight points. |
Choose at least two subjects in the major that are designated as communication-intensive (CI-M) to fulfill the Communication Requirement.
Required Subjects | ||
Writing Pre-Thesis Tutorial | 6 | |
Writing Program Thesis (CI-M) | 12 | |
12 | ||
Fiction Workshop (CI-M) | ||
Genre Fiction Workshop (CI-M) | ||
Writing Science Fiction (CI-M) | ||
Poetry Workshop (CI-M) | ||
Interactive Narrative (CI-M) | ||
Advanced Fiction Workshop (CI-M) | ||
Advanced Poetry Workshop (CI-M) | ||
Science Writing in Contemporary Society (CI-M) | ||
Social Justice and The Documentary Film (CI-M) | ||
Restricted Electives | ||
Select nine subjects, of which one is normally introductory, that form a cohesive unit | 99-108 | |
Units in Major | 129-138 | |
Unrestricted Electives | 78-123 | |
Units in Major That Also Satisfy the GIRs | (36-72) | |
Total Units Beyond the GIRs Required for SB Degree | 180 |
The units for any subject that counts as one of the 17 GIR subjects cannot also be counted as units required beyond the GIRs.
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Before completing her undergraduate studies, Sophie Hartley, a student in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, had an epiphany that was years in the making.
“The classes I took in my last undergraduate semester changed my career goals, but it started with my grandfather,” she says when asked about what led her to science writing. She’d been studying comparative human development at the University of Chicago, which Hartley describes as “a combination of psychology and anthropology,” when she took courses in environmental writing and digital science communications.
“What if my life could be about learning more of life’s intricacies?” she thought.
Hartley’s grandfather introduced her to photography when she was younger, which helped her develop an appreciation for the natural world. Each summer, they would explore tide pools, overgrown forests, and his sprawling backyard. He gave her a camera and encouraged her to take pictures of anything interesting.
“Photography was a door into science journalism,” she notes. “It lets you capture the raw beauty of a moment and return to it later.”
Lasting impact through storytelling
Hartley spent time in Wisconsin and Vermont while growing up. That’s when she noticed a divide between rural communities and urban spaces. She wants to tell stories about communities that are less likely to be covered, and “connect them to people in cities who might not otherwise understand what’s happening and why.”
People have important roles to play in arresting climate change impacts, improving land management practices and policies, and taking better care of our natural resources, according to Hartley. Challenges related to conservation, land management, and farming affect us all, which is why she believes effective science writing is so important.
“We’re way more connected than we believe or understand,” Hartley says. “Climate change is creating problems throughout the entire agricultural supply chain.”
For her news writing course, Hartley wrote a story about how flooding in Vermont led to hay shortages, which impacted comestibles as diverse as goat cheese and beef. “When the hay can’t dry, it’s ruined,” she says. “That means cows and goats aren’t eating, which means they can’t produce our beef, milk, and cheese.”
Ultimately, Hartley believes her work can build compassion for others while also educating people about how everything we do affects nature and one another.
“The connective tissues between humans persist,” she said. “People who live in cities aren’t exempt from rural concerns.”
Creating connections with science writing
During her year-long study in the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing, Hartley is also busy producing reporting for major news outlets.
Earlier this year, Hartley authored a piece for Ars Technica that explored ongoing efforts to develop technology aimed at preventing car collisions with kangaroos. As Hartley reported, given the unique and unpredictable behavior of kangaroos, vehicle animal detection systems have proven ineffective. That’s forced Australian communities to develop alternative solutions, such as virtual fencing, to keep kangaroos away from the roads.
In June, Hartley co-produced a story for GBH News with Hannah Richter, a fellow student in the science writing program. They reported on how and why officials at a new Peabody power plant are backtracking on an earlier pledge to run the facility on clean fuels.
The story was a collaboration between GBH News and the investigative journalism class in the science writing program. Hartley recalls wonderful experience working with Richter. “We were able to lean on each other’s strengths and learn from each other,” she says. “The piece took a long time to report and write, and it was helpful to have a friend and colleague to continuously motivate me when we would pick it back up after a while.”
Co-reporting can also help evenly divide what can sometimes become a massive workload, particularly with deeply, well-researched pieces like the Peabody story. “When there is so much research to do, it’s helpful to have another person to divvy up the work,” she continued. “It felt like everything was stronger and better, from the writing to the fact-checking, because we had two eyes on it during the reporting process.”
Hartley’s favorite piece in 2024 focused on beech leaf disease, a deadly pathogen devastating North American forests. Her story, which was later published in The Boston Globe Magazine , followed a team of four researchers racing to discover how the disease works. Beech leaf disease kills swiftly and en masse, leaving space for invasive species to thrive on forest floors. Her interest in land management and natural resources shines through in much of her work.
Local news organizations are an endangered species as newsrooms across America shed staff and increasingly rely on aggregated news accounts from larger organizations. What can be lost, however, are opportunities to tell small-scale stories with potentially large-scale impacts. “Small and rural accountability stories are being told less and less,” Hartley notes. “I think it’s important that communities are aware of what is happening around them, especially if it impacts them.”
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA
The vital presence of creative writing in the English Department is reflected by our many distinguished authors who teach our workshops. We offer courses each term in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and television writing. Our workshops are small, usually no more than twelve students, and offer writers an opportunity to focus intensively on one genre.
Workshops are open by application to Harvard College undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and students from other institutions eligible for cross registration. Submission guidelines for workshops can be found under individual course listings; please do not query instructors. Review all departmental rules and application instructions before applying.
Fall 2024 First Application Deadline: 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, April 7
Fall 2024 Second Application Deadline: 11:59 pm ET on Thursday, August 22 (Not all workshops will be reopen to applications. First-year students, incoming transfer students, and incoming graduate students - who could not participate in April registration processes - will be given priority during the August application review cycle. Returning students who did not submit workshop applications in April may apply in August. Students who applied in April and were not offered a seat in a workshop will automatically be reconsidered and need not submit a new application.) Spring 2025 Application Deadline: October-November 2024, TBA
Please visit our course listings for all the Fall 2024 workshops.
Our online submission manager (link below) will open for Fall 2024 applications on Thursday, August 15 .
Students who have questions about the creative writing workshop application process should contact Case Q. Kerns at [email protected] .
Teju Cole is a novelist, critic, and essayist, and is the first Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice. "Among other works, the boundary-crossing author is known for his debut novel “Open City” (2011), whose early admirers included Harvard professor and New Yorker critic James Wood."
The botany of desire by michael pollan (2001).
Instructor: Maggie Doherty Wednesday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site
This course will consider critical writing about art–literary, visual, cinematic, musical, etc.—as an art in its own right. We will read and discuss criticism from a wide variety of publications, paying attention to the ways outlets and audience shape critical work. The majority of our readings will be from the last few years and will include pieces by Joan Acocella, Andrea Long Chu, Jason Farago, and Carina del Valle Schorske. Students will write several short writing assignments (500-1000 words), including a straight review, during the first half of the semester and share them with peers. During the second half of the semester, each student will write and workshop a longer piece of criticism about a work of art or an artist of their choosing. Students will be expected to read and provide detailed feedback on the work of their peers. Students will revise their longer pieces based on workshop feedback and submit them for the final assignment of the class. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Thursday, August 22) Supplemental Application Information: Please write a letter of introduction (1-2 pages) giving a sense of who you are, your writing experience, and your current goals for your writing. Please also describe your relationship to the art forms and/or genres you're interested in engaging in the course. You may also list any writers or publications whose criticism you enjoy reading. Please also include a 3-5-page writing sample of any kind of prose writing. This could be an academic paper or it could be creative fiction or nonfiction.
Instructor: Paul Yoon TBD | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Advanced fiction workshop for students who have already taken a workshop at Harvard or elsewhere. The goal of the class is to continue your journey as a writer. You will be responsible for participating in discussions on the assigned texts, the workshop, engaging with the work of your colleagues, and revising your work. Supplemental Application Information: * Please note: previous creative writing workshop experience required. * Please submit ONLY a cover letter telling me your previous creative writing workshop experience, either at Harvard or elsewhere; then tell me something you are passionate about and something you want to be better at; and, lastly, tell me why of all classes you want to take this one this semester. Again, please no writing samples.
Instructor: Josh Bell Monday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: Barker 018 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site
Initially, students can expect to read, discuss, and imitate the strategies of a wide range of poets writing in English; to investigate and reproduce prescribed forms and poetic structures; and to engage in writing exercises meant to expand the conception of what a poem is and can be. As the course progresses, reading assignments will be tailored on an individual basis, and an increasing amount of time will be spent in discussion of student work. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Thursday, August 22)
Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a portfolio including a letter of interest, ten poems, and a list of classes (taken at Harvard or elsewhere) that seem to have bearing on your enterprise.
Instructor: Tracy K. Smith Wednesday, 3:00-5:45 pm | Location: Lamont 401 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site What can a poem achieve when it contemplates or even emulates a work of art in another medium? In this workshop, we'll read and write poems that engage with other art forms--and we'll test out what a foray into another artistic practice allows us to carry back over into the formal methods and behaviors of poetry. With poems by Keats, Rilke, Auden, Hughes, and Brooks, as well as Kevin Young, Evie Shockley, Ama Codjoe and other contemporary voices. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26) Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a writing sample of 5-10 poems and an application letter explaining your interest in this course.
Instructor: Tracy K. Smith Tuesday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: Sever 112 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site
In this workshop, we’ll look closely at the craft-based choices poets make, and track the effects they have upon what we as readers are made to think and feel. How can implementing similar strategies better prepare us to engage the questions making up our own poetic material? We’ll also talk about content. What can poetry reveal about the ways our interior selves are shaped by public realities like race, class, sexuality, injustice and more? Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26)
Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a writing sample of 5-10 poems and an application letter explaining your interest in this course.
Instructor: Jesse McCarthy Thursday, 3:00-5:45 pm | Location: Barker 269 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site This is an intermediate course in the art of writing literary fiction. Previous experience with workshopping writing is encouraged but not required. The emphasis of the course will be learning how to read literature as a writer, with special attention given to the short story, novella, or short novel. We will read these works from the perspective of the writer as craftsperson and of the critic seeking in good faith to understand and describe a new aesthetic experience. We will be concerned foremost with how literary language works, with describing the effects of different kinds of sentences, different uses of genre, tone, and other rhetorical strategies. Together, we will explore our responses to examples of literature from around the world and from all periods, as well as to the writing you will produce and share with the class. As a member of a writing community, you should be prepared to respectfully read and respond to the work of others—both the work of your peers and that of the published writers that we will explore together. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26) Supplemental Application Information: This course is by application only but there are no prerequisites for this course and previous experience in a writing workshop is not required . In your application please submit a short letter explaining why you are interested in this class. You might tell me a bit about your relationship to literature, your encounter with a specific author, book, or even a scene or character from a story or novel. Please also include a writing sample of 2-5 pages (5 pages max!) of narrative prose fiction.
Instructor: Teju Cole Spring 2024: Tuesday, 6:00-8:45pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site Spring 2025: TBD This reading and writing intensive workshop is for students who want to learn to write literary fiction. The goal of the course would be for each student to produce two polished short stories. Authors on the syllabus will probably include James Joyce, Eudora Welty, Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Diane Williams.
Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a cover letter saying what you hope to get out of the workshop. In the cover letter, mention three works of fiction that matter to you and why. In addition, submit a 400–500 word sample of your fiction; the sample can be self-contained or a section of a longer work.
Instructor: Louisa Thomas Spring 2024: Tuesday, 9:00-11:45am | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site Spring 2025: TBD
In newsrooms, the sports section is sometimes referred to as the “toy department” -- frivolous and unserious, unlike the stuff of politics, business, and war. In this course, we will take the toys seriously. After all, for millions of people, sports and other so-called trivial pursuits (video games, chess, children’s games, and so on) are a source of endless fascination. For us, they will be a source of stories about human achievements and frustrations. These stories can involve economic, social, and political issues. They can draw upon history, statistics, psychology, and philosophy. They can be reported or ruminative, formally experimental or straightforward, richly descriptive or tense and spare. They can be fun. Over the course of the semester, students will read and discuss exemplary profiles, essays, articles, and blog posts, while also writing and discussing their own. While much (but not all) of the reading will come from the world of sports, no interest in or knowledge about sports is required; our focus will be on writing for a broad audience. Supplemental Application Information: To apply, please write a letter describing why you want to take the course and what you hope to get out of it. Include a few examples of websites or magazines you like to read, and tell me briefly about one pursuit -- football, chess, basketball, ballet, Othello, crosswords, soccer, whatever -- that interests you and why.
Instructor: Musa Syeed Spring 2024: Wednesday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: TBA Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site Spring 2025: TBD
The feature-length script is an opportunity to tell a story on a larger scale, and, therefore, requires additional preparation. In this class, we will move from writing a pitch, to a synopsis, to a treatment/outline, to the first 10 pages, to the first act of a feature screenplay. We will analyze produced scripts and discuss various elements of craft, including research, writing layered dialogue, world-building, creating an engaging cast of characters. As an advanced class, we will also look at ways both mainstream and independent films attempt to subvert genre and structure. Students will end the semester with a first act (20-30 pages) of their feature, an outline, and strategy to complete the full script.
Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a 3-5 page writing sample. Screenplays are preferred, but fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and plays are acceptable as well. Also, please write a short note to introduce yourself. Include a couple films/filmmakers that have inspired you, your goals for the class, as well as any themes/subject matter/ideas you might be interested in exploring in your writing for film.
Instructor: Darcy Frey Fall 2024: Wednesday, 3:00-5:45 pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students. Course Site Spring 2025: TBD
Whether it takes the form of literary journalism, essay, memoir, or environmental writing, creative nonfiction is a powerful genre that allows writers to break free from the constraints commonly associated with nonfiction prose and reach for the breadth of thought and feeling usually accomplished only in fiction: the narration of a vivid story, the probing of a complex character, the argument of an idea, or the evocation of a place. Students will work on several short assignments to hone their mastery of the craft, then write a longer piece that will be workshopped in class and revised at the end of the term. We will take instruction and inspiration from published authors such as Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Ariel Levy, Alexander Chee, and Virginia Woolf. This is a workshop-style class intended for undergraduate and graduate students at all levels of experience. No previous experience in English Department courses is required. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Thursday, August 22)
Supplemental Application Information: Please write a substantive letter of introduction describing who you are as writer at the moment and where you hope to take your writing; what experience you may have had with creative/literary nonfiction; what excites you about nonfiction in particular; and what you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Additionally, please submit 3-5 pages of creative/literary nonfiction (essay, memoir, narrative journalism, etc, but NOT academic writing) or, if you have not yet written much nonfiction, an equal number of pages of narrative fiction.
Instructor: Laura van den Berg TBD | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students A promising draft is of little use to us as writers if we have no idea what to do next, of how to begin again. This course aims to illuminate how revision can be every bit as creative and exhilarating as getting the first draft down—and how time spent re-imagining our early drafts is the ultimate show of faith in our work. We will explore the art of revision—of realizing the promise of that first draft—through reading, craft discussion, exercises, and workshop. Students can expect to leave the semester with two polished short stories (or 40-50 polished novel pages), a keener understanding of their own writing process, and a plan for where to take their work next. Texts will include How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee, Refuse to by Done by Matt Bell, and Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses. It will be helpful to enter into the semester with some pre-existing material that you wish to revise (a short story, several chapters of a novel). Previous experience with workshopping writing is encouraged but not required. Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a brief letter—1-2 pages—that discusses your interest in the course and in writing more broadly. What are you interested in working on and learning more about, at this point in your practice? Please also submit a short—2-3 page—writing sample (the first 2 pages of a short story or novel, for example).
Instructor: Musa Syeed Wednesday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 student Course Site
“I’ve often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us,” the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami said, “unless it’s inside a frame.” For our communities confronting invisibility and erasure, there’s an urgent need for new frames. In this workshop, we’ll explore a community-engaged approach to documentary and fiction filmmaking, as we seek to see our world more deeply. We’ll begin with screenings, craft exercises, and discussions around authorship and social impact. Then we each will write, develop, and shoot a short film over the rest of the semester, building off of intentional community engagement. Students will end the class with written and recorded materials for a rough cut. Basic equipment and technical training will be provided.
Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Thursday, August 22)
Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a brief letter explaining why you're interested to take this class. Please also discuss what participants/communities you might be interested in engaging with for your filmmaking projects. For your writing sample, please submit 3-5 pages of your creative work from any genre (screenwriting, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, etc.)
Instructor: Claire Messud Thursday, 3:00-5:45 pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site Intended for students with prior fiction-writing and workshop experience, this course will concentrate on structure, execution and revision. Exploring various strands of contemporary and recent literary fiction – writers such as Karl Ove Knausgaard, Rachel Cusk, Chimamanda Adichie, Douglas Stuart, Ocean Vuong, etc – we will consider how fiction works in our present moment, with emphasis on a craft perspective. Each student will present to the class a published fiction that has influenced them. The course is primarily focused on the discussion of original student work, with the aim of improving both writerly skills and critical analysis. Revision is an important component of this class: students will workshop two stories and a revision of one of these. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Thursday, August 22)
Supplemental Application Information: Please submit 3-5 pages of prose fiction, along with a substantive letter of introduction. I’d like to know why you’re interested in the course; what experience you’ve had writing, both in previous workshops and independently; what your literary goals and ambitions are. Please tell me about some of your favorite narratives – fiction, non-fiction, film, etc: why they move you, and what you learn from them.
Instructor: Andrew Krivak Tuesday, 9:00-11:45 1m | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site This course is a workshop intended for students who are interested in writing longer form narratives from the first-person point of view. The “I” at the center of any novel poses a perspective that is all at once imaginatively powerful and narratively problematic, uniquely insightful and necessarily unreliable. We will read from roughly twelve novels written in the first-person, from Marilynne Robinson and W.G. Sebald, to Valeria Luiselli and Teju Cole, and ask questions (among others) of why this form, why this style? And, as a result, what is lost and what is realized in the telling? Primarily, however, students will write. Our goal will be to have a student’s work read and discussed twice in class during the semester. I am hoping to see at least 35-40 pages of a project —at any level of completion—at the end of term. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Thursday, August 22) Supplemental Application Information: Please write a substantive letter telling me why you’re interested in taking this class, what writers (classical and contemporary) you admire and why, and if there’s a book you have read more than once, a movie you have seen more than once, a piece of music you listen to over and over, not because you have to but because you want to. Students of creative nonfiction are also welcome to apply.
Instructor: Laura van den Berg Tuesday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site This course will serve as an introduction to the fundamentals of writing fiction, with an emphasis on the contemporary short story. How can we set about creating “big” worlds in compact spaces? What unique doors can the form of the short story open? The initial weeks will focus on exploratory exercises and the study of published short stories and craft essays. Later, student work will become the primary text as the focus shifts to workshop discussion. Authors on the syllabus will likely include Ted Chiang, Lauren Groff, Carmen Maria Machado, and Octavia Butler. This workshop welcomes writers of all levels of experience. Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Thursday, August 22) Supplemental Application Information: Please submit a letter of introduction. I’d like to know a little about why you are drawn to studying fiction; what you hope to get out of the workshop and what you hope to contribute; and one thing you are passionate about outside writing / school. Please also include a very brief writing sample (2-3 pages). The sample can be in any genre (it does not have to be from a work of fiction).
Students may apply to write a senior thesis or senior project in creative writing, although only English concentrators can be considered. Students submit applications in early March of their junior year, including first-term juniors who are out of phase. The creative writing faculty considers the proposal, along with the student's overall performance in creative writing and other English courses, and notifies students about its decision in early mid-late March. Those applications are due, this coming year, on TBA .
Students applying for a creative writing thesis or project must have completed at least one course in creative writing at Harvard before they apply. No student is guaranteed acceptance. It is strongly suggested that students acquaint themselves with the requirements and guidelines well before the thesis application is due. The creative writing director must approve any exceptions to the requirements, which must be made in writing by Monday, February 7, 2022. Since the creative writing thesis and project are part of the English honors program, acceptance to write a creative thesis is conditional upon the student continuing to maintain a 3.40 concentration GPA. If a student’s concentration GPA drops below 3.40 after the spring of the junior year, the student may not be permitted to continue in the honors program.
Joint concentrators may apply to write creative theses, but we suggest students discuss the feasibility of the project well before applications are due. Not all departments are open to joint creative theses.
Students who have questions about the creative writing thesis should contact the program’s Director, Sam Marks .
community for MIT students, faculty, staff to discuss all aspects of MIT
Can you tell me what it's like? Why you chose Creative Writing at MIT, what makes this program different than another school's Creative Writing program, and what kind of jobs/companies you hope to work for after you graduate.
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The Stanford Creative Writing Program, founded in 1946 by Wallace Stegner, has become one of the nation’s most distinguished creative writing institutions. After almost 80 years, the program continues to evolve while also respecting its original vision of recruiting and supporting talented writers, offering exceptional creative writing instruction and mentorship, and inspiring undergraduates to develop their own unique creative written expression.
In the 1940s, E. H. Jones generously created the Wallace Stegner Fellowship, now considered the most prestigious creative writing fellowship in the U.S. for emerging writers. Dr. Jones also made possible the Jones Lectureships, which are limited, fixed-year teaching appointments, allowing exceptional Stegner Fellows some time and support to prepare a manuscript for publication, hone their teaching skills, and transition to a longer-term teaching career elsewhere.
The original framework of term-limited appointments allowed for a consistent flow of selected Stegner Fellows into the Jones Lectureship. However, over time this framework of term-limited appointments was not followed.
In the past two years, the School of Humanities and Sciences leadership and the Creative Writing Academic Council faculty have been working to formulate necessary changes in the program and to identify additional resources to meet its growing needs. A Working Group of Creative Writing Academic Council faculty held listening sessions and discussions.
Now, after thoughtful deliberation, the Working Group has recommended restoring the original intent of the Jones Lectureships: one-year appointments with the possibility of renewal for a limited term. This change will again allow Stegner Fellows the opportunity to apply to be Jones Lecturers once they have completed their fellowships.
The university, school, and numerous generous donors are committed to not only the excellence of the program but also its growth. This means increasing the number of Creative Writing classes to better meet high student demand as well as ensuring competitive compensation for both the lecturers and fellows. We will provide more updates in early fall quarter.
We understand that these changes to the Jones Lectureships will be met with mixed reactions. However, we firmly believe that the changes advance the program’s pedagogical mission and provide promising writers with the resources to complete their books and obtain appointments at other colleges and universities.
Throughout the history of the program, the Jones Lecturers—both those who are here now and those who have been lecturers in the past—have helped make Stanford Creative Writing what it is today, and we are truly grateful to them for their significant contributions to the program’s mission.
Sharon Lubkemann Allen (Princeton University) Professor of Comparative Literature & Director of Graduate Studies
Robert Baker Composition Coordinator
Ralph Black (New York University) Professor Emeritus
Miriam Elizabeth Burstein (University Of Chicago) Professor and Chair
Austin Busch (Indiana University-Bloomington) Professor (English), Associate Director of the Writers Forum, and Director of the Honors College
Sarah M. Cedeño, MFA (SUNY College At Brockport) Lecturer
Michael S Chojnowski (SUNY At Fredonia) Lecturer
Denise M. Craft (SUNY College At Brockport) Lecturer
Stephen Fellner (University Of Utah) Professor
T. Gregory Garvey (University Of Wisconsin-Madison) Professor
Jennifer Haytock (University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill) Professor (English), Chancellor’s Award Recipient for Scholarship
Janie Hinds (University Of Tulsa) Professor Emerita (English), Director (Liberal Studies), Chancellor Award Recipient for Faculty Service
Stefan Jurasinski (Indiana University-Bloomington) Professor
Alissa G. Karl (University Of Washington-Seattle Campus) Associate Professor
Alicia L. Kerfoot (McMaster University) Associate Professor
Milo Obourn (New York University) Professor and Chair (Women & Gender Studies), Professor (English), Committee Member (President’s Council on Diversity & Inclusion)
Jules Oyer (SUNY College At Brockport) Lecturer (English), Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching (2024), Writing Tutor (Academic Success Center)
Anne Panning (University Of Hawaii At Manoa) Professor + Co-Director, Writers Forum
Sandra Parker (University Of Southern California) Lecturer
Kimberly Price (Genesee Community College) Administrative Assistant 1
Kristen Proehl (College Of William And Mary) Associate Professor (English), Honors Fellow
Sidney Rosenzweig (University Of Rochester) Lecturer
Michael D Slater (Northwestern University) Associate Professor Dir of Integrative and Liberal Studies
Carter Soles (University Of Oregon) Associate Professor
James Whorton (University Of Southern Mississippi) Professor and Co-Director of the Writers Forum
Phil Young (University Of South Alabama) Lecturer
Description.
The 15-credit Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing allows writers of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction the opportunity to practice and hone their craft without committing to a full masters program. The program may be completed fully online. It may be taken by students who are pursuing graduate studies in other areas, or by students who wish to explore their interest and aptitude for further work or study in creative writing.
Courses taken in the certificate program may also apply towards the MA in English.
Students may be matriculated or non-matriculated graduate students, but must be formally admitted to the program. Applicants must meet the same requirements as for the MA in English, Creative Writing Track , including submission of a writing sample for review by the creative writing faculty.
Required courses (15 credits).
By now, you will likely have learned from Stu Schmill about the composition of the incoming first-year class. The class is, as always, outstanding across multiple dimensions and will…like last year’s class, and those before it…bring us an inspiring influx of new talents, interests and viewpoints.
But what it does not bring, as a consequence of last year’s Supreme Court decision, is the same degree of broad racial and ethnic diversity that the MIT community has worked together to achieve over the past several decades.
Why do I care so deeply about this?
For all of you out there, take a moment to think about the MIT we know today. People from all over this country and indeed, all over the globe. All of them here, together, united by curiosity and drive and passion for the distinct mission and values of MIT.
The fact is, MIT has never been stronger and it has never been more diverse.
That, to me, is something worth fighting very hard to preserve.
So, what are we going to do? Of course we’re going to follow the law, as we always have. Within that, as Stu indicates, we need to seek out new approaches. We need to make sure that the opportunity pipeline is wide open. And we need to be prepared to think big and long term.
I have asked the faculty-led Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid to consider these measures and others as we determine the best path forward for the Institute of today, and for future generations.
Of course, we must also do everything we can to make sure MIT is a welcoming environment for us all, so that everyone who joins our community can thrive here. We have work to do on that score too.
MIT has never shied away from hard problems – and if this were a simple issue, Stu and his team would have solved it. This should not deter us, any more than it does for other seemingly intractable problems. We need to take this challenge on together…with all the dedication and ingenuity people count on from MIT…so we can ensure a fantastically talented, vibrantly diverse MIT community in the years to come.
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She wrote about the experience of leading creative writing workshops in prison in a New York Times Book Review essay, "Visible Men". Her ... received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University (History of Science; 1970, 1971, and 1974). He joined the MIT faculty in 1974. His first major work was a study of nineteenth-century ...
Chris Featherman. Chris Featherman is a Lecturer in MIT's Writing and Communication Center. He earned his Ph.D. in Language and Rhetoric from the University of Washington in Seattle. A writing and communication instructor since 2001, Chris also studies and writes about language, media, and politics in the public sphere.
Head, Comparative Media Studies/Writing; Professor of Science Writing; Director, Graduate Program in Science Writing. [email protected]. Nick Montfort. Professor of Digital Media. [email protected]. James Paradis. Robert M. Metcalfe Professor Emeritus of Writing and Comparative Media Studies. [email protected].
Writing Together Online offers structured writing time to help you stay focused and productive during the busy fall months. We hold writing sessions every weekday, Monday through Friday. Join our daily 90-minute writing sessions and become part of a community of scholars who connect online, set realistic goals, and write together in the spirit of accountability and camaraderie.
Subjects. Comparative Media Studies/Writing combines the study of contemporary media (film, television, games, social media, and digital interactive forms) with the study of creative and journalistic practices of producing these and other forms of modern fiction, poetry, film, and non-fiction prose. The section offers two undergraduate majors ...
Writing Programs. Our writing programs teach you the forms, techniques, and traditions of various kinds of writing, from basic expository prose to more advanced forms of non-fiction, fiction, poetry, science writing, scientific and technical communication, and digital media. Our faculty, lecturers, and instructors are novelists, essayists ...
Giving MIT's community a place to write. Strang became a lecturer at MIT in 1980 in the Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing. In 1981 he founded the MIT Writing and Communications Center (WCC). The WCC is open to students, faculty, staff, and spouses who want help with their professional writing and oral presentation skills.
Featuring options in creative writing, science writing, and digital media, as well as joint degrees with a field in engineering or science. ... Faculty; Visitors and Postdoctoral Associates; Lecturers; Staff and Research Scientists; Education. ... Writing and Rhetoric: MIT Inside, Live: 21W.022: Writing and Experience: Reading and Writing ...
Public Statements. I'm briefly emerging from hard work in the application mines to share with you some thoughts from MIT writing faculty on AI-assisted writing. You've probably seen some of the recent news about GPT-3 and ChatGPT, technologies from OpenAI that (among other things) produce impressive natural language text in response to prompts.
The MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences welcomes new faculty Isaiah Andrews, Joshua ... where he was a Marshall Scholar. For his creative writing and scholarship, Bennett has received fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Society of Fellows at ...
Literature at MIT embraces an expansive vision of literary study. We are linked by a common interest in problems of narrative, aesthetics, genre, and media, but our curriculum explores a broad array of forms, ranging from the ancient world to the 21st century. Our study of world languages and literatures embraces both critical and creative ...
Grunwald developed a background in STEM as an undergraduate and afterward lived in Germany. In addition to his interests in academic and second-language writing and reading, he has a strong interest in creative writing and worked as managing editor at the esteemed Boston-based literary magazine AGNI. A published author of short stories and ...
With a faculty composed of renowned scholars and dedicated teachers, the MIT Literature section offers a wide range of courses across time periods, international cultures, and languages. Literature courses at MIT examine how novels, poems, plays, films, visual art, and other media make imaginative and critical sense of history and the present.
Writing and Communication Center offers a number of programs to the wide community of MIT undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and staff, which include: WCC Blog "Like It Or Not, Writing Is…" hosted by Amanda Sobel, a WCC lecturer, scholar, and writer, shares important insight about writing and the writing ...
While MIT values creative writing, we do not currently offer a portfolio to review creative writing, essays, poetry, etc. Visual Art & Architecture. The Visual Art & Architecture portfolio is designed for students with exceptional creative talent who would like their work to be reviewed by professional faculty and staff at MIT.
MIT offers Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees and Doctoral degrees in an assortment of arts subjects. Degrees are granted by two schools: School of Architecture + Planning (SA+P) Many of SA+P's faculty are leaders in the creative fields, including but not limited to the field of architecture around which the school was founded.
The answer is…yes. As an undergraduate, you'll major in either Comparative Media Studies, Creative Writing, Science Writing, or Digital Media. As a graduate student, you'll graduate with a degree in Comparative Media Studies or Science Writing. Likewise, your curriculum will be shaped to meet the requirements of those courses of study.
At MIT's Festival of Learning 2024, faculty, instructors, and students shared how they're leveraging technologies like generative AI in the classroom. Panelists stressed the importance of iteration and teaching students how to develop critical thinking skills. ... If students are using tools such as ChatGPT to help produce writing, Webster ...
Advanced Fiction Workshop (CI-M) 21W.771. Advanced Poetry Workshop (CI-M) 21W.777. Science Writing in Contemporary Society (CI-M) 21W.786 [J] Social Justice and The Documentary Film (CI-M) Restricted Electives. Select nine subjects, of which one is normally introductory, that form a cohesive unit.
Creating connections with science writing. During her year-long study in the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing, Hartley is also busy producing reporting for major news outlets. Earlier this year, Hartley authored a piece for Ars Technica that explored ongoing efforts to develop technology aimed at preventing car collisions with kangaroos.
The vital presence of creative writing in the English Department is reflected by our many distinguished authors who teach our workshops. We offer courses each term in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and television writing. Our workshops are small, usually no more than twelve students, and offer writers an opportunity to focus intensively on one genre.
Around the end of junior into senior year, a lot of people learn to stop worrying and love MIT, and those were some of the absolute best times of my life. Also, you'll graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Writing, vs a BA from those wimpy liberal arts colleges. The biggest difference you'll find is after graduating.
The Stanford Creative Writing Program, founded in 1946 by Wallace Stegner, has become one of the nation's most distinguished creative writing institutions. After almost 80 years, the program continues to evolve while also respecting its original vision of recruiting and supporting talented writers, offering exceptional creative writing instruction and mentorship, and inspiring undergraduates ...
The 15-credit Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing allows writers of poetry, fiction, ... Creative Writing Track, including submission of a writing sample for review by the creative writing faculty. Program Requirements Required Courses (15 credits) ENG 595 Writer's Craft; ENG 603 Seminar in Creative Writing;
I care because research shows that more diverse teams are more creative and innovative - qualities that are essential in helping us solve the most complex problems facing the nation and the world. ... I have asked the faculty-led Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid to consider these measures and others as we determine the ...