the program » curriculum

Of the 48 hours required for the degree, at least 27 can be completed via distance learning; these 27 hours comprise a Graduate Field Study (3 hours), three semester-long Graduate Tutorials (6 hours each), and a Creative Thesis (6 hours). Program requirements also include nine hours of graduate literature courses; however, upon approval, the program allows students to transfer up to nine semester hours (“B” or higher) of graduate-level literature courses taken at another accredited graduate institution. Note in the curriculum below that the Field Study, as well as all Tutorials, Residencies and Thesis hours, must be completed within the MFA program at Murray State. According to University guidelines, all course work used to fulfill the MFA requirements must be completed within the eight-year period prior to awarding the degree, beginning with the date the student initially enrolled in a class for graduate credit.

The program requires a total of four nine-day Residencies (3 hours each) at Murray State University, for a total of 36 days on MSU’s campus. These Residencies take place every July and January; the MFA program, therefore, requires a minimum time of two years to complete, though some students may find a four-year schedule more conducive to their situations. Such a schedule would allow students to complete the four required Residencies during four consecutive summers. The program’s “low-residency” format requires a total of 36 days of on-campus study at Murray State University, and allows students to complete the vast majority of coursework where they live.

Although the program allows students to work in more than one genre, upon admission, each student will select a concentration in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction or writing for young people. This initial choice will largely shape the student’s course of study for the degree. The program commences with the student’s first nine-day Residency, during which the student will attend workshops, readings, lectures and meet with the faculty mentor with whom he or she will work throughout the following Tutorial semester. The student and mentor will collaboratively design a work plan, including a reading list and proposed writing projects. During the subsequent Tutorial semester, the student will submit work to the mentor using electronic or traditional mail. The mentor will respond with suggestions for revision, which the student will complete and submit for evaluation and instructions for further revision. The Residency/Tutorial sequence (each Residency followed by a Tutorial) will be the set model throughout the student’s time in the program.

Only one Residency and one Tutorial may be completed within a given semester. The student must have sufficient time and resources to devote to the required coursework during the Tutorial semester and is strongly encouraged to avoid “incompletes.” Once the three required Tutorials, with a minimum of two Tutorials in the student’s selected genre, have been completed, the student will spend a final semester revising work within the selected genre to complete and submit a Creative Thesis. Students must be approved as “Thesis ready” prior to enrolling in the Thesis course; the Thesis semester culminates in a formal oral defense and a required public presentation/reading from the Thesis.