indiana university m.f.a. creative writing

Indiana University

Bloomington , IN

https://english.indiana.edu/graduate/master-of-fine-arts-degree/index.html

Degrees Offered

Fiction, Poetry

Residency type

Program length.

60 credits (3 years)

Financial Aid

Fellowships and TAships are available for qualified students.

Teaching opportunities

A typical three-year teaching assignment is as follows. During the first year, the A.I. normally teaches two sections of introductory creative writing: one section during the fall semester, and one during the spring. In the second year, the A.I. teaches a section of 100-level freshman composition during the fall semester, and either two sections of composition or a section of a composition and a 200-level creative writing workshop during the spring. In the third year, the A.I. normally teaches two or three creative writing courses. All third-year A.I.s are eligible to request an assignment to one of several 100-, 200-, or 300-level literature courses, or to serve as a consultant to first-year A.I.s teaching the fall semester sections of our introductory creative writing course. More than half of our third-year A.I.s are awarded reduced teaching loads. The M.F.A. program has also developed a 200-level course in publishing and editing, Literary Editing and Publishing, for our third-year creative writing A.I.s to teach.

Editorial opportunities

Editing positions are available to students with the department’s journal, Indiana Review . These include Editor, Associate Editor, and genre editor positions. The journal also offers students the opportunity to read submissions for decisions on publication.

Cross-genre study

• Carolyn Alessio MFA (Poetry) 1993
• Chad B. Anderson MFA (Fiction) 2009
• Kathleen Balma MFA (Poetry) 2007
• Bradley Bazzle MFA (Fiction) 2010
• Rebecca Black MFA (Poetry) 2002
• Richard Cecil MFA (Poetry) 1985
• Su Cho MFA (Poetry) 2017
• Christopher Citro MFA (Poetry) 2013
• Tenaya Darlington MFA (Fiction) 2000
• Elizabeth Dodd MFA (Poetry) 1986
• Sascha Feinstein MFA (Poetry) 1991
• Megan Giddings MFA (Fiction) 2018
• Jennifer Grotz MFA (Poetry) 1996
• Janet Kim Ha MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Christie Hodgen MFA (Fiction) 1999
• Ming Holden MFA (Fiction) 2013
• Elizabeth Hoover MFA (Poetry) 2010
• Dana Johnson MFA (Fiction) 2000
• Allison Joseph MFA (Poetry) 1992
• Jacqueline Jones LaMon MFA (Poetry) 2006
• Shayla Lawson MFA (Poetry) 2015
• Kiese Laymon MFA (Fiction) 2003
• Cate Lycurgus MFA (Poetry) 2013
• Amos Magliocco MFA (Fiction) 2005
• Khaled Mattawa MFA (Poetry) 1994
• Clint McCown MFA (Fiction) 1984
• Erin McGraw MFA (Fiction) 1986
• Philip Metres MFA (Poetry) 2001
• Angela Pneuman MFA (Fiction) 1997
• Alison Powell MFA (Poetry) 2005
• Keith Ratzlaff MFA (Poetry) 1984
• Lee Ann Roripaugh MFA (Poetry) 1996
• Christine Sneed MFA (Poetry) 1998
• Brian Teare MFA (Poetry) 2000
• Judy Troy MA (Fiction) 1981
• LaWanda Walters MFA (Poetry) 1989
• Alexander Weinstein MFA (Fiction) 2010
• Marcus Wicker MFA (Poetry) 2010

Send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected] .

Disclaimer: No endorsement of these ratings should be implied by the writers and writing programs listed on this site, or by the editors and publishers of Best American Short Stories , Best American Essays , Best American Poetry , The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology .

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Creative Writing major

The creative writing major at UIndy gives you the opportunity to develop and hone your creative writing skills. Whether you're interested in poetry or fiction, our dedicated faculty will help you push your writing endeavors to new heights. With a diverse background of writing skills, our faculty can show you how to make your poems memorable or your short story cohesive and entertaining. Multiple writing workshop courses will help you improve your writing, while literature courses will allow you to explore various genres. Students can also add a creative writing minor to any degree.

Program strengths

• Published authors meet and speak with students in their classes
• Valuable hands-on experience editing and publishing a literary and fine arts magazine, Etchings
• Course topics include advanced poetry and advanced fiction writing workshops, genre writing workshops, and publishing the literary and fine arts magazines
• Career-focused electives help students understand how to market their writing skills
• Faculty have published books in both fiction and poetry
• Opportunities to meet & listen to writers through the Kellogg Writer Series
• Faculty with books published in fiction and poetry

Potential careers in creative writing:

The creative writing program is designed to not only hone your creative writing skills, but also enhance your research, reading and composition skills, which are valuable in many fields, including:

• Professional writer: Many students choose to use their creative writing skills for companies by writing grants, web content or technical documents.
• Professional editor: Many marketing departments rely on editors to review work before it is published.
• Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing: Further develop and hone your creative writing skills by attending graduate school.
• Creative writer: With hard work and dedication, you could become a published author or poet.
• Literary arts administration: Work for community arts organizations that develop poetry in the schools and communities, literacy outreach and writer series programs.
• Advertising and marketing: Advertising, public relations, media and marketing departments depend on good copywriters.

Creative writing might be for you if:

• You enjoy planning, writing and developing your own creative fiction
• You enjoy writing poetry and want to learn how to improve your writing
• You are curious about how you can apply, market and utilize your creative writing talents in the real world
• You want to learn about the styles and techniques of poetry and/or fiction

Creative writing minor

Pairing a creative writing minor with another degree shows future employers that you have studied the art and craft of writing, which is an increasingly common asset in many career fields. Countless businesses require individuals who can effectively manage the flow of written communication, using proper points of view, grammar and structure and well-developed ideas. Completion of this minor requires a minimum of 21 hours of core requirements and electives.

Curriculum Guides

These curriculum guides outline the different classes you will need to take as a creative writing major. The general education guide provides a list of all the class options and requirements that you need in order to fulfill the university's general education requirements. The creative writing guide provides a list of all the classes you will need take in order to fulfill the major's requirements. Be sure you look at both guides in order to get a complete picture of what your classes will look like at UIndy.

• University of Indianapolis General Education curriculum guide
• Creative Writing Major curriculum guide
• Creative Writing Minor curriculum guide

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS The University of Indianapolis ("UIndy") admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at UIndy. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarships and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Additional non-discrimination policy information is available at uindy.edu/admissions/non-discrimination-policy .

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Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

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• Playwriting M.F.A.

M.F.A. – Playwriting

Develop your voice as a writer in a program that provides unique international and interdisciplinary exposure to the most contemporary work in the performing arts. We guide artists toward innovation and the fearless pursuit of bold ideas, while embracing the richness of their cultural backgrounds.

Our course of study combines ample practice in a variety of writing styles and creative processes integrated with a solid historical and theoretical base, using embodied and culturally responsive pedagogies that value all identities. A range of guest artists from around the world visit the program every year. There are plenty of opportunities for collaboration, international exchange, and educational travel.

Our three-year Fellowship program covers the cost of tuition and provides our playwrights a monthly stipend. Official information regarding specific degree requirements and course options can be found on the University Graduate School web page.

Meet our faculty

We produce eight to ten productions each year. Learn more about the performance opportunities in our department.

Check out our mainstage productions

Classes are designed to give the writer a broad education in dramatic writing, in order to explore and develop multiple ways to tell a story as well as multiple ways to make a living. Professional guest seminars, master classes, and special workshops are a regular part of the coursework.

Only three playwrights are accepted into the program, allowing close artistic and career mentorship from our highly qualified faculty.  All graduate playwrights receive at least one full production on the IU Theatre and Dance mainstage as a culmination of their degree, plus many opportunities to self-produce their work on campus. During the annual  At First Sight New Play Festival , your new work is showcased to the larger community and professionals in the industry.

Professional engagement

Each year a select group of industry professionals including literary managers, artistic directors, and agents is brought to campus to meet with the playwrights and to attend their productions. Check out the lineup for our 2024  At First Sight New Play Festival . 

Bloomington is well situated, with several nationally recognized theatres within driving distance: Actors Theatre of Louisville: 1.5 hours; Indiana Repertory Theatre (IRT) and Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis: 1 hour; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park: 3 hours. The city of Chicago is within 4 hours. Plus several exciting local professional theatres like Constellation Stage and Screen, The Brown County Playhouse, and the Jewish Theatre of Bloominton.

Teaching Opportunities

As part of the program, our students teach Intro to Playwriting, Script Analysis, Musical Theatre Songwriting, and other playwriting courses to undergraduates, contingent on adequate enrollment. 

Retention requires 3.2 GPA or higher, the satisfactory completion of all major projects, as well as a positive year-end progress report from faculty regarding your artistic and academic progress.

We accept three playwrights in our highly selective, three-year, tuition-free Fellowship program. Applications will be accepted until February 15. Please contact  Ana Candida-Carneiro, Phd with questions regarding the application process. 

If you are selected as a finalist, you will be interviewed in person or via an online platform by the head of the M.F.A. Playwriting program and two additional faculty members.

Learn how to apply

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Indiana University Southeast Indiana University Southeast IU Southeast

Creative Writing

• All courses and prerequisites fulfilling the requirements for minors or certificates in English must be completed with a grade of C or higher.
• The overall GPA for any English minor or certificate must be 3.0.
• English majors may count no more than two online and/or correspondence courses toward the minor or certificate. Students may request departmental consent for exception.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge of Craft Terms and Concepts: The student will become knowledgeable in essential craft terms and concepts in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.
• Competency in Creative Writing: The student will develop competency in creating original works in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.
• Competency in Revision: The student will be able to meaningfully revise original creative writing and incorporate suggestions from peers and instructors.
• Competency in Critiquing Creative Writing: The student will learn to meaningfully critique drafts of other student writers applying craft terms and concepts, participate in workshops, and prepare workshop reports.
• Competency in Analyzing Creative Writing: The student will be able to analyze works by major authors of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction in analytic essays and scholarly articles.
• Appreciation of Literature and Literary Culture: The student will develop aesthetic values and appreciate literature and literary culture by reading important works and analyzing them, participating in university and community events featuring readings and lectures, participating in the university and community literary scene, and attending cross-cultural and cross-media events such as plays and gallery shows, to understand the interrelatedness of the arts.

University Residency Requirement

Students must complete 50% of the required credit hours for a certificate in residence at IU Southeast. Some departments may have additional Residency requirements.

Creative Writing Specific Residency Requirement

English majors may count no more than two online and/or correspondence courses toward the minor or certificate. Students may request departmental consent for exception.

Creative Writing Certificate Requirements

Fifteen (15) credit hours including:

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Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

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Creative Writing

Creative Writing is the expression of one’s ideas, observations, and imagination through the genres of poetry and prose (including fiction and nonfiction). Students who pursue a B.A. with a concentration in Creative Writing or a minor in Creative Writing will work alongside award-winning faculty to learn the techniques of the craft, study published writers, create their own original work in a series of workshops, and craft courses designed to introduce students to the basics of each genre and allow for their individual growth as they advance in their practice.

Learn about our B.A. Creative Writing Concentration

Learn about our Creative Writing minor

Creative Writing faculty

The Creative Writing faculty is comprised of award-winning poets, playwrights, and fiction and nonfiction writers whose honors include fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations, the NEA Literature Fellowship in Fiction, the Kingsley Tufts Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the U.S. Artists Simon Fellowship, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. The faculty works closely with undergraduates and M.F.A. students in both creative writing workshops and traditional literature courses.

Meet the faculty

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• B.A., Creative Writing Concentration
• B.A., Cultural Studies Concentration
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Indiana University Indianapolis

Creative writing, faculty directory, administration faculty.

Robert Rebein

Professor of english director of the creative writing program.

Mitchell L. H. Douglas

Associate professor of english.

Hannah J. Haas

Teaching professor in english.

Terry A. Kirts

Senior lecturer in english.

Karen Kovacik

Professor of english director of english graduate studies.

Sarah Layden

Assistant professor of english, adjunct faculty.

Associate Professor in English

Related links.

• School of Liberal Arts Directory

How to Become a Writer in Indiana with a BFA, MFA or Similar Creative Writing Degree

Created by CreativeWritingEDU.org Contributor

When asked where he found inspiration for his work, a great writer born and raised in Indianapolis replied:

“… I was goofing around like everybody else in Indiana, and all of a sudden stuff came gushing out. It was disgust with civilization.”

A sardonic sarcastic prevailing-narrative-challenging wit bordering on the vulgar, anyone from the Hoosier State will easily recognize the person behind that quote as the chain-smoking Kurt Vonnegut.

Maybe it’s because Indianapolis gets more rain than London. Maybe it’s because Indiana is a place where legislatures felt compelled to pass a law that makes it illegal for employers to implant microchips into their employees. Maybe it’s that it’s home to the nation’s first successful goldfish farm.

Stir the state’s eccentric facts together and it’s one explanation for how a mind like Vonnegut’s might emerge to write greats like Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions . Or maybe it’s more nature than nurture with Vonnegut.

Quaker writer Mary Jessamyn West was born in Jennings County, and her style of writing is completely different from Vonnegut’s. Her best-known book The Friendly Persuasion , set in a Quaker family farm, was published at the end of World War II and made into a movie of the same name staring Gary Cooper.

Fast forward to the present and Indianapolis-born resident-author John Green is altogether different from West and Vonnegut, debuting his talents on today’s most popular digital media platforms. His novels have made the number-one spot on the New York Times bestseller list – all five of them – with 24 million copies being published in over 55 languages.

It’s not that there’s a magic recipe for how to become an established professional writer in Indiana, it’s that it’s possible, and degree in creative writing can make the difference – whether it’s a BA or MA in English or an esteemed BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) or MFA (Master of Fine Arts) with a focus in creative writing.

Indiana’s Golden Age of Literature

If you answered, Indiana , then you’re correct; specifically, Indiana during its golden age of literature roughly between 1880 and 1920, a signature time in American neo-romanticism.

It could be said that Lew Wallace kick-started Indiana’s golden age with his all-time best seller Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ , published towards the end of 1880. It was an epic filled with action, adventure, spiritual references, and romanticism. By the 1890s Indiana-native James Whitcomb Riley was the most popular poet in the nation. Booth Tarkington, another Hoosier, published some of his best novels in 1899, 1918, and 1921. The later two each won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, placing Tarkington in the same league as Faulkner, Updike, and Whitehead.

A number of theories have been considered to explain why Indiana of all states experienced such a literary renaissance. For one, its state history leading up to its golden age was heavily influenced by the Second Great Awakening, a Protestant movement that swept through the Midwest and established a strong writing, oratory, and publishing framework.

In the wake of the recent Civil War Indiana was also seen as being a last bastion of rustic wholesome Americana; a place that had not been as relatively radicalized by war as other states in the nation. This was a view held by many Americans as they read Indiana authors, which perhaps made space for one last nostalgic indulgence into romantic literature.

Whatever stars had aligned, Indiana’s romantic golden age quickly faded after the end of the First World War as simple American romanticism was replaced by a zeitgeist of technological innovation, exemplified by the thousands of cars that were being churned out of post-war factories.

It’s been just over a hundred years since the last literary golden age in Indiana. It’s high time for the next. Maybe you’ll be a part of it?

Indiana’s Creative Writing Classes, Courses and Workshops Can Prepare You for a Creative Writing Degree

There are many things standing between a green-behind-the-ears writer attending a workshop and the published author who’s up on the stage. The most significant of those, and the one that you have the most control over, is practice.

Fortunately, in Indiana there are many opportunities to hone your writing skills, you just need to take advantage of them.

The Indianapolis Writers Meetup convenes every week and serves as a venue where professionally-aspiring writers can share critiques of their work.

The Indiana Writers Center sponsors classes, workshops, and its own publications. Inwords features original anthologies and titles by members, while Flying Island is the center’s online literary journal that accepts submissions from authors with ties to the Midwest. It’s based in Indianapolis.

The Fort Wayne Writers Guild’s mission is to support local creative writing artists through groups, meetings, and community-based activities that advance the literary arts. It hosts a range of events throughout the greater Fort Wayne region.

If you live near Evansville then check out the Midwest Writers Guild. It does book events, publishes its own literary journal, and participates in the Franklin Street Bazaar every year. Monthly meetings for writers are held at a local bookstore.

It’s only natural that once you start cranking out material that’s good, you’re going to need a publisher. Indiana has plenty of those too.

Tanglewood Publishing in Indianapolis prides itself on discovering authors with a spark; those who will be critically acclaimed tomorrow but who have been passed over by undiscerning publishers today. With a nod towards its niche that values creativity in children’s writing, it describes itself as a publisher of good books for bad children.

Ave Maria Press is a major Catholic book publisher based in Indianapolis. It was founded by the same French priest who established the University of Notre Dame and St. Joseph’s Parish in South Bend.

Nearing its 20 th anniversary, Indianapolis-based Blue River Press, with Cardinal Publishers Group as its distributor, publishes authors who write on subjects from sports and YA to travel and pop culture.

If you live in Indiana, you can spend a lifetime staying busy with all of the writing opportunities that abound. However, it’s one thing to stay busy. It’s another to write professionally.

Writing Colleges in Indiana Offering Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Creative Writing Provide a Path to Becoming a Writer

Writing groups, open-mic poetry readings, and local journals that publish your work are all a lot of fun. But there’s a difference between having fun as a creative writer and making a career out of it. That’s where a degree in creative writing, including BFA and MFA options, come into the picture.

When you were a kid maybe you shot hoops with the neighbor down the street. You might’ve thought you were pretty good…until you played the kid who was in a professional league.

It’s the same with creative writing: there are writing groups that meet at the local coffee shop, and then there are college-level writing classes that are taught by successful professional writers and publishers with decades of experience.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Other Bachelor’s Degrees in Creative Writing in Indiana

Butler university.

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

Accreditation: HLC

Degree: Bachelor – BA

Private School

• English-Creative Writing track

Franklin College

• Creative Writing

Purdue University-Main Campus

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

Public School

Saint Mary’s College

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

University of Evansville

WILLIAM L. RIDGWAY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Degree: Bachelor – BFA

University of Indianapolis

SHAHEEN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

University of Notre Dame

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

• English-Creative Writing concentration

Valparaiso University

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Other Master’s Degrees in Creative Writing in Indiana

Degree: Master – MFA

Indiana University-Bloomington

Butler University

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MFA in Creative Writing

A premier program, designed for you.

Our MFA curriculum is customized to fit your artistic and professional interests in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

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A home for writing in the Midwest.

Butler University’s 36-hour MFA in Creative Writing program is supported by a lively Indianapolis literary community. You’ll have opportunities to edit content for our literary magazine , have coffee or a meal with guests of the Visiting Writers Series , and work with top-flight, full-time faculty. The Efroymson Center for Creative Writing, one of the few such dedicated writing centers at any university, provides a cozy home for classes, quiet writing space, or after-hours socializing. Many graduates say they never want to leave the program, noting our emphasis on community over competition.

In addition to building a foundation through graduate workshops in your home genre, you’ll have the opportunity to choose from in-depth elective courses, such as screenwriting, young adult fiction, literary editing, publishing, and teaching creative writing. As a full-time student, you can finish program requirements—10 courses and six hours of formal thesis work—in just two years.

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MFA in Creative Writing FAQs

Butler’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing enhances creative and professional proficiency in the literary arts. Through various fiction and nonfiction writing workshops and enriching lectures by prominent writers and faculty, students are mentored through the diversely creative 36-credit hour program. Butler’s MFA in Creative Writing teaches techniques in all genres and spaces of writing, such as poetry, electives in screenwriting, teaching creative writing, alternative forms, graphic novel, young adult fiction, poetic craft, and literary editing and publishing.

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Our Mission

The Butler MFA Program in Creative Writing is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive learning environment that gives each student the tools with which to build a life as a writer and as a citizen of the literary world. In welcoming writers of diverse backgrounds and experiences, and in emphasizing the value both of intense apprenticeship to the craft of writing and service to the community, we aim to be a program that is reflective of, and responsive to, the larger world of which it is a part.

Experienced Faculty

All our faculty are actively publishing writers with strong regional and national reputations in their fields. We have six full-time tenured faculty in creative writing, who have published more than 20 books and countless shorter works in literary and popular journals.

A Focus on Service

All MFA candidates participate in community service projects. Some mentor high school storytellers through Writing in the Schools, or coach students in grades 3–12 during our summer camps and Bridge Program. Through our Creative Writing for Wellness Initiative, students can also teach in hospitals, senior citizen centers, alternative high schools, and prisons.

Student Success

Our students and alumni are a widely diverse group—in age, genre interests, and professional backgrounds. But they all love writing and enjoy supporting one another, and we don’t mind bragging about them.

Visiting Writers Series

The Butler Department of English regularly hosts public readings and Q&A sessions with some of the most influential people in contemporary literature.

Since opening its doors in December 2011, The Efroymson Center for Creative Writing has hosted MFA courses, poetry luncheons, public readings, and literary discussions. It also provides workspace for visiting writers, students, faculty, and alumni. Formerly an elegant private residence, the building was purchased and remodeled with a $1 million donation from the Efroymson Family Fund.

Efroymson Center for Creative Writing 530 West Hampton Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46208

317-940-8733

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Creative Writing

USI’s creative writing faculty includes award-winning published writers committed to teaching undergraduate writing. Opportunities to professionalize and contribute to the literary community at USI abound; creative writing students are encouraged to join the  Student Writers Union , work as editors for  FishHook  (a student literary magazine), and intern for the nationally recognized literary journal,  The Southern Indiana Review .  Additionally, the  Southern Indiana Reading Series , coordinated by creative writing faculty, brings to campus 2-3 highly acclaimed writers each semester. These writers often visit creative writing classes, so students get to interact with them in a classroom setting, an invaluable experience.   As a creative writing student, you’ll not only learn a set of transferable job skills, you’ll find a community of peers and teachers who share your serious interest in, and dedication to, the art and craft of creative writing.

By choosing this program, you’ll graduate with a better understanding of how stories, poems, and essays are crafted, as well as a greater appreciation of literature in general. In honing your writing, reading, and analytical abilities, you’ll leave with a concrete set of skills applicable to any number of careers. You’ll graduate from USI with an understanding of the major socio-historical contexts informing the study of American/British literature, an understanding of the distinctions between major literary genres, and you’ll have developed as an emerging professional with skills and habits of mind that will help you achieve success in further study in the discipline and your profession. You will have become a multi-dimensional reader, thinker, and writer.

Creative Writing Programs

The English Department offers a major in English with a creative writing emphasis, as well as a minor and a certificate in creative writing.

The major in English with a creative writing emphasis culminates in a  Bachelor of Arts degree , which requires 12 semester hours in the same foreign language or demonstration of proficiency at that level of study.  Or a Bachelor of Science degree, in lieu of the language proficiency, Bachelor of Science students will complete the following requirements as part of Core 39: two natural science courses; one social science course; and a world languages and culture course. Please see the Core 39 website  for more detail.

2024 Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows selected to advance research, creative projects

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A signature Indiana University program that amplifies and accelerates the work of outstanding arts and humanities faculty recently selected its latest cohort. The Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellowship is an annual program that supports the work of IU faculty who are improving society and revitalizing communities through their research and creative activity, and poised to become national and international leaders in their fields.

Supported by the IU Office of the President and IU Research, and administered by the university’s assistant vice president for research, the fellowship awards $50,000 of flexible funding to each recipient to support a variety of needs as they pursue innovative research and creative projects. President Pamela Whitten started the program in 2022.

Along with funding, recipients gain access to professional development programming and advanced training in the areas of grant writing, scholarly communication with the public, media training and digital scholarship, among other specialized trainings.

The goal of the IU Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellowship program is to amplify and promote the rich and diverse opportunities within the arts and humanities at Indiana University and to ensure the recipients have continued success as they make impactful changes in their fields and in local, national and international communities.

“Congratulations to the 2024 Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows,” Whitten said. “The recipients of this fellowship exemplify the standard that is set by our faculty at Indiana University, which has long been a leader in the arts and humanities. This fellowship represents the university’s steadfast commitment to supporting the pursuit of transformative research and creativity across our campuses, which helps us better understand the world and revitalizes communities.”

The 2024 IU Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellows are:

Allison Baker

Allison Baker is an associate professor of fine arts in the Herron School of Art and Design on IIU’s Indianapolis campus. She will construct a body of work and monumental public sculptures that memorialize the complexities of late-stage capitalism, illuminating the aspirations and struggles of the American working class and working poor.

Baker seeks to build monuments that challenge dominant narratives, humanize the ripple effects of poverty and create work that the American working class and working poor can see as a reflection of their own experiences in galleries and museums, which are spaces where they are seldom represented.

Emily Beckman

Emily Beckman is an associate professor and director of the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program in the School of Liberal Arts on the Indianapolis campus. Beckman is co-founder of Build Community Give Care, a nonprofit organization that provides compassionate end-of-life care in Africa.

She will use the funding to support research addressing the need for palliative care education in Uganda. Outcomes will include a better understanding of the pathways available for palliative care education and access in Uganda, solutions for better retention in these educational programs and the development of medical humanities curricula at IU.

Catherine Bowman

Catherine Bowman , professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, is an award-winning poet, author of several collections of poetry and the editor of “Word of Mouth: Poems Featured on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered.’”

Bowman will use the fellowship funding for travel and archival research to make significant progress on her sixth poetry collection, tentatively titled “Volver, Volver: An Underworld Intergenre Pilgrimage.” The collection will imagine and recount various underworld encounters with several generations of women.

Andrew Goldman

Andrew Goldman is an assistant professor of music in music theory at the Jacobs School of Music and assistant professor of cognitive science in the College of Arts and Sciences. He directs the IU Music and Mind Lab , an interdisciplinary research group that investigates music perception and cognition and the role of music in the human condition.

Goldman will use the fellowship funding to explore the critical challenges and contributions of incorporating cognitive science into music studies. He will research how music cognition researchers’ historical and cultural situations have influenced their scientific work and the nature of their findings.

Raiford Guins

Raiford Guins is a professor and the director of Cinema and Media Studies at The Media School in Bloomington. He is also an adjunct professor of informatics. He plans to use the funds to support research travel that will aid in the development of his book, tentatively titled “Museum Games.”

The book will explore the emerging area of games and gaming culture in museums, libraries and archives worldwide. For example, the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, recently completed a $70 million expansion, while The Nintendo Museum plans its long-anticipated opening in Kyoto, Japan, in 2024. Guins will detail the relatively new phenomenon of gaming museums and preservation from an academic perspective.

Lisa Lenoir

Lisa Lenoir is an assistant professor who teaches courses in The Media School’s new Fashion Media Program in Bloomington. Her research examines contemporary cultural phenomena in media discourses in journalism studies, activism and identity, and consumer culture.

Lenoir will use the funds to research the life and work of Chicago Defender journalist Mattie Smith Colin, a fashion and food editor who covered the return of Emmett Till’s body from Mississippi to Chicago in 1955. Lenoir will collect oral histories from people who knew Colin and review archival materials, compiling her findings into a digital bibliography.

Anja Matwijkiw

Anja Matwijkiw is a professor of philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Northwest and affiliated faculty in the Institute for European Studies at IU Bloomington. She will use the funds to explore stakeholder philosophy and international law as it pertains to the United Nations rule of law.

Linda Pisano

Linda Pisano is chair and professor in the Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington. Her fellowship is sponsored by the Big Ten Academic Alliance and the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs.

Pisano will use the fellowship funding to research methods and mechanisms in cultivating new audiences, patrons and donors of the arts and humanities on university campuses during increasingly difficult times. Her research will include investigating interest in community outreach, education, socio-political advocacy and identity, among other areas. Pisano hopes to ensure that universities are communicating the value of arts and humanities as fundamental to their institutional identity and the public spaces they occupy.

Spencer Steenblik

Spencer Steenblik is an assistant professor of comprehensive design at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design in Bloomington. He will use the funds to develop several projects, including producing and testing an innovative structural joint and pursuing a patent. The main goals are to develop full-scale experimental structures and installations that test new materials, technologies and design approaches and to highlight the need for more opportunities for young practitioners to engage in similar types of hands-on innovation.

The previous cohort of fellows made advancements across a multitude of disciplines with the funding and resources provided by the IU Presidential Arts and Humanities Fellowship, including composing a chamber music and AI opera that will premiere next year and erecting a floating monument that spotlights underrepresented communities in Chicago.

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Creative Writing Program Marks Three Decades of Growth, Diversity

By Luisa A. Igloria

2024: a milestone year which marks the 30 th  anniversary of Old Dominion University’s MFA Creative Writing Program. Its origins can be said to go back to April 1978, when the English Department’s (now Professor Emeritus, retired) Phil Raisor organized the first “Poetry Jam,” in collaboration with Pulitzer prize-winning poet W.D. Snodgrass (then a visiting poet at ODU). Raisor describes this period as “ a heady time .” Not many realize that from 1978 to 1994, ODU was also the home of AWP (the Association of Writers and Writing Programs) until it moved to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

The two-day celebration that was “Poetry Jam” has evolved into the annual ODU Literary Festival, a week-long affair at the beginning of October bringing writers of local, national, and international reputation to campus. The ODU Literary Festival is among the longest continuously running literary festivals nationwide. It has featured Rita Dove, Maxine Hong Kingston, Susan Sontag, Edward Albee, John McPhee, Tim O’Brien, Joy Harjo, Dorothy Allison, Billy Collins, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sabina Murray, Jane Hirshfield, Brian Turner, S.A. Cosby, Nicole Sealey, Franny Choi, Ross Gay, Adrian Matejka, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Ilya Kaminsky, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Jose Olivarez, and Ocean Vuong, among a roster of other luminaries. MFA alumni who have gone on to publish books have also regularly been invited to read.

From an initial cohort of 12 students and three creative writing professors, ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program has grown to anywhere between 25 to 33 talented students per year. Currently they work with a five-member core faculty (Kent Wascom, John McManus, and Jane Alberdeston in fiction; and Luisa A. Igloria and Marianne L. Chan in poetry). Award-winning writers who made up part of original teaching faculty along with Raisor (but are now also either retired or relocated) are legends in their own right—Toi Derricotte, Tony Ardizzone, Janet Peery, Scott Cairns, Sheri Reynolds, Tim Seibles, and Michael Pearson. Other faculty that ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program was privileged to briefly have in its ranks include Molly McCully Brown and Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley.

"What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively and supportive cohort, and friendships that last beyond time spent here." — Luisa A. Igloria, Louis I. Jaffe Endowed Professor & University Professor of English and Creative Writing at Old Dominion University

Our student body is diverse — from all over the country as well as from closer by. Over the last ten years, we’ve also seen an increase in the number of international students who are drawn to what our program has to offer: an exciting three-year curriculum of workshops, literature, literary publishing, and critical studies; as well as opportunities to teach in the classroom, tutor in the University’s Writing Center, coordinate the student reading series and the Writers in Community outreach program, and produce the student-led literary journal  Barely South Review . The third year gives our students more time to immerse themselves in the completion of a book-ready creative thesis. And our students’ successes have been nothing but amazing. They’ve published with some of the best (many while still in the program), won important prizes, moved into tenured academic positions, and been published in global languages. What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively and supportive cohort, and friendships that last beyond time spent here.

Our themed studio workshops are now offered as hybrid/cross genre experiences. My colleagues teach workshops in horror, speculative and experimental fiction, poetry of place, poetry and the archive — these give our students so many more options for honing their skills. And we continue to explore ways to collaborate with other programs and units of the university. One of my cornerstone projects during my term as 20 th  Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth was the creation of a Virginia Poets Database, which is not only supported by the University through the Perry Library’s Digital Commons, but also by the MFA Program in the form of an assistantship for one of our students. With the awareness of ODU’s new integration with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and its impact on other programs, I was inspired to design and pilot a new 700-level seminar on “Writing the Body Fantastic: Exploring Metaphors of Human Corporeality.” In the fall of 2024, I look forward to a themed graduate workshop on “Writing (in) the Anthropocene,” where my students and I will explore the subject of climate precarity and how we can respond in our own work.

Even as the University and wider community go through shifts and change through time, the MFA program has grown with resilience and grace. Once, during the six years (2009-15) that I directed the MFA Program, a State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) university-wide review amended the guidelines for what kind of graduate student would be allowed to teach classes (only those who had  already  earned 18 or more graduate credits). Thus, two of our first-year MFA students at that time had to be given another assignment for their Teaching Assistantships. I thought of  AWP’s hallmarks of an effective MFA program , which lists the provision of editorial and publishing experience to its students through an affiliated magazine or press — and immediately sought department and upper administration support for creating a literary journal. This is what led to the creation of our biannual  Barely South Review  in 2009.

In 2010,  HuffPost  and  Poets & Writers  listed us among “ The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs ” (better underrated than overrated, right?) — and while our MFA Creative Writing Program might be smaller than others, we do grow good writers here. When I joined the faculty in 1998, I was excited by the high caliber of both faculty and students. Twenty-five years later, I remain just as if not more excited, and look forward to all the that awaits us in our continued growth.

This essay was originally published in the Spring 2024 edition of Barely South Review , ODU’s student-led literary journal. The University’s growing MFA in Creative Writing program connects students with a seven-member creative writing faculty in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

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