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Creative Writing (CWRIT_BFA)
Program transfer requirements:.
Campus Options: (Start at any Commonwealth campus and Finish: Behrend)
Major Requirements: No additional requirements.
General Requirements
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Majors in the Behrend College may be started at any Penn State campus and are completed at Penn State Erie, and require a minimum 2.0 GPA (unless otherwise noted) . Applicants with less than two years of course work will enter the college in a pre-major status and gain entrance to their major on completion of the entrance to major requirements for their intended major, which is typically at the end of the sophomore year.
Tuition Advisory
Please be advised that a student’s tuition will increase when the Penn State transcript reflects 59.1 cumulative credits. Credits earned from tests, like AP or IB exams, are considered transfer credits and are included in the cumulative credit total. If the credits you are transferring or have transferred to Penn State place you above 59.1 cumulative credits after the start of the semester, your tuition will increase immediately. You will receive a bill for the additional tuition on the first day of the following month. For more information, visit the Office of the Bursar's website
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Creative Writing
The English Major with a Concentration in Creative Writing provides students with a solid grounding in literature as well as advanced study in creative writing. Penn’s premier undergraduate creative writing program includes courses in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, writing for children, journalistic writing, and review.
The English Major with a Concentration in Creative Writing consists of 13 courses distibuted as follows:
- 6 courses to complete the English Core
- 3 Creative Writing Seminars—any courses within these ranges: ENGL 0051, 0700-0799, or 3000-3999
- 1 course from The One Series (anything within this range: ENGL 4500-4998)
- 1 Literature Seminar in either Literature Before 1700 (a course with the AEB7 attribute) or Literature Before 1900 (a course with the AEB9 attribute)
- 1 Literature Seminar in any area (this can be an additional Creative Writing Seminar)
- Elective(s)
If you are interested in this concentration, please contact Julia Bloch, Director of Creative Writing ( [email protected] ).
Our faculty of award-winning writers teach more than sixty workshops each year in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, speculative writing, journalism, playwriting, screenwriting, and writing for children and young adults. We also offer a number of innovative workshops in cross-genre, experimental, and hybrid writing, including writing that engages with community organizing, multimedia and visual arts, and performance. Our program is home to for-credit apprenticeships and programs in independent study, a number of student honors and awards, and events throughout the year that are open to the public.
Creative Writing courses as well as the Creative Writing Minor and the Journalistic Writing Minor are open to any student in the four undergraduate schools (College, Wharton, Engineering, Nursing) or in the College of Liberal and Professional Studies. Additionally, English majors can choose to concentrate in Creative Writing, one of the most popular paths in the English major.
The Creative Writing Program invites visiting writers to the Penn campus for readings and talks, often at the renowned and hospitable literary hub Kelly Writers House. Recent visitors have included poets, fiction writers, screenwriters, playwrights, and memoirists, including Claudia Rankine , John Keene , Margaret Christakos , Rachel Levitsky , Divya Victor , Jenny Zhang , Scott Neustadter , Elizabeth Willis , Maria Dahvana Headley , Bhanu Kapil , Nicole Dennis-Benn , Will Alexander , Edwin Torres , Yolanda Wisher , Paul Lisicky , Madeleine George , Daniel Saldaña París , Rob Sheffield , Lesley Nneka Arimah , Eduardo Espina , and Patterson Hood . We have also hosted a robust roster of journalists from The Washington Post , ProPublica , Politico , The New Yorker , The New York Times, The Atlantic , and elsewhere, including Karen Heller , Brooke Borel , Michael Sokolove , Matthew Nusbaum , Alec MacGillis , Charles M. Blow , Paul Waldman , Ada Calhoun , Patrick Kerkstra , Ariel Levy , and Jennifer Lin .
Rising seniors are encouraged to apply to our Creative Writing Honors Program, through which students complete a capstone project under consultation of a faculty advisor. Through RealArts@Penn , students are given the opportunity to engage with alumni in writing-related careers and to apply for paid summer internships in creative fields across the country. Each spring, the Creative Writing Program sponsors university-wide writing contests in several categories: poetry, fiction, review, scriptwriting, creative nonfiction, journalistic writing, and translation.
Related Programs and Groups
- Penn's Creative Writing Program
- Kelly Writers House
Concentrations
The Penn State English major now offers concentrations in four subject areas:
Literary & Cultural Studies
Creative writing, professional & media writing, rhetoric & writing.
English majors are not required to select a concentration, but they are strongly encouraged to do so.
To fulfill a concentration, a student must take at least four classes from the courses listed under an individual concentration. The four courses required for a concentration will also fulfill four of the five prescribed electives for the major. Additionally, future sections of ENGL 487W (Senior Seminar) will be matched to a concentration. Students are encouraged to choose a senior seminar from their selected concentration.
The concentrations envision a flexible major with the potential for focused individualized study. Selecting a concentration will provide a blueprint for choosing electives toward a more strategic course profile that targets post-degree goals. By fulfilling a concentration students can also build useful peer and faculty networks as they manage their degree requirements.
Upon graduation students can request a certificate for a completed concentration. Contact Kim Johnson for additional information.
Students are encouraged to focus on a single concentration and may receive certification in no more than two concentrations.
Creative Writing at PENN STATE
130 Years of Writing in (and about) Penn State
For more about the history of these and other Penn State writers, stop by Burrowes Building’s fourth floor display case, which has a new design and new material, just in time to inspire Penn State students writers for the new semester. In addition to learning about Heller and Pattee, you’ll see information about and books by Theodore Roethke, Joseph L. Grucci, John Barth, Diane Ackerman, Agah Shahid Ali, and Robin Becker.
The project was created as collaboration between Director of Creative Writing Julia Spicher Kasdorf and Sophia Alexander, a design major with a creative writing minor. Sophia is in her last semester here at Penn State and she will use this project in her design portfolio as she searches for jobs this semester. Professor Kasdorf notes: “My hope in putting this together is that students will see themselves as part of this long and rich tradition of people writing works of literature in this place.”
Article written by Alison Jaenicke
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Writing, Minor
Program Code: WRTNG_UMNR
At which campus can I study this program?
Requirements for a minor may be completed at any campus location offering the specified courses for the minor. Students may not change from a campus that offers their major to a campus that does not offer their major for the purpose of completing a minor.
Program Description
Writing is valued as a mode of learning, as a means of expression, and as a skill highly desirable in the workplace. Personal development, interpersonal communication, and professional marketability may all be enhanced by the further study and practice of writing. For these reasons, the Writing minor offers students from virtually every discipline across the University an opportunity to learn more about a wide variety of writing: informative/persuasive, professional, and creative, while improving their own writing skills through hands-on writing experiences. In addition to offering students opportunities to study and practice different types of writing, the minor affords students the opportunity to write for/in different media, producing both print and electronic texts.
Program Requirements
For the Writing minor, a total of 18 credits is required. Students may not count courses used to satisfy General Education Writing/Speaking Skills.
Requirements for the Minor
A grade of C or better is required for all courses in the minor, as specified by Senate Policy 59-10 . In addition, at least six credits of the minor must be unique from the prescribed courses required by a student's major(s).
At least 3 credits of Additional/Supporting courses must be taken at the 400 level.
Academic Advising
The objectives of the university's academic advising program are to help advisees identify and achieve their academic goals, to promote their intellectual discovery, and to encourage students to take advantage of both in-and out-of class educational opportunities in order that they become self-directed learners and decision makers.
Both advisers and advisees share responsibility for making the advising relationship succeed. By encouraging their advisees to become engaged in their education, to meet their educational goals, and to develop the habit of learning, advisers assume a significant educational role. The advisee's unit of enrollment will provide each advisee with a primary academic adviser, the information needed to plan the chosen program of study, and referrals to other specialized resources.
READ SENATE POLICY 32-00: ADVISING POLICY
Maggie Gerrity, Ph.D. Program Coordinator Olmsted Building, W355 Middletown, PA 17057 717-948-6629 [email protected]
Liliana Naydan Assistant Professor, English 1600 Woodland Road Abington, PA 19001 215-881-7585 [email protected]
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES Olmsted Building, W356 Middletown, PA 17057 717-948-6189 [email protected]
https://harrisburg.psu.edu/humanities/writing-minor
DIVISION OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES 1600 Woodland Road Abington, PA 19001 215-881-7585 [email protected]
https://www.abington.psu.edu/campus-directory/liliana-naydan
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A B.F.A. in Creative Writing can lead to a variety of careers. Graduates of Penn State Behrend's program publish their writing widely. They also work as technical writers, communications coordinators, copy editors, editors of presses, marketing directors, project managers, media associates, university professors, teachers, lawyers, librarians ...
Matthew Salesses Visits Penn State. Published by Alison Jaenicke on March 1, 2024 | Leave a response. During a visit to Penn State the week of February 19, award-winning novelist Matthew Salesses interacted with students and faculty during a fiction-writing class visit, a panel discussion on the […] Posted in Events, Reading Series, Students.
Penn State Behrend's international literary journal. Entrance to Major In order to be eligible for entrance to this major, a student must: 1.attain at least a C (2.00) cumulative grade-point average for all ... For the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, a minimum of 121 credits is required: Requirement Credits General Education 45
Creative Writing blends the practical and the ideal as it gives you the space and challenge to explore and develop your creative talent. This concentration allows you to explore equally the different forms of creative writing - fiction, poetry, and nonfiction - or to focus primarily on one of them. You can also develop a specific ...
Creative Writing. Our accomplished faculty writers have earned some of the most prestigious writing awards and honors, including Guggenheim, NEA, Ingram Merrill, Stegner, Dobie-Paisano, Bunting and Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowships; Lamda Literary, Whiting Writers and O. Henry Awards, as well as numerous Pushcart Prizes. They have been in ...
English refers to a broad field of study related to literature, professional writing, creative writing, and rhetoric. Majors develop critical thinking skills and produce influential academic, creative, professional, and digital texts. They learn to analyze genres, texts, and contexts that involve, for instance, race, class, gender, sexuality ...
General Requirements. Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Majors in the Behrend College may be started at any Penn State campus and are completed at Penn State Erie, and require a minimum 2.0 GPA (unless otherwise noted).Applicants with less than two years of course work will enter the college in a pre-major status and gain entrance to their major on completion of the entrance to major ...
Penn State Creative Writing Links: English Department's Undergraduate Writing Contests. Academy of American Poetry (AAP) ... What Else Can I Do with My Degree in Creative Writing?" Mar 20 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm. Reading and Book Party for Sheila Squillante's "All Things Edible, Random and Odd" Mar 21
BA/MA Graduate Program in Creative Writing Since 2013, the English Department has offered an integrated undergraduate/graduate degree in English with a creative writing concentration. Designed for highly motivated students to hone their skills in poetry or prose (fiction and creative nonfiction), this full-residency program is open to all Penn State students. Both degrees are completed […]
Emmanuela Eneh is a second-year BA/MA student with a fiction concentration and English Major. She was born in Enugu, Nigeria before moving to London, England and then New York, New York where she spent most of her childhood. As a middle school student, Emmanuela moved to State College, Pennsylvania where she was inspired to enroll in Penn State ...
Brandywine faculty regularly offer the following courses for the Creative Writing Concentration: ENGL 50: Introduction to Creative Writing (GA) ENGL 209: Journal or Magazine Practicum (1-6) ENGL 212: Introduction to Fiction Writing. ENGL 213: Introduction to Poetry Writing. ENGL 414: Biographical Writing. ENGL 416: Science Writing.
Penn State Altoona. A full-service, four-year, residential campus located less than 45 miles from the research campus at University Park. Offering 21 four-year degrees and the first two years of over 275 Penn State majors. Learn about the concentration in creative writing for Penn State Altoona's English program.
Required one hour a week meeting time; readings, professional development, advising, community-building. ENGL 006 Creative Writing Common Time (1 per semester/maximum of 8) This course is to be required of all B.F.A. in Creative Writing majors at Penn State Erie as long as they are students in that degree program.
Penn's premier undergraduate creative writing program includes courses in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, writing for children, journalistic writing, and review. The English Major with a Concentration in Creative Writing consists of 13 courses distibuted as follows: 6 courses to complete the English Core.
The Penn State English major now offers concentrations in four subject areas: Literary & Cultural Studies Literary & Cultural Studies gives you access to historical and emergent traditions of literature, culture and thought. Creative Writing Creative Writing blends the practical and the ideal as it gives you the space and challenge to explore and develop […]
The project was created as collaboration between Director of Creative Writing Julia Spicher Kasdorf and Sophia Alexander, a design major with a creative writing minor. Sophia is in her last semester here at Penn State and she will use this project in her design portfolio as she searches for jobs this semester. Professor Kasdorf notes: "My ...
Some courses may require prerequisites. Scheduling Recommendation by Semester Standing given like (Sem: 1-2) Requirements for the Minor: 18 credits. For questions or more information, please contact Dr. Tom Noyes , Professor of English and Creative Writing, at [email protected] or 814-898-6209.
Our Masters of Creative Writing degree program offers comprehensive online courses in literary arts, encompassing advanced writing studies in various genres such as fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and more. Students benefit from one-on-one mentorship with renowned and published writers in their respective genres, providing invaluable guidance and support to hone their craft.
Penn State; People; Departments; Search. ... and creative, while improving their own writing skills through hands-on writing experiences. In addition to offering students opportunities to study and practice different types of writing, the minor affords students the opportunity to write for/in different media, producing both print and electronic ...