Workshops, Electives & Independent Studies

Workshops

Workshops are at the core of our curriculum. Students typically take three workshops in their primary genre and one in another genre, but students with multiple-genre/hybrid genre interests may consult with the MFA director regarding the most productive workshop schedule for their particular aesthetic goals.  The program also will begin regularly offering creative writing seminars that a student may take alongside, or in substitution for, workshops, decisions to be freely made in consultation with the MFA director. Students in their first semester may not take more than one workshop (ENGL 5560) except with permission of the MFA director. Students, in consultation with the MFA director, may choose to take more than the four required workshops, but a student should take no more than a total of seven workshops and creative writing seminars (including both semester-long workshops/seminars and short intensive workshops/seminars) during their time in the program. Manuscript consultations, master classes, and other non-credit opportunities with visiting writers are not included in the seven-workshop/seminar total.

Electives

Beyond workshops and creative writing seminars, MFA students take several elective courses as well as credits towards the MFA project (see “MFA Project” for details on that requirement).  Students may take electives in any department or program across campus.  Students with strong interests in another discipline or field are welcome to concentrate their non-workshop coursework in that area if it serves their creative goals.  Students should work in close consultation with the MFA director in mapping out their elective coursework.

Teaching-Related Coursework

Students teaching first-year composition are required to take ENGL 5010 in their first semester, and to take ENGL 5900 in every semester in which they teach 1010. Students who are teaching a course other than ENGL 1010 will be required to take a similar mentoring credit with a teaching mentor selected in consultation with the MFA director.  This credit will replace the ENGL 5900 requirement in that semester. Students with equivalent graduate-level coursework, or with a graduate teaching degree, may have the option to waive ENGL 5010.  Students in this case should consult with the MFA director before the semester begins; the MFA director will discuss the waiver with the director of 1010.

Independent Studies

A few words about requests from the MFA faculty.  We are deeply committed to helping you flourish while in the program, and seek to foster the well-being of our entire writing community. 

This means that faculty are devoted to your growth as a writer—and to our own work as writers.  In fact, these are complementary values in that quality teaching and mentorship of writers entails an active writing life on the part of the teacher/mentor. 

The MFA faculty focus our energy on workshops as the primary mode of teaching.  Independent Studies necessarily draw time away from the communal activity of workshops.   As such, individualized courses are not generally the optimal use of limited instructional time, unless there is no other course in which a line of inquiry can be pursued by a student.  In addition, all UW faculty who direct Independent Studies do so on top of their assigned teaching responsibilities.  So please understand that faculty may not be able to support every Independent Study request despite our pleasure in working one-on-one with motivated students.

Faculty Requests

Please understand that your request for faculty to read a work in progress represents a significant investment of time.  The faculty take such feedback seriously, so a ‘quick read’ is not usually possible.  With 20-or so students in the program at any given time, please limit your requests for unstructured reading by faculty and understand that such requests may not be possible to fulfill—or the turnaround time may be longer than desired.