Degree jumps 55 spots to rank No. 49
With award-winning graduate students, published alumni and professors, the university’s Master of Fine Arts program now boasts a spot in Poets and Writers top 50 MFA programs in the nation.
“We were thrilled that the word is getting out [about the program],” said MFA director and creative-writing professor Elise Blackwell of the recent honor. “We’ve always been known regionally for our strong, small program but as more students graduate and make themselves known in the literary community, we’re slowly going from regional to national and international recognition.”
Established in 1991, USC’s MFA program barely made it onto the publication’s 2012 list at No. 49, up 55 spots from last year’s ranking of 104. The program also ranked second in favorable student-faculty ratio, 18 in total funding, 48 in poetry and 49 in fiction. Poets and Writers is the only national ranking system for such programs, and schools are judged based on popularity among surveyed graduate school applicants. Blackwell hopes the new rank will both bolster student application and attract new professors to the program.
“We’re getting fantastic applications from students around the country,” Blackwell said. “This will bring more quality student English teachers, which will benefit undergraduate students as well.”
The MFA program offers tracks in poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and emphasizes experience in teaching, editing and literary discussion in creative writing. Published faculty and visiting writers include novelist and short-fiction writer David Bajo, Emmy-winning poet and playwright Kwame Dawes and essayist and editor David Gessner. Former and current students have published in several literary journals, from The Southeast Review to The London Magazine and have earned various honors such as the National Endowment of the Arts and the Lamar York Prize for Nonfiction.
Many graduates have also gone into publishing and teaching.
Third-year graduate student Alexis Stratton, who teaches undergraduate English courses while pursuing her MFA with a concentration in fiction, says the program’s intimate feel and connection with published writers in the Columbia community has made working at a large university less overwhelming. She also enjoys the financial support of the program.
“We’re one of the few programs that is fully funded in the MFA world, which is a huge benefit,” Stratton said. “The best part for me, though, is the sense of community among other MFA students. The program is still small enough that you have your niche.”
In her time as a grad student, Stratton has assisted in assembling the February musical review “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” which raised funds for Haiti. With the help of her professors, she has also written a novel, which she hopes to present to publishers after she graduates. While Stratton admits that the publishing industry is tough, she feels that the MFA program has given her the necessary connections and creative inspiration for a career in writing.
“I’m really proud of program for being able to step up,” Stratton said. “[The new rank] is going to give us an even better draw and increase our reputation in the literary world.”