kellogg college creative writing

Centre for Creative Writing

Home » Centres » Centre for Creative Writing

The Kellogg College Centre for Creative Writing fosters a vibrant community of writers and researchers whose work crosses traditional boundaries of genre and culture. The Centre hosts both a masterclass and a research seminar series. The twice-termly research seminars focus on topics of contemporary interest to creative writing practitioners and scholars. It complements but is distinct from the  Master of Studies in Creative Writing .

About the Centre

Since it was established the Centre has developed a strong reputation for creative and intellectual excellence. In addition to its regular programme of research activities, the Centre has sponsored, jointly with the Radcliffe Science Library, the Poetry and Science competition, and Oxford Today’s alumni short story competition. The Centre has also co-published with Blackwell, Initiate: An Oxford Anthology of New Writing ,  showcasing emergent writers from the MSt in Creative Writing along with established practitioners in fiction, poetry and drama.

The Centre is directed by Dr Clare Morgan, with the support of an advisory panel. Dr Morgan is a Fellow of Kellogg College and Director of the Master of Studies in Creative Writing. Her most recent publication is  A Book for all and None , published in paperback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2012. She has also published a collection of stories,  An Affair of the Heart . Her book from her cross genre research in business and creative writing, What Poetry Brings to Business , was published by University of Michigan press in 2010.

The Centre’s Advisory Panel includes Dr Chris Davies, former Vice President of Kellogg College, and Dr Anna Beer, Visiting Fellow, and Rose Solari, Visiting Writer and researcher.

Support the Centre

The Centre relies on the generosity of its supporters to help sustain its innovative and dynamic series of programmes.  If you would like to be involved in supporting the Centre, please contact  Dr Clare Morgan .

Master of Studies in Creative Writing

The Kellogg College Centre for Creative Writing is distinct from the Master of Studies in Creative Writing, however many associates of the Centre share a close connection with the MSt programme, including the Centre’s Director Clare Morgan. Watch Clare, and other Centre associates, talking about the Master’s programme and creative writing at Oxford.

Centre Activities

Publications and Papers

LIVING WITH RIVERS Publications include: “Re-connecting with a neglected river through imaginative engagement.”  Ecology and Society 15(3): 18 ; Selman, P., C. Carter, A. Lawrence and C. Morgan “Raising Catchment Consciousness” in  Sustainable communities : skills and learning for place-making , eds. Sadler, Sue, Green, Anne E, Wong, Cecilia and Rogerson, Robert, University of Hertfordshire Press; P Selman, C Carter, C Morgan, A Lawrence. My River Dearne  (anthology); ed. Clare Morgan Papers include: National Association of Writers in Education annual conference: “The use of creative writing in generating imaginative engagement with environmental issues”: Dr Clare Morgan, Kellogg College

The Kellogg College Seminar, Oxford University: “Creative Writing and the Environment”: Prof Paul Selman, University of Sheffield; Dr Clare Morgan, Kellogg College

Research and Seminars

Interdisplinary Research

The Centre for Creative Writing engages in collaborative research projects of an interdisciplinary nature, focusing on questions of contemporary relevance.

The  Living with Rivers  project, conducted jointly between the Centre for Creative Writing, Sheffield University and Forest Research, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.  The project examined the role of creative writing in the development of imaginative engagement with environmental issues in relation to river basins.  It involved the running of creative writing workshops for a group from the local community of the Dearne Valley in Yorkshire, facilitated by Clare Morgan, who has also edited an anthology of participants’ work, titled  My River Dearne .   Read the anthology here .

If you are interested in learning more about the  Living with Rivers  project, you can read the resulting open access paper Selman, P., C. Carter, A. Lawrence and C. Morgan 2010. “ Re-connecting with a neglected river through imaginative engagement .”  Ecology and Society 15(3): 18 .

The project was later extended into the visual arts, by collaborating with a Workers Educational Association art group. This involved producing an ambitious frieze of the Dearne landscape throughout history. As part of its development,  Clare Morgan led a group of local creative writers who `gave voice´ to characters in the frieze. The work culminated in an exhibition in Goldthorpe Library and was funded by University of Sheffield Knowledge Transfer Rapid Research Fund, and the Royal Society for Protection of Birds.

Research Seminar Series – selected abstracts and speakers

Rose Solari: : “Navigating Time: Narrative structure and believability in the contemporary multiple time-frame novel” One robust trend in contemporary fiction is the novel that juxtaposes multiple time frames and narratives. Unlike purely historical novels, these works are not linear; the through-line is not chronological but exploratory, and often revolves around a particular character’s quest to solve a historical, spiritual, or personal mystery.  Recent multi-time-frame novels include Marina Warner’s  The Leto Bundle , Barry Unsworth’s  Stone Virgin , Penelope Lively’s  The Photograph , and Don DeLillo’s  Underworld , as well as, of course,  Possession , perhaps the ur-novel of this genre. This seminar explores problems of believability and continuity in the multi-time-frame novel, drawing on the above-mentioned titles, as well as her experience in crafting her own such novel,  A Secret Woman . The author of two previous full-length collections of poetry, Solari will also talk briefly about the ways in which poetic techniques can inform and support fiction.

Professor Susan Sellers: “Writing and Real Life” The seminar explores the interconnections between the real-life object or experience that is often the starting point for writing, and the role of invention and imagination. Drawing on her own experience of fictionalizing two real-life women, Virginia Woolf and her artist sister Vanessa Bell, Professor Sellers addresses such questions as the importance of observation and research, the crucial issue of point of view, the role of the senses in writing, the status of ‘truth’, and the startling and the transformative insights that creatively exploring what is not known may produce.

Contact the Centre

For any enquiries about the work of the Centre please contact Dr Clare Morgan, [email protected]  in the first instance.

ENGL 203 - Introduction to Creative Writing

Kellogg College Creative Writing Competition 2023 Final

Follow this organiser to stay informed on future events, events you might like, creative writing for adults - woolley firs, tuesday 9 july creative writing for adults - woolley firs, tuesday 9 july, mctimoney college of chiropractic open day - friday 17 may 2024 mctimoney college of chiropractic open day - friday 17 may 2024, mctimoney college of chiropractic open day - saturday 15 june 2024 mctimoney college of chiropractic open day - saturday 15 june 2024, mctimoney college of chiropractic animal open day - thurs. 31 october 2024 mctimoney college of chiropractic animal open day - thurs. 31 october 2024, mctimoney college of chiropractic animal open day - thurs. 30 may 2024 mctimoney college of chiropractic animal open day - thurs. 30 may 2024, milton keynes college: awards ceremony & exhibition (south central england) milton keynes college: awards ceremony & exhibition (south central england), young rangers - college lake, saturday 18 may young rangers - college lake, saturday 18 may, new college swindon open evening queens drive new college swindon open evening queens drive, teen rangers - college lake, saturday 18 may teen rangers - college lake, saturday 18 may, young rangers - college lake, saturday 22 june young rangers - college lake, saturday 22 june.

MSt in Creative Writing

• Entry requirements
• Funding and Costs

College preference

• How to Apply

About the course

The MSt in Creative Writing is a two-year, part-time master's degree course offering a unique combination of high contact hours, genre specialisation, and critical and creative breadth.

The emphasis of the course is cross-cultural and cross-genre, pointing up the needs and challenges of the contemporary writer who produces their creative work in the context of a global writerly and critical community.

The MSt offers a clustered learning format of five residences, two guided retreats and one research placement over two years. The research placement, a distinguishing feature of the course, provides between one and two weeks' in-house experience of writing in the real world.

The first year concentrates equally on prose fiction, poetry, dramatic writing and narrative non-fiction. There is a significant critical reading and analysis component, which is linked to the writerly considerations explored in each of the genres. In your second year you will specialise in one of the following:

• short fiction
• radio drama
• screenwriting
• stage drama
• narrative non-fiction.

The residences in particular offer an intensive workshop- and seminar-based forum for ideas exchange and for the opening up of creative and critical frameworks within which to develop writerly and analytical skills. There is a strong element of one-to-one tutorial teaching. Tutorials take place within residences and retreats, and relate to the on-going work produced for the course.

You will be assigned a supervisor who will work closely with you throughout the development of the year two final project and extended essay. All assessed work throughout the two years of the course is subject to one-to-one feedback and discussion with a tutor. This intensive, one-to-one input, combined with the highly interactive workshop and seminar sessions, is a distinguishing feature of the course.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Department for Continuing Education and this role will usually be performed by the Course Director.

You will be allocated a supervisor to guide and advise you on your creative and critical work throughout the second year.

It is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Department for Continuing Education.

The MSt is assessed by coursework. In the first year, four assignments (two creative, two critical), one creative writing portfolio and one critical essay are submitted. Work is set during each residence and handed in for assessment before the next meeting. Feedback on work submitted is given during tutorials within the residence or retreat. In the second year, submissions comprise one research placement report, one extended critical essay, and a final project – a substantial body of creative work in the genre of choice. 

You will be set specific creative and critical work to be completed between residences and handed in to set deadlines. Creative submissions in the first year must be in more than one genre. In the second year, submitted work focuses around the genre of your choice.

Graduate destinations

Graduate destinations have included publishing creative work in a chosen field, careers in arts/media, and doctoral programmes in creative writing.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a first-class or upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours  in a related field.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA normally sought is 3.6 out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience 

• Assessors are looking for writers with a proven record of commitment to their craft, whose work demonstrates significant creative promise. You should be a keen reader, and bring an open-minded, questioning approach to both reading and writing. You will not necessarily have yet achieved publication, but you will have written regularly and read widely over a sustained period. You will be keen to dedicate time and energy and staying-power to harnessing your talent, enlarging your skills, and aiming your writerly production at consistently professional standards. It is likely you will have a first degree, or equivalent, although in some cases other evidence of suitability may be acceptable.
• Applicants do not need to be previously published, but the MSt is unlikely to be suitable for those who are just starting out on their writerly and critical development.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews are normally held as part of the admissions process.  

For those applying by the January deadline, interviews are generally held in February and March. For March applicants, interviews are generally held in March and April.

The decision to call an applicant for interview is based on the University Admission Board's assessment of your portfolio, statement of purpose, academic and professional track record and references. Interviews will be conducted in person or by telephone. All applicants whose paper submissions indicate they are qualified for entry will generally be interviewed, either in person or by telephone/Skype. There are always two interviewers. Interviews usually last up to approximately 30 minutes and provide an opportunity for the candidate to discuss his/her application and to explore the course in more detail.

The interview is designed to ascertain, through a range of questions, the shape and emphasis of the candidate's writing and reading, and general suitability for the demands of the MSt. 

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

The department is committed to supporting you to pursue your academic goals. 

The Rewley House Continuing Education Library , one of the Bodleian Libraries, is situated in Rewley House. The department aims to support the wide variety of subjects covered by departmental courses at many academic levels. The department also has a collection of around 73,000 books together with periodicals. PCs in the library give access to the internet and the full range of electronic resources subscribed to by the University of Oxford. Wi-Fi is also available. The Jessop Reading Room adjoining the library is available for study. You will have access to the Central Bodleian and other Bodleian Libraries.

The department's Graduate School provides a stimulating and enriching learning and research environment for the department's graduate students, fostering intellectual and social interaction between graduates of different disciplines and professions from the UK and around the globe. The Graduate School will help you make the most of the wealth of resources and opportunities available, paying particular regard to the support and guidance needed if you are following a part-time graduate programme. The department’s graduate community comprises over 600 members following taught programmes and more than 70 undertaking doctoral research.

The department provides various IT facilities , including the Student Computing Facility which provides individual PCs for your use. Many of the department's courses are delivered through blended learning or have a website to support face-to-face study. In most cases, online support is delivered through a virtual learning environment. 

Depending on the programme you are taking with the department, you may require accommodation at some point in your student career. Rewley House is ideally located in central Oxford; the city's historic sites, colleges, museums, shops and restaurants are only a few minutes’ walk away. The department has 35 en-suite study bedrooms, all with high quality amenities, including internet access.

The Rewley House dining room has seating for up to 132 people. A full meal service is available daily. The department operates a Common Room with bar for students. 

Department for Continuing Education

The need for new learning opportunities throughout life is now recognised throughout society. An intensive, initial period of higher education is not always enough in times of rapid social, economic and technological change. The Department for Continuing Education is known worldwide as a leading provider of extended learning for professional and personal development.

The department provides high-quality, flexible, part-time graduate education, tailored for adults. Students can undertake graduate-level certificates, diplomas and taught master’s degrees in a wide range of subjects. Increasing numbers of courses are delivered in mixed mode, combining intensive periods of residence in Oxford with tutored online study.

The department recruits adult students of all ages on a regional, national and international level. Many courses are offered jointly with other academic departments around the University. Courses are offered in the following areas:

• Mathematical, physical and life sciences
• Medical and health sciences
• Social sciences .

All postgraduate students on the department's courses are members of its Graduate School. The Graduate School aims to provide a stimulating and enriching environment for learning and research. It also fosters intellectual and social interaction between students coming from different disciplines and professions. Interdisciplinary research seminars, training opportunities and other events are offered by the Graduate School in support of this goal.

All masters' and DPhil applicants are considered for Clarendon Scholarships . The department is committed to seeking scholarship support for other students wherever possible.

View all courses   View taught courses View research courses

The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the department's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Information about course fees

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

This course has residential sessions (residences and retreats) in Oxford. You will need to meet your travel costs in attending these sessions. The tuition fee includes the cost of board and lodging during the residences and retreats (eg for a four day residence, three nights accommodation will be provided). Further, as part of your course requirements, you will need to complete a research placement in the second year. For this placement you will need to meet your travel and accommodation costs, and any other incidental expenses. You may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses. Further information about departmental funding can be found on the department's website. Please check with your specific college for bursary or other funding possibilities.

Living costs

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

If you are studying part-time your living costs may vary depending on your personal circumstances but you must still ensure that you will have sufficient funding to meet these costs for the duration of your course.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students on the MSt in Creative Writing:

• Blackfriars
• Brasenose College
• Campion Hall
• Harris Manchester College
• Keble College
• Kellogg College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Oriel College
• Regent's Park College
• St Catherine's College
• Somerville College
• Wadham College
• Wycliffe Hall

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines and when to apply  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable per course application. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

You do not need to make contact with the department before you apply but you are encouraged to visit the relevant departmental webpages to read any further information about your chosen course.

If you have any questions about the course, these should be directed to the course administrator via the contact details provided on this page.

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents . 

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Referees: Three overall, academic and/or professional

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

Your references will support your commitment to creative writing and suitability to pursue a course of this nature at graduate level. Both professional and academic references are acceptable.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

A CV/résumé is compulsory for all applications. Most applicants choose to submit a document of one to two pages highlighting their academic and writerly achievements and any relevant professional experience.

Statement of purpose: A maximum of 750 words

The statement of purpose should contain sufficient detail to allow it to be assessed against the indicated criteria.

Your statement should be written in English and explain your motivation for applying for the course at Oxford, your relevant experience and education, and the specific areas that interest you and/or in which you intend to specialise.

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

This will be assessed for:

• your reasons for applying
• evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study
• the ability to present a reasoned case in English
• commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree course
• capacity for sustained and intense work
• reasoning ability and quality of written expression
• capacity to address issues of writerly and critical significance.

Written work: A maximum of 2,000 words of prose fiction or narrative non-fiction or 10 short poems or 15 minutes of dramatic writing (stage, screen, radio or TV)

Your portfolio of creative writing for assessment can be in any of the four genres, or in more than one. It should be clearly indicative of your ability in creative writing.

This will be assessed for excellence in creative writing.

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice . You'll find the answers to most common queries in our FAQs.

Application Guide   Apply

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 19 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships

Friday 1 March 2024 Applications may remain open after this deadline if places are still available - see below

A later deadline shown under 'Admission status' If places are still available,  applications may be accepted after 1 March . The 'Admissions status' (above) will provide notice of any later deadline.

*Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the Department for Continuing Education

• Course page  and blog on  department website
• Funding information from the department
• Academic staff
• Departmental research
• Continuing Education Graduate School
• Postgraduate applicant privacy policy

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected] ☎ +44 (0)1865 280145

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

Visa eligibility for part-time study

We are unable to sponsor student visas for part-time study on this course. Part-time students may be able to attend on a visitor visa for short blocks of time only (and leave after each visit) and will need to remain based outside the UK.

Clare Morgan: Writing the Short Story

Join us for the second Michaelmas term Kellogg College Centre for Creative Writing seminar, with novelist and director of Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing Clare Morgan.

This seminar is open to all, no booking necessary.

Refreshments will be served from 17:00, the seminar will begin at 17:30.

About Clare Morgan: Clare Morgan is a novelist and short story writer and director of Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing. Her stories have been widely anthologized and commissioned by BBC Radio 4, and her new collection, Scar Tissue is published by Seren in September 2022.

• Date : 24 November 2022, 17:30 (Thursday, 7th week, Michaelmas 2022)
• Venue : Kellogg College 62 Banbury Road OX2 6PN See location on maps.ox Details : Mawby Room
• Speaker : Dr Clare Morgan (Department of Continuing Education, Oxford)
• Organising department : Department for Continuing Education
• Organiser : Dr Clare Morgan (Department of Continuing Education, Oxford)
• Organiser contact email address : [email protected]
• Host : Dr Clare Morgan (Department of Continuing Education, Oxford)
• Part of : Kellogg Centre for Creative Writing
• Booking required? : Not required
• Cost : Free
• Audience : Public
• Faculty of English What’s On: events and talks of interest
• Editor: Penny Rudling

MSt in Creative Writing Tutor Profiles

Course director, dr clare morgan, ma, mphil, dphil, frsa.

Clare Morgan is a fiction writer, literary critic, and founder of the MSt in Creative Writing. Her novel, A Book for All and None (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best Novel award and her short fiction has been widely anthologized, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her research on the relation between poetry and business has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Fast Company , and in Humanizing Business (Springer, 2022). Her book, What Poetry Brings to Business , was published by University of Michigan Press. Clare is a member of Oxford University’s English Faculty and Director of the Kellogg College Centre for Creative Writing. She is former Chair of the Literature Bursaries Panel of the Arts Council of Wales, Literary Mentor for Southern Arts and Literature Wales, and literary assessor for the Welsh Books Council. Her latest collection of short stories Scar Tissue was published 2022, alongside a republication of her earlier collection An Affair of the Heart.

Senior Course Tutor:  Amal Chatterjee, MA, MLitt

Senior Course Tutor: Kate Longworth

Senior Associate Tutor: Jane Draycott, MA, FRSL

Rebecca Abrams

Rebecca Abrams studied English Literature at Newnham College, Cambridge.  She is the author of eight works of fiction and non-fiction and three stage plays.  Her debut play,  All of Us,  premiered in New Zealand in May 2023.  Her novel,  Touching Distance,  won the MJA Open Book Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize for Literature.  Non-fiction publications include  The Playful Self,  Woman in a Man's World , and Licoricia of Winchester: Power and Prejudice in Medieval England.     She is the editor of Out of Exodus  (Brandeis University Press; forthcoming), two anthologies of new fiction for First Story, and  Jewish Treasures of Oxford Libraries, which was long-listed for the 2021 Wingate Literary Prize.   A long-standing tutor on the MSt in Creative Writing, Rebecca is a writing mentor and guest tutor for the Oxford Centre for Life Writing at Wolfson College, and from 2017-2020 was the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Brasenose College.  A journalist of many years standing, Rebecca is a regular literary critic for the  Financial Times , a former columnist for the  Daily Telegraph,  and the recipient of an Amnesty International Press Award for Journalism. 

Jason Allen-Paisant

Lucy Atkins

Wendy Brandmark, MA

Wendy Brandmark is a novelist and short story writer. Her collection of short stories, He Runs the Moon: Tales from the Cities , was longlisted for the 2017 Edgehill Short Story Prize. She won first prize for the short story in The Bridport Prize in 2016. Her short stories have appeared widely in British, North American and Australian journals, including Riptide Journal, North American Review, The Massachusetts Review, Stand and Prism International . She has been a recipient of an Arts Council award towards the writing of short fiction. Her last novel, The Stray American , was longlisted for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. Her novel, The Angry Gods (Dewi Lewis Publishing), explored racism and difference in New York City in the 1950s and 1970s. She has had writing residencies at the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus in Germany, the Virginia Centre for the Creative Arts, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland, and was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship. Her fiction reviews have appeared in a range of magazines and newspapers, including the Times Literary Supplement, The Literary Review and the Independent . She is former director of the creative writing programme at Birkbeck College’s Faculty of Continuing Education. She now teaches fiction writing at the City Lit. She is currently working on a short story collection.

Ben Brown, MA

Ben Brown read Law at Worcester College and taught at Brasenose and Balliol before his first two plays were produced by Alan Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. His most recent play, The End of the Night , was produced at Park Theatre in May, 2022, and is now online at originaltheatreonline.com. His other plays include Four Letter Word (Edinburgh Fringe, Cameron Mackintosh New Writing Ward), All Things Considered (Hampstead Theatre and productions in Paris, Heidelberg and Sydney), Larkin With Women (TMA Best New Play and Express Play of the Year), The Promise (Orange Tree Theatre), Three Days in May (national tour and West End, Whatsonstage Best New Play Award and, translated as 3 Dias En Mayo, Mexican Theatre Critics Best Play Award) and A Splinter of Ice (national tour, Jermyn Street Theatre and original theatre online). He also works as a screen consultant for Curtis Brown.

Mary Jean Chan, MA, MPhil, PhD

Fred D’Aguiar

Fred d’Aguiar is Professor of English at UCLA, where he was also Director of Creative Writing, 2015-2019. He has held a wide range of writer and professor posts in the UK and the USA. He is a distinguished novelist and poet and is also a renowned dramatist for stage and radio. He is a prolific essayist on writing and writers, and his short stories have been widely commissioned and received awards and accolades. His recent memoir Year of Plagues was New Statesman Book of the Year in 2021. He is a widely published book reviewer and judged the Commonwealth Short story prize in 2022; Somerset Maugham Award, 2021; Goldsmiths Fiction Prize, 2021. Among the many prizes he has received are: UK Society of Authors Cholmondeley Award, shortlist for T S Eliot prize for poetry, The Guyana Prize for Fiction 2006 for Bethany Bettany; The Guyana Prize for Fiction in 1996 for Dear Future; The Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, 1994.

Meaghan Delahunt

Frank Egerton, MA

Frank Egerton studied English at Keble College, Oxford, and from  1995  to  2008  reviewed fiction for publications that included  The Times, TLS  and the  Financial Times.  He is interested in both the close examination of fiction and how technologies such as ebooks and print-on-demand have changed the publishing industry, offering fresh opportunities to writers. He is a member of the Society of Authors and AWP, and is a former editor of the  Oxford Writer.  He was chair of Writers in Oxford from  2008  to  2010.  His first novel,  The Lock,  was published in paperback in  2003 , the ebook version having been an Independent e-Book Awards finalist in Santa Barbara in  2002.  His second novel,  Invisible,  was published in  2010.  Also in  2010 , he founded the micropublishing imprint StreetBooks. In  2016  he was co-investigator on a digital project looking at narrative shapes, and has recently completed a memoir entitled ‘Trust: A Family Story’. Events from ‘Trust’ form part of justthoughtsnstuff.com , a blog he wrote between 2010 and 2020, now a self-contained born-digital work about the past ten years of his life. He is a member of Common Room at Kellogg College. As well as teaching creative writing, he is a librarian and subject consultant with the Bodleian Libraries.

Jonathan Evans

Jonathan Evans has written more than a hundred and seventy commissioned scripts in the UK and Europe, from children's animation and live action family comedy, through continuing drama for adult audiences to feature films. A co-written detective series is currently under option and in development.  His writing for children includes the BAFTA and RTS-winning Tracy Beaker Returns . His comedy feature film script, Act Your Age , was developed with the UK Film Council after winning their national ‘25 Words’ competition. He has written many 11 and 20 minute animation episodes across various series for European television.  Jonathan has worked as a television story-liner for Freemantle, Grundy and Hewson International, and has assessed feature film scripts for Buena Vista.

Roopa Farooki, MBBS, MA Oxon

Dr Roopa Farooki is the author of six critically acclaimed novels ( The Good Children, The Flying Man, Half Life, The Way Things Look to Me, Corner Shop, Bitter Sweets ) published with Headline and Pan Macmillan, a literary medical memoir, Everything is True, A Junior Doctor's Story of Life, Death and Grief in a time of Pandemic (Bloomsbury, 2022) and a middle grade children's detective series, The Double Detectives Medical Mysteries , (Oxford University Press), with two titles so far, The Cure for a Crime (OUP 2020), and Diagnosis Danger (OUP 2021). She has been shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers, the Muslim Writers’ Awards, The Commonword Prize, and also been longlisted for the Women’s Prize (twice), the DSC South Asian Literature Prize and the Impac Dublin Literary Award. Her books have been published internationally in thirteen countries across Europe, and in the US, and she has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times . She has been awarded the John C. Laurence Award from the Authors’ Foundation for writing which improves understanding between races, and an Arts Council Literature award. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow and a founding editorial/board member of the RLF Writer's Mosaic, supporting and promoting writers of the global majority, and the ambassador for Relate, the counselling charity. Roopa is also an Internal Medicine Doctor working for the NHS in London and Kent, and has a new series of non-fiction medical books for children coming out with Walker Books in 2024, Dr Roopa's Brilliant Body Books.

Colin Grant

Rebecca Goss

Marybeth Hamilton, PhD

Beatrice Hitchman, PhD

Beatrice Hitchman is the author of Petite Mort (Serpent's Tail, 2013) and All of You Every Single One (Serpent's Tail, 2021). Her work has been translated into several languages and adapted as a Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama. Petite Mort was nominated for the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Author's Club Best First Novel Prize, the HWA Debut Prize and the Polari Prize. All of You Every Single One was nominated for the Polari Prize, the HWA Gold Crown Award and featured as one of Vogue's Best Books of 2022. Her scholarly interests include the endings of novels, queer theory and fiction, the Gothic and representations of the remote past.

James Hawes MA, PhD

James Hawes studied German at Hertford College, Oxford, before taking a postgraduate certificate in Practical Theatre and a PhD on Kafka and Nietzsche. He was a full time university lecturer for seven years until his first novel,  A White Merc with Fins,  was published in 1996. He has had two feature films released, starring Joseph Fiennes and Michael Sheen respectively, and was co-producer on both. His fifth novel,  Speak for England  (2005), predicted Brexit and has been adapted by Andrew Davies, though not yet produced. His sixth novel with Jonathan Cape,  My Little Armalite,  was published in 2008, as was his controversial biography  Excavating Kafka,  which became the basis of a BBC TV documentary.  Englanders and Huns,  a richly-illustrated re-telling of the cultural lead-up to WWI was shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political Books of the Year 2015.  The Shortest History of Germany  (2017), has been translated into over twenty languages, and reached #2 in the Sunday Times non-fiction chart, being denied the #1 spot only by Youval Noah Hariri! His latest book is "The Shortest History of England" . In 2022 he was "story consultant" and major on-screen contributor on BBC TVs seven-part history of British creativity, and spent a month in the "writers' room" as part of a three-person team assembled by Andrew Davies to help him create a new TV drama series for Lionsgate. 

Ella Hickson

Sarah Howe is a British poet, academic and editor. Her first book, Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015), won the T.S. Eliot Prize and The Sunday Times / PFD Young Writer of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Born in Hong Kong to an English father and Chinese mother, she moved to England as a child. Her pamphlet, A Certain Chinese Encyclopedia (Tall-lighthouse, 2009), won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors. She has performed her work at festivals internationally and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She is the founding editor of Prac Crit , an online journal of poetry and criticism. She was a Research Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, before taking up a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at University College London. Previous honours include a Hawthornden Fellowship and the Harper-Wood Studentship for English Poetry, as well as fellowships from Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation. She is a Lecturer in Poetry at King’s College London.

Belinda Jack, DPhil

Alice Jolly, MA

Alice Jolly is a novelist and playwright. She published a memoir in 2015 called Dead Babies and Seaside Towns which won the Pen Ackerley Prize and one of her short stories won the 2014 V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, awarded by The Royal Society of Literature. She has also published two novels with Simon and Schuster and four of her plays have been produced by the professional company of the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. Her novel Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile was published by Unbound in June 2018. It was a Walter Scott Prize recommended novel for 2109, was on the longlist for the Ondaatje Prize awarded by the Royal Society of Literature and was runner up for the £30,000 Rathbones Folio Prize. Her new novel Between the Regions of Kindness was published in April 2019. She is working on a new novel about Dr Asperger which has been funded by the Arts Council and the Authors’ Fund at the Society of Authors. In 2021 Alice Jolly was awarded an O. Henry Prize which is given to the best 20 short stories published in the US. Her short story collection From Far Around They Saw Us Burn was published by Unbound in March 2023.

Susan Jones

Line Langebek

Marti Leimbach

Jenny Lewis, MA Oxon., MPhil, PhD

Jenny Lewis is a poet, playwright, children’s author and translator. She has had seven plays and poetry cycles performed at major UK theatres including the Leicester Haymarket, the Royal Festival Hall, the Polka Theatre, London (for children) and Pegasus Theatre, Oxford where Jenny was a Core Writing Tutor for 20 years. Her first book of poetry, When I Became an Amazon (Iron Press, 1996), was broadcast on BBC Woman’s Hour, translated into Russian and made into an opera premiered by the Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Company of Russia in 2017.  Jenny has published three further collections Fathom and Taking Mesopotamia (Oxford Poets/ Carcanet, 2007/ 2014) and Gilgamesh Retold (Carcanet Classics, 2018) which was a New Statesman Book of the Year, a Carcanet Book of the Year, an LRB Bookshop Book of the Week and Carcanet’s first ever audiobook (2019).  Jenny has also published three chapbooks from Mulfran Press in English and Arabic with the exiled Iraqi poet Adnan Al-Sayegh which are part of the award-winning, Arts Council-funded ‘Writing Mesopotamia’ project aimed at fostering friendships between English and Arabic-speaking communities. Her translation (with Ruba Abughaida and others) of Al-Sayegh’s work, Let Me Tell You What I Saw , was published by Seren in October 2020. Jenny is particularly interested in epic poetry and 'creative' translation - her PhD topic at Goldsmiths was 'Translating epic from an unfamiliar language'.

Harry Man, MA

Malachi McIntosh

Jamie McKendrick

Jamie McKendrick was born in Liverpool in 1955, lives in Oxford and has published seven books of poetry including The Marble Fly (1997), which won the Forward Prize, Out There (2012), which won the Hawthornden Prize and most recently Anomaly (2018). A selected poems, Sky Nails, was published by Faber in 2001 and a new Selected Poems was published in 2016. He edited The Faber Book of 20th-Century Italian Poems in 2004, and his translations of the six books of Giorgio Bassani’s The Novel of Ferrara were published individually by Penguin Modern Classics and in one volume by Norton. His translation of Valerio Magrelli’s poems, The Embrace, won the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize and the John Florio Prize. He has translated Pier Paolo Pasolini’s verse play Fabrication, and Archipelago, the poems of Antonella Anedda, which also won the John Florio Prize. In 2019 he received the Cholmondeley Award. The Foreign Connection, a book of his writings on poetry, translation and art, was published in 2020, and his self-illustrated pamphlet of poems The Years (2020) won the Michael Marks Poetry Illustration award.

Peter Moore

Barney Norris

Jamie Nuttgens, MA, PhD

Jamie Nuttgens is an award-winning writer, producer and director in TV and Film with over 25 years experience working with writers across different genres and platforms. Following a career in Rep and Devised Theatre and as a Writer-Producer in Commercial Radio, he joined BBC Drama Serials to Script Edit Jimmy McGovern’s The Lakes . After a stint at Casualty he moved to ITV to produce The Bill and a spin-off series, Burnside . For Channel 4 he developed and co-produced Red Riding , a series of TV films based on David Peace’s Northern Noir novels. He has produced the award-winning work of UK Indian writer-director, Smita Bhide, including Cup & Lip, The Blue Tower (Best UK Feature Raindance Film Festival) and Another Planet (Golden Award IFF Goa). His own screenwriting has included Casualty, The Bill and Crossroads . He is currently Head of Drama at Ten66 Television ( Black Lesbian Handbook / Love In The Flesh ). At the Met Film School, Ealing Studios, he headed the MA in Screenwriting from 2013 to 2021, is currently teaching at Curtis Brown Creative and has been a visiting lecturer at NFTS, La Femis Paris, Stanford at Oxford, Northern Film School, University of Westminster, Polish Film School Lodz, and Blanquerna Barcelona.

Tina Pepler, PhD

Tina Pepler is a dramatist who works in radio and television. She has written extensively for BBC radio – original plays, dramatisations, and drama-documentaries – which have been broadcast on Radio 4, Radio 3 and the World Service. Her television work includes Say Hello to the Real Dr Snide , an original play for Channel 4; a two-hour historical drama, Princes in the Tower (Channel 4); and several episodes of the Victorian/Edwardian investigative drama-documentary series A Most Mysterious Murder (BBC1), which she co-wrote with Julian Fellowes. She also co-authored with him an episode of his television series Downton Abbey (ITV). Recent radio work includes the drama-documentaries Forgiving, Crisis, and Syria: Bread and Bombs (all BBC Radio 4). Work in development includes a drama series about Armenia (Cilicia) in the time of the Crusades and a new play for Radio 4 commissioned as part of the BBC's Centenary programming. Her first podcast was a four-part drama which appeared on HistoryHit early in 2019. She is a Consultant Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, and with RLF sponsorship has run a series of workshops with refugees in Bristol. Tina has a PhD from Bristol University Drama Department. Her thesis, Discovering the Art of Wireless , was a study of creativity at the BBC in its infancy, with a particular focus on radio drama up until 1929.

Sophie Ratcliffe

Sophie Ratcliffe writes memoir, biography, criticism - and things that are a mixture of all three. She is Professor of Literature and Creative Criticism at the Faculty of English at the University of Oxford, and has published widely in the field of literature, emotion and histories of reading. Her first biography, P. G. Wodehouse: A Life In Letters (Hutchinson, 2011), took a relatively conventional approach to life-writing. Her recent, experimental memoir The Lost Properties of Love: An Exhibition of Myself (William Collins, 2019) was named as one of Prospect magazine’s books of the year. It is forthcoming in the USA, with Northwestern University Press, in April 2024 as Loss, A Love Story . A former judge for the Baillie Gifford and Wellcome Book Prizes, Sophie regularly reviews books for the national press. She is currently working on two projects: an academic book about libraries, children and gender – and something that might resemble a novel.

John Retallack

The author of twelve plays, John Retallack’s work has been translated into several languages and performed all around the UK as well as in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Holland and France. He has toured and directed productions in many countries including India, Japan and America as well as throughout Europe. His work has been awarded several prizes, including an Olivier, two Herald Angels, two TMA awards and a Fringe First. From 1977–85 he was the founding director of the still flourishing Actors Touring Company (ATC). He was Artistic Director of Oxford Stage Company (at the Oxford Playhouse) from 1989 to 1999. From 2001 to 2011, he was the founding director of the London-based Company of Angels, which continues to produce new and experimental work for young audiences. Six of his plays for Company of Angels are published by Oberon Books and two by Methuen. John’s play, Hannah and Hanna in Dreamland opened at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury in 2018 and is also published by Oberon Books. His adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s classic novel The Good Companions for Radio 4 was broadcast in the same year. He directed Unicorns, Almost , Owen Sheers’ play about the poet Keith Douglas for the Hay Festival. Unicorns, Almost was revived for the 2019 Edinburgh Festival and broadcast on Radio 3 in May 2020. He was the Royal Literary Foundation Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford for the period 2019-21. He is currently writing a memoir about his life, Theatremaking . Most recently, he adapted Sandro Veronesi's 2021 Strega prize-winning novel The Hummingbird for Radio 3 which was nominated for Best Audio Dramatisation, 2022, in the BBC Radio awards.

Jane Rogers

MSt in Creative Writing

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing The Write Stuff for Writers

Credit Hours

View Courses

100% online, 8-week courses

Transfer in up to 50% of the degree total

Grow Your Writing Passion into a Career with Liberty’s Online MFA in Creative Writing

Many people write creatively, but few hone their skills to develop their writing craft to its highest form. Even fewer learn the other skills it takes to become a successful writer, such as the steps needed to get a book published and into the hands of readers. Liberty’s 100% online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing can help you develop your writing passion into a career so you can set your works free to impact culture and the world.

Employers in every industry need professionals who have strong writing skills, so you can be confident that your ability to write effectively can also help set you apart in your current career. With in-demand writing expertise and the ability to customize your degree with electives in literature or writing practice, Liberty’s online MFA in Creative Writing can help you achieve your professional writing goals.

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is designed to help you build on your writing skills with specific workshops dedicated to the craft of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or screenwriting. With a work-in-progress approach to writing practice and mentorship from our faculty of experienced writers and scholars, you can learn the specific skills you need to make your writing stand out.

Ranked in the Top 10% of Niche.com’s Best Online Schools in America

• What Sets Us Apart?
• Private Nonprofit University
• 600+ Online Degrees
• No Standardized Testing for Admission
• Transfer in up to 75% of an Undergrad Degree
• Transfer in up to 50% of a Grad/Doctoral Degree

Why Choose Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing?

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is mainly offered in an 8-week course format, and our tuition rate for graduate programs hasn’t increased in 9 years. Through our program, you can study the writing process and develop your creative skills through workshops with experienced writing professionals. With our flexible format, you can grow in your creative writing while continuing to do what is important to you.

As a terminal degree, the online MFA in Creative Writing can also help you pursue opportunities to teach writing at the K-12 or college level. You will gain comprehensive and in-depth exposure to writing, literature, publishing, and many other professional writing skills that you can pass on to students. Partner with the Liberty family and learn under faculty who have spent years in the field you love. Your career in professional writing starts here.

What Will You Study in Our MFA in Creative Writing?

The MFA in Creative Writing program is designed to help you become an excellent creative writer across the genres of creative fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and poetry. You can learn how to produce aesthetically and culturally engaged creative works while gaining professional knowledge and practice. You will also study foundational contemporary literature so that you have a background in studying important works to draw on for your writing.

To help you in your professional writing, you will also study many essential skills in editing, layout, and the business of publishing so that you can best position yourself for success in the market. Through your creative writing courses and workshops, you can develop your craft so that you will be ready for your thesis project.

Here are a few examples of the skills Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing can help you master:

• Marketing your projects and pursuing new writing opportunities
• Organizing writing and adapting it to different types of writing
• Tailoring writing to specific audiences and markets
• Understanding what makes art effective, compelling, and impactful
• Writing compelling stories that engage readers

Potential Career Opportunities

• Book and magazine writer
• Business communications specialist
• Creative writing instructor
• Publications editor
• Screenwriter
• Website copy editor and writer
• Writing manager

Featured Courses

• ENGL 600 – Editing, Layout, and Publishing
• ENGL 601 – Writing as Cultural Engagement
• ENGL 603 – Literary Theory and Practice
• WRIT 610 – Writing Fiction

Degree Information

• This program falls under the College of Arts and Sciences .
• View the Graduate Arts and Sciences Course Guides (login required).
• Download and review the Graduate Manual for MFA .

Degree Completion Plan (PDF)

Not sure what to choose?

Speak to one of our admissions specialists to help you choose the program that best fits your needs.

• Tuition & Aid

Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years – and counting.

All Tuition & Fees

Financial Aid & Scholarships

Financial Aid Forms & Eligibility

Scholarship Opportunities

Admission Information for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Admission requirements.

• A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 application fee will be posted on the current application upon enrollment (waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required) .
• Unofficial transcripts can be used for acceptance purposes with the submission of a Transcript Request Form .
• Creative Writing Sample – A creative writing sample of one creative writing work of at least 2,500 words or a culmination of creative writing samples totaling 2,500 words.*
• Applicants whose native language is other than English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an approved alternative assessment. For information on alternative assessments or TOEFL waivers, please call Admissions or view the official International Admissions policy .

*A sample of one or more poems totaling a minimum of 750 words may also be submitted. Song lyrics are not accepted at this time as writing samples.

Preliminary Acceptance

If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must:

• Be in your final term and planning to start your master’s degree after the last day of class for your bachelor’s degree.
• Complete a Bachelor’s Self-Certification Form confirming your completion date. You may download the form from the Forms and Downloads page or contact an admissions counselor to submit the form on your behalf.
• Submit an official/unofficial transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. The preliminary transcript must show a minimum of 105 completed credit hours.
• If you are a current Liberty University student completing your undergraduate degree, you will need to submit a Degree/Certificate Completion Application .
• Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new master’s degree.

Dual Enrollment

Please see the Online Dual Enrollment page for information about starting graduate courses while finishing your bachelor’s degree.

Transcript Policies

Unofficial college transcript policy.

Unofficial transcripts combined with a Transcript Request Form can be used for admission. Official transcripts are required within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first, and will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Before sending unofficial college transcripts, please make sure they include the following:

• Your previous school’s name or logo printed on the document
• Cumulative GPA
• A list of completed courses and earned credit broken down by semester
• Degree and date conferred (if applicable)

Official College Transcript Policy

An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution and is in a sealed envelope. If you have one in your possession, it must meet the same requirements. If your previous institution offers electronic official transcript processing, they can send the document directly to [email protected] .

If the student uses unofficial transcripts with a Transcript Request Form to gain acceptance, all official transcripts must be received within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first. Failure to send all official transcripts within the 60-day period will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Admissions Office Contact Information

(800) 424-9596

(888) 301-3577

Email for Questions

[email protected]

Email for Documents

[email protected]

Liberty University Online Admissions Verification

1971 University Blvd.

Lynchburg, VA 24515

Ready to Apply?

Submit your application online or over the phone.

Apply by phone: (800) 424-9595

Liberty University is dedicated to providing world-class educational experiences to military students across the globe.

Who May Qualify?

• Active Duty
• Reserve/National Guard
• Veterans/Retirees
• Spouses of Service Members and Veterans/Retirees
• Current Department of Defense Employees

Available Benefits:

• Tuition discounts – $275 per credit hour for graduate courses
• Additional discount for veterans who service in a civilian capacity as a First Responder (less than $625 per course) *
• 8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)

*Not applicable to certificates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an mfa in creative writing.

A Master of Fine Arts degree, or MFA, is a terminal degree in an artistic craft that demonstrates that you have achieved the highest level of training and skill in your discipline. Like a doctorate, an MFA often allows you to teach courses at the graduate level while also providing many opportunities for scholarship and leadership in education. If you want to grow your creative writing skills to become the best writer you can be, then the Master of Fine Arts can help you get there.

How will students work towards developing their writing skills?

With creative writing workshops and a thesis project, you will receive support and guidance to help you become the best writer you can be.

How long will it take to complete the MFA in Creative Writing?

You can complete the MFA in Creative Writing in just 48 credit hours!

Inner Navigation

• Why Choose Liberty?
• What Will You Study?
• Admission Information

Have questions?

Are you ready to change your future?

Apply FREE This Week*

Request Information

*Some restrictions may occur for this promotion to apply. This promotion also excludes active faculty and staff, military, non-degree-seeking, DGIA, Continuing Education, WSB, and certificate students.

Request Information About a Program

Request info about liberty university online, what program are you interested in, choose a program level.

Choose a program level

Bachelor’s

Master’s

Certificate

Select a Field of Study

Select a field of study

Select a Program

Select a program

Next: Contact Info

Legal full name.

Enter legal full name

Legal Last Name

Enter legal last name

Enter an email address

Enter a phone number

Full Address

Enter an address

Apt., P.O. Box, or can’t find your address? Enter it manually instead .

Select a Country

Street Address

Enter Street Address

Enter State

ZIP/Postal Code

Enter Zip Code

Back to automated address search

Start my application now for FREE

KCC Stories: Union City sophomore Owen Needham wants to study zoology, creative writing

By Emma Kurtz

Owen Needham, a 15-year-old sophomore at Union City High School, is striving to study for a degree in zoology to fulfill his passion of working with animals.

“I really like animals and I wanted to go into a job pertaining to animals, interacting with them, studying them,” Needham says.

Needham also plans on minoring in creative writing to help fulfill his goals of helping animals and raising awareness for preserving them.

“I want to minor in creative writing because I want to write books on animal preservation and their importance in the ecosystem,” he says.

Needham plans on attending Duke University, Cornell University or Western California University to earn his degrees after he graduates.

About the Author

Author and Pennfield High School sophomore Kurtz and her subject Needham were on campus Tuesday, March 20, to learn about writing and journalism as part of the Battle Creek College Access Network’s 2018 Sophomore Future Track event, which offers hands-on career exploration for area high school sophomores focused on a specific career or field of interest.

About Kellogg Community College

Social media.

• Byron Center
• Cedar Springs
• Comstock Park
• East Grand Rapids
• Forest Hills
• Godfrey-Lee
• Godwin Heights
• Grand Rapids
• Grand Rapids Community College
• Kelloggsville
• Kenowa Hills
• Thornapple Kellogg
• Education Everywhere
• Grads with Grit
• Meet the Future
• Meet Your Administrators
• Powered by Parents
• Rockstar Teachers
• Student Leaders
• Why I Teach
• Your Dream is Our Dream
• Career Exploration
• Making Math Add Up
• Project STEM
• State of the Arts
• The Road to Reading
• Classrooms for All
• Guest Commentary
• Homeless, with Homework
• How Schools Work
• Places of Refuge
• Special Education
• Student Voices
• The Burden of Poverty
• Youth Mental Health

• About School News Network
• Get our Headlines
• Become a Sponsor

Afghan student shares story of escape, survival & the hero who helped him on the way

High school junior earns high honors in culinary, for pro swine handler, it’s all about family bonding, her dream: to sing on broadway , fifth-graders prepare for stem project with an animal visit, art plus stem = student-designed machines, library learning includes space, the eclipse and all things astronomical, book battle promotes literacy, teamwork  , high-schoolers share experience in ap african american studies with state board of education, red hawk rivals episode 2: ‘cornhole’, high school journalists provide behind-the-scenes look at news production, basketball team unites students, promotes inclusion, high-schoolers create books for & inspired by second-graders.

Seeing themselves — literally — in books they read

Northview — Literacy experts say students tend to be more drawn to books when they see themselves in what they read.

Meagan Postma’s second-graders at North Oakview Elementary now have that in the literal sense, thanks to students in Matt Howe’s Northview High School Creative Writing class — the goal of which is to craft a children’s book. 

Howe’s students practiced their skills by interviewing their younger, fellow Wildcats about themselves, their families, their friends and lives as second-graders, then wrote and illustrated books just for them. The older students also penned letters to their young book subjects about what the experience meant to them.

Gianna Boggiano was excited to see Disney World and roller coasters in her book.

Terrance France’s book was filled with suspense, just like other books he likes.

Lucy Kose’s book — a colorful, artistic work of its own by high-schooler Bug Stabler — even included her friends and her teacher. 

Postma said seeing her second-graders be interviewed by high-schoolers, then read their books aloud to their creators, showed her how impactful the experience was. 

Narrative and fiction writing was to be the next topic for her students, and Postma thinks her students will draw from the experience when tackling that next academic challenge.

Howe said he noticed the experience went a long way to building overall confidence in his students, and how their enthusiasm for the project “was a big thing” in his class.

Ari Vannieuwenhoven was particularly enthusiastic, and could speak from both sides about the impact of the project. As a second-grader, Ari had a book made for her by a Northview High student. She has kept it, and brought it in to show Howe and her classmates.

“I forgot all about it” until she learned what she would be doing in Creative Writing class, Ari explained as she showed a few pages to a visitor. “There was no way I was going to get rid of it; it was made for me. It felt very special.”

Read more from Northview:  • Student journalists weigh in on book challenges • Kindness is the answer

LATEST ARTICLES

At biztown, a mini city provides life-sized learning, new commercial kitchen ready to teach the next top chefs, youngsters learn about farm life from high-schoolers and friendly animals , related articles, free event on may 17 to spotlight deaf community, fundraiser game makes 100th ‘dream room’ come true, government officials observe pioneering ap classes in action.

Issues in Education

Making headlines.

MEDIA PARTNERS

SUSTAINING SPONSORS

School News Network reports on the 20 public school districts in Kent County, which enroll more than 90,000 students. Founded in 2013, we are an editorially independent news site funded by Kent ISD, local districts and community sponsors, and powered by an experienced team of reporters, editors and photojournalists. We specialize in covering classroom teaching and learning, analyzing the many issues that enhance or discourage student success, and highlighting the education magic that happens each day in our public schools.

Contact us: [email protected]

OUR SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Byron Center    Caledonia    Cedar Springs    Comstock Park    East Grand Rapids    Forest Hills    Godfrey-Lee    Godwin Heights    Grand Rapids    Grandville    Kelloggsville    Kenowa Hills    Kent City    Kent ISD    Kentwood    Lowell    Northview    Rockford    Sparta    Thornapple Kellogg    Wyoming

© Kent ISD | 2930 Knapp NE | Grand Rapids MI 49525

Privacy Policy

• Our Mission
• Strategic Plan
• Institute History
• Annual Reviews
• Keeping Up With Kellogg ENews
• Kellogg 40th Anniversary
• Staff by Name
• Staff by Area

• Human Development
• The Ford Program
• K-12 Resources
• Ford Family Notre Dame Award
• Outstanding Doctoral Student Contributions
• Distinguished Dissertation on Democracy and Human Development
• Undergraduate Mentoring Award
• Considine Award
• Bartell Prize for Undergraduate Research
• The Notre Dame Prize
• Employment Opportunities

The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the University of Notre Dame’s new Keough School of Global Affairs, is an interdisciplinary community of scholars that promotes research, provides educational opportunities, and builds linkages related to democracy and human development.

Our welcoming intellectual community helps foster relationships among faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, and visitors that promote scholarly conversation, further research ideas and insights, and build connections that are often sustained beyond Notre Dame. 

• Kellogg Faculty
• Visiting Fellows
• Distinguished Research Affiliates
• Advisory Board
• Graduate Students
• Undergraduate Students
• Faculty Committee
• Institute Staff
• Engage with Alumni
• International Scholars

A map of the involvement of Kellogg Institute people and programs in countries around the world.

• Democracy Initiative
• Policy and Practice Labs
• Research Clusters
• Varieties of Democracy Project
• Kellogg Institute Book Series
• Kellogg Institute Working Papers
• Conference Publications
• Faculty Research Highlights
• Kellogg Funded Faculty Research
• Visiting Fellow Research
• Visiting Fellows News and Spotlights
• Work in Progress Series
• Working Groups
• Kellogg Funded Doctoral Research
• Doctoral Research Highlights
• Graduate Student News
• Comparative Politics Workshop
• Kellogg Int'l Scholars Program
• Int'l Development Studies Minor
• Kellogg/Kroc Research Grants
• Experiencing the World Fellowships

KELLOGG COMMONS The Commons is flexible space in the Hesburgh Center for our Kellogg community to study and gather in an informal setting.  Open M-F, 8am to midnight. To reserve meeting rooms or for more info: 574.631.3434.

• Faculty Grant Opportunities
• Working Paper Series
• Kellogg Event Proposal Form
• Visiting Fellowships
• Postdoctoral Visiting Fellowships
• Fulbright Chair
• Other Visitor Opportunities
• Doctoral Student Affiliates
• PhD Fellowships
• Dissertation Year Fellowship
• Summer Dissertation Fellowship
• Graduate Research Grants
• Professionalization Grants
• Conference Travel Grants
• Overview Page
• Kellogg Developing Researchers Program
• Pre-Experiencing the World Fellowship Program
• Organizations
• Kellogg/Kroc Undergraduate Research Grants
• Human Development Conference
• Postgraduate Opportunities

News & Features Learn what exciting developments are happening at the Kellogg Institute. Check our latest news often to see interesting updates and stories as they develop.

Global Stage Podcasts

2024 Human Development Conference

February 23 to 24, 2024, power of the people: uplifting global communities.

Within the myriad of disparities dispersed throughout our globe, among them is the notion that certain communities are inherently less capable of being agents in progress. This year's HDC theme,  Power of the People: Uplifting Global Communities , seeks to highlight the importance of localization and ownership agendas within the development sphere. Bountiful agency has always existed within all communities. Our theme emphasizes the idea of practitioners and researchers working to collaborate with communities as opposed to working for communities. It is our strong belief that development goals can be achieved with better success if we engage the power that exists in all people around the globe. 

• Conference Program

Keynote Speaker

• Sessions and Panels
• Presenter Bios
• Bartell Prize

Call for Papers

Presentation guidelines.

Past Conferences

Dr. Sherrod has over 10 years of experience leading research and evaluation projects for non-profit and philanthropic organizations, including incorporating and using a racial equity lens to assess work priorities and integrate equitable practices and strategies. She has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tuskegee University, a PhD in Genetics from the University of Iowa, and completed the first year of an MPH in Epidemiology from Rutgers University. 

Session 1: Saturday, Feb. 24th 10:00 am - 11:30 am  

Panel A: The Power of Educators -  Figures that Impact Education Growth

• Fabrice Uwihirwe School General Assembly Committees And School Dropout in Rwanda: Bright Spot Schools in the Rutsiro District
• Oluwatoni Akintola School Management & Re-Enrolling Dropouts: Experimental Evidence from Schools in Rural Uganda
• Peter Cohen Exploring the Role Life Orientation Plays in Preparing South African Learners For Life After Matric: A Case Study in Cato Manor
• Giancarlo Cappelli Wang Between Innovation and Crisis: How Ceará Has Redefined Comprehensive Education Policy Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Panel B: The Power of Mothers - Maternal Health Experiences

• * Ashleigh Cotter Maternal Migration: Analyzing the Effects of Migrant Status on the Maternal Health Experiences of Migrant Women in Monterrey, Mexico
• Grace Clinton Postpartum Care Practices and Education of Young Mothers in the Kgalagadi District of Botswana
• Jillian Brunner Investigating the Effects of Adolescent Pregnancy on Maternal Health and Child Development Among At-Risk Patients in Bolivia

Panel C: The Power of Women - Female Empowerment in Organizations

• Jack Drey From Stress to Success: Analyzing the Role of Mentorship in Overcoming Barriers to Girls’ Education in Kisumu, Kenya
• Lucy Wesson Peace and Empowerment in Historical and Modern Women’s Co-operatives: A Comparative Case Study
• Cora Beeson The Unacknowledged and Underfunded Fight for Women’s Empowerment in Indonesia

Panel D: The Power of Identity - Collective Belonging of Groups

• Finn Meachem Sunan Kalijaga: The Birth of a Self-Actualized Pilgrimage Culture***
• Simone Watson (Spanish) The Formation of the AfroChilean Identity and its Manifestation in the Political Movements of the Country
• Lauren Carter Belonging and Identity in Mustang: Lived Experiences, Social Identities, and Mobility Patterns among Himalayan Peoples of Nepal***

Session 2: Saturday, Feb. 24th 11:45 am - 1:15 pm   

Panel A: The Power of Schools - Culture and Engagement within Education

• Jessica Ashman Exploring the role of Cultural Capital in Education in the Dominican Republic
• Hallee Limes Māmānuina o Aoga Amata Contextualizing the Pedagogy of Samoan Identity in Early Learning Education
• Sally Fales An Exploratory Study into Empowering Grade 10 and 11 Learners Through Critical Engagement With South African Literature: A Case Study in Cato Manor

Panel B: The Power of Women - Identity and Empowerment of Women in Communities

• Samantha Murphy Life as an Ex-Sex Worker: Is it possible to stay out of Ho Chi Minh City’s sex industry?
• Lena Kennell Female Same-Sex Relationships: Qualitative Analysis of Resilience and Gendered Stigmatization in Samoa
• Bupe Lughano Kabaghe Women's Representation in the Zambian National Assembly

Panel C: The Power of the Mind - Effects of Mental Health and Stigmatization

• Azuna Sawada Predictors of higher stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental health problems..***
• Daniel Mooney Psychological Intervention in the Informal Settlements of Cape Town, South Africa.
• Isabel Powell The Effects of Stigma Against HIV and Tuberculosis on Patient Mental Health and Healthcare-Seeking Behavior in Dharamshala, India

Panel D: The Power of Environment - Working with the World Around Us

• Anna Mittag Farmer–herder conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa: drivers, impacts, and strategies for resolution
• Kerry Conneely The Impact of Climate-Accelerated Flooding, Sanitation Infrastructure, and Solid Waste Management on Personal Well-being in Coastal Communities in Ghana
• Robert Fitzpatrick Sustainable Agriculture as Inclusive Advancement in Costa Rica
• Samantha Wheelis Examining the Relationship Between the Environment and Traditional Samoan Fishing Knowledge Through the Lens of Sustainability

Session 3: Saturday, Feb. 24th  2:30 pm - 4:00 pm  

Panel A: The Power of Community - Social Economics of Moving People and Capital

• Alessandra Rosa Policarpo Can the Global South Improve the Humanitarian Aid System? Comparing North-South Aid and South-South Cooperation in Haiti***
• Damien Chang The 21st Century Hawaiian Renaissance: Rethinking Tourism through Self-Sufficient Communities***
• Laiqa Walli Tracing the Spatial and Industry Distribution of the ‘Brain Drain’ Effect on Tanzanian Youth

Panel B: The Power of Health - Improvements to Healthcare Systems

• * Lillie Kang Public Trust and Cultural Conservation: A Health and General Needs keerAssessment of the Chepang Community in Makwanpur District, Raksirang Rural Municipality, Nepal***
• Manvit Adusumilli Evaluating Interventions Aimed at Improving the Emotional Well-Being of Community Health Workers in Chiapas, Mexico
• Sezin Sakmar What Makes a Family: How an Empowerment-Based Health Care Delivery Model Employs Family Planning to Positively Impact Families in Rural Maharashtra, India  

Panel C: The Power of Ending Violence - Impacts of Gender Based Violence and Reporting Systems

• Adriana Abdinader Evaluating the Effectiveness and Perception of the Red Naranja Mobile Application
• Amelia Opsahl The social, economic, and political barriers that female victims of domestic violence face when reporting violence or accessing the corresponding protection services in Maipú, Mendoza ***
• Lena Shadow Searching for Legitimacy: An Analysis of the Role South African Civil Society Has Taken to Improve Gender-based Violence Survivor’s Reporting and Help-Seeking Behaviors in Contexts with Limited  Procedural Justice or Police Legitimacy

Panel D: The Power of Migration - Understanding Migrants and their Communities

• Audrey Feldman Friends with Benefits: the role of social networks in safety net take-up among refugees
• Daisy Alcantar (Spanish) Existing and Surviving: The Institutional Prejudice that Venezuelan Immigrants Face in Chile's Fifth Region
• Esther Ekeh Therapy Approaches Provided to Traumatized Refugee Children***
• Keerthana Krishnan A Comparative Study of Migrant Mental Health in Switzerland and the United States: How Do Different Healthcare Systems Affect Access to Care?

*Bartell Prize Recipients

*** Indicates Virtual Presentation

Jessica Ashman, Conference Co-chair

Jessica is a senior at the University of Notre Dame, studying Anthropology and Global Affairs with a concentration in International Development and a minor in Latino Studies. Jessica is passionate about topics having to do with sociocultural identity and its intersections with human development. She strongly believes in the power of social science research to generate informed solutions to complex problems. Jessica’s independent fieldwork took place in the Dominican Republic where she examined concepts of colorism, anti-Haitianism, national identity, and education. Over a two month period, she worked with two development NGOs to conduct interviews with Dominican and Haitian young adults. Currently, she works with Dr. Luis Felipe R. Murillo who conducts research on open technologies in Afro-descendent Brazilian populations. After graduation, Jessica plans to pursue her PhD in Socio-cultural Anthropology so she can continue her lifelong exploration of transnational blackness and the barriers to social inclusion. In her freetime, Jessica likes to sing, spend time with friends, and learn about other cultures.

Grace Clinton, Conference Co-chair

Grace is a senior at the University of Notre Dame studying Pre-Professional Studies, Global Affairs, and Anthropology with a concentration in International Development Studies. Her passion and work surround the furtherance of female health and rights on a global scale. For the past three years she has done research with Dr. Joyce Adams on postpartum maternal health in various parts of Ghana.  Her independent research projects work on issues of teen pregnancy rural districts of Botswana. Grace also works for the Harvard School of Global Surgery and Social Change to help with research and development of international maternal surgical care access and legislation. After graduating in 2024, she plans on attending graduate school for Medical Anthropology with a focus on female and maternal health rights for displaced persons throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In her free time, Grace likes to run, cook, and travel often. She has been a part of the Human Development Conference team since her first-year on campus and is very excited to be a co-chair this year!

Carolyn Hoagland, Marketing

Carolyn is a freshman at Notre Dame living in Welsh Family Hall. She is a Global Affairs major with an interest in poverty alleviation and international law. As a military child, she has lived all over the world but currently calls Washington, D.C. her home. On campus, she volunteers as a tutor and student ambassador in undergraduate admissions. Carolyn is very excited to be involved with HDC this year!

Lugano Kabaghe, Marketing

Lughano is a senior studying Political Science and Global Affairs with a concentration in International Development Studies. She is passionate about  gender equality, governance and international development. Currently, she is researching women's representation and participation in the Zambian National Assembly for her senior thesis and capstone. In the last three years, Lughano has worked on various research and international development projects in Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Mali. The main themes of her work are youth empowerment, gender equality, civil engagement, elections and African politics. This past summer, she spent her time conducting interviews with elected women MPs and politicians and conducting archival research in Lusaka, Zambia. Kabaghe also attended the Women’s Deliver conference in Rwanda where she engaged with high-level women political leaders and activists. This coming December, she will be presenting her research findings as part of a panel on Governance in Africa: Contemporary and Historical Trends at the African Studies Association conference in San Francisco. In her free time Lughano loves to travel, cook, make jewelry and enjoys planning events.

Manvit Adusumilli, Abstracts

Manvit is a senior at Notre Dame from Darien, IL. He is studying Neuroscience & Behavior and Global Affairs with a minor in Poverty Studies. This past summer, Manvit spent eight weeks conducting independent research on community health workers and mental health with Partners in Health in Chiapas, Mexico. At school, Manvit enjoys volunteering with local organizations in South Bend and learning about global health and social justice. In the future, Manvit hopes to pursue medical school. He is excited to be a member of the HDC Committee this year to learn about the amazing research conducted by students around the world.

Elizabeth Coleman, Abstracts

Elizabeth is a first year student from Annapolis, Maryland studying Global Affairs and living in Lewis Hall. She is a member of Notre Dame’s Committee on the Constitution and the Student Policy Network. She is passionate about languages, female empowerment, and human rights and hopes to go to law school in the future.

Jack Drey, Abstracts

Jack is a senior at the University of Notre Dame studying Biological Sciences with minors in International Development Studies and Classical Studies Greek and Roman Civilization. Jack is passionate about global health and education and how they can contribute to international development. He currently works with Professor Mark Golitko studying long-term human response to environmental change in northern Papua New Guinea, and in the Blagg Lab, which is part of the Warren Center for Drug Discovery at the University of Notre Dame. Jack’s independent research project took place in Kisumu, Kenya, where he worked with the Rusalia Resource Foundation to study barriers and drivers of girls’ academic success in rural Kenya, and how mentorship can provide effective support to these students. After graduating in 2024, Jack plans to take a gap year before attending medical school. In his freetime, Jack loves to play tennis, read, and travel.

Tavin Martin, Abstracts

Tavin is a junior from Evansville, Indiana studying global affairs, Latino studies, and ESS. Martin is currently working as a research assistant for Professor Jaimie Bleck in the political science department to study how youth community discussion groups in urban areas can encourage civic engagement and political participation. At the moment, Martin is assisting Professor Bleck by aiding in the process of completing a book that investigates the importance and future of "Grinw", local discussion groups for young men, in Malian society as a means to strengthen civil society and youth roles within it. After the book is finalized, Martin plans to assist Professor Bleck by aiding in a collaborative research project with UC Berkely that is investigating the use of language and activism in four African countries (Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Zambia, and Mali) that have experienced a series of or sustained government instability.

Tia Mittle, Abstracts

Tia is a sophomore from Mumbai, India, majoring in Global Affairs and Political Science, and minoring in International Development Studies at the University of Notre Dame. As a Kellogg International Scholar, Tia is conducting research with Professor Susan Ostermann on the colonial legacies of Hale’s doctrine (focused on marital rape) in India and the US. On campus, Tia serves as a God and the Good Life Fellow, the President of FeministND, the Diversity Commissioner and Service Commissioner for Lewis Hall, and was a Diplomacy Scholar at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies last Spring. Tia will be spending her Spring ’24 semester in Washington DC, interning and studying in the capital. In her free time, she likes to travel, go on lake walks, visit cafés, and spend time with her friends & family. Tia is interested in learning about global development and is excited to align her passion with the HDC this year!

Emma Ryan, Abstracts

Emma is a Senior studying Political Science and Global Affairs from the St. Louis metro area. She is passionate about advocacy work and co-lead a student effort to pass legislation to help immigrants in Indiana. She enjoys travel, having studied abroad in Chile and India and returning to Chile to teach in a youth organization. She is interested in interdisciplinary topics like education and human development, and it currently writing her senior thesis on transformational education involving psychology, social sciences and education. She plans to explore these topics further after graduation before graduate school.

Veronica Bofah, Logistics

Veronica is a first-year at the University of Notre Dame, studying Global Affairs and Spanish. She has always been interested in all matters of social justice, however, she is particularly passionate about grassroots organizing and its effects on solving global issues. Given her experience with social justice organizing, Veronica is eager to learn more through the Human Development Conference, and help bring this wonderful event to life!

Leticia Cardoso Quieroz, Logistics

Leticia is a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame majoring in Business Analytics and Global Affairs. Hailing from São Paulo, Brazil, she proudly identifies as a first-generation college student. Leticia's passion lies in the exploration of the intersection between technology and quality of life on a large scale. Driven by her dedication to understanding the critical role of global business in reducing poverty and inequality, Leticia actively participates in the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program (SBEAP). In this capacity, she engages in social consulting for local entrepreneurs in South Bend, contributing to positive change within the community. Additionally, Leticia is an International Business Scholar, where she engages with a select group of students to explore the ethical and professional dimensions of pursuing business as a force for good on an international scale. Outside of her academic pursuits, Leticia enjoys her free time by traveling, playing dominoes, and hanging out with friends.

Kristin J. Park, Logistics

I am a first-year University of Notre Dame student studying Global Affairs. I plan to go to law school after my undergraduate studies and find fields in political science and international relations interesting. I am passionate about seeking justice for victims of any form of injustice – as this comes to me as very personal – and I believe this explains my past experiences in trying to understand the justice system in roles ranging from being a scholars’ network ambassador to serving as a volunteer teaching assistant for those with outstanding academic abilities despite their financial challenges. I characterize myself as a futuristic harmonizer, a goal-oriented relator, and a responsible developer.

Fabrice Uwihirwe, Logistics

Fabrice is a senior studying Economics and Global Affairs. He is part of the Kellogg International Scholars Program and is currently conducting research with Professor Cordova on effective interventions looking to reduce violence against women. Uwihirwe traveled back to his home country of Rwanda this past summer on a Kellogg/Kroc Undergraduate Research Grant to conduct research on the role parents and teachers play in the retention of students. Education is one of the most important drivers of upward mobility, and Uwihirwe’s project examined effective strategies in keeping students in school so they can reap the long-term benefits of an education. He is particularly interested in research and advocacy on education, housing, and food security for people of color, particularly Black people. 

Julianna Forry, Liaisons

Julianna is a sophomore from Santa Barbara, California studying Medical Anthropology and International Development Studies. She is currently a part of the Eck Institute Undergraduate Research Team investigating maternal mortality outcomes in the South Bend community, and is also assisting Professor Joyce Adams with her implementation of the Pop Up Pregnancy Village in St Joseph County. Julianna serves as GHU Coordinator and Advocacy Coordinator on the GlobeMed Board at Notre Dame, which focuses on education about global health crises and outreach with local partners- like the AIDS Assist organization in South Bend. Julianna is passionate about maternal and child healthcare policy, as well as infectious disease biology. Outside of academics, Julianna enjoys playing tennis, indoor cycling, hanging out with friends, dinners with family, and watching documentaries. 

Molly Griffith, Liaisons

Molly is a sophomore from Columbus, Ohio studying Economics and Political Science with a minor in Constitutional Studies. She is a Kellogg International Scholar and assists Professor Susanne Wengle with her research investigating how the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has affected the Ukrainian agricultural sector and the global food system more broadly. On-campus, Molly is also involved with the Notre Dame Journal of Political Science and EuroSecND. She is looking forward to working with the HDC team in planning an engaging and informative conference this spring!

Adriana Abinader

Adriana is a senior from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic studying Psychology and Global Affairs with a concentration in International Development. She grew up witnessing the pervasive challenges of sexism in the Dominican Republic, including how it contributed to issues such as teen pregnancy and heightened levels of violence against women in the country. This led her to choose her research topic on gender-based violence and conduct her project in Mexico City. Adriana has previously worked as a research assistant at the Pulte Institute for SHARE (Supporting Holistic & Actionable Research in Education) and for CARA (Central American Research Alliance) assisting on the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program. She is passionate about public policy, education, and women’s empowerment.

Alessandra Rosa Policarpo

Alessandra is a first-generation college student from Brazil, and is currently pursuing a double major in Economics and Political Science and a minor in Latin American Studies at Macalester College. With a passion for decolonization, entrepreneurship, youth empowerment, and gender equality, she is driven to make a positive impact in the world.

Amelia Opsahl

Amelia is a current Junior at Claremont Mckenna College (CMC). Here, she is majoring in Foreign Languages, which is a program that develops fluency in French, Spanish, and Portuguese. She is also pursuing a minor in Computer Science. In line with her major, she has studied abroad three times in the past two years, and has either studied abroad or worked in France, Portugal, Argentina, and Brazil. Her research comes from her time in Buenos Aires, where she studied Public Health with the School for International Training (SIT). Outside of her classes, she is on the Varsity Cross Country and Track and Field teams, serves as a leader in various student organizations, and works as a tour guide for CMC. She loves spending time outdoors and, of course, traveling, and is honored to be presenting at this year’s Human Development Conference.

Anna Mittag

Anna is a senior studying Chemical Engineering and Poverty Studies with research interests in sustainability, human rights, and environmental justice. Over the past three years, Mittag has worked with Professor Ellis Adjei Adams of the Keough School of Global Affairs through the Kellogg International Scholars Program. Here, she has assisted on a number of projects regarding environmental impacts in the global south, most recently co-authoring a manuscript on farmer-herder conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, Mittag has participated in lab research regarding water sanitation and filtration, utilizing her chemical engineering education to support her passion for the environment. After graduating in May, Mittag will be working as a sustainability analyst in a sustainability consulting rotational program.

Ashleigh Cotter

Bartell Prize winner Ashleigh is a senior from New Jersey studying Neuroscience & Behavior. She is interested in health equity and medical anthropology. Cotter received a Kellogg/Kroc Undergraduate Research Grant to complete her International Development Studies capstone project this past summer in Monterrey, Mexico. She interviewed migrant women, healthcare professionals, and social workers about the current maternal healthcare needs and experiences of migrant women. Cotter plans to present her findings at academic conferences and work with stakeholders in Monterrey to address the most pressing needs of migrant women.

Audrey Feldman

Audrey is a senior Economics and Global Affairs major at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on human capital development, and she has experience in international education, domestic safety net policy, and nonprofit impact evaluations. She is currently working as a research assistant for Dr. TJ D’Agostino on a collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County. This project will pilot a randomized controlled trial of a wraparound home visiting service to decrease gun violence and chronic absenteeism. Her independent senior thesis, which she will be presenting at HDC 2023, explores safety net take-up among refugees in the US. Audrey draws inspiration for her work from her hands-on volunteer experiences at a refugee resettlement organization in Syracuse, NY and a mentorship and tutoring program at the local juvenile detention center in South Bend. She is thrilled to present at this conference, and plans on pursuing a research-oriented career that will serve those who have been traditionally excluded from opportunity in this country.

Azuna Sawada

Bupe Lughano Kabaghe

Lughano is a passionate leader committed to African development, governance, gender equality and youth empowerment. Kabaghe is a fourth-year Hesburgh Yusko merit scholar at the University of Notre Dame from Kitwe Zambia. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Global Affairs with a concentration in International Development studies. Kabaghe is an alumnus of the African Leadership Academy(ALA) class of 2020. Kabaghe is the founder of Abana Afrika Foundation a youth-led NGO that empowers Zambian youth in Kitwe through mentorship in personal and professional development, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Lughano and her team have mentored 300 young Zambians in Kitwe through workshops, bootcamps, and community outreach programs in collaboration with government representatives and community organizations.Kabaghe has worked on various research and community development projects that empower girls and promote female and youth political participation in Zambia and abroad. Kabaghe at age 19 worked as the youngest intern at the National Assembly Parliament of Zambia in 2019 and has worked with different organizations in Africa and abroad. such as the 25 May Movement to advance the movement for decolKabaghe is an International scholar at the Kellogg Institute for International Development Studies where she researches Women's Political representation in the Zambian government. Kabaghe worked as a parliamentary aide in the House of Commons in the Palace of Westminster where she worked on policy briefing and political communication. After her studies, she aims to pursue a public service career and join active politics with the aim of running for presidential office.

Cora Beeson

Cora is a fourth year at Pacific Lutheran University studying Political Science and Global Studies, with a concentration in Development and Social Justice. During spring semester of 2023, she completed SIT’s Indonesia program, and interned at an interfaith women’s shelter while also carrying out a research project about sexual assault, domestic violence, and abortion within the city of Yogyakarta. This work continues to be important to her and she hopes that this experience can lead her to a future of advocating for the empowerment of marginalized communities. Currently for January 2024, she is studying in Trinidad and Tobago, and interning for the Community Social Services Unit, a section of the Tobago House of Assembly. Cora also has worked as Social Justice director for 2 years within PLU’s student government, and is passionate about language learning. She is able to speak Chinese, and is developing a proficiency in Indonesian and Spanish.

Daisy Alcantar

Daisy is a Senior at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN. She is majoring in sociology and minoring in political science. Daisy studied abroad in Valparaiso, Chile with SIT during her Junior year. She has a strong interest in social justice, immigration politics, and community development.

Damien Chang

Damien is an undergraduate at Harvard studying Government. He is interested in international relations, particularly how ideas shape community-building and political reform in other countries.

Daniel Mooney

Daniel is a current Sophomore from Red Bank, New Jersey pursuing a double major in international economics and global affairs with a supplementary focus in German language and literature. As a scholar in the Kellogg International Scholars Program, Mooney is assisting Professor Patrizio Piraino in exploring broad determinants of economic disadvantage in developing countries and microeconomic approaches to education and mental health resource development in low to middle-income countries. Mooney's contribution to Professor Piraino's work involves an in-depth investigation into the current state of mental health within low-income, informal settlements in South Africa. Through a microeconomic lens, Mooney is evaluating the most relevant psychological needs throughout the Global South as well as potential methods for psychological intervention within the region.

Esther Ekeh

Esther is a senior Psychology major at Gettysburg College. She intends to pursue a career in clinical psychology working with young children. Last Spring, Esther successfully conducted an independent research project in Amman Jordan looking at the different therapy modalities provided to young traumatized refugee children. Beyond presenting her research at the Human Development Conference, she hopes to continue to work with this population to find more effective ways to improve social functionality.

Fabrice Uwihirwe

Fabrice is a senior from Rwanda majoring in Economics and Global Affairs with a minor in Poverty Studies. Uwihirwe traveled back to Rwanda this past summer on a Kellogg/Kroc Undergraduate Research Grant to conduct research on the role parents and teachers play in the retention of students. Education is one of the most important drivers of upward mobility, and Uwihirwe’s project examined effective strategies in keeping students in school so they can reap the long-term benefits of an education. Uwihirwe is interested in studying and combating injustices faced by the African diaspora and other marginalized groups both domestically and internationally.

Finn Maechem

Finn is an undergraduate at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is a double major in Linguistics and Religious Studies. Both of these disciplines informed the research questions and focus of his studies in East and Central Java, and he hopes to continue this work after graduating as a Fellow of Fulbright recipient.

Giancarlo Cappelli Wang

I'm a senior majoring in Political Science and Economics with a minor in International Development Studies. Through the Kellogg Institute, I researched the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the effectiveness of innovative literacy policies in northeastern and midwestern Brazil. With the help of faculty advisor Marcio Bahia, my focus is on investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic has created further challenges toward student access to basic public education in underserved communities in Brazil. My research was conducted in municipalities which have shown exceptional resilience and creativity in their public education policies, examining practices which could inform successful policies in other regions in Brazil.Over the past summer, I interviewed teachers, school administrators, and policymakers across three municipalities and two states in order to understand how education professionals have worked towards improving the quality and accessibility of education in their communities.

Grace Clinton

Grace is a senior at the University of Notre Dame studying Pre-Professional Studies, Global Affairs, and Anthropology with a concentration in International Development Studies. Her passion and work surround the furtherance of female health and rights on a global scale. For the past three years she has done research with Dr. Joyce Adams on postpartum maternal health in various parts of Ghana.  Her independent research projects work on issues of teen pregnancy in rural districts of Botswana. Grace also works for the Harvard School of Global Surgery and Social Change to help with research and development of international maternal surgical care access and legislation. After graduating in 2024, she plans on attending graduate school for Medical Anthropology with a focus on female and maternal health rights for displaced persons throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In her free time, Grace likes to run, cook, and travel often. She has been a part of the Human Development Conference team since her first-year on campus and is very excited to be a co-chair this year!

Hallee Limes

As a current senior at Ohio Wesleyan, Hallee studies Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy.As an avid explorer of global cultures, channels her passion into a purposeful career in anthropology. With an unwavering commitment to understanding the intricacies of diverse societies, she delves into the essence of humanity through her studies. Her academic journey led her to Samoa, where she focused on unraveling the nuances of identity and culture in early childhood—an experience that further fueled her curiosity. Hallee's dedication to fostering cross-cultural understanding reflects not only in her academic pursuits but also in her belief that embracing diversity is essential for a more interconnected world

Isabel Powell

Isabel is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Georgetown University studying Biology of Global Health and Justice & Peace Studies. Through her pursuit of sustainable health equity, particularly for refugee or mobile populations, Isabel traveled to Dharamshala, India as part of the SIT India: Public Health, Gender, and Community Action program. There, she investigated the synergistic impact of stigma, migrant community identity, and genetics on patient mental health and healthcare seeking behavior. In addition to her professional pursuits, Isabel spends her time tutoring with A Better Chance, cooking, and exploring the world.

Jessica Ashman

Jessica is a senior at the University of Notre Dame, studying Anthropology and Global Affairs with a concentration in International Development and a minor in Latino Studies. Jessica is passionate about topics having to do with sociocultural identity and its intersections with human development. She strongly believes in the power of social science research to generate informed solutions to complex problems. Jessica’s independent fieldwork took place in the Dominican Republic where she examined concepts of colorism, anti-Haitianism, national identity, and education. Over a two month period, she worked with two development NGOs to conduct interviews with Dominican and Haitian young adults. Currently, she works with Dr. Luis Felipe R. Murillo who conducts research on open technologies in Afro-descendent Brazilian populations. After graduation, Jessica plans to pursue her PhD in Socio-cultural Anthropology so she can continue her lifelong exploration of transnational blackness and the barriers to social inclusion. In her freetime, Jessica likes to sing, spend time with friends, and learn about other cultures.

Jillian Brunner

Jillian is a senior at the University of Notre Dame majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior with a Supplemental Major in Spanish and a Minor in Compassionate Care in Medicine. Jillian is interested in global health and healthcare disparities, especially in Latin American countries. The main demographic she wants to learn about is adolescent pregnant women and their children. During the summer of 2022, Jillian received a grant to participate in an Experiencing the World Fellowship through the Kellogg Institute. Jillian spent 4 weeks in La Paz, Bolivia with physicians and patients to learn about the epidemic of adolescent pregnancy and its effect on child development in a resource limited setting. After graduating in May of 2024, she plans to attend medical school to serve this demographic.

Keerthana Krishnan

Keerthana is from San Jose, California and is a senior at Tulane University. She is studying Public Health and Psychology with a minor in Anthropology. Her future goals include getting an MPH, a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and becoming a practicing Clinical Psychologist. Her presentation at the conference was done during a semester abroad and demonstrates her interest in researching and solving barriers to mental health care.

Kerry Conneely

Kerry is a senior studying Environmental Engineering with a minor in International Development Studies. She is passionate about the intersection between climate change, infrastructure, and human development. In the summer of 2023, Conneely conducted field research, using the undergraduate Kellogg/Kroc grant, in coastal communities in Ghana, focusing on the intersection of these interests. Under the advisory of Dr. Ellis Adams, Conneely led interviews with community members and leaders about flooding, sanitation, and wellbeing. On campus, Kerry is the project manager of Notre Dame Students Empowering through Engineering Development (NDSEED), a student-run organization that funds, designs, and constructs pedestrian footbridges in geographically isolated communities in Latin America. This opportunity has allowed her to further combine her interests in engineering and international development. She is also involved in the club swim team and the Society of Women Engineers.

Lauren Carter

Lauren is a student at the University of Richmond completing a double undergraduate major in Psychology and Anthropology. With a burgeoning interest in the cultural dynamics and psychological aspects of high-altitude communities, Lauren's academic journey recently led her to spend a semester abroad in Nepal, specifically in the Himalaya region of Mustang. Her current research, born from this experience, explores the intersection of traditional practices like yak herding with contemporary socio-economic and environmental challenges. As a researcher, Lauren has worked on the Belonging Project, an interdisciplinary initiative funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, focusing on fostering inclusion in STEM at the University of Richmond. Additionally, her experience as a research fellow involved an in-depth analysis of women's social networks and conflicts among the Tsimane people of Bolivia.

Lena Kennell

Lena is a Political Science major at Wellesley college in her senior year. She is passionate about collaborative problem-solving and the importance of intersectional research that accurately represents the diversity of affected populations .Her work is guided by her fundamental belief that in order to understand and accept each other, you must first see each other. Her research on gendered discrimination and erasure of Samoan queer individuals began when she studied with SIT (School of International Training) in Apia, Samoa. She presented this research at the Wellesley Ruhlman conference. She plans to continue working with the Samoan queer community to better address gendered dimensions of discrimination. In her free time, she enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, making ceramics, and spending time outside.

Lena Shadow

Lena is a fourth-year sociology student at the University of Notre Dame with minors in international development studies and data science. Her passion lies in promoting women's empowerment as a strategy for economic and social development with a geographical focus on sub-Saharan Africa. On campus, Lena is employed with the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures and served as the co-lead for multiple global development policy projects through ND's Student Policy Network. She hopes to continue her work through an eventual career in development program monitoring and evaluation.

Laiqa Walli

Laiqa aspires to sustainably influence East African development with more informed and culturally appropriate policies. Laiqa grew up in Tanzania and went to a boarding school in Kenya. She is a fourth-year Yale undergraduate, majoring in Global Affairs and African Studies, alongside a Statistics & Data Science certificate. Laiqa aspires to reshape politics using data analytics to address government structuring, resource allocation, and education policy. Her commitment stems from a desire to combat modern colonialism and corruption, ensuring equitable development. In 2019, she delivered a TedTalk, "Developing Africa Not Westernizing it," advocating for local research and adapted policies to decolonize and empower Africa. Laiqa is a fellow for the MacMillian Center ‘Through the Eyes of She Initiative’ that focuses on gender equity in Africa. She is also the Deputy Director for Yale Africa Innovation Symposium, a space created for youth to create actionable solutions across African industries.

Lillie Kang

Bartell Prize winner Lillie is a 4th year student at Washington University in St. Louis with a major in International Studies: Development and a minor in Global Health. Her research interests include capacity building, rural health access, systems thinking, and transformative health justice. Currently, Lillie works as a development project manager at Welcome to Chinatown, a nonprofit operating in NYC Chinatown small business support and cultural preservation. Past job experiences include refugee resettlement services, educational justice in urban spaces, and immigration policy research assistantship. In spring 2023, Lillie had the opportunity to study in Nepal, through the lens of development, gender and social change in the Himalaya. After graduation, Lillie plans to attend Brown School of Social Work at WashU in St. Louis to pursue a Masters in Public Health, specializing in global health. Outside of academics, she enjoys playing flute competitively, singing karaoke, and watching food documentaries.

Lucy Wesson

Originally from Colorado, Lucy Wesson is a senior at the University of Oregon Clark's Honors College, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies with a concentration in Peace Studies and triple minors in Spanish, Linguistics, and Textile Arts. She has lived, studied, and conducted research in both Croatia and Rwanda for over three months. Lucy is passionate about understanding women’s experiences during conflict and development. Her research focuses on various participatory and creative solutions that encourage women’s empowerment and liberation. In her early professional career, she has worked in the nonprofit sector as a legislative intern, conducting policy research and advocating for students' rights. Additionally, she serves as a development coordinator, promoting sustainable tools for women’s development and climate security in Senegal.

Manvit Adusumilli

Manvit is a senior at Notre Dame studying Neuroscience & Behavior and Global Affairs. He has participated in summer opportunities in service and health through the Center for Social Concerns, in addition to volunteering and conducting research throughout the school year. This past summer, Manvit conducted independent research with Partners in Health in rural Mexico through the Kellogg Institute. In the future, Manvit hopes to become a physician and continue working on projects related to community and public health.

Oluwatoni Akintola

Oluwatoni is a Sophomore at the University of Notre Dame majoring in Computer Science & Economics. He is currently working on a project that examines whether a management intervention targeting school leaders can offer a cost-efficient method of improving public service delivery in schools in Uganda. Outside of research, Akintola enjoys reading, writing poetry, and watching films.

Peter Cohen

Peter is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis studying Educational Studies, Psychology, and Creative Writing.

Robert Fitzpatrick

Robert is a senior at the University of Notre Dame studying Sociology with minors in International Development Studies and Latino Studies. Over a period of 11 weeks, he conducted independent field research in Costa Rica. He set out to examine how Afro-descendant and Indigenous Costa Ricans benefit from sustainable agriculture using interviews, ethnographic observation, and archival review. Robert has also spent time working under Dr. Kraig Beyerlein and studying under Dr. Rory McVeigh in the Sociology department. He has worked on environmentally-focused projects in Latin America and the U.S. During college he learned to speak Spanish fluently and has begun learning Haitian Creole and Italian. After graduation Robert will serve communities through the Peace Corps before returning for graduate school to study Global Affairs. He believes that research is key to building environmental and racial justice, especially by uplifting marginalized voices.

Sally Fales

Sally is a Washington University senior double majoring in Educational Studies and Sociology, with a minor in African and African American Studies. She conducted research in the semi-rural township of Cato Manor in Durban, South Africa, in the spring of 2023. Her academic and research interests include historical and present-day access to educational resources and opportunities, literacy acquisition and benefits, and transformative teaching methods in K-12 urban school classrooms. Sally has entered schools and nonprofits in Newark, Memphis, and St. Louis to learn the challenges and successes in underserved communities while teaching literacy-based curricula. She is thrilled to continue her education this fall, pursuing a Master's in Education and teaching certification at Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

Samantha Murphy

Samantha is a senior at Occidental College majoring in Sociology and double minoring in Critical Theory & Social Justice and Media Arts & Culture. During the fall of 2022, she completed a study abroad program with the School for International Training focused on Culture, Social Change, and Development. Here, she completed a one-month independent study project on Ho Chi Minh City’s sex industry. Since then, she received funding to conduct research on implicit biases in American Public Media’s Marketplace radio show, which she is currently working on as her senior comprehensive research project. She hopes to continue conducting research both domestically and internationally

Samantha Wheelis

Samantha, a senior film major and environmental studies minor at Temple University, is a dedicated documentary filmmaker with a passion for translating impactful research into visual narratives. Her goal is to make research more easily accessible by displaying it in different mediums. One of her main interests is understanding the intersectionality of people and the environment and how we can foster a sustainable future for the world. Samantha studied abroad with SIT in Samoa, exploring the importance of fishing in Samoan culture and its connection to environmental health. This led her to discover her passion for not only filmmaking but environmental based research as well. In the future, she wants to further study environmental sustainability and justice, and continue making compelling documentaries on current issues.

Sezin Sakmar

Sezin is a fourth-year undergraduate student at The George Washington University studying Anthropology and Public Health. While studying abroad in India during the Spring 2023 semester, she had the privilege of conducting an independent qualitative study with the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) – an internationally recognised organization seeking to utilize healthcare as a means to break the cycle of poverty. Here, she shadowed various healthcare providers working to implement family planning initiatives in rural Maharashtra through empowerment-driven community paramedicine efforts. Sezin intends to return to India upon graduation, continuing to learn from the stellar Village Health Workers, Mobile Health Team, and physicians at CRHP so that she may embody their values and mindset as an OB-GYN after attending medical school. In her free time, Sezin can be found volunteering as an EMT on GWU’s student-run collegiate EMS agency, spending time with loved ones, and doing tarot readings!

Simone Watson

Simone is a Graduating Senior at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a double major in Spanish and International Studies with a concentration in Cultural Studies. In 2023, she completed two large research projects, an ethnographic independent study project during her semester abroad in Chile as well as a cultural/media analysis project for her institution. Her preferred area of research is Cultural Studies with a particular focus on the intersection between Postcolonial/Decolonial Theory and Race Theory. She particularly enjoys the study of popular culture and media production through these academic lenses. Simone plans to continue to produce work that prioritizes the analysis of our ever-changing media landscape in both English and Spanish after receiving her Bachelor’s Degree.

 Bartell Prize

The Rev. Ernest J. Bartell, CSC, Prize for Undergraduate Research on Poverty and Development is conferred annually at the University of Notre Dame's Human Development Conference. Two $1,000 prizes recognize outstanding undergraduate student research on poverty and development. Each year one prize will be given to a student at the University of Notre Dame and one to a student from another university. Undergraduate students invited to present at the 2024 Human Development Conference are eligible to apply for this award. Information regarding how to apply is included in the conference invitation. Students who wish to be considered must apply by  Monday, January 15, 2024 . Additional information and/or an interview may be required. Finalists will be notified in the beginning of  February. Student research should address a specific aspect of poverty and development, whether in the United States or abroad. Research may be submitted from any field of study, including the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities. Students are encouraged to conduct original research and to consider programs and policies that could help reduce poverty.  A faculty committee will determine the award recipients, and prizes will be conferred during the Human Development Conference, February 23-24, 2024.

The Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, announce the 16th annual Human Development Conference.

For sixteen years, the Human Development Conference has provided a forum for undergraduate students from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines who are passionate about development to engage in dialogue about development research.

The 2024 Human Development Conference, themed Power of the People: Uplifting Global Communities . This year’s conference seeks to highlight the importance of localization and ownership agendas within the development sphere. Bountiful agency has always existed within all communities. Our theme emphasizes the idea of practitioners and researchers working to collaborate with communities as opposed to working for communities.

We welcome and invite all undergraduate students to share their research experiences from a broad spectrum of topics in human development, including but not limited to:

Undergraduate students interested in presenting should submit a max 350-word abstract of their research projects: click here . The final submission deadline has been extended to Monday, November 13 , at 11:59 PM .

In line with this year’s theme of global communities, there will be both in-person and virtual presentation opportunities, as well as panels conducted in English, French and Spanish , to increase conference accessibility and include the many perspectives that deserve a place in important conversations of human development.

Invitations for participation will be extended in early December. Selected presenters will also be eligible for the Rev. Ernest J. Bartell, CSC, Prize for Undergraduate Research on Poverty and Development, a $1,000 award conferred to two outstanding undergraduate researchers presenting at the Human Development Conference. (see tab)

We hope that you will join us in participating in this important conversation!

Deadline Extended: Monday, November 13, 2023

Presenters are expected to attend the entirety of the conference, from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. Due to the number of presenters involved in the conference, we are unable to meet requests for specific presentation times. Please plan your travel accordingly.

Panel Presenters will be placed with 1-3 other students whose research is related. A panel will last for 1 hour and 30 minutes and consist of student presentations, feedback from a faculty moderator, and discussion & questions with the audience. Please be aware that going over time may infringe upon the time allotments of other presenters.

Length : 15 minutes

Format : Presenters typically utilize a PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc. to present their project. We encourage creativity with graphs, charts, videos, etc.

A desktop, projector, screen, and podium will be available in each of the session rooms. You will not be able to use your own laptop for your presentation.

What to include in your presentation :

• Brief introduction of research and relevance
• Methodology
• Discussion of results and conclusion (this should be the bulk of the presentation)
• Relate your research to the conference theme.

Please email your final presentation to [email protected] by Monday, February 19 , to provide panel moderators with adequate time to review and prepare their remarks and feedback.  Following the conference, your presentation may be placed on our website to serve as a guideline for next year’s presenters.

Accommodations

Local hotels.

A list of local hotels that previous conference presenters have stayed at (please note travel time to campus from each hotel differs): 

Embassy Suites 1140 E Angela Blvd South Bend, IN 46617 (855) 213-6794

The Fairfield Inn and Suites 1220 East Angela Boulevard South Bend, IN 46637 (574) 234-5510

Inn at Saint Mary's 53993 US 933 South Bend, Indiana 46637 574-232-4000

The Morris Inn 1399 Notre Dame Avenue Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 (574) 631-2000 Toll free (800) 280-7256

Helpful Information for Travel to South Bend

The majority of the conference will be held at the Hesburgh Center for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame , located in Notre Dame, Indiana. (Note: This is not to be confused with the Hesburgh Library, which is also located on the Notre Dame campus. You can distinguish the two by noting that the library is 13 stories tall, while the Hesburgh Center is not).

Please note that the University of Notre Dame is in the Eastern Time Zone.

Notre Dame, Indiana, is 90 miles east of Chicago. The surrounding communities are South Bend and Mishawaka.

From the north, east, or west (ex. Chicago)

The University is located South of the Indiana Toll Road (Interstate 80/90).

• Take exit 77 toward IN-933/US-31/South Bend/Notre Dame from I-80/90 E.
• Turn right onto Indiana 933 South/South Dixie Way. Proceed 1.1 miles.
• Turn left at the 4th stoplight onto Angela Boulevard. Proceed 0.8 miles.
• Turn left at the 1st stoplight onto Notre Dame Avenue.
• Turn right at the 1st stop sign onto Holy Cross Drive.
• Signs will identify visitor parking.

From the south (ex. Indianapolis)

• Take US 31 North. It becomes Indiana 933/US 31/Michigan Street just south of South Bend.
• Proceed on Indiana 933/US 31/North to Angela Boulevard, which is the second stop light north of the St. Joseph River.

Flying into the South Bend Regional Airport: Arriving at the South Bend Regional Airport can be a convenient way to travel to Notre Dame. Airlines serving South Bend include Allegiant, Delta, and United Airlines.

Cab fare from the South Bend Regional Airport is approximately $15. There are typically cabs waiting outside the airport. A list of South Bend Regional Airport approved cab services is available on the airport website at http://flysbn.com/transportation/taxi-train-bus/

Flying into Chicago Airports: Flying into Chicago O'Hare or Midway Airport can be a cheaper way to travel to Notre Dame. Train transportation is available from Chicago to the South Bend Regional Airport via the South Shore Line.

Train Travel

From Chicago O’Hare to Millennium Station

Follow the signs in the airport for trains to the city. In the train area, follow the flashing yellow light to find the train that is loading passengers. Take the Blue Line towards the Forest Park Terminal to Washington station. From that stop, walk one block north on Dearborn Street and 3 blocks east on Randolph Street to arrive at Millennium Station, where you can board the South Shore Line to the South Bend airport.

On the way back to Chicago O’Hare , take the South Shore Line to Chicago’s Millennium Station. Walk 3 blocks west along Randolph Street to Dearborn Street. Turn left on Dearborn Street and proceed to the Washington subway station for the Blue Line. Follow overhead signs towards Chicago O'Hare. Ride the train to the O'Hare Station, which is at the end of the line. The train ride to O’Hare takes approximately 40 minutes and runs every 5–10 minutes depending on the time of day.

From Chicago Midway to Millennium Station

Follow the signs in the airport for trains to the city. Board the Orange Line and take it to the Randolph/Wabash station. Walk 1 block east on Randolph Street to arrive at Millennium Station, where you will board the South Shore Line to the South Bend airport.

On the way back to Chicago Midway , take the South Shore Line to Chicago’s Millennium Station at Randolph Street. Walk 1 block west along Randolph Street to Wabash Avenue and enter the Randolph/Wabash station for the Orange Line. Follow signs and take the train marked with orange signs to Midway Airport. Ride to the Midway Station, which is at the end of the line. The train ride to Midway takes about 30 minutes and runs every 5–10 minutes depending on the time of day. Follow the signs and take the overhead passage to the airport terminal, about one-quarter mile.

From Chicago’s Millennium Station to the South Bend Regional Airport

The South Shore Line commuter train travels from downtown Chicago to the South Bend Regional Airport. One-way fare is $14.25. The train takes about three hours to travel from Millennium Station to South Bend, but keep in mind the one-hour time change between South Bend and Chicago . Additional information is available at https://www.mysouthshoreline.com/ . To arrive at the downtown terminal of the South Shore Line in Chicago (Millennium Station), take the Blue Line train from O’Hare Airport or the Orange Line train from Midway Airport (see above).

From Cities across the Country

Amtrak runs directly to South Bend. After arriving at the station, you would then need to call a taxi or uber to take you to the Notre Dame campus. Please refer to www.amtrak.com for schedules.

From Cities across the Country: Greyhound stops at South Bend Regional Airport. Schedules and stations are available at www.greyhound.com .

Solidarity in Development: Empowering Agents of Change February 24 to 25, 2023 This year’s conference theme, Solidarity in Development: Empowering Agents of Change, seeks to highlight the positive impacts individuals, organizations, and communities can have addressing the many global challenges of today's world. Pragmatic solidarity leads to action, engagement, and accompaniment beyond the traditional notion of solidarity as an attitude. Accompaniment provides an opportunity for the mutual exchange of knowledge and experience among development actors. This collaboration between all agents of change can bring about inclusive and sustainable development outcomes for a world facing innumerable issues, from a pandemic and climate crisis to international conflict and food insecurity.

Our Global Responsibility: Seeking Inclusive Growth Amidst Widening Inequality February 25 to 26, 2022 Throughout the past year, the world witnessed widening gaps of inequality in all aspects of our society due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even today, the pandemic continues to further inequality at all levels — including education, poverty, and public health — disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. Building off of last year’s conference theme, The Future is Now: Innovative Responses to Global Adversity, the 2022 conference seeks to shed light on the continued need for interdisciplinary innovation and our responsibility as global citizens for collaboration during these times of widespread disparity.

The Future is Now: Innovative Responses to Global Adversity February 26-27, 2021 Global development and collaboration cannot be halted due to COVID-19 or any other global adversity. The ways we approach integral human development must be adaptable to our ever-changing global environment. Oftentimes, new solutions are driven by unavoidable barriers and unexpected set-backs, and impressive innovations arise from times of crisis. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, creative adaptability is key to persevering in the mission of integral human development, which is to foster conditions conducive to flourishing for every individual and every community. So far, we have seen a contagious energy as new methods of communication and collaboration inspire hope for the achievement of this mission. In a time with added fear and uncertainty, social connectedness is truly the only way forward. From the bottom up, integral human development must be fueled by a commitment to social connectedness through inclusive discourse and collaborative innovation.

Development on the Move: Global Strategies Informed by Local Contexts February 21-22, 2020 Development on the Move not only addresses the need to understand and address issues from a global perspective but also calls each of us to action.  This conference will emphasize shifts in both personal and collective action, focus on developing expertise in global issues, and spark conversations that lead to change.

Engaging with Empathy: A Preferential Option for the Poor in Development February 22-23, 2019 In order to ensure that past historic injustices are not repeated and to promote the human dignity of all individuals, it is necessary to engage with empathy and to view research, problems, and policies from the perspective of those most affected by development challenges.

Decades of Development: Contextualizing the Past, Envisioning the Future February 23-24, 2018 Human-centered approaches to development requires trust, compassion, and awareness in order to place the individual at the center of development.

Development with Dignity: A Human-Centered Approach to Progress February 24–25, 2017 In order to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, the global community needs to shift from theory to practice – from policy to individuals – refocusing its efforts by placing humans at the center of the sustainable development agenda. Creating solutions to critical issues that afflict the world’s populations today requires not only a shift in scale but the recognition and continual affirmation that the dignity of peoples on all sides of the path to progress must be the central focus of development.

Re-Imagining Development: Pursuing Good in a Changing World February 26–27, 2016 The conference focused on the transformative power of new ideas: how development paradigms that emphasize agency, inclusivity, and dignity can redefine success and challenge traditional methods in development. As the new Sustainable Development Goals illustrated, this evolution in development calls upon countries and citizens in both the developing and developed worlds to work together to overcome our shared challenges and ensure our interconnected prosperity.

Envision, Enact, Evaluate: Sustaining Momentum in Development February 27-28, 2015

Transforming Development: New Actors, Innovative Technologies & Emerging Trends February 28 – March 1, 2014 The theme of the sixth annual Human Development Conference, "Transforming Development: New Actors, Innovative Technologies & Emerging Trends," was inspired by the idea that development is an evolving process. A widening set of stakeholders and rapidly advancing technologies raise new possibilities for the field. The conference was a chance to reflect on both successes and failures in development, while analyzing opportunities created by these new trends.

In the Field: Cultivating Collaboration and Innovation February 8-9, 2013 The fifth annual Human Development Conference, “In the Field: Cultivating Collaboration and Innovation,” brought together more than 200 students, faculty members, and development experts from around the world, including keynote address speaker, Sara Sievers, the founding executive director of the Center for Globalization and Development at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.  Over 70 students presented their own research, representing fieldwork from more than 30 countries. Topics addressed ranged from evaluating the perceptions of trust among Peruvian sexually abused victims to combating cancer in Samoa and implementing organic agricultural certification in India.

Faces Behind the Figures: Visions of Prosperity, Progress, and Human Potential February 10-11, 2012 The fourth annual HDC, “Faces Behind the Figures: Visions of Prosperity, Progress and Human Potential,” took place during February 2012, culminating in a keynote address given by  Not For Sale ’s co-founder and executive director Mark Wexler. The conference featured 250 students, faculty and development experts from across the United States and beyond. Eighty-two students presented research on development-related topics conducted in over 35 different countries. Panels addressed topics ranging from food security and agricultural development to post-conflict transformation and the effectiveness of foreign aid. 

Unleashing Human Potential: Global Citizens in Pursuit of the Common Good February 11-12, 2011 The third annual Human Development Conference, “Unleashing Human Potential: Global Citizens in Pursuit of the Common Good,” brought together 73 undergraduate and graduate student-presenters with research experiences in over 30 countries. The Ford Program also welcomed a group of two students and three faculty members from Uganda Martyrs University, the program’s partner university in on-site research and development projects. The two-day conference concluded with a dinner banquet and keynote address given by microfinance specialist David Roodman from the Center for Global Development.

People, Power, and Pragmatism: The Future of Development in Our Changing World February 26-27, 2010 The second annual Human Development Conference, “People, Power, and Pragmatism: The Future of Development in Our Changing World,” was held in February of 2010. More than doubling in size from the previous year, the conference grew to 80 students with research experiences in 38 different countries. Thirty-eight colleges and universities from across the globe were represented. Ray Chambers, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, spoke on his commitment to the Millennium Promise and  Malaria No More . The keynote address was delivered by Joseph Sebarenzi, the former speaker of the Rwandan Parliament, who spoke passionately about his experience as a genocide survivor and his efforts to create reconciliation, peace and development in Rwanda and the world.

Innovation in the Service of Human Dignity: A Human Development Conference November 7-8, 2008 In November of 2008, the symposium grew into a full conference sponsored by the Ford program and co-sponsored by the Center for Social Concerns and the School for International Training.  The program's first annual undergraduate research conference, “ Innovation in the Service of Human Dignity ” featured graduate and undergraduate student presenters from 29 universities and representing 28 countries of research. The conference drew more than 250 participants, and moderators from around the country also attended the conference to facilitate panel discussions. Peter McPherson, the former head of USAID, delivered the keynote address.

Solidarity in Pursuit of Authentic Human Development Saturday, February 23, 2008 In 2008, together with the Center for Social Concerns, the Ford Program sponsored a student research symposium entitled “Solidarity in Pursuit of Authentic Human Development.” Twenty-eight students presented at the event, including students from Uganda Martyrs University. Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, delivered the keynote address.

Conference Sponsors:

More information can be found on our socials:

Coordinator:  Erica Cavanagh Phone : 540-568-3761        Email : [email protected] Website: http://www.jmu.edu/english/undergraduate/minors.shtml

The cross disciplinary minor in creative writing is designed to encourage students to develop their writing talents across a number of literary forms and communication contexts.

Course offerings in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, scriptwriting, screen and playwriting give students the opportunity to shape the minor to suit a variety of artistic interests and professional objectives. With the choice of at least one course from a group involving advanced topics, narrative and poetic forms, media criticism and film analysis, students will gain informed perspectives on current issues affecting readers, viewers, writers and their creative works. These courses support the core workshop courses and are vital to competence in the field.

The minimum requirement for a minor in creative writing is 18 hours. Two courses may be double-counted between the minor and the major. Students electing this minor may acquire more information from the creative writing advisor of the Department of English   , the School of Media Arts and Design    or the School of Theatre and Dance   .

Required Courses

Select four or five core courses from two or more departments: 12-15 credit hours.

• ENG 391. Introduction to Creative Writing – Nonfiction Credits: 3.00
• ENG 392. Introduction to Creative Writing – Poetry Credits: 3.00
• ENG 393. Introduction to Creative Writing – Fiction Credits: 3.00
• ENG 493. Advanced Creative Nonfiction Credits: 3.00
• ENG 494. Advanced Poetry Writing Credits: 3.00
• ENG 495. Advanced Fiction Writing Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 250. Scriptwriting Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 251. Screenplay Writing Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 311. Feature Writing Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 340. Advanced Screenplay Writing Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 498. Senior Seminar in Media Arts and Design Credits: 3.00 (when topic is appropriate) 1
• THEA 347. Playwriting Credits: 3.00
• THEA 441. Senior Seminar in Theatre Credits: 3.00 (when topic is appropriate) 1
• THEA 447. Advanced Playwriting Credits: 3.00

Select one or two support courses from the following: 3-6 Credit Hours

• ENG 390. The Environmental Imagination Credits: 3.00
• ENG 483. Narrative Form Credits: 3.00
• ENG 484. Poetic Craft and Creativity Credits: 3.00
• ENG 496. Advanced Topics in Creative Writing Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 373. Media Analysis and Criticism Credits: 3.00
• SMAD 463. Film Adaptations Credits: 3.00
• THEA 481. Theory and Performance Studies Credits: 3.00

Total: 18 Credit Hours

1 Students must check with the professor or creative writing coordinator to see if these courses are appropriate for this minor.

2024 Faculty and Student Awards

May 15, 2024 English

Congratulations to English faculty and students on their awards and accomplishments!

Faculty awards & fellowships.

Long Faculty Fellowship: Gerard Passannante

Professor Gerard Passannante has been selected as the AY24-25 Long Faculty Fellow. Passannante will use the time afforded by the Long Faculty Fellowship to develop a course that puts imagined museums into dialogue with real institutions, as students consider the museum as a critical performance space, a site of political and social resistance, and a site of cultural imperialism and theft. The class centers experiential learning, which will entail visits to area collections and archives, and conversations with the people who work there, including curators and directors at the Phillips collection, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The course will also introduce students to guests like the author Chloe Aridjis and filmmaker Jem Cohen.

Faculty Service Award: Karen Nelson

Director of the Center for Literary and Comparative Studies Karen Nelson received the Faculty Service Award. The Faculty Service Award seeks to recognize a member of the Department of English faculty who is particularly dedicated to service to the department, leadership, and support of graduate students.

"Karen Nelson is a wonderful member of the our literary community who is tirelessly dedicated to service. She goes above and beyond in her mentorship of graduate students, organizing of departmental events and community, and more. She is instrumental in supporting faculty of all stages in learning about funding and other opportunities."

"Her devotion to the students of the department alongside her willingness to be honest about the state of our world and the attentive detail she pays to everyone and everything makes her deserving of this award year after year."

Kandice Chuh Mentorship Award: David Simon

Professor David Simon received the Kandice Chuh Mentorship Award. Named for former UMD English Professor Kandice Chuh, the Mentorship Award seeks to honor a faculty member for their fostering of community, intellectual generosity, support and commitment to graduate students and their causes.

"David is the embodiment of intellectual generosity. His feedback on graduate papers is evidence of that. He is thoughtful, engages openly with ideas, asks questions and makes suggestions for how you can improve your analysis. His openness spreads to the classroom and individual mentorship meetings. David is dedicated to helping students build generative thoughts, ideas and writing."

"David Simon is a thoughtful and supportive mentor to all graduate students who meet him. He does what many won’t: he thinks with you. As a result of our conversations and feedback on writing, my dissertation is so much stronger and exciting. And maybe most importantly—I enjoy the work more! He is a treasure of the English department!"

Professional Track Faculty Teaching Awards: Aysha Jawed, Alan Montroso and Daune O'Brien

Lecturer Aysha Jawed, Lecturer Alan Montroso and Senior Lecturer Daune O'Brien received the 2024 Teaching Excellence Award, with an honorable mention to Lecturer Liam Daley.

Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram

Professor Lillian-Yvonne Bertram has received a 2024 Grants to Artists award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. The $45,000 awards are unrestricted, and “intended to provide recipients with the financial means to engage in whatever artistic endeavors they wish to pursue.”

Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship: Vessela Valiavitcharska

Professor Vessela Valiavitcharska has received a Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship in Byzantine Studies for 2024–25.

Teaching Innovation Grant: Marisa Parham

Professor Marisa Parham was awarded a TLTC grant for NarraSpace. $400k will support innovation in digital storytelling and interactive scholarship, with a focus on investigating ways to center BIPOC, queer and transnational perspective through experimental and emergent technologies.

Graduate Student Awards & Highlights

Da Som Lee and Dylan Lewis won the James A. Robinson Awards for outstanding graduate student teaching of undergraduate courses. Lee also received the Mary Savage Snouffer Dissertation Fellowship.

Diana Proenza and Annemarie Mott Ewing won the Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award. Proenza also won the English Summer Archival Research Award.

Aaron Bartlett received honorable mention for the Sally Mitchell Prize for North American Victorian Studies Association Best Graduate Student Paper.

Fernando Duran received the Wylie Dissertation Fellowship.

Dalton Greene received the Kwiatek Fellowship.

Charlie Mitchell won the Kinnaird Award (M.A.) and Declan Langton won the Kinnaird Award (Ph.D.)

Jeannette Schollaert won the Carl Bode Dissertation Prize.

Job Placements

Frederick O’Neal Cherry Ph.D. '24 is assistant professor of African American literature at Auburn University.

Alexis Walston Ph.D. '24 is assistant professor of English at Belmont University.

Creative Writing Accomplishments

Current students.

Kimberly O'Connor MFA ’09, judge of the Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize, has chosen “Manic Pixie Dream Sestina” by January Santoso, a first-year MFA student.

Mary Lynn Reed MFA ’13, judge of the Katherine Anne Porter Fiction Prize, has chosen “In the Shape of a Man Whose Feet Face Backwards” by Subraj Singh, a third-year MFA student. Singh's “All That Hunger, All That Thirst” was published in Agni 98. “Ship Sister” was published in the New England Review. Singh is a finalist for the 2024 Chautauqua Janus Prize and was also admitted into the Ph.D. Program in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Preet Bhela’s poem "Hollows" received an honorable mention in the 2024 Pratt Library Poetry Contest, and will be published in the Little Patuxent Review this summer. Preet will also be reading at the Pratt Library on August 20 along with the two other honorees.

Eliamani Ismail has new publications with Puerto Del Sol, Brittle Paper, and Hooligan Magazine. Ismail was also invited to be a featured reader at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was a BIPOC scholar at this year’s Washington Writers Conference. Eliamani also became a fiction editor at Lampblack Magazine.

Olivia McClure published a poem in Atticus Review.

Tega Oghenechovwen’s "We Can Start This Story” was published in the Kenyon Review.

Annie Przypyszny’s poetry was published in Broad River Review, Atticus Review, the Institutionalized Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, SPANK the CARP, Barnstorm Journal, Cola Literary Review and the Madison Review.

Ava Serra's “Methodology: Inner Child Mercy Massacre” was included in Under Her Eye. “Internal Ultrasound on a PMDD Patient;” “Baby Diner Blood Rent;” “a coward pretends he’s bambi” and “This is Not a Conversation About My Body” was published in Jelly Bucket. “This is Not a Conversation About My Body” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. “Sarah” was published in Salt Hill.

Elizabeth Bryant, Corinne Brinkley and Tega Oghenechovwen have been named 2024 Kimbilio Fellows and will attend The Kimbilio Retreat on the Taos, New Mexico campus of Southern Methodist University in the Carson National Forest this summer. Bryant also received a full scholarship to the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at UMass Amherst and a Douglass Center grant for summer funding.

Tega Oghenechovwen was accepted for the 2024 Tin House Summer Workshop at Reed College.

Emily Banks MFA ’15 has been hired as a tenure-track assistant professor of English and creative writing at Franklin College, where she previously was a visiting assistant professor.

Derek Ellis MFA ’19 completed his first year in the Ph.D. program in creative writing at SUNY Binghamton University.

Book Publications

“Family Lore” by Elizabeth Acevedo MFA ’15, published in August 2023 by Ecco, was a Good Morning America Book Club pick; winner of the NAACP Image Award in Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction and shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

“Green Island” by Liz Countryman MFA ’06 is forthcoming in June 2024 from Tupelo Press.

“Velvet” by William Fargason MFA ’14 was published in May 2024 by Northwestern University Press.

“City of Laughter” by Temim Fruchter ’02, MFA ’19 was published in January 2024 by Grove Atlantic.

“The Bomb Cloud” by Tyler Mills MFA ’08 was published in March 2024 by Unbound Edition Press.

“Bitter Water Opera” by Nicolette Polek MFA ’19 was published in April 2024 by Graywolf Press and was a New Yorker Best Book of 2024.

Undergraduate Student Awards

The Henrietta Spiegel Creative Writing Award

Each year, we honor outstanding creative writing minors with the Henrietta Spiegel Creative Writing Award. Henrietta Spiegel was the widow of a UMD faculty member. After her husband’s death, she completed her B.A. in English in 1989 at the age of 85 with a GPA of 3.9. Upon the completion of her degree, she established this award to honor undergraduate work in creative writing judged by the creative writing faculty to be the most outstanding. This year’s Henrietta Spiegel Creative Writing Award for Fiction goes to Allison Faith Choi and the award for Poetry goes to Caleigh Marie Larkin.

The Sandy Mack Award for the Outstanding English Honors Thesis

English Honors is a selective program within the English major, one in which students take intensive writing and research seminars, and develop a lengthy critical thesis or creative workover the course of three semesters. An award is given each year to the student with the most outstanding overall record in English Honors. This award is named for Sandy Mack, the faculty member who developed the English Honors Program and guided it for a decade. This award goes to Bossman Kwaku Owusu-Ayim for “I. The Old Genesis & II. His Grateful Children,” directed by Rion Scott and Emily Mitchell.

The Joseph W. Houppert Memorial Prize

The Joseph W. Houppert Prize was named for Joseph Houppert, a scholar of the English Renaissance and a distinguished member of this department from 1963 until his death in 1979. Professor Houppert was always very concerned with the teaching of undergraduate students and particularly for the teaching of good writing. Consequently, his colleagues established this competition in his memory, with a prize to be awarded annually to the undergraduate who has written the best essay on Shakespeare during the academic year. The Houppert Prize was awarded to Ariel Marie Hammerash for her essay entitled “Apparitions and Agency: The Staging of the Banquet Scene in The Tragedy of Macbeth.”

Sara Ann Soper English Undergraduate Service Award

The Sara Ann Soper English Undergraduate Service Award was established by Shannon Altman, who graduated in 1999 with a double degree in English and Education. While she was an undergraduate, Shannon designed and implemented an undergraduate tutoring service at nearby Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Two years after she graduated, she gave the department a significant gift to endow the Sara Ann Soper English Undergraduate Service Award to honor a graduating senior who has volunteered time, energy, and commitment to community service. Shannon named the award after her mother, as a testimony to her achievements as a role model for others. This year, the recipient of the Sara Ann Soper Award is Julia Janet Pavlick.

The Mike Angel Award

The Mike Angel Award recognizes a student who has faced extreme hardship in completing his or her degree, and has demonstrated distinction, extraordinary merit, and perseverance as an English major. It was established by faculty and students in 1984 to honor the achievements of Mike Angel, a fine student and wonderful human being who overcame great obstacles in order to earn a B.A. in English. This year’s Mike Angel Award goes to Nicholas John Pietrowski.

The Joyce Tayloe Horrell Award

The Joyce Tayloe Horrell Award is the largest award by the department to any student, and was established in 1989 through the generosity of Joseph Horrell in memory of his wife Joyce Tayloe Horrell. Tayloe Horrell was an Honors graduate student, a scholar of the works of the writer Henry James, and a teacher in the English Department from 1960 until 1967. The Horrell Award is conferred annually on the English major who has demonstrated the highest academic achievement overall among the graduating class. It is a pleasure to present this year’s Horrell Award to Abigail Fealy Furman.

Academic Excellence Awards

In every graduating class, certain students stand out for their consistently high performance. Today, we are presenting thirteen Academic Excellence Awards to those students with the most outstanding academic records in their major coursework. Each of these students has received a major GPA of 4.0.

• Isabella Francesca Diaz Baker
• Emma Rose Behrens
• Abigail Fealy Furman
• Shannon Estellyn Ganley
• Chloe Lilah Johnson
• Laura Catherine Kazdoba
• Ananyaa Malhotra
• Rachel Abigail Morris
• Auset Nso Nkem
• Bossman Kwaku Owusu-Ayim
• Cassandra Annalee Rochmis
• Rebecca Shriver Scherr
• Alison Vy Vo

Professional Writing Contest Awards

• Elijah Martin: Alternative Media, "The 'Right To Repair' Smartphones"
• Andy Szekerczes: Grant Proposal, "Young Writers Workshop"
• Elena Rangelov: Campus Proposal, "Improving Meat-Restricted Diet Accommodations in UMD Dining Halls"
• Asma Tariq: Civic Proposal, "Combating Feline Upper Respiratory Infections in Montgomery County Adoption Centers"
• Pearl Tamrakar: Review of Research, "The Impacts of Health Disparities on Minority Health"
• Asongafac Asaha: Artistic Review, "Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio: A Retelling of the Real Boy"
• Cody Cochrane: Manual, "How to Build a Desktop Computer"
• Sara Stromberg: Manual, "Terrapin's Turf Server Training Manual"
• Matthew Heinz: Narrative Non-Fiction, "Oh, Deer: An Exploration of White-Tailed Deer Management. Its Impacts in Suburban Maryland"
• Riley Lowther: Bill Analysis, "Collective Bargaining @ UMD Campuses"
• Sage Phillips: Business Proposal, "Carbon Neutral Florida Gypsum Plant"
• Jessica Gorski: Business Proposal, "Expanding La Finca's Online Sales to Brick & Mortar"

Writers' Workshop

Jayne anne phillips wins 2024 pulitzer prize for fiction.

Written by Sara Epstein Moninger

University of Iowa alumna Jayne Anne Phillips has won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and three other Iowa Writers' Workshop graduates were named finalists for Pulitzer literary awards, which were announced May 6.

Phillips, who earned an MFA in 1978, was recognized for her novel Night Watch . The Pulitzer judges described the book as “a beautifully rendered novel set in West Virginia’s Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in the aftermath of the Civil War where a severely wounded Union veteran, a 12-year-old girl, and her mother, long abused by a Confederate soldier, struggle to heal.”

Yiyun Li, who graduated with a Master of Science in 2000 and two MFAs (fiction and nonfiction) in 2005, was a finalist in fiction for her book of short stories Wednesday’s Child . Li’s short stories and novels have won numerous awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for The Book of Goose . She currently serves as director of Princeton University’s creative writing program.

Additionally, two alumnae were recognized as finalists for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry:

Jorie Graham, who graduated with an MFA in 1978 and won a Pulitzer in 1996 for The Dream of the Unified Field , was named a finalist for To 2040 . Graham, one of the most celebrated poets of her generation, is a former longtime faculty member in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Among her poetry collections are The End of Beauty , Place , and Sea Change . She currently is the Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric at Harvard University.

Robyn Schiff, who graduated with an MFA in 1999, was named a finalist for Information Desk: An Epic , a book-length poem in three parts set in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Schiff, who has been a visiting faculty member in the UI Department of English, also is the author of Worth , Revolver , and A Woman of Property , which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She teaches at the University of Chicago and co-edits Canarium Books.

Pulitzer Prizes are awarded annually to honor achievements in journalism, literature, and music. See the full list of 2024 Pulitzer winners .

We’re sorry, this site is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please try again in a few moments. Exception: request blocked

635th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment

635-й зенитно-ракетный полк

Military Unit: 86646

Activated 1953 in Stepanshchino, Moscow Oblast - initially as the 1945th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment for Special Use and from 1955 as the 635th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment for Special Use.

1953 to 1984 equipped with 60 S-25 (SA-1) launchers:

• Launch area: 55 15 43N, 38 32 13E (US designation: Moscow SAM site E14-1)
• Support area: 55 16 50N, 38 32 28E
• Guidance area: 55 16 31N, 38 30 38E

1984 converted to the S-300PT (SA-10) with three independent battalions:

• 1st independent Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion (Bessonovo, Moscow Oblast) - 55 09 34N, 38 22 26E
• 2nd independent Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion and HQ (Stepanshchino, Moscow Oblast) - 55 15 31N, 38 32 23E
• 3rd independent Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion (Shcherbovo, Moscow Oblast) - 55 22 32N, 38 43 33E

Disbanded 1.5.98.

Subordination:

• 1st Special Air Defence Corps , 1953 - 1.6.88
• 86th Air Defence Division , 1.6.88 - 1.10.94
• 86th Air Defence Brigade , 1.10.94 - 1.10.95
• 86th Air Defence Division , 1.10.95 - 1.5.98

Follow Puck Worlds online:

• Follow Puck Worlds on Twitter

Site search

Filed under:

• Kontinental Hockey League

Gagarin Cup Preview: Atlant vs. Salavat Yulaev

Share this story.

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Gagarin Cup Preview: Atlant vs. Salavat Yulaev

Gagarin cup (khl) finals:  atlant moscow oblast vs. salavat yulaev ufa.

Much like the Elitserien Finals, we have a bit of an offense vs. defense match-up in this league Final.  While Ufa let their star top line of Alexander Radulov, Patrick Thoresen and Igor Grigorenko loose on the KHL's Western Conference, Mytischi played a more conservative style, relying on veterans such as former NHLers Jan Bulis, Oleg Petrov, and Jaroslav Obsut.  Just reaching the Finals is a testament to Atlant's disciplined style of play, as they had to knock off much more high profile teams from Yaroslavl and St. Petersburg to do so.  But while they did finish 8th in the league in points, they haven't seen the likes of Ufa, who finished 2nd. 

This series will be a challenge for the underdog, because unlike some of the other KHL teams, Ufa's top players are generally younger and in their prime.  Only Proshkin amongst regular blueliners is over 30, with the work being shared by Kirill Koltsov (28), Andrei Kuteikin (26), Miroslav Blatak (28), Maxim Kondratiev (28) and Dmitri Kalinin (30).  Oleg Tverdovsky hasn't played a lot in the playoffs to date.  Up front, while led by a fairly young top line (24-27), Ufa does have a lot of veterans in support roles:  Vyacheslav Kozlov , Viktor Kozlov , Vladimir Antipov, Sergei Zinovyev and Petr Schastlivy are all over 30.  In fact, the names of all their forwards are familiar to international and NHL fans:  Robert Nilsson , Alexander Svitov, Oleg Saprykin and Jakub Klepis round out the group, all former NHL players.

For Atlant, their veteran roster, with only one of their top six D under the age of 30 (and no top forwards under 30, either), this might be their one shot at a championship.  The team has never won either a Russian Superleague title or the Gagarin Cup, and for players like former NHLer Oleg Petrov, this is probably the last shot at the KHL's top prize.  The team got three extra days rest by winning their Conference Final in six games, and they probably needed to use it.  Atlant does have younger regulars on their roster, but they generally only play a few shifts per game, if that. 

The low event style of game for Atlant probably suits them well, but I don't know how they can manage to keep up against Ufa's speed, skill, and depth.  There is no advantage to be seen in goal, with Erik Ersberg and Konstantin Barulin posting almost identical numbers, and even in terms of recent playoff experience Ufa has them beat.  Luckily for Atlant, Ufa isn't that far away from the Moscow region, so travel shouldn't play a major role. 

I'm predicting that Ufa, winners of the last Superleague title back in 2008, will become the second team to win the Gagarin Cup, and will prevail in five games.  They have a seriously well built team that would honestly compete in the NHL.  They represent the potential of the league, while Atlant represents closer to the reality, as a team full of players who played themselves out of the NHL. 

• Atlant @ Ufa, Friday Apr 8 (3:00 PM CET/10:00 PM EST)
• Atlant @ Ufa, Sunday Apr 10 (1:00 PM CET/8:00 AM EST)
• Ufa @ Atlant, Tuesday Apr 12 (5:30 PM CET/12:30 PM EST)
• Ufa @ Atlant, Thursday Apr 14 (5:30 PM CET/12:30 PM EST)

Games 5-7 are as yet unscheduled, but every second day is the KHL standard, so expect Game 5 to be on Saturday, like an early start. 

Loading comments...

• Yekaterinburg
• Novosibirsk
• Vladivostok

• Tours to Russia
• Practicalities
• Russia in Lists

Rusmania • Deep into Russia

Out of the Centre

Savvino-storozhevsky monastery and museum.

Zvenigorod's most famous sight is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, which was founded in 1398 by the monk Savva from the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, at the invitation and with the support of Prince Yury Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. Savva was later canonised as St Sabbas (Savva) of Storozhev. The monastery late flourished under the reign of Tsar Alexis, who chose the monastery as his family church and often went on pilgrimage there and made lots of donations to it. Most of the monastery’s buildings date from this time. The monastery is heavily fortified with thick walls and six towers, the most impressive of which is the Krasny Tower which also serves as the eastern entrance. The monastery was closed in 1918 and only reopened in 1995. In 1998 Patriarch Alexius II took part in a service to return the relics of St Sabbas to the monastery. Today the monastery has the status of a stauropegic monastery, which is second in status to a lavra. In addition to being a working monastery, it also holds the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum.

Belfry and Neighbouring Churches

Located near the main entrance is the monastery's belfry which is perhaps the calling card of the monastery due to its uniqueness. It was built in the 1650s and the St Sergius of Radonezh’s Church was opened on the middle tier in the mid-17th century, although it was originally dedicated to the Trinity. The belfry's 35-tonne Great Bladgovestny Bell fell in 1941 and was only restored and returned in 2003. Attached to the belfry is a large refectory and the Transfiguration Church, both of which were built on the orders of Tsar Alexis in the 1650s.  

To the left of the belfry is another, smaller, refectory which is attached to the Trinity Gate-Church, which was also constructed in the 1650s on the orders of Tsar Alexis who made it his own family church. The church is elaborately decorated with colourful trims and underneath the archway is a beautiful 19th century fresco.

Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is the oldest building in the monastery and among the oldest buildings in the Moscow Region. It was built between 1404 and 1405 during the lifetime of St Sabbas and using the funds of Prince Yury of Zvenigorod. The white-stone cathedral is a standard four-pillar design with a single golden dome. After the death of St Sabbas he was interred in the cathedral and a new altar dedicated to him was added.

Under the reign of Tsar Alexis the cathedral was decorated with frescoes by Stepan Ryazanets, some of which remain today. Tsar Alexis also presented the cathedral with a five-tier iconostasis, the top row of icons have been preserved.

Tsaritsa's Chambers

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is located between the Tsaritsa's Chambers of the left and the Palace of Tsar Alexis on the right. The Tsaritsa's Chambers were built in the mid-17th century for the wife of Tsar Alexey - Tsaritsa Maria Ilinichna Miloskavskaya. The design of the building is influenced by the ancient Russian architectural style. Is prettier than the Tsar's chambers opposite, being red in colour with elaborately decorated window frames and entrance.

At present the Tsaritsa's Chambers houses the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum. Among its displays is an accurate recreation of the interior of a noble lady's chambers including furniture, decorations and a decorated tiled oven, and an exhibition on the history of Zvenigorod and the monastery.

Palace of Tsar Alexis

The Palace of Tsar Alexis was built in the 1650s and is now one of the best surviving examples of non-religious architecture of that era. It was built especially for Tsar Alexis who often visited the monastery on religious pilgrimages. Its most striking feature is its pretty row of nine chimney spouts which resemble towers.

Plan your next trip to Russia

Ready-to-book tours.

Your holiday in Russia starts here. Choose and book your tour to Russia.

REQUEST A CUSTOMISED TRIP

Looking for something unique? Create the trip of your dreams with the help of our experts.