The literature department unanimously approved a graduate writing program on Jan. 14 that would award graduates with a Master of Fine Arts degree, paving the way for the Graduate Council to consider the program.
Guardian
Currently, undergraduate degrees in literature/writing are offered through the literature department. The literature department currently offers graduate students Master of Arts degrees in English, Spanish, French, German and comparative literature, but no writing degree.
If approved, literature professor Eileen Myles would head the program.
“”Professor Myles felt that an MFA program would stress the art side [of writing] as opposed to the literature side, and that the MFA would give grads a better shot at teaching writing, which she verified by doing an extensive amount of research,”” literature professor Michael Davidson said. “”It’s going to give greater visibility for this program. It’s always had a pretty high profile, but the MFA is kind of the determining mark for a writing program. I think it’s going to bring a lot of recognition to a program that already has a good reputation.””
According to Davidson, the program would enroll approximately six students per class, ranging from poets to nonfiction and fiction writers, as well as incorporate interdisciplinary cross-media programs. According to Myles, the program will seek “”people who want to work across disciplines, people brilliant within their genre, writers who really want to fill the role of the public intellectual.””
The program still requires several rounds of approvals before it would be implemented. Approval is required from the UCSD Representative Assembly, a body made up of faculty from all divisions around campus. Then, the program must be approved in the UC Committee for Coordination and Graduate Affairs and the UC Representative Committee.
According to Director of Graduate Academic Affairs Mary Allen, whose office will review and advise the literature department, the process could take several months.
Nonetheless, many faculty members are excited about the possibility of having a graduate writing program and believe that it will have a positive impact on the writing program at UCSD at all levels.
“”I suspect there’ll be a bigger presence of writing on, and coming out of, this campus,”” Myles said. “”We’d like to work more with local museums, have writing students work at Preuss School, which we’ve just not had the people power to do, and have a space just for readings and writing projects. In general, be more pro-active here.””
According to Davidson, student response to the program, when mentioned in his classes, has been positive.
“”When I mentioned the writing program in my Literature/Writing 8B class, several people came in to talk to me during office hours asking Œwhere do I sign up?”” Davidson said.
Davidson also believes that the program would help boost the reputation of what he considers an already strong writing program at UCSD.
“”Right now, UCSD has a fairly high visibility among what I’d call alternative programs, programs that stress more innovative, experimental cross-genre work,”” Davidson said. “”But we can’t compete with the giants of the industry: Iowa, Stanford, places like that. But in the kind of nontraditional sort of way, on the vanguard or avant-garde, I would say UCSD is pretty well known.””
