Table of Contents GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 Brief History of the Program ………………………………………..1-2 1.2 Brief Synopsis of Previous Program Review Recommendations……2-5 1.3 Summary of How Program Meets the Standards…………………….6-7 1.4 Summary of Present Program Review Recommendations…………..7-8 2.0 PROFILE OF THE PROGRAMS AND DISCIPLINES 2.1 Overview of the Programs and Disciplines…………………………8-17 2.2 The Programs in the Context of the Academic Unit………………..17-22 HOW PROGRAM MEETS UNIVERSITY WIDE INDICATORS AND STANDARDS 3.0 ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS 3.1 Evidence of Prior Academic Success……………………………….22 3.2 Evidence of Competent Writing…………………………………….22 3.3 English Preparation of Non-Native Speakers……………………….23 3.4 Overview of Program Admissions Policy…………………………..23 4.0 PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS 4.1 Number of Course Offerings………………………………………..24 4.2 Frequency of Course Offerings…………………………………….24 4.3 Path to Graduation………………………………………………….24 4.4 Course Distribution on ATC………………………………………..25 4.5 Class Size…………………………………………………………...25 4.6 Number of Graduates……………………………………………….25 4.7 Overview of Program Quality and Sustainability Indicators……….25-26 5.0 FACULTY REQUIREMENTS 5.1 Number of Faculty in Graduate Programs…………………………..26-27 5.2 Number of Faculty per Concentration……………………………....27 6.0 PROGRAM PLANNING AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROCESS…27-29 7.0 THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE 7.1 Student Statistics……………………………………………………29-31 7.2 Assessment of Student Learning……………………………………31-34 7.3 Advising…………………………………………………………….34-35 7.4 Writing Proficiency…………………………………………………35 7.5 The Culminating Experience………………………………………..36-38 7.6 Overview of Student Quality Indicators…………………………….38-43 ii 8.0 THE PROGRAM AND THE COMMUNITY 8.1 Professional Engagement of Students and Alumni…………………43-44 8.2 Civic Engagement…………………………………………………..44 8.3 Equity and Social Justice……………………………………………44-45 8.4 Internationalization………………………………………………….45-46 9.0 THE FACULTY EXPERIENCE 9.1 Faculty Statistics…………………………………………………….46-51 9.2 Research and Professional Engagement of Faculty………………....51 9.3 Supervision of Culminating Experiences…………………………...51-52 9.4 Discipline-Specific Standards for Teaching Graduate Courses……..52 9.5 Interdisciplinarity…………………………………………………...52-53 9.6 Overview of Faculty Quality Indicators…………………………….53-56 10.0 RESOURCE SUPPORT FOR THE PROGRAM 10.1 Internal Support……………………………………………………56-58 10.2 External Support ……………………………………………...…...58 iii CREATIVE WRITING DEPARTMENT MASTER OF ARTS AND MASTER OF FINE ARTS 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: 1.1 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM In the Bay Area, the second largest center for writing in the country, aspiring poets, novelists, playwrights and nonfiction writers converge and provide a rich pool of applicants to the Creative Writing Department in addition to those who join the program from other regions and sometimes countries. As one of the largest and most popular creative writing in the country1, our program attracts those who wish to explore their interest in the four genres we offer. Both the M.A. and M.F.A. programs are notable for their rigor and innovation. We plan our curriculum to reflect our commitment to variety in writing and different preferences for modes of learning in students who in all cases have a choice of styles, subjects, and approaches. This flexibility responds to the distinctly different backgrounds and interests of our students and also recognizes the complexity and breadth of contemporary writing. Our philosophic approach to teaching creative writing is therefore always evolving and eclectic in the best sense of the word. A great many of our students go on to publish imaginative work of distinction. Others who continue to write move into positions of leadership in publishing firms, foundations, and arts organizations as well. Many follow teaching careers, some with tenure-track positions soon upon graduating and many others populating the adjunct positions in our own college, at other universities and at community colleges, many of which locally are staffed with graduates of our program. Since its inception as a specialty in the English Department and since its independent role as a department since 1969, the program continues to attract excellent students, particularly in the most practiced genre, fiction, and many more students than it can serve. Ours is among the nation’s largest graduate writing programs with our reasonable tuition and fees and tremendous opportunities in the Bay Area, allowing many students who cannot conceive of an “iffy” fine arts degree to follow their talents and their hopes here. Though the university has little support by the way of scholarships for our students and the department only some small and large awards for students already here, students make sacrifices to complete their degrees, and the department recognizes the priorities of their busy lives which often include work and family with once a week classes at three times of day that meet most students’ needs. Our faculty as well comes from diverse backgrounds, cultures, classes, and styles of writing. Whether or not it were necessary for tenure, all of our faculty are writers who would continue to publish no matter the university requirements Those who “try out” for our positions (all t.t. applicants must teach a 2-hour workshop) note the extremely fine level of writing and confidence in our students. To take a group of disparate students and merge them harmoniously into classes which provide instruction and mutual support for 1 We average between 200 and 500 applicants a year. Many programs have 5-20 graduate students, ours: 40 in the MA and 100 in the MFA. 1 the group is a rare talent, but our well-selected faculty have the means necessary to achieve this reality in almost all cases. As writers with a need for feedback and support of peers and an audience as they complete their culminating experiences—books of poems, plays, novels, short story collections and creative non-fiction collections--some students choose to linger. They form close bonds with the faculty and one another that do not end with their engagement here. Many continue to meet in small groups to support each other’s work well after they leave, and through our newsletter we stay in touch with them—before our newsletter moved to an online format, its active mailing list contained 490 names. The Poetry Center, which has sponsored 157 events in the last five years, and American Poetry Archives, about to celebrate its 60th anniversary, is housed in our program. Its vital legacy and ongoing commitment to present the world’s finest writers is one of San Francisco State’s finest achievements. As a source available to all people with computer access through the DIVA system, it shares its riches daily with video and audiotapes of poets since 1950. The site counts visitors and has had 66,561 “listens” and 7,015 downloads in its first 25 months. Funded by the university as well as the NEA, the California Arts Council, the Hotel and Restaurant Tax Fund, the Creative Work Fund and private donations, it continues to be a respected and much appreciated member of the writing world. In addition, our three literary magazines, Transfer (which was the first publisher of Ernest Gaines Jr. (1957), and Anne Rice (1971) when they were SFSU students), 14 Hills, and New American Writing, the former two student-run, provide the world with a glimpse of our culture and a chance for our students to mingle with national and international writers of note. With over 250 graduate writing programs in the country (www.awpwriter.org), judging from the continued success of our graduates tracked by our program newsletter and available also through news media that cover the arts, our program continues to be one of the most vital and successful writing programs in the country.2 1.2 Brief Synopsis of the Previous Program Review Recommendations Our last MOU dated 11/16/04 cited our program’s support of students’ chosen creative genres, our students’ frequent production of “imaginative works of distinction” and our department’s ability, through offshoots such as the Poetry Center, to “create an essential community link.” It went one to praise the “diverse faculty’s award-winning publications that earn the respect of the students,” accomplishments that existed at that point “despite [our] heavy teaching and advising load.” Though our teaching load has improved, going from 4/4 to 3/3/, faculty on average still direct 6 or more theses a year, some voluminous novels, and advise the 140 graduate students in addition to the 394 undergrads that populate our major. 2 Poets and Writers produces a yearly ranking of MFA programs which disqualifies our MFA from the first quartile because of its lack of full funding for students. However, this somewhat unscientific list has us in the next quartile of programs for the past two years. Still, much of what one hears about a program’s reputation is anecdotal. Suffice it to say, the quality of the students who apply and how they fare once admitted and post-graduation make the case for the strong reputation of our MFA. 2 1.2a Curriculum It was recommended in the last report that we add a capstone class, which we have done. Creative Writing 601 launches graduating seniors into their post-SF State careers as writers with a focus on writing for the future and completion of a portfolio of writing they may use for graduate school applications and job interviews. It was recommended that we add a course on the Business of Creative Writing, which introduces both undergraduate and graduate students to the agents, publishers, editors, playhouse directors and writers at every stage of development that will enhance their understanding of the field. This course, CW 506/806 is offered every fall and enrolls 50- 75 students.