Director, Professor Peter Harris

Advisory Committee: Professors Harris, Susan Kenney, and Ira Sadoff; Associate Professors James Boylan and Debra Spark; Visiting Professor Wesley McNair (all of the English Department faculty)

A minor in creative writing may be elected by students majoring in any department of the College. The minor is designed to enhance existing major programs, to add structure and a sense of purpose to those students already committed to creative writing, and to encourage the consideration of serious writing graduate programs.

Requirements for the Minor in Creative Writing
The minor consists of a sequence of one introductory, one intermediate, and one advanced writing course in either fiction or poetry, plus a fourth requirement, either a repetition of the advanced workshop, an independent study in writing, a Senior Scholar project, or an introductory workshop in another genre (poetry, fiction, playwriting). In addition, the creative writing minor also requires the student, in consultation with the minor advisor, to complete three courses above the 200 level in English or American literature, for a total of seven courses. For example, a fiction writer might take the American Short Story, the Modern American Novel, the 18th Century I, Victorian Literature, African-American Literature, or Contemporary Fiction; a poetry writer might elect Chaucer, The Romantics, the 17th Century, or Modern American Poetry.

First priority for admission to English 278 and English 279, the introductory courses in fiction and poetry writing, is given to sophomores. Due to enrollment pressures, students who do not register for English 278 as sophomores may run the risk of being unable to elect the minor.

Admission to intermediate and advanced writing courses is by manuscript submission only.

No requirement for the minor may be taken satisfactory/unsatisfactory.

A creative writing concentration
within and in addition to the English major is offered as another option in development of skills in creative writing. The requirements for the concentration are specified in the "English" section of this catalogue.