The Master of Arts in English program, a 30 credit-hour degree with concentrations in either literature or composition and rhetoric, furthers the education and advances the professional skills of teachers in high schools and middle schools in the St. Louis area; it prepares students for PhD programs in English studies, American studies, and composition; it prepares students for employment in community colleges as teachers of composition; and it provides opportunities for members of the St. Louis community to broaden their understanding of literature. The program contributes in substantial and measurable ways to the development and enhancement of the region's humanities workforce.
The Creative Writing Program at the University of Missouri – St. Louis offers a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in fiction and poetry. Our MFA is a 39 credit-hour program designed as a terminal degree. It allows a select group of student writers an extraordinary opportunity to learn the craft of writing from the inside out. The methods of instruction are simple but effective: writing workshops in fiction and poetry; seminar classes on writing craft; assistant editorial work in collaboration with the nationally renowned, Saint Louis-based literary magazine, Boulevard. Students in the UMSL MFA program work closely with our distinguished faculty. In the final semesters of study, each student develops a book-length thesis. UMSL MFA graduates have published books in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, won prestigious awards, and placed poems, stories and essays in hundreds of esteemed literary journals.
