Columbia College Chicago Mfa Creative Writing Acceptance Rate

Columbia College Chicago

Illinois, United States

Residential program

Columbia College Chicago's undergraduate program in Creative Writing and MFA programs in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry provide an extraordinary, collaborative learning environment. Our programs are led by nationally and internationally known faculty members who teach, live, and write in one of the most celebrated literary and artistic cities in the world. Each studio/academic program emphasizes students' own writing and craft (in workshops and craft seminars) along with possibilities for cross-genre writing, and each program is balanced with the study of literature, form, and theory.

We emphasize a small, intimate experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels, ensuring close attention from the faculty and a cohesive and supportive environment in which to grow as a writer. Undergraduate and graduate students at Columbia College Chicago are supported by an unusual richness of faculty resources and perspectives, including the opportunity to meet visiting writers who read for the English and Creative Writing Department's Creative Writing Reading Series, one of the most dynamic, cross-genre series in Chicago. The writers and poets who teach in our programs are well-published and professionally active, and they highly value mentoring both inside and outside the classroom. This characteristic of our program sets us apart from other arts-centered schools at which faculty are often part-time or visiting rather than permanent faculty. Our graduates consistently praise the cohesion, faculty support, and vibrant sense of community in the English and Creative Writing Department.

We offer a variety of funding opportunities to our incoming graduate students, which range from tuition discounts to full tuition awards. We also offer Graduate Assistantships that include valuable experience working with our faculty members. Thanks to our Graduate Student Instructorship (GSI) program, students may elect to take Composition Theory and Praxis, a semester-long course offered every fall and taught by exceptionally dedicated full-time, tenured faculty. This course provides invaluable grounding in the theoretical and practical elements of teaching Writing and Rhetoric at the undergraduate level; students are mentored closely throughout the course and, as well, when they begin (on an optional basis, of course) teaching one section of Writing and Rhetoric the following semester. Students are paid to teach and may continue to teach during their time as graduate students, provided the Composition Theory and Praxis course has been successfully completed. Continuing graduate students may apply for the Albert P. Weisman Award, the Diversity Award, the Graduate Opportunity Award, and (for MFA Poetry students) the Nathan Breitling Poetry Fellowship.

Contact Information

Columbia College Chicago English and Creative Writing Department
600 S Michigan Ave
Chicago
Illinois, United States
60605-1996
Phone: 312-369-8121
Email: preichertpowell@colum.edu
www.colum.edu/ecw

Undergraduate Program Director

Don DeGrazia
Creative Writing Undergraduate Director
Columbia College Chicago English and Creative Writing Department
600 S Michigan Ave
Chicago
Illinois, United States
60605-1996
Email: pmcnair@colum.edu
URL: colum.edu/ecw

Creative Writing majors at Columbia College Chicago are encouraged to push boundaries and redefine borders. Understanding the important connection between aesthetic and professional concerns, the program is designed to prepare students for both a wide range of creative endeavors as well as careers where effective communication and creative problem-solving skills are crucial. All students are encouraged to bring their background to bear as they work with faculty to develop individual voice and vision. The program also fosters a strong sense of social awareness and commitment as it seeks to influence and contribute to the literary and cultural community locally, nationally, and internationally.

By choosing a concentration in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, students are immersed in their preferred mode of writing while also doing work within all genres, developing skills that transfer across and bolster all forms of effective writing. Through the Writer's Portfolio class and a capstone thesis project, students create a substantial manuscript and begin to identify opportunities for further study as well as career paths. The program's Publishing Lab supplements the Creative Writing coursework by providing students with information about and access to the contemporary literary marketplace.

Creative Writing concentrations:

• Fiction: Students develop a wide-ranging creative practice in writing while engaging with classic and contemporary novels, short stories and experimental texts. They also develop critical reading and writing skills from the study of a variety of literary forms and genres. Workshops in popular genres such as Science Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Storytelling, Young Adult and others exist for interested students, as well.

• Nonfiction: Students build a foundation on the history, forms, genres and techniques vital to producing nonfiction work, and are exposed to the evolving role of nonfiction writing in the literary landscape as they create a body of work.

• Poetry: Students discover their own voice as a poet as they develop their craft. Students' creativity is grounded in the history of poetry, poetics and a wide range of writing approaches.

The program starts with two workshops, Foundations in Creative Writing and Beginning Workshop, which lay the groundwork for successful writing through experimentation with a number of different writing styles and forms. Literature and Craft and Process seminars build connections between effective reading and effective writing of a diverse body of published work. Elective courses throughout Columbia, in the visual and performing arts, new media, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and other areas, enhance student understanding of how writing informs a variety of art forms as well as contemporary conversations on social and cultural change.

The Creative Writing program also offers professional development opportunities through publishing, editing and production classes; editorial work on Columbia's nationally distributed student publications; and writing related internships that can count toward major requirements. During their capstone semester, Creative Writing majors complete a substantial manuscript in the Thesis Workshop class, while continuing to take part in opportunities for further creative and professional development in publishing, writing related activities, and live readings and performances around campus.

Largest Class Size: 18
Smallest Class Size: 12
Genres: Fiction, Professional Writing (technical writing, PR, etc.), Writing for Children, Screenwriting, Playwriting, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Popular/Genre Fiction
Duration of Study: 4 years
Unit of Measure: Credits
Criticism and Theory: 6
Workshop: 18
Literature: 9
Other: 6
Thesis: 3

Graduate Program Director

Aviya Kushner
MFA Director
Columbia College Chicago English and Creative Writing Department
600 S Michigan Ave
Chicago
Illinois, United States
60605-1996
Email: akushner@colum.edu
URL: colum.edu/ecw

Columbia College Chicago's MFA programs in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry provide an extraordinary, collaborative graduate learning environment. Our MFA programs are led by nationally and internationally known faculty members who teach, live, and write in one of the most celebrated literary and artistic cities in the world. We offer a studio/academic program in each of the three genres. Each program emphasizes students' own writing and craft (in workshops and craft seminars), along with possibilities for cross-genre writing, and each program is balanced with the study of literature, form, and theory.

We emphasize a small, intimate experience in each of our graduate programs, ensuring close attention from the faculty and a cohesive and supportive environment in which to grow as a writer. MFA students at Columbia College Chicago are supported by an unusual richness of faculty resources and perspectives. The English and Creative Writing Department hosts an annual Reading Series, which is one of the most dynamic, multi-genre series in the city of Chicago. The writers and poets who teach in our programs are well-published and professionally active and, importantly, they highly value mentoring both inside and outside the classroom. Indeed, as full-time, permanent faculty members, the writers and poets who teach at Columbia are available to students for guidance and individual attention. This characteristic of our program sets us apart from other arts-centered schools at which faculty are often part-time or visiting rather than permanent. Our graduates consistently praise the cohesion, faculty support, and vibrant sense of community in our Creative Writing MFA programs.

An important feature of Columbia College Chicago's MFA programs, distinctive among private, arts-based schools, is the teaching experience provided to qualified graduate students. Our Graduate Student Instructorship (GSI) program allows eight MFA students in each genre (24 students total) to take Composition Theory and Praxis, a semester-long course offered every fall and taught by the exceptionally dedicated full-time, tenured faculty of our Writing and Rhetoric programs. This course provides invaluable grounding in the theoretical and practical elements of teaching Writing and Rhetoric at the undergraduate level. Students are mentored closely throughout the course and, upon its successful completion, also when they begin teaching one section of Writing and Rhetoric the following semester. Students are provided a stipend and may continue to teach during their tenure as graduate students.

The overall cost of MFA study at Columbia College Chicago amounts to substantially less than that of MFA programs at other private schools. We offer several, renewable financial Awards to incoming students that include full tuition to partial tuition coverage as well as paid Assistantships. These Awards are competitive and all applicants are automatically considered. We also offer a Federal Work-study Award in exchange for staff and research assistance provided to the English and Creative Writing Department. Continuing students in graduate programs across the College may apply for the Albert P. Weisman Award, the Diversity Award, the Graduate Opportunity Award, the Graduate Fellowship, and (for MFA Poetry students) the Nathan Breitling Poetry Fellowship.

Type of Program: Studio/Research
Largest Class Size: 12
Smallest Class Size: 12
Genres: Fiction
Duration of Study: 3 years
Unit of Measure: Hours
Application Deadline Fall: 01/15/2019
Application Requirements: Transcripts, Writing Sample, Application Form, Letters of Recommendation, Cover Letter

Graduate Program Director

Type of Program: Studio/Research
Largest Class Size: 12
Smallest Class Size: 12
Genres: Poetry
Duration of Study: 2 years
Unit of Measure: Hours
Application Deadline Fall: 01/15/2019
Application Requirements: Transcripts, Writing Sample, Application Form, Letters of Recommendation, Cover Letter

Graduate Program Director

Type of Program: Studio/Research
Largest Class Size: 12
Smallest Class Size: 12
Genres: Creative Nonfiction
Duration of Study: 3 years
Unit of Measure: Hours
Application Deadline Fall: 01/15/2019
Application Requirements: Transcripts, Writing Sample, Application Form, Letters of Recommendation, Cover Letter

Lisa Fishman

Lisa Fishman (Associate Professor—Poetry) is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently 24 Pages and other poems (Wave Books, 2015). Her earlier books are The Happiness Experiment; F L O W E R C A R T; Dear, Read (all on Ahsahta Press); Current (Parlor Press); and The Deep Heart's Core Is a Suitcase (New Issues Press). Her second book (Dear, Read) was chosen by Brenda Hillman in the Sawtooth Poetry Competition; Fishman has also published several chapbooks: At the same time as scattering (Albion Books), Lining (Boxwood Editions), KabbaLoom (Wyrd Press), and 'The Holy Spirit does not deal in synonimes': Elizabeth Barrett's Marginalia in Her Greek and Hebrew Bibles (Parcel Press). Fishman's recent work appears in The Chicago Review, Volt, 1913, Omniverse and elsewhere; she has been anthologized in Best American Experimental Writing (BAX) 2014 (Omnidawn), The Arcadia Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral (Ahsahta); The Ecopoetry Anthology (Trinity University Press); Poets on Teaching (University of Iowa Press); American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon Poetry Series), and others. Lately Fishman has been presenting papers and leading discussions at such venues at "Poetics: (The Next) 25 Years" (SUNY Buffalo, 2016); "Form and Formation: Fall Convergence 2016" (University of Washington Bothell), and "Teaching Against Commodification" (Desert Poetry Gathering, Los Angeles, 2017). She is currently completing her seventh book and teaching a graduate craft seminar on Poetry and the Novel and an undergraduate class on Death & Dying. Fishman, who was Lorine Niedecker Poet in Residence on Blackhawk Island during her last sabbatical, will complete her yoga instruction certification by Fall, 2018; she is also active in a community theater devoted to performing uncut works by Shakespeare and Dickens in Madison, near her farm in Orfordville, Wisconsin.

colum.edu/ecw

Tony Trigilio

Tony Trigilio's (Professor—Poetry) most recent collection of poetry is Inside the Walls of My Own House (BlazeVOX [books], 2016). He is the editor of Dispatches from the Body Politic: Interviews with Jan Beatty, Meg Day, and Douglas Kearney (Essay Press, 2016), a collection of interviews from his poetry podcast Radio Free Albion. His other books include, most recently, White Noise (Apostrophe Books, 2013), and, as editor, Elise Cowen: Poems and Fragments (Ahsahta Press, 2014). He also is the author of two books of criticism, Allen Ginsberg's Buddhist Poetics (Southern Illinois University Press, 2012) and Strange Prophecies Anew: Rereading Apocalypse in Blake, H.D., and Ginsberg (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2000). With Tim Prchal, he co-edited the anthology, Visions and Divisions: American Immigration Literature, 1870-1930 (Rutgers University Press, 2008). He chaired the Columbia College Chicago Creative Writing Department from 2015-17.

colum.edu/ecw

David Trinidad

David Trinidad (Professor—Poetry) is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry. His most recent collection is Swinging on a Star, published in the fall of 2017 by Turtle Point Press. His other titles include Notes on a Past Life (BlazeVOX [books], 2016), Peyton Place: A Haiku Soap Opera (Turtle Point Press, 2013), and Dear Prudence: New and Selected Poems (Turtle Point, 2011). His poems have been included in The Best American Poetry (2013, 2010, 1991), The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology, Readings in Contemporary Poetry: An Anthology of Poems Read at Dia 2010-2016, and many other anthologies. Trinidad has also published five collaborations with other poets. These include Descent of the Dolls: Part I with Jeffery Conway and Gillian McCain (BlazeVOX, 2017) and By Myself: An Autobiography with D.A. Powell (Turtle Point, 2009). He is the editor of A Fast Life: The Collected Poems of Tim Dlugos (Nightboat Books, 2011), which won a Lambda Literary Award. Trinidad's most recent editorial project is Punk Rock Is Cool for the End of the World: The Poems and Notebooks of Ed Smith. His essays on Sylvia Plath and other topics have appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Harriet (the Poetry Foundation's blog), Tin House, and elsewhere. A film by John Bresland based on Trinidad's Peyton Place: A Haiku Soap Opera was recently screened at the first annual Marfa Poetry Festival.

colum.edu/ecw

Don DeGrazia

Don De Grazia (Associate Professor—Fiction) is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, American Skin (Scribner/Jonathan Cape). His work has appeared in TriQuarterly, The Chicago Quarterly Review, The Prague Review, The Rumpus, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader, Newcity, The Outlaw Bible of American Literature, The Italian American Reader, Fifth Wednesday, The Great Lakes Review, Make Magazine, and other publications. He is also a screenwriter in the Writers Guild of America (east) and co-founder/co-host of "Come Home Chicago," a live event series dedicated to celebrating the Chicago storytelling tradition in all its forms. Creatives, a play written by De Grazia and Irvine Welsh, had its world premiere at The 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was shortlisted for the Music Theater Review Best Musical Award.

colum.edu/ecw

Ann Hemenway

Ann Hemenway (Associate Professor—Fiction) earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and has published fiction and creative nonfiction in Writing From Start to Finish, Emergence, Private Arts, Sport Literate, and others. Hemenway is an AWP Intro award winner, and has edited numerous publications. She is a Certified Story Workshop Master Teacher and full-time professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago, and is currently at work on a novel.

colum.edu/ecw

Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson (Associate Professor—Fiction) is a writer/producer of creative nonfiction for Public Radio on Morning Edition, Soundprint, Living On Earth, and Pacifica. Among his awards are the Associated Press Award for Best Radio Documentary, National Federation of Community Broadcasters' Silver Reel. He was a Herman Kogan Media Award finalist and a winner of the Edwin L. Schuman Award for Fiction, Northwestern University. His fiction appears in F2, F3, F10, Private Arts, Hyphen, and his articles have appeared in the Chicago Reader, The Smirking Chimp, Buzzflash, and American Politics Journal. He is a Certified Story Workshop Master Teacher.

colum.edu/ecw

Garnett Kilberg-Cohen

Garnett Kilberg Cohen (Professor—Fiction & Nonfiction) has published three collections of short stories, Lost Women, Banished Souls (U of Missouri Press), How We Move the Air (Mayapple Press), and, most recently, Swarm to Glory (Wiseblood Books). Some of her awards include two Notable Essay citations from Best American Essays (2011 and 2015); the Crazyhorse National Fiction Prize; a Special Mention from the Pushcart Prize; four awards from the Illinois Council of the Arts, including an Individual Artist's Fellowship; and she was honored as one of the celebrated authors at the CPL Carl Sandburg Dinner in 2016. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including American Fiction, Ontario Review, TriQuarterly, The Antioch Review, Brevity, The Rumpus, The Black Warrior Review, The Gettysburg Review and Witness. She has also published a chapbook of poetry, Passion Tour (Finishing Line Press) and poetry in two anthologies. She has served as an editor on many literary magazines, most recently as Guest Nonfiction Editor at Fifth Wednesday, and is currently the co-editor of the creative writing program's new nonfiction journal, Punctuate.

colum.edu/ecw

Eric May

Eric Charles May (Associate Professor—Fiction) is the author of the novel Bedrock Faith, which was named a Notable African-American Title by Publishers Weekly, and a Top Ten Debut Novel for 2014 by Booklist Magazine. A 2015 recipient of the Chicago Public Library Foundation's 21st Century Award, May is a former reporter for The Washington Post. His fiction has also appeared in Fish Stories, Solstice, Hypertext, Flyleaf Journal, F, and Criminal Class magazines, and in the anthology We Speak Chicagoese. In addition to his Post reporting, his nonfiction has appeared in Sport Literate, Chicago Tribune, and the personal essay anthology Briefly Knocked Unconscious By A Low-Flying Duck. He has taught at the Stonecoast, Solstice, Northwestern University, and Chicago writers' conferences, and in Chicago he's read personal essays with 2nd Story, That's All She Wrote, and done oral tellings at the Grown Folks' Stories and Here's the Story personal essay programs.

colum.edu/ecw

Patricia Ann McNair

Patricia Ann McNair (Associate Professor—Fiction & Nonfiction) is the author of the short story collection The Temple of Air, which was named Chicago Writers Association's Book of the Year, Southern Illinois University's Devil's Kitchen Readers Award, and Society of Midland Authors Finalist Award. McNair's essay collection, And These Are The Good Times, is forthcoming in fall 2017. McNair's fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in American Fiction: Best Unpublished Short Stories by Emerging Writers, Prime Number, Word Riot, Superstition Review, The Coe Review, Solstice Literary Magazine, Barrelhouse, River Teeth, Fourth Genre, Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, and other publications. She has chapters and work published in writing textbooks, including The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction, Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story (published in English and Chinese), and Culture: A Reader for Writers. McNair is the recipient of a First Prize in Fiction from Solstice Literary Magazine. Her work has received four Illinois Arts Council Awards in Prose, and has been nominated for numerous Pushcart Prizes. She is the recipient of the Roberta Rubin fellowship at the Ragdale Foundation, and grants and residencies at Ragdale, the Vermont Studio Center, the Glen Arbor Arts Association, and Interlochen College of Creative Arts. McNair was awarded Columbia College Chicago's Excellence in Teaching Award, and was nominated for the Carnegie Foundation's U.S. Professor of the Year.

https://patriciaannmcnair.com/

Joe Meno

Joe Meno (Professor—Fiction) is a fiction writer and playwright who lives in Chicago. He is the winner of the Nelson Algren Literary Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Great Lakes Book Award, and a finalist for the Story Prize. He is the author of several novels and short story collections including Marvel and A Wonder, Office Girl, The Great Perhaps, The Boy Detective Fails, and Hairstyles of the Damned. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times and Chicago Magazine. His plays have been produced in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Paris, France. He is a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago.

www.joemeno.com/

Alexis Pride

Alexis Pride (Associate Professor—Fiction) is the author of the novel Where the River Ends, and received the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Award for her short story "Fried Buffalo." She has served as former Director of Curriculum Planning at the Saturday Academy and was a consultant for the Chicago Public Schools through the Chicago Teachers Center at Northeastern Illinois University. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

colum.edu/ecw

Shawn Shiflett

Shawn Shiflett (Associate Professor—Fiction) is the author of the novel Hidden Place (Akashic Books), which has received rave reviews from newspapers, literary magazines, and Connie Martinson Talks Books, (national cable television, UK and Ireland). Library Journal included Hidden Place in "Summer Highs, Fall Firsts," a 2004 list of most successful debuts. He received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for his work and was a three-time Finalist for the James novel-in-progress contest, sponsored by the Heekin Group Foundation. New City Newspaper elected Shiflett to their Chicago Lit 50 list, an annual ranking of top figures in the Chicago Literary scene. His essay, "The Importance of Reading to Your Writing" (Creative Writing Studies, UK) was published in 2013. His recently published novel, Hey, Liberal!, a story about a white boy going to a predominately African American high school in Chicago during the late 1960's, has received rave reviews and acclaim from Booklist, The Chicago Tribune, Kirkus Review, Newcity Lit, Windy City Review, Mary Mitchell (Chicago Sun-Times), Rick Kogan (WGN Radio), and others.

https://www.shawnshiflett.com/

Sam Weller

Sam Weller (Associate Professor—Fiction & Nonfiction) is the authorized biographer of Ray Bradbury. He is the author of The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury, a Los Angeles Times bestseller and winner of the 2005 Society of Midland Authors Award for Best Biography and the companion book, Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews. With Mort Castle, Weller co-edited the anthology Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury, winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. His essays have appeared in the Paris Review, on the National Public Radio Program All Things Considered, Slate magazine, Huffington Post and many others. His short fiction has appeared in numerous books, literary journals, and magazines. Weller is a frequent lecturer on the life and legacy of Ray Bradbury. He has given over 300 talks around the world.

www.samweller.net/

CM Burroughs

CM Burroughs (Assistant Professor—Poetry) is the author of The Vital System, and has been awarded fellowships and grants from organizations including Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, Djerassi Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Cave Canem Foundation. She has received commissions from the Studio Museum of Harlem and the Warhol Museum to create poetry in response to art installations. Her poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including Poetry, Callaloo, jubilat, Ploughshares, VOLT, Bat City Review, The Golden Shovel Anthology, Revising The Psalm Anthology, and Best American Experimental Writing Anthology. Burroughs is a graduate of Sweet Briar College, and she earned her MFA from the University of Pittsburgh.

colum.edu/ecw

Aviya Kushner

Aviya Kushner (Associate Professor—Nonfiction) is the author of the book The Grammar of God: A Journey Into the Words and Worlds of the Bible (Spiegel & Grau). Her essays and stories have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Gulf Coast, Partisan Review, Poets & Writers, A Public Space, The Wilson Quarterly, and Zoetrope: All-Story. Her poems have appeared in Harvard Review, Literary Imagination, The Jerusalem Post, Poetry International, and Salamander. She is a contributing editor at A Public Space and a mentor for The National Yiddish Book Center.

aviyakushner.com/

Re'Lynn Hansen

Re`Lynn Hansen's (Associate Professor—Nonfiction) memoir To Some Women I Have Known is written as prose poems and essays and was recently published by White Pine Press. Her essays, prose poems and short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Hawai'i Review, Prism, Rhino, New Madrid, Water~Stone, New South, Poem Memoir Story, Fourth Genre and online at Contrary. She is the recipient of the New South Prose Prize and the Prism International Creative Nonfiction Prize. Her chapbook 25 Sightings of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was published by Firewheel Press. Her novel Take Me to the Underground was nominated for a Lambda Literary award. You can check out her webpage at www.relynnhansen.com

relynnhansen.com/

Sheila Baldwin

Sheila V. Baldwin is an Associate Professor of English at Columbia College Chicago where she teaches African American literature and culture. Her research areas and publications include critical race theory, racial identity, cultural awareness, and shared leadership and organizational change. She has presented at a number of national and international conferences including the American Educational Research Association (AERA); the Association of Black Psychologist, the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE). Her leadership positions include serving as the Presidents of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education (AABHE) and the Columbia College Chicago Faculty, Director of the Columbia College Scholars Program, and as a consultant to the Chicago Public Schools. Dr. Baldwin was earned the EdD in Educational Leadership and Organizational Change at Roosevelt University. She received her M.A. degree in Creative Writing from Columbia College and an A.A. from Harold Washington College.

colum.edu/ecw

Terence Brunk

Terence Brunk earned a Ph.D. in Literatures in English from Rutgers University, where he concentrated on Gothic fiction, gender studies, and literary and cultural theory. He joined the faculty at Columbia College Chicago in 1998. He currently serves as coordinator of the Literature Program in the English Department, and he participates in the interdisciplinary Cultural Studies program.Dr. Brunk is co-editor of the composition text Literacies (W.W. Norton, 2000). He has published and presented research on a broad range of issues in literature and culture from the early modern period to the present. Ongoing interests include constructions of gender and gender ideology; the operations of narrative in a variety of forms and historical contexts; and the promise and challenges of digital technologies for literature, education, civil liberties, and democratic culture.His frequently-taught courses include Introduction to Poetry, Shakespeare, Literature and the Culture of Cyberspace, Topics in the Novel, Romantic Poets, and Literature and Gaming.

colum.edu/ecw

Madhurima Chakraborty

Dr. Madhurima Chakraborty is Assistant Professor in the English literature and Cultural Studies programs at Columbia College Chicago. Her research and teaching interests include Postcolonial, Indian Diaspora, and British literature. She guest edited (with Dr. Umme Al-wazedi) a Special Issue of South Asian Review on Nation and Its Discontents, and her scholarly work has been published in Literature/Film Quarterly, South Asian Review, and Journal of Contemporary Literature. Degrees:

B.A., English University of Southern Mississippi 2001

M.A., English University of Florida 2003

Ph.D., English University of Minnesota- Twin Cities 2010

colum.edu/ecw

Ken Daley

Dr. Daley received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1993. A teacher of literature, poetry, literary theory, composition and rhetoric at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, he was the recipient of the 1999 Outstanding Teaching Award from Ohio University's College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Daley is a scholar of nineteenth century British literature and his recent publications include his 2001 book, The Rescue of Romanticism: Walter Pater and John Ruskin, as well as a number of scholarly articles, encyclopedia entries, and papers delivered at conferences in Canada, England, and the United States. Degrees:

B.A., Political Science University of Pennsylvania 1984

M.A., New York University 1987

Ph.D., English and American Literature New York University 1993

colum.edu/ecw

Jim DeRogatis

James DeRogatis is an American music critic and co- host of Sound Opinions. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, and for fifteen years was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. He joined Columbia College Chicago's English Department as a lecturer in the fall of 2010.

jimdero.com/

Ames Hawkins

Ames Hawkins is a transgenre writer, educator, and art activist. An Associate Professor and Interim Associate Chair in the Department of English at Columbia College Chicago, she teaches courses in the Writing and Rhetoric, and Cultural Studies, and Literature Programs. Ames earned a PhD in English Studies (Composition and Rhetoric) at Wayne State University, a Master's in Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, and a Bachelor's degree in American Culture at The University of Michigan.

https://www.ameshawkins.com/

Deborah Holdstein

Deborah Holdstein is currently Associate Chair of English and Creative Writing. Degrees: B.A., English Northwestern University 1973

M.A., Comparative Literature University of Illinois Urbana Champaign 1975

Ph.D., Comparative Literature University of Illinois Urbana Champaign 1978

colum.edu/ecw

Matt McCurrie

Matthew Kilian McCurrie received his Ph.D. in English Studies from Illinois State University. Matt currently coordinates the Graduate Student Instructor program and teaches courses in the writing and literature programs. Matt's research interests include writing pedagogy, biblical and religious rhetoric, and English Education. He has published in College Composition and Communication, Pedagogy, Journal of Basic Writing, English Education, Composition Forum, The Journal of Writing Teacher Education, The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society, and Journal of Expanded Perspectives on Learning. He has also published in edited collections on English teacher education and recently collaborated with other faculty to write a new first year writing textbook, Key Concepts in Writing and Rhetoric (2014). Among his recent and forthcoming publications are "When Shift Happens: Creating Adaptive, Reflective, and Confident Writers" in Teachers, Profs, Parents: Writers Who Care (forthcoming August 2015) and "Determining the Limits of Apology: The Sexual Abuse Crisis in Ireland's Catholic Church" in The International Journal of Religion andSpirituality in Society (August 2013). Matt also regularly presents his research at NCTE, CCCC, and RSA conferences.

colum.edu/ecw

Tom Nawrocki

Tom Nawrocki has an M.A. from Loyola University and has taught at Columbia for nearly 25 years. As Coordinator of the Professional Writing Program from the late 1990s until Fall, 2004, he has been instrumental in coordinating the English Department's participation in such activities as Creative Nonfiction Week, held every fall. He has published articles and reviews in The Associated Writing Program Chronicle, Another Chicago Magazine, Hyphen and Shadowboxing. Tom teaches such courses as Careers in Writing, Expository Writing: The Personal Essay, and Literature of the Vietnam War. He has also participated in innovative team-teaching courses on the Vietnam War and the Beat Generation. Tom has recently been awarded grants to visit Vietnam as part of an ongoing cultural exchange. He is currently working on a book of nonfiction.

colum.edu/ecw

Jeanne Petrolle

Jeanne Petrolle, Ph.D. received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Her first book, Women and Experimental Filmmaking (University of Illinois 2005), is an edited collection of essays exploring women's contributions to the tradition of experimental filmmaking. Her second book, Religion without Belief: Contemporary Allegory and the Search for Postmodern Faith (SUNY, 2007), examines how virtual reality movies, feminist experimental novels, avant-garde feminist film, and Amerindian novels use allegory to entertain religious questions for a postmodern world. She has published articles and essays about post-1960s literature, film, and painting in such scholarly and literary journals as Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Image: A Journal of Art and Religion, and Calyx, and to a variety of anthologies covering contemporary literature, film, and the teaching of writing.

Petrolle's current book manuscript, "Dancing with Ophelia: Reconnecting Madness, Creativity, and Love," is presently under review. An excerpt from the manuscript appeared in Hektoen: A Journal of The Medical Humanities. Petrolle's current research contributes to the emerging field of the medical humanities, a transdisciplinary intellectual project that applies insights drawn from literature, philosophy, art, religion, and history to the study and practice of medicine. Combining feminist theory, Jungian psychoanalytics, and cross-cultural psychiatry with close reading and participant-observer ethnographic methodology, "Dancing with Ophelia" problematizes the medicalization of madness as "mental illness." The manuscript seeks to enhance contemporary understanding and treatment of mental illness by exploring portrayals of madness in literature and art, focusing on the life and work of two artists who experienced psychiatric crises.

Petrolle teaches Introduction to Cultural Studies, Literature/Culture/Power, Literature and Visual Culture, Literature and Film, and a range of courses in women's literature, twentieth century literature, and the Bible as Literature.

colum.edu/ecw

Doug Reichert Powell

Doug Reichert Powell has received degrees in English from Northeastern University (Ph.D. '99), East Tennessee State University (M.A. '92) and Washington and Lee University (B.A. '90). His interest in social constructions of place and region (especially the southern Appalachian mountains) underwrites his research and writing in landscape, literature, popular culture, critical pedagogy. His publications and presentations cover subjects ranging from the 1998 manhunt for Eric Rudolph to the 1916 hanging of a circus elephant. Doug's book, Critical Regionalism: Connecting Politics and Culture in the American Landscape (University of North Carolina Press, 2007) has been read and cited across a broad interdisciplinary spectrum, from American Studies to Public Health to Arts Education to Geography. Composing Other Spaces, a collection of essays about place and writing pedagogy Doug co-edited with John Paul Tassoni, appeared in Hampton Press's "Research and Teaching in Composition and Rhetoric" series in 2008. In addition to publishing essays and reviews in a variety of scholarly journals, he has served as co-editor (with Anthony Harkins and Katherine Ledford) of the Media section of The Encyclopedia of Appalachia (University of Tennessee Press, 2006). Doug is currently at work on a documentary writing project about commercial caverns (or "show caves," as they are known in the trade) in the valley-and-ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains.

Doug teaches literature courses such as the graduate seminar in Place, Space, and Landscape; Literature & Environment; Literature and Film; and The American Novel, as well as writing courses including Writing and Rhetoric I and II and Reviewing the Arts. In the Cultural Studies Program, Doug teaches Introduction to Cultural Studies and the Capstone seminar.

Prior to joining the faculty of Columbia College Chicago English department, Doug was associate director of the University Writing Program at Duke University, and has also taught at Miami University of Ohio, Northeastern, East Tennessee State, and Northeast State Community College (Tenn.).

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Brendan Riley

Brendan joined the English faculty in Fall, 2004. He teaches writing, new media, and cultural studies classes, as well as a j-session course called "Zombies in Popular Media." He earned his Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida, where he studied film and media studies as well as rhetoric and composition. Brendan's research interests include: writing, new media, popular culture studies, detective fiction, and zombies, among others.

Brendan has written a number of essays for print and online publications on a variety of subjects, from superhero comics to rhetoric in the digital age. His latest work, a monograph, is forthcoming from McFarland press. He serves on the executive board of the Midwest Popular Culture Association, and serves as the Executive Director of Operations for the Popular Culture Association. On the creative side, Brendan is part of a game design collective called Rattlebox games, which successfully kickstarted its first game in November of 2015. He also dabbles in web application programming and content-management systems. He maintains a website at http://www.curragh-labs.org/

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Hilary Sarat-St Peter

Degrees:

B.A., Psychology Saint Mary's College 2002

Ph.D., English Wayne State University 2012

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Jeff Schiff

Jeff Schiff holds a PhD in English from SUNY Binghamton (1983). He has taught creative and professional writing, literature, and oral communications at Columbia College, Northern Arizona University, Purdue University, McNeese State University, Binghamton University, and the University of Texas at El Paso.

Jeff is the author of That hum to go by (MAMMOTH books, 2012), Mixed Diction (MAMMOTH books, 2009), Burro Heart (MAMMOTH books, 2004), Rats of Patzcuaro (Poetry Link, 2003), The Homily of Infinitude (Pennsylvania English, 1999), Resources for Writing About Literature (HarperCollins, 1991), and Anywhere in this Country (MAMMOTH Press, 1981). His poetry and prose have also appeared in numerous periodicals—including Grand Street, The Ohio Review, Poet & Critic, The Louisville Review, Tendril, Pembroke Magazine, Carolina Review, Chicago Review, Hawaii Review, Southern Humanities Review, River City, Indiana Review, and The Southwest Review.

During his tenure at Columbia, Jeff has also served as the Director of the Composition program, Director of Graduate Studies in English, Coordinator of Technology in English, College-wide Graduate/Undergraduate Director of Outcomes Assessment, and Director of Technology for the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Jeff teaches such courses as Writing for New Media, Writing for the Workplace, Writing Digital Content, Introduction to Poetry, and Introduction to Short Story.

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Mark Withrow

Mark Withrow coordinates the Speech program. He is the co-author of Readings Are Writings: A Guide to Reading and Writing Well, published by Prentice Hall in 1996. He received his Doctoral degree in English from Illinois State University, where he studied Composition Theory, Rhetoric, Literature and Creative Writing. His dissertation is entitled Enhancing Students' Relationship with Language: Instructional Strategies for Teaching Reading and Writing. He served as an editor of Illinois State's journal of creative writing, Druid's Cave, from 1985-1989.

Dr. Withrow served as the Reading Program Acting Coordinator in Spring 2003 and has previously coordinated the Writing across the Curriculum program for several years and served as Director of Composition from 1991 until 2000. He has also served as Acting Chairperson during summer term, including during July of 2003. In addition to teaching writing and literature courses in the English Department, he has taught graduate courses in the Masters of Arts in Teaching program and has served as a tutor trainer for both Montgomery Ward and Cabrini Connections. He has presented papers on teaching pedagogy at such national conferences at CCCC's and NCTE as well as at Allerton House and other venues. He has also published several short stories.

colum.edu/ecw

Ellen Yeh

Although I was born in Alabama, I moved to Taiwan at the age of five and lived there for eighteen years. I am fluent in Mandarin and English and intermediate in Japanese and French. This rich mix of culture and language has driven me to pursue academic degrees, affiliate with English Education and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) educational organizations, and engage in a scholarly career related to teaching and learning in TESOL. These academic and cultural experiences have driven me to become an educator of Writing and Rhetoric, Applied Linguistics, Oral Expression Learning, and a mentor of pre-service language teachers; conduct research and teach in the field of ESL/EFL curriculum; continue to be an activist-academic and link research, theory, and practice in the field of Writing and Rhetoric programs; have various experiences in teaching, advising, and collaborating with undergraduate and graduate students; and have knowledge and am also qualified to develop curriculum and instruction in multilingual writing and teacher training programs. I am confident to provide leadership within the department on issues related to the education of not only traditional students, but also ESL students in First-Year Writing courses and Writing Center programs.

I earned a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature and a bachelor's degree in Psychology at Soochow University in Taiwan with a cumulative GPA of 3.8. I earned a Master's degree in Learning and Instruction, specializing in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at the State University of New York at Buffalo with a cumulative GPA of 3.9. My strong academic enthusiasm encouraged me to pursue a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction in the Department of Teacher Education, specializing in Second Language Education and TESOL at Ohio University. I graduated from the doctoral degree with a GPA of 3.9. I currently serve as a director of English as an Additional Language Program at English Department in Columbia College Chicago.

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The Fall 2017 Reading Series included Mary Gaitskill, T.J. Jarrett, Camille T. Dungy, Sharon Solwitz, Desiree Cooper, Ishion Hutchinson, and others.

The Spring 2018 Reading Series will include Dan Chaon, Duriel Harris, Mickey Hess, Meg Day, and others. Halimah Marcus and Jac Jemc will lead a Publishing Colloquium.

Past readers also include: Kate Greenstreet, Richard Meier, Carmen Giménez Smith, Shanna Compton, Nick Twemlow, Charles D'Ambrosio, Chad Sweeney, Peter Davis, Mary Ruefle, Peggy Shinner, R. Erica Doyle, Molly Haskell, D.J. Waldie, Ronaldo Wilson, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Nina Revoyr, John Gallaher, Joshua Clover, Adam Johnson, Brigid Hughes, Jesmyn Ward, Kelly Link, Ladan Osman, Tarfia Faizullah, Tobias Wolff, Tracy K. Smith, Jennifer Moxley, Sarah Manguso, among others.

Columbia College Chicago Mfa Creative Writing Acceptance Rate

Source: https://www.awpwriter.org/guide/program_view/217/columbia_college_chicago

Columbia College Chicago Mfa Creative Writing Acceptance Rate