The following email arrived this morning:
Dear MFA Students and Alumni,
I just discovered last night that the latest Atlantic Monthly magazine has listed Pacific University as one of the top five low-residency MFA programs in the nation! Jeannine Hall Gailey casually told me this in an email (a post script, no less) and I dashed out to buy two copies of the “Special Fiction Issue 2007.” In there is an article called “Where Great Writers Are Made” and there, in the last sidebar, is our program. We are included with the most venerable low-residency programs in the nation: Antioch, Bennington, Vermont and Warren Wilson.
Building a program is never easy. But it has truly been a group effort and the faculty and students are the ones who have helped make it happen. You are a talented, hardworking and passionate community and I hope you take as much pride and joy in this news as I do.
All best,
Shelley
Shelley Washburn, Director
MFA in Writing
Pacific University
Not bad for a program that has only graduated two full classes so far.
Obviously, I didn’t choose Pacific for its reputation, since it effectively didn’t have one when I applied. But clearly I’m not the only one who sees the means to work so closely with such great faculty as a rare opportunity and privilege. The beyond-the-call-of-duty helpfulness of the staff, beautiful residency settings and challenging-yet-manageable academic structure go further in making this a great experience so far. Hats off to all involved.
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7 Comments
Now I want to attend.
For you, they would have to develop a special emphasis in sarcasm as adjunct to their main program in poetry.
Robert, this is fantastic. What a testament to your good instincts and the grace that got you there.
Hooray for intuition and all that’s behind it. I couldn’t have planned it better in terms of who I’m studying with now.
Very cool!
Sweet…sounds like you made the right choice! Although I don’t like the sound of being put through a *”program”* — I am envious.
Hey Nick – it’s really a program of my own design, working closely with a poet I respect (a.k.a. “faculty advisor”) to choose books, write poems, get feedback from that trusted source – and repeat. The low-res aspect is a huge boon for me – not only because I can continue to support my family – but because I’m a self-paced kinda guy.
Like I said in my post on Rilke, this kind of apprenticeship has been going on for centuries – it just happens to work through university structures now. That’s my take, anyway. Still, there are many other ways to get similar experiences.
I just thought it was kinda cool that what I discovered on intuition and validated through practical experience also got recognized by a so-called external “authority.” I guess I have to cop to some part of me still digging the prestige factor, even though ultimately there’s a much bigger game to be played, and in theory who cares what other people think? Bottom line: it was the right choice for me, in ways I couldn’t even have imagined at the outset.