Chatham’s MFA Program Gets Creative, Despite COVID
Chatham University’s Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program is no stranger to online learning. For many years, the program has offered a low-residency option for writers who want to hone their craft without attending traditional, in-person classes. Now, with COVID-19 making academic planning more challenging than ever, the MFAW CW program has expertise to share, and an exciting— if unconventional— academic year ahead. Program Director Sheila Squillante fills us in on all the Creative Writing happenings for Fall 2020 and beyond:
What was the guiding principle behind the decisions the MFA CW program has made for Fall 2020?
MFA CW Program Director Sheila Squillante
Our number one guiding principle is community health and safety. Beyond that, some of the choices we made had to do with ease of logistics and simplifying our planning. For instance, we made the decision back in May to commit to an all-virtual event schedule for the whole academic year, even while many programs were only looking as far ahead as the fall semester. We did this partly because it would simplify planning to take the vicissitudes of COVID out of the equation and just commit to embracing a full virtual year as opposed to trying to predict and react all year long. We wanted to make this one thing a stable, knowable space for our community. Additionally, committing to a virtual event schedule aligns with our environmental values as a program, as it limits travel, and it also allows us to involve participants and audiences who have may have limited access to these kinds of events for a host of reasons.
Can you describe a few different courses offered this year?
We are offering classes that fit each of the three approved modes of classroom delivery at Chatham: classroom/hybrid, virtual, and online. Our Ethnicity and Place and Travel Writing classes are both fully online, which means they will use asynchronous delivery for the most part. However, in talking with Stephanie Vega, our instructor for Ethnicity and Place, I know that she also plans to include some element of synchronous exchange—perhaps peer-to-peer breakout rooms or individual conferences—as a way of keeping students connected with each other. Our virtual classes, such as The Fourth River Practicum and our Craft of Creative Writing classes, will also be using synchronous tools such as Zoom to interact and engage in workshop and discussion activities. Because our MFA classes are 2.5 hours once a week, though, we are all mindful of screen fatigue, and will likely be limiting our on-screen class time even in a virtual classroom. So students can also expect to be working with discussion forums in BrightSpace and other learning tools. Finally, our classroom/hybrid classes, Thesis Seminar and Teaching Creative Writing, will (as long as the health experts allow it) meet in person, on campus, for some part of a 2.5 hour class, adhering to all of the social distancing and precautionary measures outlined in Chatham’s COVID plan.
Do you think the MFA program is at an advantage in prepping for a hybrid virtual/in-person style or totally virtual style because of the low-residency program?
Oh, definitely. We are not afraid of technology in the MFA program, and actually see this as a good opportunity to be inventive and more inclusive in our teaching. We’ve included low-res students in The Fourth River practicum, for example, many times, using various tech such as FaceTime, Skype and just the old-fashioned conference call in the middle of the seminar table. It works! And for a class like that, it makes sense that it would attempt to emulate the way so many literary magazines operate with their staff far-flung across the country or even the globe.
How do you plan on building and maintaining the community feeling that the MFA CW program is so known for?
Over the summer, to fill the void left with Summer Community of Writer’s cancellation, we ran a series of six craft and professionalism sessions called Keep the Muscles Moving. We featured local writers, some of whom were program alums, who shared their expertise on things like the craft of revision, using objects in writing, navigating the path toward literary publishing and getting an agent, using tarot as a writing tool and, finally, writing about identities that are not your own. These sessions typically brought in between 30 and 60 participants who were a great mix of current and incoming students, alums and community members. They were free to join and immensely successful! We’ll be posting the recorded sessions on our website in the coming weeks. This is a great example of something wonderful that’s come out of what initially felt like a limitation, but we will absolutely keep doing these, COVID or no. We’ll also have community check-ins/coffee hours regularly and I know that our Whitford Fellows are working to create a dynamic virtual Word Circus [the MFA CW program’s reading series]. We have 21 incoming full-res students and 6 low-res students, and I am excited to be able to bring us all into community together via the magic of technology!
Learn more about the MFA Creative Writing program’s offerings at their website. If you’re interested in learning more about Chatham’s Fall 2020 plans, please explore our website for updates, guidelines, FAQ’s, and more.
