university of virginia mfa creative writing faculty

MFA in Creative Writing

Butler’s MFA in Creative Writing is a 36-hour studio program designed for students seeking to enhance their creative and professional proficiency in the literary arts. The program features 10 3-credit courses and 6 hours of formal thesis work with an advisor. It offers workshops in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as electives in subjects such as the graphic novel, young adult fiction, alternative forms, science fiction and fantasy, the teaching of creative writing, and literary editing and publishing. Students can also earn elective credit by taking upper-level courses in English or other disciplines.

The program features access to a combination of top-flight, full-time faculty and prominent visiting faculty, including the Booth Tarkington Writer-in-Residence. Through the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series, students attend readings and small question-and-answer sessions with nationally and internationally recognized writers. The program also operates a literary magazine, Booth  ( booth.butler.edu ), edited entirely by students, offers a variety of teaching mentorship opportunities, and sponsors a rich variety of community programs through the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing. 

Required Courses

12 credit hours of either

• EN 502 - Graduate Prose Workshop Min Units: 3
• EN 503 - Graduate Poetry Workshop Min Units: 3
• EN 506 - Reading for Writers Min Units: 3
• EN 710 - Research Problems Min Units: 3
• EN 711 - Thesis Min Units: 3
• 18 credit hours of electives that could include: EN501, EN505, or any EN300+ course approved for graduate credit

Welcoming our New Faculty and Staff + Highlighting Promotions — Fall 2024

The School of Architecture is excited to announce new faculty and staff who are joining us this fall 2024 semester, as well as highlight recent promotions and appointed leadership positions.

New Faculty

MEGHAN BLUMSTEIN Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track), Environmental Sciences and Landscape Architecture

Blumstein joins UVA as a new tenure-track assistant professor across the Departments of Environmental Sciences and Landscape Architecture. Researching the unprecedented levels of stress that forests are currently facing from pest and disease outbreaks, frequent and intense disturbance, fragmentation and a changing climate, Blumstein takes an interdisciplinary approach to ask, “How will forests survive the next century of stress?” She seeks to determine how much potential they have to respond, utilizing tools from genetics, genomics, physiology and modeling to understand how that stress is shaping the tree populations that provide us with countless ecosystem services while serving as a critical stabilizing force for the climate.  

Blumstein holds a Ph.D. in organismal and evolutionary biology from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Middlebury College in Vermont. Before coming to UVA, she served as a Bullard Fellow at the Harvard Forest. Holding joint appointment, Blumstein will develop courses with the potential for cross-registration aimed at introducing students to plant biology, physiology and the study of spatial patterns in natural landscapes. More about Meghan .

CÉSAR A. LOPEZ Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track), Architecture

César A. Lopez is a first-generation Mexican American architectural designer, researcher, and educator who draws on his upbringing in the Mexico-United States Border Region as critical knowledge to explore the entanglements between architecture, territory, and the politics that dictate them. He co-directs FRONTERA-NATION with Germán Pallares-Avitia, a design, research, and advocacy practice that re-frames political borders as a constellation of sites and identities. He joins the University of Virginia School of Architecture as tenure-track faculty in the Department of Architecture in Fall 2024.

As an educator, César embraces his experiences as a first-generation college graduate to explore grounded pedagogical approaches in teaching core and research-based design studios, visualization courses, and seminars on the politics of representation. In 2023, he received the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) / American Institute of Architectural Students (AIAS) New Faculty Teaching Award by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. In 2024, César was appointed to serve on the 2024-2025 ACSA Leadership Committee. As a design researcher, César has presented at national and international conferences and symposiums and published in prominent journals. He is co-authoring a book titled Exclusions, Edges, and Ecologies: An Architecture… which documents the infrastructural and architectural typologies along political boundaries to identify the entanglement between architecture and power structures. More about César .

ESTHER LORENZ Associate Professor (Tenure-Track), Architecture

Esther Lorenz is a licensed architect and academic with education from TU Graz and TU Delft. She brings to her research and teaching extensive experience from practicing architecture and urban design in Austria, the Netherlands, and Australia. Most recently, she designed a multi-unit housing project in Austria, which was completed in 2024. Lorenz joined the UVA School of Architecture faculty in 2012 and has served as the undergraduate architecture program director for close to a decade. 

Lorenz’s research explores density in architecture and urbanism through design, representation, embodied spatial narratives and theorization in relation to different cultural contexts, with outputs in design, exhibition, and writing. Her work has been exhibited in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and repeatedly at the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, with contributions in both venue locations, Hong Kong and Shenzhen.  Currently, Lorenz is working on a book project that describes and theorizes the unique morphology and the specific architectural, urban and infrastructural typologies of Hong Kong in relation to the moving human body. Through the  Asian Urban Collaborative  (AUC), which she co-founded in 2022, Lorenz develops and curates innovative scholarship and professional insights focused on the complexities and breadth of Asian urbanization. More about Esther .

KATIE STRANIX Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track), Architecture

Katie Stranix, AIA is a registered architect and co-founding principal of the design collaborative, Office of Things, and principal of Stranix Bachman Architects (XBA). Her practice, research, and teaching focus on the transformation and enrichment of everyday spaces within our shared built environment, identifying opportunities for the insertion of playful and inviting spaces that enhance the physical, mental, and social health of inhabitants.  Her projects operate at multiple scales and explore how form, color, light, and sound impact the senses and heighten the human experience.  Her work with Office of Things has received national and international recognition and has been featured prominently in design publications such as Architect’s Newspaper, Dezeen, Fast Company, Wallpaper, and New York Times Magazine.

Prior to joining UVA, Stranix was a project architect at Studio Gang Architects, working on a variety of project types and scales and with a diverse range of designers, clients, programs, and sites.  Her upcoming book with Routledge Publishing explores the design of restorative spaces in architecture, identifying elements, enclosures, and environments that through both aesthetics and affect act as a welcome foil to their surroundings.  She received her Masters in Architecture from Yale University where she was awarded the William Wirt Winchester Fellowship, the Lord Norman R. Foster Scholarship, and the Wendy Elizabeth Blanning Prize.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia. More about Katie .

LAUREN CANTRELL Assistant Professor of Practice (General Faculty), Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Lauren Cantrell, PLA, ASLA, is a Landscape Architect and the founder and owner of  DELINEATOR . Her experience spans the globe on a broad range of award-winning landscape architecture, urban design, and planning projects that focus on environmental sustainability and material craft. She credits the strength of her most successful work to her ability to curate strong collaborations with clients, architects, artists, stakeholders, engineers, and communities. She is a registered Landscape Architect in Texas, Virginia, and Maryland and has extensive knowledge in constructing work in North Texas. 

Cantrell’s approach and projects have garnered eight Texas ASLA Awards including The Plaza at Solana in the Town of Westlake, Texas, a renovation of an original design for IBM’s North Texas Campus by Peter Walker Partners and Ricardo Legorreta. In 2023, The Virginia Chapter of ASLA recognized Cottonwood Creeks: A Sustainable Vision Plan with an Award of Merit in the Analysis and Planning Category. In parallel to her professional practice, she is also involved in a broad range of activities including participation on roundtables, advisory boards, and committees with a focus on equitable, environmental, and innovative urban design collaboration. More about Lauren .

MARTA JARABO Assistant Professor (General Faculty), Architecture

Marta Jarabo’s work spans a wide range of design practices, research, and teaching. She is the founder of Marta Jarabo Studio, which has garnered significant recognition, including nominations for Building of the Year by Archdaily in 2023, Premios Arquitectura del CSCAE in 2022, and finalist recognition for Premis Fad Interiors in 2023. Her work focuses on the interdisciplinary frameworks of architecture and fine art to reflect on how the geopolitical, economical, and technical transformations affect the social/spatial structures created around them.

In addition to her own practice, Jarabo has substantial experience working with renowned firms such as Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation based in New York and Madrid, Luis Feduchi Architects in India, and HIT in China, where she has designed innovative urban and architectural environments.  Jarabo’s artistic work has been widely exhibited and supported through prestigious fellowships. She has exhibited collaborative and individual projects internationally. She begins her appointment as general faculty in architecture in spring 2025. More about Marta .

New Visiting Faculty, Postdoctoral Research Associates, Lecturers, and Fellows

ALEJANDRO GUERRERO and ANDREA SOTO Shure Visiting Professors, Atelier ARS

Alejandro Guerrero and Andrea Soto are architects based in Guadalajara, México and co-founders of Atelier ARS. Guerrero and Soto have been working together since 2010. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Architecture, Criticism and Project from the School of Architecture of Barcelona at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 2006, and taught architectural design studio for more than 14 years at ITESO. He also graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) in Guadalajara, México. She won the CEMEX Architect Marcelo Zambrano Scholarship which supported her studies for the Master in Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, graduating with an American Society of Landscape Architects ASLA distinction in 2017. She also graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) in Guadalajara, México. 

Together, Guerrero and Soto have received the Emerging Voices award, given by The Architectural League of New York and the Design Vanguard from Architectural Record magazine, both in 2015. Their work has been nominated for the Mies Crown Hall America’s Prize, granted by the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and has been a finalist in the Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They have been lecturers at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard through the Latin GSD cycle, Boston Architectural College, as well as UBC SALA, and UVA.  More about Atelier ARS .

RINA PRIYANI Postdoctoral Research Associate/Fellow (Mellon Program in Race, Place, and Equity), Architectural History

Rina Priyani is a Mellon Race, Place and Equity Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Architectural History, School of Architecture. Her research focuses on the racialization of urban space and landscape in colonial and postcolonial Southeast Asia.   Prior to coming to UVA, she taught at Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia and UC Berkeley. In Spring 2025, she will offer a seminar course on “Bandung: Afro-Asian Solidarity and Urban Futures.” 

Her current book project,  Building Bandung: Colonialism, Ethnic Identities and Architectural Practices in Indonesia , examines the efforts of Indonesian intellectuals and visionaries of the postcolonial world who have been reinventing the city of Bandung in West Java, rupturing it from its colonial origin. This research foregrounds class, ethnicity, gender, and race in Bandung’s urban transformation that grappled with the legacies of late Dutch colonialism, Japanese occupation, and Indonesian post-independence. She traced this lineage to the important moment in global history when the city hosted the anticolonial Afro-Asian or Asian-African Conference, known as the ”Bandung Conference,” in 1955 and became a symbol of the Non-Aligned Movement.  More about Rina .

BOBBY VANCE Practitioner Fellow (University of Virginia Environmental Institute), Architecture

Bobby Vance, Chief Design Officer at Servicetry Integrated Services, is a seasoned professional adept at aligning planning, design, and construction. His role involves implementing innovative tools to boost design effectiveness and streamline documentation efficiency. Currently, Vance serves as the Competition Manager for the 2025 Gateway Decathlon in St. Louis, overseeing a groundbreaking event providing a global platform for universities. He joins the University of Virginia's Environmental Institute as a Practitioner Fellow for the 2024-25 academic year, hosted by the School of Architecture.

As a Practitioner Fellow, he serves as a subject area expert to advise research and teaching teams in Architecture and Engineering as they embark on a shared, interdisciplinary program to develop decarbonized, affordable dwelling designs for neighborhoods in Charlottesville. Vance will develop a series of lectures that will be presented to students of partnering courses and a research studio taught in Fall 2024 by Assistant Professor Schaeffer Somers. He will consult in the development of a seminar for Spring 2025, ARCH 5500 ADU Parametric Prototyping, taught by Somers, with Eric Field. Vance will serve as a secondary instructor in the seminar and have an advisory role in shaping an interdisciplinary program to develop built prototypes of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) modeled on his FutureHAUS project experience.  More about Bobby .

SAWYER DAVIES Lecturer, Architecture

Sawyer Davies is a designer and educator across both Landscape Architecture and Architecture – currently teaching as a Lecturer in the Architecture Department. His projects seek to blur and entangle the distinctions between what are often confined professionally within the regular contours of Landscape or Architecture. His work responds to the complex social, ecological, and historical narratives that comprise spaces, critically engaging multiplicity rather than imposing a singular story. Davies is a recent graduate receiving both his Masters of Architecture and Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia. His teaching experience includes work across three departments at the Architecture School and the school’s Summer Design Institute. He will be teaching an advanced research studio in fall 2024 alongside Visiting Shure Professors Alejandro Guerrero and Andrea Soto. More about Sawyer .

THOMAS EITLER Lecturer, Urban and Environmental Planning

Thomas Eitler is an urban planner and land use professional who is a principal at Urban Development Advisors LLC. Urban Development Advisors provides strategic advice to cities, organizations and companies on a wide range of real estate and land use issues including: Revitalization, Real Estate Development, Municipal Finance, Public Private Partnerships, Urban Planning and Design, Sustainability and Resilience, Organizational Structures, Land Economics, Creative Placemaking and Transportation Systems. From 2006 to 2023 he managed the Urban Land Institute's Advisory Services Program. Since 1947, this program has been providing strategic advice to governments, institutions and companies on a wide variety land use, real estate development and public policy issues ranging from economic development, urban design, finance and infrastructure to revitalization, housing and municipal management associated with the built environment. More about Thomas .

BERNARDO DE MAGALHÃES E MENEZES Lecturer, Landscape Architecture

Bernardo Menezes is a landscape critic and historian pursuing a Ph.D. in the Constructed Environment at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. His doctoral research explores the development of landscape architecture theoretical discourse as it evolved as a field of study during the early decades of the twentieth century. Soon after training as a landscape architect, Menezes worked as a designer and independent researcher for the Portuguese Association of Historic Gardens (AJH) and the University of Porto. Prior to joining the University of Virginia as a Lecturer, Menezes taught in the Departments of Landscape Architecture and Heritage Studies at the University of Porto for three years, on courses such as “History of Landscape Architecture,” “Landscape Policies,” and “History of Modern and Contemporary Architecture.” More about Bernardo .

LEMARA MIFTAKHOVA Lecturer, Architecture

Lemara Miftakhova is an architect with Anacapa Architecture, a Santa Barbara and Portland Design Studio, centered on sustainable, innovative solutions for diverse project types, including residential, commercial, and hospitality. Miftakhova’s professional experience includes working as an architect and technical designer at Gensler in San Francisco, and as a design intern at Michael Maltzan Architects, Dripps + Phinney Studio, and DCS. She has worked on projects including the City View Project (San Jose, CA), Burlingame Point (facebook), and many more, including numerous complex research laboratories. While a student at UVA, she taught digital courses, such as Grasshopper 3D, Revit and Dynamo as a Digital Fellow. She was also the recipient of the Sean Steele-Nicholson Memorial Award and the AIA Henry Adams Medal for overall excellence in design and scholarship. More about Lemara .

SASSON RAFAILOV Lecturer, Architecture

Sasson Rafailov is a theorist and designer whose work is situated at the intersection of new materialist philosophy, craft theory, and philosophy of education. He is currently a student in the PhD in the Constructed Environment Program at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. His dissertation will propose a new approach to craft in the educational training of architects and designers through the lens of posthumanist philosophy. Rafailov graduated with a B.Arch. from Cornell University in 2018, where he pursued research in design pedagogy for his thesis project. He then went on to teach design studio and a foundational theory course at the University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning, and subsequently enrolled in Harvard University’s Master of Design Program, where he graduated in 2021. He is also an avid craftsperson and designer, and has exhibited work in a variety of materials in domestic and international venues. More about Sasson .

TITHI SANYAL Lecturer, Architecture

Tithi Sanyal is an architectural designer and an urban design researcher pursuing a Ph.D. in the Constructed Environments at the University of Virginia. Her doctoral research focuses on Cultivating Urbanism: The Agroecological Landscape of the Post-Industrial Shrinking City of Detroit. Sanyal earned her Master of Architecture from Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Bachelor of Architecture with Honors from NMIMS Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, Mumbai. She was previously a Research Associate at RVTR, a research-based practice at the University of Michigan. At RVTR, she had undertaken design research on sponsored projects examining the applications of complex systems theory to urban design, focused on increasing urban access and the food-energy-water nexus. She has presented internationally at conferences on Architecture, Urban Design, Urbanism, and Interdisciplinary Research. She has been a design critic at the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia. More about Tithi .

JOYCE ARCOS Senior Fiscal Technician, Center for Cultural Landscapes

 Joyce Arcos, a native of Miami, Florida, cultivated her academic journey with a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Communication from Florida International University in 2019. Her quest for professional growth led her to Charlottesville, VA, where she embarked on a fulfilling career trajectory. In 2020, Arcos joined the University of Virginia within the Contemplative Sciences Department, where she channels her profound enthusiasm for yoga. In summer 2024, she assumed the role of Senior Fiscal Technician at the School of Architecture, serving the Center for Cultural Landscapes. In this capacity, she seamlessly integrates her passions for communication, finance, and cultural landscapes. More about Joyce .

DANIELE DIXON Project Associate, Center for Cultural Landscapes

Daniele Rose Dixon is the Project Associate for the Out(sider) Preservation Initiative at the Center for Cultural Landscapes. Contributing her expertise to Dr. Andrea Roberts, she channels her passion as a historian into preserving African American history and amplifying marginalized voices. As the point person for the Texas Freedom Colonies Project, Dixon brings her extensive knowledge in ethnographic research, oral history, and community engagement to the forefront. She maintains the Texas Freedom Colonies Atlas’ database, diversifies storytelling, represents the organization at public events, and transforms educational programs. More about Daniele .

SARAH LANE Senior Fiscal Technician, School of Architecture Raised in Charlottesville, Sarah Lane joined the School of Architecture as a Senior Fiscal Technician in August 2024.  Lane has training in Data Analytics and a passion for budgeting, spreadsheets, and lifelong learning.  She brings a fresh perspective to contribute to the university’s financial success and is looking forward to making a positive impact at the School of Architecture as part of the Finance Team and Business Office. 

ADRIAN ROBINS Research Specialist, Natural Infrastructure Lab

Adrian Robins joined the School of Architecture’s Natural Infrastructure Lab (NIL) as a Research Specialist shortly after graduating from the school’s Landscape Architecture Department in May 2024. In this new role, Robins works alongside Associate Professor Brian Davis and project manager Ruby Zielinski on the Natural Infrastructure Innovation Project. This five-year undertaking, funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering With Nature (EWN) Program, focuses on designing new forms of coastal infrastructure for the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. More about Adrian .

JENNIFER SAUNDERS Research Associate, Center for Cultural Landscapes

Jennifer Saunders provides general support to the Center for Cultural Landscapes as a whole, including its public-facing research projects. With a background including archaeology, library and archival work, and historic preservation, Saunders brings a broad range of skills and experience to the Center’s projects. An ABD PhD candidate in the UVA Department of Anthropology, her dissertation work examines how communities have worked to preserve history and create a sense of belonging around St. Emma Military Academy and St. Francis de Sales School in Powhatan County, Virginia. Before coming to the Center for Cultural Landscapes, Jennifer took part in numerous cultural heritage and historic preservation projects as an archaeological field technician and an architectural history survey technician. More about Jennifer .

RUBY ZIELINSKI Project Manager, Natural Infrastructure Lab

Ruby Zielinski is a budding landscape architect and a creative strategist and storyteller who crafts memorable experiences by intersecting multiple design disciplines. She began honing her skills by completing a BFA at Memphis College of Art while simultaneously working at an award-winning design agency. Zielinski was exposed to landscape architecture while working on designing and re-imagining the Memphis Riverfront with the Memphis River Parks Partnership. As the Director of Brand Experience, she led the operations, programming, and design of 250 acres along the Mississippi River, learning how to manage, maintain, and support the connection between people and their parks. She received her Master in Landscape Architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London and joined the Natural Infrastructure Lab at UVA to explore how nature can influence our built environment and inspire innovative approaches to projects that adapt to our changing climate. More about Ruby .

Promotions + Leadership Appointments

ELGIN CLECKLEY Associate Professor (with Tenure), Architecture 

We congratulate Elgin Cleckley on his recent promotion to Associate Professor with tenure. Cleckley, NOMA, also holds appointments in the School of Education and Human Development and the School of Nursing. He is the Undergraduate Architecture Program Director for the Department of Architecture. Cleckley is the Director of Design Justice at UVA’s Equity Center (Democracy Initiative Center for the Redress of Inequity Through Community-Engaged Scholarship), and principal of _mpathic design, a multi-award-winning pedagogy, initiative, and professional practice. His recent book is titled Empathic Design: Perspectives on Creating Inclusive Spaces (Island Press).

SHELLEY WALKER MILLER Senior Administrative Coordinator, Architecture History Department Program Administrator, PhD in the Constructed Environment and Graduate Certificate Programs

Shelley Walker Miller was promoted to Senior Administrative Coordinator for the Department of Architectural History. Miller has worked with multiple departments’ chairs, faculty, and students since joining the UVA School of Architecture in August 2016. She currently provides support to the Architectural History Chair, faculty and students and is the Program Administrator to the graduate certificate programs: Historic Preservation, Real Estate, Urban Design, and the PhD in Constructed Environment program. She has 35 years of experience in administration, legal work, and higher education.

MATTHEW SEIBERT Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture and Graduate Program Director

Assistant Professor  Matthew Seibert has been appointed as Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture program. Seibert’s research and teaching challenge dominant modes of knowledge production, employing alternative methodologies and immersive representational tools to cultivate a pluralistic understanding of being in the world. Seibert’s work has been recognized by organizations from the American Society of Landscape Architects to the US Environmental Protection Agency, exhibited across the country from New York to San Francisco, and published internationally. His new book project is  The Dark Side of Green: A Narrative Atlas of the Costs and Cautions behind our Clean Energy Utopia (tentative title). 

KYLE STURGEON Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives

Kyle Sturgeon  was promoted to Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives in summer 2024. Sturgeon is a licensed architect and maker with over a decade of experience in design education. Before returning to UVA, Sturgeon worked as a designer and construction administrator with the firms of Office dA, Kennedy & Violich Architecture, and Moshe Safdie Architects. He was also director of advanced studios, building technology curriculum, and fabrication labs at the Boston Architectural College. As an Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives, Sturgeon’s work spans many of the School's academic operations and public programs: direction of the Design Discovery summer program for high school students, coordination of exhibitions, and management of design studio environment. Sturgeon is passionate about demystifying design and providing meaningful educational experiences for students.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on twitter

Jessica Sewell and Andrew Johnston publish on the troubled heritage of historic preservation in the U.S.

Mona El Khafif Appointed Visiting Professor at University of Toronto’s School of Cities

Bev Wilson and Jenny Roe publish on the correlations between urban green space + mental health pre- and post-pandemic

This website uses anonymous cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use this website, you agree to our use of analytical and performance tracking. We do not sell or share any personally identifying information. More info

• Stories of Impact
• Gift Announcements
• Featured Series
• Donor Recognition
• Giving Home
• Give Now 

Podcast: Wolfpack Writing With Belle Boggs

On the Season 4 premiere of the NC State Philanthropy Podcast, we’re joined by Belle Boggs — a professor of English in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University Faculty Scholar and former director of NC State’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program — to discuss how private support powers that program forward.

Creative writing at NC State is a two-year program consisting of workshops, interdisciplinary coursework and a final thesis of literary work. Our faculty poets and writers provide students with one-on-one attention, for a strong, supportive start to a creative life in words. The program is a small one, accepting about a dozen students each year, with six or seven students in fiction and another six or seven in poetry. It offers full funding in the form of a graduate teaching assistantship to all eligible admitted applicants.

Private support enables the program to go above and beyond what state funding provides, as this interview highlights, with the results helping NC State students as well as others across the state through outreach efforts. An especially transformative, $1 million gift to support creative writing was made in 2021 by the Tony Brown family — the largest gift ever received by a humanities department at NC State and one of the largest funded endowments in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

To learn more about NC State’s MFA in Creative Writing program and how you can be part of it — as a student or as a donor — please visit go.ncsu.edu/mfa . To hear even more stories of Wolfpack success, please subscribe to the NC State Philanthropy Podcast today through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean or Stitcher. Be sure to leave a comment and rating as well to let us know how we’re doing!

Theme Music ( 00:01 ):

Please listen carefully.

Taylor Pardue ( 00:07 ):

Welcome to the NC State Philanthropy Podcast, telling the world how we Think and Do through the support of our friends, alumni and more. I’m your host, Taylor Pardue.

On our season 4 premiere, we’re joined by Belle Boggs, the former director of NC State’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, to discuss how private support helps power it forward.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Belle. To kick things off, just tell listeners a little bit about yourself and what brought you to NC State.

Belle Boggs ( 00:50 ):

Thanks, Taylor, for having me. So, I am a fiction and non-fiction writer, and I have lived in North Carolina … I’m originally from Virginia, moved all over, but moved to North Carolina in 2005, so I’ve lived in North Carolina a while and have been at NC State since 2014. My teaching trajectory, it’s a little different from some of my colleagues, but it’s not that unusual for a creative writer. After my MFA program, I was living in New York City, and I joined a program called the New York City Teaching Fellows, and I taught in public schools in Brooklyn, and I continued doing that when we moved to North Carolina. I’ve taught everything from kindergarten through elementary, middle, high school, GED and in community-based programs, and now I teach graduate students and undergraduates here at State, so I’ve been here 10 years. I love it. I’m a huge Wolfpack fan. My daughters and I have season tickets.

My family and I have season tickets to the women’s basketball games, and my daughters both want to go to State, which I think is adorable. And so, yeah, those are some of the things that brought me here. I taught in a variety of capacities but was publishing and had not imagined that I would necessarily teach at the university level because I was not willing to move out of the state. After I moved to North Carolina, I quickly found that it was my home and [got] involved in some community things and just really loved the landscape here. I live near the Haw River, and I love it, and I got very lucky that I was a visitor and then was lucky to be hired into the English department here, and I’ve been able to work with some extraordinary students, extraordinary colleagues and really wonderful supporters of our program.

Taylor Pardue ( 03:01 ):

Tell us a little bit about your work with the creative writing program, yes, over the years.

Belle Boggs ( 03:06 ):

Well, so, I teach fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction and some intro classes. I teach an intro class that is wonderful and has students coming from around the campus to take it. It’s an intro to creative writing class, and that is a training class for our graduate students who also teach the undergraduate 200-level creative nonfiction, intro to creative writing, intro to fiction, intro to poetry. And, so, I get to teach things across a wide array of creative writing, and then I work with graduate students, and these are students who come to us from all over the country, all over the world. We have, very often have international students coming to study with us, and that is really enriching to our program and to the perspectives that our students are able to have, our North Carolina-based students, because we do have students who come directly from NC State into our graduate program, and so they then get to be exposed to people who are from Bangladesh or from England or from Nigeria, and this is just really enriching to their practice.

And then those students get to study with all of our wonderful faculty, the students who are coming from other countries working with the graduate students. I’ll meet some later today who we recruited back in the winter. Now they’re here, and they’re going to be thinking about what novels, what books of poetry, what essays they’re going to write while they’re here at State, and we’ll be working with ’em. They each get to work with all of the faculty that we have, but then we have really phenomenal faculty here and they get to study literature and they get to study outside of creative writing if they want, but then they also, in their second year, work very intensively with one faculty member in their genre. So, for me, that would be a fiction writer, and we work through the novel, the collection of stories that they’re going to produce by the end of their second year, which is also quite amazing that they produce a whole book of fiction or poetry by the end of two years with us where they’re also working very hard as teachers, too.

Taylor Pardue ( 05:39 ):

Do you feel like having lived multiple places across the country, taught in so many different ranges of ages, do you think that’s really helped you meet with these students where they’re coming from their different backgrounds and made for a better experience for you as well as for them?

Belle Boggs ( 05:54 ):

I hope so. I mean, for me, I see the teaching of creative writing, it is something that anyone can benefit from. Of course, our students are choosing to make this their career, and so they are incredibly talented, driven, ambitious. They’re going to write books. You don’t have to be someone who has the ambition to write a whole book in order to benefit from classes and education and creative writing. Tapping into that part of you that is creative, fanciful, truth-telling, experimental — maybe you came from this really small town that you really want to tell other people about, or you lived in this very particular neighborhood and in a city and you want to tell people about that, or you traveled and you want to turn that into a short story or a poem. That experience is something that our students, while teaching here and while teaching very serious undergraduate students, also can use in other ways. So, they can use it if they choose to teach in high school for a while after they graduate or an elementary school for a while after they graduate or if they choose to teach in the community.

This past year, we had students working with me in a class called Teaching Artists Practicum, and we were exploring the different ways that creative writing practitioners, creative writers can go out into the community and find places where their needs … so, community centers, libraries, teen programs at libraries or high school programs, and they can go in and teach creative writing as kind of extracurricular, but also as this enhancing art form that helps those writers. I really think being a creative writer and working in creative writing can just help you become a more self-aware person in general. And so, that was our experience in this past fall. We worked with students at Oberlin Library. We worked with students at Jordan High School in Durham, and we were with three different groups of students, and they were all … some were adults, some were teens who go to, by choice, a library program, and some were high school students where we were just busting into their class.

And in each situation, the students, the graduate and undergraduate students that I worked with, had developed classes, lessons that were specifically geared to that audience, and they worked with the students, and they got to see how, “Oh, OK, this lesson, I’m going to change it a little bit next time, or I’m going to enhance it by adding this.” They could actually read more poems in a class, or they could, they were going to benefit from having music in the class, they’re going to benefit from having some other kind of art form connected to what they’re doing. And then we actually produce an anthology at the end of that, which is really great. It’s in multiple languages, and it’s artwork, and it is the product of … and it also includes reflections and description of the lessons that the students taught. And it is a product of that time and those spaces and the thinking that the graduate and undergraduate NC State students did as they thought through, “OK, when a creative writer goes to teach in the community, what are the steps? What are they thinking about? How can they be useful?”

And so, that’s, I think, one of the ways that I am a little bit different than some, or that’s just something that I bring that is particularly … a particular passion of mine is going into those community spaces where there might not have been a visiting writer, and you can be that visiting writer. For me, as a student, I grew up in a very rural part of Virginia, and we didn’t have a library in my county. We did not have a bookstore in my county. We did not have writers coming to visit. And I remember every extracurricular arts-based thing that my elementary, middle school did — every one of them, and high school, too, because it was so valuable to me. And I know that there are so many other writers and teachers who will say the same thing. They were in a school that didn’t … creative writing wasn’t a big part of what they did, but then they remember when they got to do it.

Taylor Pardue ( 10:45 ):

Obviously, sounds like outreach is a huge part of this program. I’m sure it differs between poetry, nonfiction, fiction, but, if there is a typical pathway through the curriculum and everything, what does the typical two years look like for a student?

Belle Boggs ( 10:58 ):

Oh, that’s a great question. I don’t think there is a typical two years. I mean, there are some things that are the same and that our students in fiction and poetry … so, most of our students will come through the program and they’ll write some nonfiction and some creative nonfiction because they’ll take Elaine Orr’s memoir class, or they’ll take a personal essay class with me, or they’ll take a class with LaTanya McQueen that ask them to write craft essays, for example. So, they will have that experience, but they’re studying fiction and poetry, and they will teach either creative writing, or they’ll teach first-year writing, which also has some creative elements to it, but they don’t teach in their second year. In their first year, they’re training to teach. So, they are learning pedagogy, they’re practicing, they’re engaging with students in one way or another in a very structured way.

And then they also, along the way, may have some other opportunities to work with, for example, honors students. We have a great relationship with the honors program, and so, sometimes our students will be invited to lead small discussion groups. They might lead small discussion groups at Oberlin Library because they’re invited to do that. That’s actually something that we were invited to do with teen writers again this fall. So, they may do that in their first or their second year, but they don’t have primary responsibility for teaching a class until their second year. And they’re taking classes, of course, they’re taking workshop classes, they’re taking literature classes. They’re taking craft classes. And if they have a particular interest in something outside of the English department, they may take a class there, too. And then in their second year, they’re continuing to take classes. They’re really working on their books and they’re teaching.

So, the second year gets really intense because you are in charge of your own classroom. You’re the instructor of record with a group of bright and expectant undergraduates, and then you’re also working really hard on your own book, and you’re also taking classes still. And you might also be applying for fellowships and applying for creative writing, teaching jobs and other kinds of opportunities. Some of our students go on to do Fulbrights, they go on to right after graduation. Some of them go on to do fellowships, residential or otherwise; some of them go right into teaching. Occasionally, they’ll come right into teaching at NC State. And so, we still get to see them, which is awesome, but they’re starting to think about that path also. So, the second year is really busy.

Taylor Pardue ( 13:35 ):

It sounds like it, yeah. What role does philanthropy play in all of this? It sounds like there are so many different giving opportunities.

Belle Boggs ( 13:41 ):

Exactly. So, philanthropic giving has played a huge impact on what we’re able to do in our program. And I didn’t talk about one of the things that we do, and so this is a good opportunity to do that. We also run a reading series, so we offer to the whole university as well as the community, because all of our events are free and open to the public, we offer between six and eight readings a year with incredible writers. We’ve had Percival Everett; we’ve had Sharon Olds; we’ve had Billy Collins before I was here. We have amazing new writers sometimes who graduated from our own program, like Tyree Daye or Sarah Grunder Ruiz, who still teaches in our first-year writing program and is [a] phenomenally productive writer. And Tyree is an incredibly talented poet as well who teaches at [the University of North] Carolina.

So, those opportunities don’t come for free, right? They’re free to the audience, but we believe very strongly in paying artists for their work and expertise. And, of course, we have to get them here, the reading series that we have. And we also run two contests that are connected to a fall reading and a spring reading; that takes money. And for many years we’ve been supported by, for a while it was annual gifts from the Brown family, and the Brown family very generously made a transformative gift to us. I believe it was in 2020. I mean, I remember where I was when I got the news. It’s such a powerful experience. I mean, it does a few things, right? First of all, you know, “Oh, OK, we’re going to be able to continue doing all of the things that we know are really valuable for the community, for the university and for our graduate students.” And then you think, “Oh, this also means that someone believes that we’re doing a good job.”

And you have that wind at your back, that vote of confidence that what you’re doing matters and that what you’re doing is valuable, and that is incredibly joyous. And so, the Brown family’s gift has helped us do everything from when I’ve mentioned that program that we did at Oberlin and Jordan High School. We produced anthologies and printed them, and we could not have done that without the gift from the Brown family. So, we were able to use Brown family funds to pay for those anthologies. They weren’t that expensive, they turned out beautiful, but it’s difficult to pay for things like that when all of the university funding that you have really needs to go to things like graduate student stipends. And we have other gifts. The … Jane Craven, who is a graduate of our program and also an incredible poet, she noticed that the students really benefited from travel and from travel to conferences, particularly the AWP [Association of Writers and Writing Programs] Conference, which is the major conference in our field, and it’s expensive to travel, so it’s very hard to do it as a graduate student.

And so, she and her husband gave a gift that is specifically designed to help support students when they travel. And so, we’re able to combine that with money that comes to us from the graduate school and sometimes from the English department to all the students who want to go to AWP every year or want to go to a conference every year and say, “OK, we can give you this amount of money to help you with your journey.” And so, maybe we can’t pay for all of that, but we get as close as we can. And so, another gift would also … when you give a gift, you can say, “Oh, I really want it to go to travel.” Or you could make it open-ended and say, “I want this to just support this program” and what you see as valuable. And that can go to everything from funding students to do things here on campus, like special programming connected to a reading that we have.

If we want to connect with honors or something like that, we can pay the students a stipend to run these, or an honorarium, I should say, to run these small groups. Or we can support students when they’re doing internships. We believe very strongly, in the same way that we believe in paying artists, we believe that our artists, our writers should be paid when they go to do things like internships at presses, which we have a lot of here in this area as well. But a lot of times presses can’t afford to pay their interns, so we can chip in and we can provide — a lot of times we just pay the whole internship for our students to go and get that experience. And so, that makes them better on the job market when they leave. It lets them know if this is something that they want to move into.

And then it helps the community, too, right? Because generally they’re doing something, they’re always doing something in the arts, something that supports writers and supports our literary culture. And so, we feel so grateful to the philanthropists who give to us in every way that we are donated to, makes a big difference to us. So, it’s all big ways. We’ve had faculty members — Wilton Barnhart made a gift to us years ago, and it continues to fund things like this contest that we run that is open and free for anyone in North Carolina. We have a … so, everyone should know, I don’t know what the dates are yet, but there’s a fall fiction contest and a spring poetry contest, and therefore, anyone in the state of North Carolina who has not published a book, and you just send in your stories. And we have one, a longer story contest, a shorter story contest, and then we have poetry contest in the spring, and those are judged by readers who are coming to campus — really esteemed writers. I think we have Annette Clapsaddle is judging the fall fiction contest this year. And this is a way for us to engage with the whole state.

Taylor Pardue ( 19:59 ):

I think these are great examples of … we always tell people we’re so appreciative of what the state of North Carolina does for us as a state university, but I think a lot of times when the public hears “state university,” they think that the state of North Carolina pays for everything. And while they give a[n] excellent foundation for us, funding these programs that go above and beyond — these different learning opportunities, these outreach programs — that comes a lot of times from philanthropy and from outside donors and just help us really make, like Chancellor Woodson says, a good university an extraordinary one.

Belle Boggs ( 20:34 ):

Oh, exactly. And the reading series is just such a great example of that. There are things that we can pay for with state funds, and there are things we cannot pay for with state funds. We can’t use state funds, necessarily, to host students and a visiting writer for dinner necessarily. But when we have these discretionary funds, we can do that. And the opportunity for a graduate student to go to dinner with an incredible writer that they have loved and read for years, it’s just something, right? To go to dinner with Ada Limón, our poet laureate who read here a few years ago; that’s an unforgettable, career-changing experience. But then for Ada Limón to come and read to [a] large group of listeners in Tally and have people from the community who’ve loved her work, have people from other parts of the university who’ve loved her work, have our own students from the English department and our graduate students. That’s bringing a lot of people together. That kind of opportunity is created by people like Tony Brown.

Taylor Pardue ( 21:57 ):

The student outreaches to the public schools — I really feel like that gets at the heart of being a land-grant university so much. So many times, I feel like when people hear “land grant,” they think of agriculture, probably first and foremost, or STEM fields, something along those lines. But really, like you said, going to visit these schools, maybe that’s the first time a student has ever met a writer or a writer in training, and to really be able to reach them is just as important as anything. To reach out and to really let the public see the benefit of NC State and the work that we do here.

Belle Boggs ( 22:30 ):

Oh, absolutely. And when we were working with Jessica Odom’s English, sheltered English IV class — so, this is a class at Jordan High School that’s taught in English to students where English is a second or sometimes a third language for them. And these students were so welcoming to us when we came into their space that, after we’d been there for a couple of weeks, we said, “We need to be reciprocal, and we should invite them to our space.” And so, we had not planned this at the beginning of our project there, but we worked with Transportation, we worked with the Libraries, we worked with Communications, and then the English and creative writing department to bring them to campus. They brought, rode a school bus to campus, and we met them at Tally, took them on a tour of the university. So, they got to see the university. Took them to Hill Library, where we had projected their poetry and their artwork on … it’s an exhibition room where you see the projection in 360 degrees.

And so, we had a display of their work set to music there, and they were not expecting that, and they were just blown away. Their teacher … people were crying. It was really powerful. And then we went after that, we had lunch outside, just like a student would, just like a college student right? They had Chick-fil-A, and then we walked, because this was a walking tour of campus. Oh, we also went to the Belltower, and they loved that. After we’d done our big tour and had lunch and seen the work at the library, we went to Clark Labs and the greenhouses there. We went into the greenhouses. It was a chilly day. We went inside. Of course, in a greenhouse, the air is warm and kind of humid. And we explored the greenhouses, looked at the plants, and they did a poetry prompt given by one of the graduate students, and they sat in the greenhouses and they wrote a poem.

And these are not students who, necessarily, at the beginning of the process with us, if you’d said, “OK, just sit down in this 10-minute window and write a poem.” We might’ve said, “What do I write about? I don’t know.” But they all had words and poems and expressions and ideas on the tips of their tongues, and they just went right to it in their notebooks. And many of them were the NC State notebooks that we’d brought to them at the beginning, the little red with a wolf logo on the front. It was a really special experience. And I think that is my dream: doing more things like that, where it’s not just we go into the community, but we also bring the whole community to our beautiful and really important campus. We’re really interesting. Things are happening all the time, and they get to see themselves on campus as a community member, but also maybe as a student, too. And they get to see what college students do, what graduate students do, what professors do, what scientists do, what engineers do. And I think that is really inspiring and what I would love, love, love to do more of with our program.

Taylor Pardue ( 25:55 ):

And there’s no telling how many of those students that we impact end up enrolling here and applying and coming to NC State and bringing it full circle.

Belle Boggs ( 26:03 ):

Exactly. I know we got some Wolfpack fans from that time.

Taylor Pardue ( 26:08 ):

You mentioned wants for the future and things like that. What’s the future look like for you? You have an interesting new role coming up, and then for the future of the program, too.

Belle Boggs ( 26:17 ):

Sure. So, I was director of the program for six years, and next year, this academic year, I’ll be on fellowship at the National Humanities Center, which is not far from here. So, I’ll still be able to come to campus for basketball games and readings as needed, but I will be spending most of my time working on a book called “Big Yellow Bus: The Essential American History of a Disappearing Public Good.” And it’s a book that tells the story of American education through the transportation system. So, it’s about school buses and school transportation and how they have played a role in access in consolidation of schools from our tiny one-room schoolhouses to our bigger schools now. But also the history of racism and segregation and resistance to a shared public good, a truly shared public good that is a mark on our history, but is one that people need to know, so they also understand why it’s so important.

And in the context of today, where we have school bus drivers working so hard to fight for better pay and reasonable hours and accommodations and things like that. And having to fight in general for resources for our public schools is hugely important. And so, that’s what I’m writing about next year. It is a nonfiction book that is immersive and will have its kind of critical creative side as well. And I’m sure I’ll write some short stories, as I always do. And yeah, I’m just really looking forward to it. My daughter and I, she’s 10 and is … one of the experiences that she had as … comes to campus with me on occasion. And she also went to those greenhouses and also got to meet scientists and cool people at NC State around the time that she was getting interested in houseplants. And so, she and I have cowritten a book called “Plant Pets,” which is about houseplants.

It’s the first book for kids about houseplants. It has a lot of great interviews with scientists and NC State-trained scientists and veterinarians, because, of course, you have to keep your pets safe when you’re choosing houseplants. And that’s coming out with Story Press on the 27th of August, so it comes out pretty soon. We actually have an event here with Friends of the Libraries in September. Those are things going on in my life. I’m really excited about the new students that we have. I’m sad that I’m not working with them this year, but I know that I’ll see them because I’ll take them to basketball games and I’ll see them at readings. I’ll see them today, and I’ll read their work, right, because that’s the other thing that I did not emphasize, but being a writer, it’s really, it’s this great career because you can do it all your life.

It’s not like being a gymnast, which is also awesome, but there’s a date of expiration there where you’re not going to be doing those flips anymore. But writing, you just hopefully just continue to get better at it as you go. And it is a long path to … it can be a long path to first-book publication, but it isn’t always a long path. And we have students who graduate here, like the talented Sarah Grunder Ruiz, who will publish right out of the gate, or like Tyree Daye, will publish books right out of the gate. And then we also have students who are publishing in important journals and winning important contests. And so, we’re reading their work while they’re here as graduate students, and we’re also working very hard to teach them the practice of both protecting your time, spending the time that you need to get the work where you need it to be, but also when you’re ready, putting the work out there and trying for that hard-to-reach fellowship or that dream publication. So, we try to work on the professional side of things, too, with our writers while they’re here.

Taylor Pardue ( 30:40 ):

Both of those books sound so interesting. I’m looking forward to those coming out.

Belle Boggs ( 30:43 ):

Oh, thank you.

Taylor Pardue ( 30:44 ):

Thank you so much for joining us today, and all the best in this new role, but looking forward to seeing you on campus again, too, for the basketball games and things like that. Glad you’re going to be able to still be in the community.

Belle Boggs ( 30:52 ):

Oh, definitely. For sure. Yeah. I’m very excited.

Taylor Pardue ( 31:01 ):

To learn more about the MFA in Creative Writing program, please visit go.ncsu.edu/mfa . To hear even more stories of Wolfpack success, please subscribe to the NC State Philanthropy Podcast today through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean or Stitcher. Be sure to leave a comment and rating as well to let us know how we’re doing. Thanks for listening, and as always, go Pack.

• College of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Program Support

More From Giving News

Podcast: Scholarships and Financial Aid With Krista Ringler 

Podcast: Wolfpack Philanthropy With Gayle Lanier 

Podcast: Goodnight Grad James B. Robertson