University of Pittsburgh

MFA

The English Department offers a three-year Master of Fine Arts degree program that provides students with the time and opportunity to produce a book-length final manuscript. Our graduate writing faculty members have distinguished themselves nationally and internationally through numerous publications and awards. They include poets Lynn Emanuel, Yona Harvey, Terrence Hayes, and Dawn Lundy Martin; fiction writers Fiona Cheong, Angie Cruz, Bill Lychack, and Irina Reyn; and nonfiction writers Jeanne Marie Laskas, Michael Meyer, and Peter Trachtenberg. Each year we also welcome a number of distinguished visiting faculty.

For requirements, see the Graduate Handbook.

For more information, see the answers to frequently asked questions and other materials on the Writing Program site.

Pitt PhDs in the World

Lori Shorr

Chief Education Officer for the City of Philadelphia

Working on building the political will for public education in a city with a very diverse population demands a sophisticated

Usha Iyer

Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies, Stanford University

The inter-disciplinary Film Program at the University of Pittsburgh is a valuable training ground for a career in

Jen Keating-Miller

Associate Director of Undergraduate Research & National Fellowships, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University

The foundation in research and teaching I acquired at Pitt

Stacey Waite

Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Nebraska

In Pitt's PhD program, I learned probably the three most important things I'll need to know to write and teach in the

Kara Lynn Andersen

Assistant Professor, Film Studies, Brooklyn College, CUNY

It's hard to single out one single thing that was important at Pitt, but certainly near the top was the way in which graduate

Katie Homar

Position: Director of International Engineering Writing Support, North Carolina State University Graduate School

The cross-disciplinary approaches of Pitt’s English

Manisha Basu

Associate Professor, English and African Studies, University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign

My teachers at the University of Pittsburgh taught me to think ambitiously and generatively

Hans Mattingly

Associate Professor and Library Coordinator, Department of English, International Horizons College – Dubai

The high level of scholarship, the interpretation of literature, and the

Robin Hoffman

Editor at The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Museum publishing is the perfect place to pursue my passion for visual culture and scholarly research while engaging with a wide

Jennifer Whatley Schwartz

Senior Communications Analyst, Government Accountability Office

My training in composition at Pitt has been extremely valuable to me in my current position. At Pitt I worked with

Tara Lockhart

Associate Professor, Coordinator of First Year Writing, Department of English, San Francisco State University

What I valued most at Pitt was the program's interdisciplinarity. The

Tanine Allison

Associate Professor, Film and Media Studies, Emory University

I appreciated the flexibility that Pitt's PhD program offered me. It gave me a grounding in theory and a wide base of

Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky

Associate Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies Program, University of Illinois at Chicago

Departments and universities talk a lot about interdisciplinarity, but it's not always

Margaret Stahr

Associate Professor and Writing Center Director, Department of English, Catawba College

Obviously, the coursework at Pitt was invaluable. The range of courses offered under the

Danielle Koupf

Assistant Teaching Professor in Writing, Department of English, Wake Forest University

I’m very grateful that the structure of the English department at Pitt encourages cross-

Kyle Stevens

Assistant Professor, Film Studies, Appalachian State University (NC)

The English Department fosters interdisciplinarity, yet I continue to appreciate how Pitt tempers this with

Jennifer Schell

Professor, Department of English, University of Alaska Fairbanks

What I particularly value about my time at Pitt is the fact that the English Department faculty I worked with were

Pamela VanHaitsma

Assistant Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, and Associate Director of Center for Humanities and Information, Penn State University

I benefited most from the solid training

Jean Bessette

Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Vermont

Pitt's PhD program encouraged me to undertake ambitious, interdisciplinary projects, guided by genuine questions.

Steph Ceraso

Assistant Professor of Digital Writing & Rhetoric, Department of English, University of Virginia

Pitt’s PhD program was extremely valuable to me because it allowed me to pursue

Hannah Gerrard

Senior Lecturer (TTS), School of English and Media Studies, Massey University - New Zealand

Pitt's graduate program allowed me to be part of a close-knit community of faculty and

Rich Purcell

Associate Professor, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University

My Pitt professors were all ethically minded scholars, committed mentors and teachers.

PhD Year: 2008

Daniel Wollenberg

Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Tampa

Pitt English not only allowed but encouraged intellectual independence, and that was indispensable in finding subject

Dahliani Reynolds

Assistant Professor, Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition, Roger Williams University

I didn't always see it at the time, but the freedom to venture across disciplinary boundaries

Pitt MFAs in the World

Stacey Waite

Assistant Professor of English, University of Nebraska Lincoln

Pittsburgh is a vibrant writing city. Almost any night of the week I was out at poetry reading and literary events. That

Rachelle Linda Escamilla

Foreign Instructor, Creative Writing, Sun Yat-sen University Department of English in the School of Foreign Languages

The professors at Pitt were, by far, the most important and

Dave Griffith

Director of Creative Writing at Interlochen Center for the Arts

When I was at Pitt, Buddy Nordan and Chuck Kinder were two of the best guides that a young writer could ask for. Chuck

Elaine Vitone

Senior Editor, Pitt Med

Pitt was an ideal place to find my voice, build a support system, and get my feet wet. My mentors and peers challenged me to stretch and grow. They

Aaron Smith

Assistant Professor in Creative Writing, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA

My time in graduate school was a welcome immersion in poetry. I was supported and challenged while

Rebecca Skloot

Freelance writer

Author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Crown Publishers, 2010), which won the 2010 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Nonfiction, the 2010

Christopher Weber

Freelance journalist and blogger

As an MFAer, I started my business as a freelancer and never stopped. I got a lot of much-needed practice in those years researching, pitching, and

Sarah Z. Wexler

Freelance writer

The most valuable part of Pitt's MFA program was the feedback I received from my peers and from professor Jeanne Marie Laskas during creative nonfiction writing

Jennifer Kwon Dobbs

Associate Professor, English Department, St. Olaf College

While most folks may associate Pittsburgh with steel and pierogies, those of us in the know keep our on eye this city for its

Carlos Antonio Delgado

Lecturer, Writing Program, University of Southern California; Founder, Life Writers Collaborative

Studying at Pitt was a gift to me. The three-year program, which demands rigorous

Mike Bunn

Assistant Professor (Teaching), Writing Program, the University of Southern California

I now teach both undergraduate and graduate courses to very talented student writers, but nowhere

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