The Stegner Fellowship program is a two-year creative writing fellowship at Stanford University . The award is named after American Wallace Stegner (1909–1993), a historian , novelist , short story writer, environmentalist , and Stanford faculty member who founded the university's creative writing program.
19-473: Ten fellowships are awarded every year, five in fiction and five in poetry. The recipients do not need a degree to receive the fellowships, though many fellows already hold the terminal M.F.A. degree in creative writing. A workshop-based program, no degree is awarded after the two-year fellowship. Prior to 1990, many fellows also enrolled in Stanford's now-defunct M.A. program in creative writing. Fellows receive
38-441: A degree to act, even though there are degrees for acting available. In some fields, especially those linked to a profession (such as medicine, law or teaching), a distinction is to be drawn between a professional degree , an advanced degree and terminal degree. A first professional degree is generally required by law or custom to practice the profession without limitation. An advanced professional degree provides further training in
57-468: A quarter as part of other endowed lectureships. Recent visiting writers include Heather McHugh , Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee , Bharati Mukherjee , Robert Pinsky , Colm Toibin , Li-Young Lee and, just before his death in 2004, Thom Gunn . Notable previous long-term faculty include W. S. Di Piero and Denise Levertov in poetry; and John L'Heureux and Nancy Packer in fiction. Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts ( MFA or M.F.A. )
76-423: A specialized area of the profession. A first professional degree is an academic degree designed to prepare the holder for a particular career or profession, fields in which scholarly research and academic activity are not the profession, but rather the practice of the profession. In many cases such as law, medicine and teaching, the first professional degree is also terminal, usually because no further advanced degree
95-405: A stipend of $ 50,000 per year, as well as health insurance and their tuition fee for Stanford. Fellows are required to live close enough to Stanford to be able to attend all workshops, as well as other department-related readings and events. Stegner founded the Stanford creative writing department and fellowship program in 1946. Initial funding was supplied by Dr. E. H. Jones, brother of the chair of
114-458: A written dissertation that in the social sciences and humanities is typically 250 to 450 pages in length. Dissertations generally consist of (i) a comprehensive literature review, (ii) an outline of methodology, and (iii) several chapters of scientific, social, historical, philosophical, or literary analysis. Typically, upon completion, the candidate undergoes an oral examination, sometimes public, by his or her supervisory committee with expertise in
133-433: Is a terminal degree in fine arts , including visual arts , creative writing , graphic design , photography , filmmaking , dance , theatre , other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts administration . It is a graduate degree that typically requires two to three years of postgraduate study after a bachelor's degree , though the term of study varies by country or university. Coursework
152-579: Is a terminal degree for licensure in an occupation, such as the Doctor of Medicine (MD), Juris Doctor (JD), and Doctor of Engineering (EngD). The phrase "terminal degree" is used heavily in the United States but is less used in other countries. The term is not generally used in the United Kingdom or Canada , for example, and its exact meaning varies somewhat between those areas and disciplines in which
171-499: Is primarily of an applied or performing nature, with the program often culminating in a thesis exhibition or performance . The first university to admit students to the degree of Master of Fine Arts was the University of Iowa in 1940. A candidate for an MFA typically holds a bachelor's degree prior to admission, but many institutions do not require that the candidate's undergraduate major conform with their proposed path of study in
190-494: Is the highest-level university degree that can be achieved and awarded in an academic discipline or professional field. In other cases, it is a degree that is awarded because a doctoral-level degree is not available or appropriate. The two main types of terminal degrees are academic or professional. An academic doctorate such as the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a terminal degree for expanding human knowledge through research and dissertation defense. A professional doctorate
209-538: The MFA program. Admissions requirements often consist of a sample portfolio of artworks or a performance audition . The Master of Fine Arts differs from the Master of Arts in that the MFA, while still an academic program, centers-on professional artistic practice in the particular field, whereas programs leading to the MA usually center on the scholarly, academic, or critical study of
SECTION 10
#1733094081753228-500: The Stanford English Department, Richard Foster Jones . Initially the fellowship was for three writing fellows per year, many of whom were World War II veterans returning home from overseas. In 1973, then-director John L'Heureux expanded the program to include eight fiction writers and eight poets per year. In 1992, the program expanded again to ten fiction writers and ten poets each year. The current poetry faculty for
247-511: The exception of the Master of Fine Arts (MFA), an academically-recognized terminal degree given to practitioners in the fine arts and performing arts. The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is also considered a terminal professional degree. In academic fields, the typical terminal degree is that of Doctor of Philosophy although others also exist. The first phase of the Ph.D. consists of coursework in
266-472: The field. Additionally, in the United States, an MFA is typically recognized as a terminal degree for practitioners of visual art, design, dance, photography, theatre, film/video, new media, and creative writing—meaning that it is considered the highest degree in its field, qualifying an individual to become a professor at the university level in these disciplines. Terminal degree A terminal degree
285-420: The given discipline. A professional degree is a degree that is required, often by law as in the case of medical and other clinical professions, that must be earned first before the holder of the degree can practice in the profession. A speech-language pathologist , for example, must hold a master's degree in communicative disorders: speech-language pathology in order to practice. However, an actor does not need
304-454: The program consists of A. Van Jordan , Amaud Jamaul Johnson , and Patrick Phillips . The current fiction faculty for the program consists of Elizabeth Tallent , Adam Johnson , Kirstin Valdez Quade , Chang-Rae Lee , and Molly Antopol . Louise Glück taught five workshops in poetry between 2015 and 2022 before her death in 2023. Other notable writers often serve as guest instructors for
323-403: The student's field of study and requires one to three years to complete. This is often followed by a preliminary or comprehensive examination and/or a series of cumulative examinations, in which the emphasis is on breadth rather than depth of knowledge. Finally, another two to four years is usually required for the composition of a substantial and original contribution to human knowledge embodied in
342-697: The term is used. In some countries there are degrees that are more advanced than the PhD, such as the higher doctorates in the United Kingdom and Russia and the habilitation degree awarded in Germany and Austria . Not all terminal degrees are doctorates. For example, in professional practice fields there are often terminal master-level degrees, some of which are called doctorates e.g. MEng (Master of Engineering), MLArch standing for Master Landscape Architect or BEng for Engineers, MB (Bachelor of Medicine (UK)). Architecture
361-745: Was a discipline where the M.Arch was considered terminal as a professionally oriented degree, but a Doctor of Architecture (D.Arch) that is recognized by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) establishes the doctoral level as the highest level of "professional degree" in architecture in the United States. For the same discipline of Architecture, the "Laurea di Dottore" is the terminal degree in Italy. Interior design and Interior Architecture have terminal master-level degrees such as MID, MA, MS interior design education . Most non-doctoral degrees are not terminal in academic terms with
#752247