Master of Arts in Writing Studies
Program Overview
With the Master of Arts degree in Writing Studies, Saint Joseph's University provides exceptional opportunities for advancement in career fields where writing is a key part of workplace activity. In recent years, there have been many diverse signs indicating significant growth of interest in training at the master's level for careers in the broad field of writing. With the rise of the internet, the reach and power of the written word is greater than ever, and, thanks to the phenomenon of e-mail, more and more people are spending more time writing every day than ever before in human history. At the same time, the broad field of communications is booming, with extraordinary growth in highly specialized journals and publications designed to keep people informed about rapidly changing environments in business, technology, and culture. At the center of all of these activities, of course, we find people with well-developed writing talents and an urge to shape the future.
The Writing Studies program at Saint Joseph's is innovative, and it has several distinguishing features. The Writing Studies program will offer excellent training for people who wish to move ahead quickly in public relations; it will offer training for future magazine or journal editors and free-lance writers; it will provide rich growth opportunities for teachers of writing at the secondary level or at the community college level; it will provide important experience for traditional journalists; and it will develop skills important for success in corporate communications. In sum, the Writing Studies program integrates a lively mix of careers and professional interests, all centered on the need for powerful writing. A key focal principle for the program is that all participants, teachers and students alike, will be engaged in writing and publishing. Students will be encouraged to place their work in the larger world as often as possible.
America is document centered in its history. In principle and practice alike, our government is word dependent. Words have made us who we are. Any hope that any generation of Americans might entertain "to form a more perfect union" at any point in time must be established firmly and confidently on the ability of people to write with power and purpose, grace and style, wit and wisdom. Such hopes for the present and future must rest on the best of the past, even as reflection and revision push us steadily onward toward improvement. The M. A. in Writing Studies incorporates thoughtful engagement with significant texts in the legacy of letters in English, but at the same time, it invites and expects new contributions in kind.
The M. A. in Writing Studies at Saint Joseph's University is designed to be flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse students, unique enough to be well-recognized locally and nationally, strong enough to thrive in the Philadelphia graduate education market, and distinguished enough to reflect fine credit on the history of Jesuit educational engagement with the world and its problems. Program graduates will have the talent and the training to make a positive difference as they move forward in their various career paths.