Welcome to the Saint Joseph’s University Writing Studies program! The Writing Studies program is unique to the Philadelphia area. Our program in Writing Studies bridges the gap between traditional master’s degrees in English and creative writing degrees by emphasizing that all writing is creative. Our students take a wide variety of courses in order to explore the craft of writing from various perspectives.
All of the teachers in the Writing Studies program are practicing writers who write in the genre that they teach. In other words, our public relations writing courses are taught by public relations writers, and our novel writing courses are taught by published novelists. All of our courses are small—fifteen students or less—to enable each student to get individual feedback from the instructor and detailed feedback from peers.
The students in the Writing Studies program are diverse in age, race, occupation, gender, and belief systems. The diversity of our students contributes to the success of our program; students in our M.A. bring a wide range of ideas, creativity, and energy to our classes. Each class becomes its own community of writers.
In the Jesuit tradition of Eloquentia Perfecta, all writing studies courses engage students in using speech and writing effectively, logically, gracefully, persuasively, and responsibly. Students focus on developing the craft of a professional writer through drafting, revising, and incorporating feedback from peers and instructors as the writing progresses toward publication. We hope all of our students will become working writers who write for a wide variety of audiences.
Whether you’re currently working in public relations but have a novel waiting to be written, a poet who would like to learn the genre of journalism, or a writing teacher in a high school or middle school who would like to develop her own writing, we’re the program for you!
I look forward to working with you!
Dr. Ann Green, Graduate Writing Studies
