Our graduates stay busy!<\/p>\n
Since earning their MFAs, many of our alumni have been published or received awards.<\/p>\n
Get Updates:<\/strong> If you are an alum who would like to receive newsletters, calls for submissions, event info, etc. let us know at mfa@ewu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get Featured:<\/strong> If you are an alum who would like to be featured below, please e-mail us at mfa@ewu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Where are they now? <\/a>Awards and Publishing Contracts<\/a><\/p>\n Publications <\/a>Testimonials<\/a>Bios<\/a><\/p>\n","blocks":[{"acf_fc_layout":"two-column-explicit","module_background_color":"white","include_header":true,"include_images":false,"intro_title":"Alumni Highlights","intro_title_style":"h2","sub_heading":"Our alumni work in all kinds of jobs, all across the country, and even throughout the world. We love knowing what they are up to and how their experience here at Eastern helped them reach their goals. ","intro_title_position":"centered","include_intro_copy":false,"intro_copy":"","columns":[{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" blah<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" blah<\/p>\n"}],"component_options_toggle":true,"component_options":{"disable_component":true,"nickname":"","identifier":"","navigable":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"eastern-stories","module_background_color":"white","title":"Alumni Publications","starting_display_type":"tag","tag":"mfa-alumni-publication","category":"","multisite_tag":"featured","multisite_curated_stories":false,"include_cat":false,"include_cta":true,"button_text":"More Alumni Publications","button_link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cahss\/stories\/tag\/mfa-alumni-publication\/","component_options_toggle":true,"component_options":{"disable_component":false,"nickname":"MFA Alumni Publications","identifier":"alumpub","navigable":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"two-column-explicit","module_background_color":"off-white","include_header":true,"include_images":false,"intro_title":"Alumni Testimonials","intro_title_style":"h2","sub_heading":"Here's how the MFA has helped our alumni reach their personal and professional goals!","intro_title_position":"","include_intro_copy":false,"intro_copy":"","columns":[{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “My MFA helped prepare me for this job because of the teaching experience I received through the program and because of the skills I developed through workshops, where giving and receiving feedback has transferred into the ability to look at a project with a detail-oriented, critical eye for ways to improve it. My MFA also taught me how to communicate in a variety of complex situations, both verbally and in writing.”<\/span><\/p>\n Jaime Wood-Riley ’10 |<\/strong> Program Officer, VentureWell<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “I eventually went to law school after the MFA, and I currently work as an attorney for the state of Nevada. While law school taught me a lot of the substance I deal with, I find that I rely a lot on my MFA in my everyday job, even aside from my artistic endeavors. <\/span>I would not have those skills that set me somewhat apart from my peers, professionally, had I not earned my MFA.”<\/span><\/p>\n Rost Olsen ’11 |<\/strong> Assistant Staff Counsel, Public Utilities Commission of Nevada<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “I think my MFA prepared me in many ways for the position I now hold. For starters, I work as the co-editor of our biannual magazine, ImagineONE, and I also write content not only for the magazine, but for all of our social channels, websites, and social justice statements, and have also written anything from speeches for CEOs to annual appeals to success stories.”<\/span><\/p>\n Elizabeth Powers ’09 |<\/strong> Communications Manager, Congregation of St. Joseph<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “I run the General Surgery Residency Program, 4 surgical fellowship programs, and oversee all department education projects. M<\/span>y time in the EWU MFA program helped develop my creative thinking, verbal and written communication skills, adaptability, project management skills, professionalism in a collaborative environment, interpersonal and teamwork skills, and ability to trust my own voice. All of these skills contributed to my success in my previous roles after graduating and helped me ultimately land the leadership position that I have today.”<\/span><\/p>\n Kristina McDonald ’12 |<\/strong> Education Manager, Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “BRYC is a small but mighty nonprofit college readiness, access, and persistence program serving lower-income, primarily Black youth. While my MFA certainly set me up for success managing BRYC’s communications, grant\/proposal writing, etc., it also prepared me to do something much harder to quantify, but nonetheless vital. By virtue of their race, socioeconomic status, and geographical region, BRYC\u2019s students lack cultural and social capital. I\u2019m able to advocate for our students in part because I previously had the privilege of attending a high-quality master\u2019s program. The long-term personal, economic, and social impacts of an MFA doesn\u2019t stop with the degree-holder \u2013 they ripple out in impossible-to-predict directions.”<\/span><\/p>\n Elin Hawkinson ’16 |<\/strong> Associate Director of Communications and Development, Baton Rouge Youth Coalition Inc.<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “My experience at Eastern helped me clarify my career goals. Not only did I gain invaluable teaching experience as a TA, but I also got to try out editing through an internship with Willow Springs and got nonprofit\/community teaching experience through Writers in the Community. I left the program with a clear sense of my interests and abilities in all three areas. Ultimately, I determined that teaching was the right career for me, but I felt (and still feel) confident in my skill set in other writing- and teaching-adjacent fields, as well. I also felt confident in my ability to market those skills by clearly and elegantly communicating them to potential employers.”<\/span><\/p>\n Ashley Wurzbacher<\/a> ’10 |<\/strong> Associate Professor of English, University of Montevallo<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “Skills I honed while earning my MFA from EWU directly influence how I work today. This includes: <\/span>1. S<\/span>trong communication skills (to function as an effective liaison between business and technical teams). <\/span>2. T<\/span>he ability to distill information into bite-sized pieces. 3. T<\/span>eaching\u2014explaining complex and complicated concepts simply; training enterprises in a technical platform. 4. W<\/span>riting documentation, one-pagers, proposals, and white papers with clarity and concision. 5. P<\/span>ublic speaking \/ delivering presentations. 6. A<\/span>sking clarifying questions (research, requirements gathering). 7. C<\/span>ollaboration.”<\/span><\/p>\n Ellie Kozlowski ’08 |<\/strong> Technical Product Manager, Senior in Marketing Technology, Starbucks Coffee Company<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “The MFA program helped prepare me for this job by strengthening my writing and writing feedback skills, which I employ regularly to assist students with research writing, analytical writing, GRE essays, and graduate applications (typically 70-100% of our scholars are accepted into one or more schools). The academic community built through the EWU MFA has also stood as an example of how I can promote a strong cohort community for our scholars. Additionally, I have used skills learned via my Willow Springs Books internship to help with website design, program promotion, recruitment, and the writing of program materials.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cori Jaeger ’21 |<\/strong> McNair Program Academic Advisor, EWU<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “I graduated from the MFA program (fiction) in 2009. My experience in the program was 100% positive and helped me grow as a writer. More specifically, the program helped me develop the requisite work ethic and artistic skill that I now rely upon daily as an attorney. <\/span>I am forever grateful for the thoughtful mentorship provided by Sam (my thesis advisor), Greg, Natalie, and Jonathan. I still appreciate the careful line-level feedback Sam provided for my thesis. Two short stories from my thesis were subsequently published in Pank magazine and Canteen magazine.”<\/span><\/p>\n Neal Peters ’09 |<\/strong> Lawyer<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “I hold a handful of positions now after receiving the MFA from EWU. I want to say how grateful I am for the depth of immersion the program provided into authentic, uncommon, and vital aspects of humanity, ethics, and how art invigorates, strengthens, and helps heal the heart of the world. \u00a0In the MFA, I received the irrefutable gift of greater personal, communal, and artistic understanding.”<\/span><\/p>\n Shann Ray<\/a> ’05 |<\/strong> Professor Leadership Studies, Gonzaga University<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “The skills and experiences I gained during my time in the EWU MFA program have proved invaluable to my advancement in this organization, where I began as an associate just three years ago, about six months after graduating with my MFA. The reading and writing skills I learned, as well as the collaborative experiences I had during my MFA years have contributed to my professional success and the positive impact I believe our organization has in the world.”<\/span><\/p>\n Daniel Spiro ’19 |<\/strong> Director of Communications, Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah<\/p>\n"},{"image":false,"title":"","heading_tag":"h3","show-hr":true,"copy":" “Throughout my classes and thesis preparations, I was taught how to ask good questions, dig deeply for answers, push through the hard stuff, and render something meaningful in response. I learned how to say what I mean and to move with confidence. I became a better writer because of my MFA, but perhaps more importantly I became a better thinker.”<\/span><\/p>\n Caitlin Feldman ’20 |<\/strong> Content Lead, Two Barrels<\/p>\n More Testimonials<\/a><\/p>\n"}],"component_options_toggle":true,"component_options":{"disable_component":false,"nickname":"Alumni testimonials new","identifier":"alumtest","navigable":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"eastern-stories","module_background_color":"white","title":"Alumni Bios","starting_display_type":"tag","tag":"mfa-alumni-bio","category":"","multisite_tag":"featured","multisite_curated_stories":false,"include_cat":false,"include_cta":true,"button_text":"More Bios","button_link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cahss\/stories\/tag\/mfa-alumni-bio\/","component_options_toggle":true,"component_options":{"disable_component":false,"nickname":"Alumni Bios","identifier":"bios","navigable":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","module_background_color":"off-white","copy":" Our alumni work in various positions and roles across the country!<\/p>\n Check out what they’re doing as:<\/p>\n Writing Faculty and Academic Administrators <\/a>Editors and Publishers <\/a>Journalists <\/a>Poets Laureate<\/a><\/p>\n Arts and Nonprofit Administrators <\/a>Marketing, Advertising, and Communications <\/a>Industry Professionals<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","no_wrapper":false,"component_options_toggle":true,"component_options":{"disable_component":false,"nickname":"Alumni List Title","identifier":"list","navigable":false}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","module_background_color":"white","copy":" EWU\u2019s MFA prepares students for jobs in academia by providing opportunities to teach in the university classroom through GSAs and pedagogy classes, in traditional and non-traditional creative writing classrooms through Writers in the Community and Triceratops, as well as through peer-mentoring experiences through workshop classes and literary editing and design professional practica.<\/p>\n I direct the university’s tutoring program and also teach first-year experience, humanities, and writing courses. The MFA at EWU was so important to me, something I absolutely needed in my life, and one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. The student teaching and coursework I completed during my time at EWU opened my eyes to the possibility for a career in higher education and provided me with relevant and transferable experience. <\/p>\n Here are some of our alumni who have used their MFA to gain entry into academia as part-time and full-time professors, instructors, academic supervisors, and other roles in higher education:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhere are they now?<\/h1>\n
As Writing Faculty and Academic Administrators<\/h3>\n
\n – Ryan Scariano<\/a> ’15 | Assistant Director of Academic Support, Eastern Oregon University<\/strong><\/small><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n