Letter to Teachers Questions to Ask When Seeking an MFA ProgramThe low- or brief-residency program: Our four-semester, brief-residency MFA in Writing combines superb 
instruction with unparalleled flexibility. Each semester of the program begins with a ten-day residency, in which students and faculty gather for an intensive workshopping and learning experience. At the conclusion of the residency, students return home to correspond, one on one, with a faculty mentor for the rest of the semester. During the semester, each instructor supervises a small number of students, and each student's program is highly individualized.
Students may customize the location, season, and pace of their studies. The same amount of writing is required in each option:
• Spring (May) and fall (November) residencies in Louisville, each followed by a 6-month semester
• Summer (June or July) residency abroad (2009: Barcelona; 2010 Buenos Aires), followed by a 9-month semester
• Spring "stretch" option, combining the spring Louisville residency with the 9-month summer semester schedule
• A combination of spring, summer, and fall semesters
Meet Our MFA Staff: Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund, author of the bestselling, Ahab's Wife, Four Spirits, and 
Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette, has taught more than thirty years in regular and low-residency programs. She says, "Brief-residency master of fine arts programs generally result in excellent writing by mature and highly motivated graduate students who find a high degree of satisfaction in the experience." The Spalding MFA in Writing Program is designed to be intellectually stimulating and emotionally supportive. Because of her many years of experience, Sena has seen, firsthand, the advantages of the brief-residency format for students who desire to write.
During the program, when writing habits are established, the student works within a natural home setting, not removed to an isolated, solely academic environment. Because the student is at home during the semester, jobs and domestic activities need not be interrupted. While adjustments of time may be needed, a person who desires to write and to improve writing skills finds the brief-residency program provides a solution to the search for further education.
Featured Guests: Our featured guests have included novelists Ernest Gaines, Ann Patchett, Susan Vreeland, and Michael Ondaatje; poet and essayist Yusef Komunyakaa; children’s writers Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Donna Jo Napoli, and Nancy Willard; poets W. S. Merwin and Claudia Emerson; essayists Terry Tempest Williams, Pico Iyer, and Scott Russell Sanders; poet and children’s writer Naomi Shihab Nye; screenwriter Robert Moresco (Crash); and playwright Heather Raffo. Our fall 2009 guest will be Patricia MacLachlan, author of Sarah Plain and Tall.
Student and Alumni Publications: Since founded in 2001, Spalding MFA’s 422 students and alumni have published or produced more than 100 books, films, and plays with the more than 70 presses and production companies, including: Random House, HarperCollins, St. Martin’s, Algonquin, HarperOne, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, University of Georgia Press, University of Alabama Press, Chronicle Books, Perseus, CBS Entertainment Production, University of Nebraska Press, Scholastic, Toby Press, University of Georgia Press, University of Alabama Press, University Press of Kentucky, The Dial Press, SkyLight Paths, Nightboat Books, Trout Lily Press, Transaction Press, Seattle Turn Press, Conari Press, Cinemawalla Films, Pay Films, Bell Pond Books, Destino, Chronicle Books, Turtleback Books, Cinco Puntos Press, New Womens Voices Series, The Feminist Press, University of Nebraska Press, Press, Lee and Low Books, Spinsters Ink, Southeast Missouri State University . . .
Scholarships and Assistantships: In the 2008-09 school year, the program awarded 26 assistantships for the spring, summer, and fall semesters. Assistantships are available to students no matter where they live. Most are for reading for our literary magazine, The Louisville Review. Also, in the 2008-09 school year, the program gave 41 scholarships to new students. See our Tuition and Fees page for more information.
Current and Future Semester/Residency Dates
Spring 2009 Semester
Residency in Louisville: May 22-31
End of Semester: October 21, 2009
Summer 2009 Semester
Residency in Barcelona, July 8-20, 2009
End of Semester: March 13, 2010
Fall 2009 Semester
Residency in Louisville: November 13-22, 2009
Spring 2010
Residency in Louisville: May 21-30, 2010
Summer 2010 Semester Residency in Buenos Aires: June 21-July 3, 2010
Fall 2010 SemesterResidency in Louisville: November 12-21, 2010
Spalding University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the Master of Fine Arts in Writing. Spalding University's Master of Fine Arts in Writing is a member of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. The MFA in Writing Program is part of Spalding's College of Social Sciences and Humanities.
last updated 06/1709 information subject to change without notice
Spalding University
851 South Fourth Street
Louisville, KY 40203
MFA Office: (502) 585-9911, ext. 2423 or (800) 896-8941, ext. 2423
mfa@spalding.edu
FAX: (502) 585-7158
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