Connect with Us!
Summer 2019
Connect with Us! is a quarterly newsletter that features UTEP Connect's online programs and the faculty, staff and students associated with them.
Featured Program
Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
The online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at UTEP is one of the only 100% online MFAs in Creative Writing and the world's only online MFA with a bilingual option (both English and Spanish). The program is highly competitive and is meant for serious writers with the potential for great literary significance. Students in the program become a part of an international community of writers and learn strategies to make them better at their craft.
UTEP Edge
Our student success initiative, the UTEP Edge, develops upon students’ assets through a variety of high-impact experiences. These experiences are designed to improve student skills and give UTEP students a competitive advantage as they move forward in their lives and careers. Our goal as a campus is to provide these UTEP Edge experiences to all students, regardless of their area of study, so they will graduate with a competitive advantage over their peers.
UTEP Edge and the MFA in Creative Writing
Edge experiences MFA students will have
- Creative Activities
- Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Experiences
- Research and Scholarly Activities
- Learning Communities
- Study Abroad/Study Away
Edge skills they will graduate with
- Problem-solving
- Communication
- Social Responsibility
- Confidence
- Teamwork
- Critical Thinking
- Global Awareness
MFA Graduate Spotlight: Guadalupe McCall
Guadalupe Garcia McCall is a published author of young adult fiction and a graduate of the online MFA in Creative Writing program at UTEP. She immigrated from Mexico with her parents at the age of six and grew up in Eagle Pass, Texas, the setting for much of her work. Her books have received critical acclaim and won several awards. Daniel Chacón, chair of the creative writing program at UTEP, describes Guadalupe McCall as “… one of the most important writers in Texas and Latinx literature as well as mainstream fiction and poetry.”
Guadalupe spent twenty years as a high school teacher in San Antonio and decided to get an MFA so she would be able to apply to university-level positions. Armed with her MFA in Creative Writing from UTEP, she is now a tenure-track professor at George Fox Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é.
"(The program) was a rigorous, life-affirming experience, and I would recommend it to anyone willing to work hard to actualize their dreams."
MFA Faculty Spotlight
Tim Hernandez, Assistant Professor, Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
The power of storytelling fuels assistant professor Tim Hernandez’s passion for and approach to teaching.
A talented poet, writer and performer, he has won critical acclaim for his work and been featured extensively in news media. His first book of poetry won the 2006 American Book Award; his first novel won the 2010 Premio Aztlán Literary Prize. In 2011, he was also named one of sixteen New American Poets by the Poetry Society of America; this year, he will be inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.
Professor Hernandez teaches fiction, non-fiction, poetry and special courses in the fully online MFA in Creative Writing. He encourages his students to be persistent and takes pride in seeing them graduate and publish their work.
"Don’t give up! Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é work can be daunting at times, well, any graduate program can, but you have to keep your eyes on the prize, and persist. Especially as it pertains to creative writing. The industry of book publishing is 99.9% online these days, so it’s true to the work in that way."
Related Articles and Resources
From the blog: What kind of a job can you get with an MFA in Creative Writing and why should you sign up for UTEP's online MFA? .
From the blog: Want to put together a successful application to an MFA program? Get tips from the director of UTEP's online MFA. .
In the news: Sasha Pimentel, associate professor from UTEP’s Department of Creative Writing, is one of the NEA's 35 Creative Writing Fellows for FY 2019. .
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
UTEP Connect
Kelly Hall, Suite 115
500 Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é
El Paso, TX 79968
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