MA-MFA in Literature, Creative Writing, and Social Justice - Online
Get started on your Journey
Have Questions?
Talk with our Department Chair and Graduate Program Head.
Dr. Wallis Sanborn
210-431-5571
wsanborn@ollusa.edu
Our Lady of the Lake University’s 100% online Master of Arts (MA) in Literature, Creative Writing, and Social Justice and the 100% online Master of Arts-Master of Fine Arts (MA-MFA) in Literature, Creative Writing, and Social Justice, prepare students to become critically engaged and socially aware scholars, writers, educators, and professionals. This nationally unique, completely virtual program is designed to attract and foster the growth of individuals who wish to combine creativity with practical skills and critical knowledge, all while keeping in mind the pursuit of social justice in their own work, their communities, and their professional practice. Further, a student can complete the MA and the MA-MFA completely by distance. Every one of our courses is offered either asynchronous online or hyflex—synchronously online and face-to-face for those on the San Antonio campus.
Program Design
Using the online and hyflex delivery modes, the program offers two to three courses each fall and spring semester and one to two courses per summer.
If a student takes courses in the fall, spring, and summer, the MA can be completed in two academic years, and the combined MA-MFA, with a social justice project and a critical-creative thesis, can be completed in three academic years.
Degree Plans and Course Descriptions
- Online MA-MFA in Literature, Creative Writing and Social Justice
- Online MA in Literature, Creative Writing and Social Justice
Curriculum Design
Literature Courses
The curriculum balances a study of the art of writing with the study of literature through a variety of courses with diverse and extensive reading lists.
Creative Writing Workshops
Writing-intensive workshops in fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and poetry are offered through the program. Students have multiple opportunities for revisions that will help them produce a thesis manuscript.
Courses of Professional, Scholarly, and Academic Development
Students complete coursework in pedagogy; critical theory; research tools, methods,
and scholarship; translation; and social justice philosophy; as well, a variety of
literary editing and publication courses are offered.
Scholarships
By the generosity of private donors, scholarships from the Benoist Endowed Scholarship
Fund and the Griffith Endowed Fellowship Fund are made available to graduate students
pursuing the MA or MA-MFA in Literature, Creative Writing, and Social Justice. These
generous donors want to recognize students for their demonstrated advocacy for social
justice as well as their academic achievements.
The annual Benoist Scholarship and Griffith Fellowship are available to graduate students
enrolled full-time while pursuing the MA or MA-MFA in Literature, Creative Writing,
and Social Justice.
For application qualifications, please contact Dr. Wallis Sanborn, Graduate Program Head and English Chair, at 210-431-5571 or wsanborn@ollusa.edu.
Program Highlights
Visiting Writer Program
OLLU welcomes well-known authors to campus to take part in the Visiting Writer Program.
Under the program, an author visits OLLU for a semester to work with students and
give a public reading.
Current Visiting Writer
Social Justice Reading Series
The series brings an author whose work is couched in social justice to campus each
year to read and discuss the role of social justice in the literary arts.
- Marcela Ochoa - "My Name is Maria DeJesus" - Spring 2020
- Reginald Dwayne Betts - "A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Surviving and Coming of Age in Prison" - Spring 2019
- Sheryl St. Germaine - "The Small Door of Your Death" - Fall 2018
- Mary Ann Smothers Bruni - "Quest for Honor" - Fall 2017
- Fred Rivera - "Raw Man" - Fall 2017
- Matthew Salesses - "The Hundred Year Flood" - Spring 2017
- Elizabeth Harris - "Mayhem: Three Lives of a Woman" - Fall 2016
- Hayan Charara - "Something Sinister and The Sadness of Others" - Spring 2016
- Owen Lewis - "Best Man" - Fall 2015
The Thing Itself
The OLLU literary journal, "The Thing Itself," is published annually by the English
department. Students, faculty and staff, as well as national and international writers
and artists, can submit poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art for publication consideration
in the journal.
International Study Tours
Some courses feature opportunities for students to study abroad. One such course is
the British Literature course. Students who have taken the course in recent semesters
have had the opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom with their classmates to
visit some of the landmarks that they have read about through their coursework.