Creative Writing at Emory University
Ever considered delving deeply into writing at the collegiate level? Ever dreamed of finding creative inspiration on a beautiful, forested campus? Then follow the Professor to suburban Atlanta for a visit to stately Emory University.
The Best Colleges website named Emory one of the 10 most beautiful campuses in the country, calling it a “classically gorgeous Southern campus,” and USA Today named it a top college for aspiring writers. With Emory’s flexible program, small class sizes, and top-notch faculty, the Professor can certainly see why writers thrive here.
Students in the Creative Writing Program practice their art in great depth and breadth. The program is designed to help budding writers master all the ins and outs of writing — from analytical and critical thinking skills to the processes of generating ideas, drafting a text, revising, and editing.
Students specialize in one (or more) of these genres: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, playwriting, and screenwriting. However, the program allows enough flexibility for students to follow their interests wherever they take them, so switching genre specializations partway through the program is allowed.
Emory University
Emory’s average class size is 19, and the writing classes are even more intimate, with many capping out at 15.
The Creative Writing Program’s faculty includes such prestigious writers as Natasha Trethewey, the current poet laureate of both Mississippi and the United States, and Kevin Young, recipient of the 2013 PEN Open Book Award.
The department hosts a Creative Writing Program Reading Series featuring readings, book signings, and conversations with authors, which are open to the college community and the general public.
The professor noticed Emory University has some interesting distinctions. It’s one of only a handful of schools in the nation ranked among the top in both athletics and academics. It also has over two million square feet of LEED-certified building space, and the university has made a commitment to having three-quarters of the food served on campus come from local or sustainable sources by 2015.
In addition to Emory’s famously beautiful campus, the university’s environs are ideal for students in other ways, too. Nearby Atlanta, with its low housing costs and bustling culture, has made its share of top-college-town lists. The city also has a favorable business climate: It is home to 26 of the Fortune 1000 companies and 1,250 multinational corporations, and it has the 10th largest concentration of high-tech jobs in the country — all of which is great news for recently graduated job seekers.
Speaking of job seekers, the Professor learned that Emory’s creative writing graduates have an immensely varied range of career tracks from which to choose. Some work for corporations, while others become journalists, editors, novelists, marketing writers, or teachers. Many of Emory’s creative writing graduates go on to law school, medical school, master of fine arts programs in writing, or other graduate-level education.
To learn more about Emory University’s application requirements and deadlines for the Creative Writing Program and other courses of study, please visit www.emory.edu.
Criminology at Hofstra University
Have you ever been curious about the inner workings of the criminal justice system? If you have, a degree in criminology might be for you. To learn what it entails, the Professor visited Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island.
Upon arriving, the Professor simply could not decide which world to sample first: the serene, 240-acre campus, which is an officially listed arboretum, or the excitement of New York City, less than an hour away by train. He decided to leave his leisure pursuits for later and go straight to the Department of Sociology to learn all about Hofstra’s Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology.
He found that criminology is “the study of lawmaking, lawbreaking, and law enforcement” as defined by Edwin Sutherland, an influential criminologist from the 1930s and 40s. Laws affect just about everything we do in one way or another, so this field covers a lot of bases. Aspiring criminologists need to be educated in a broad range of subjects to prepare them to look at the big picture.
Hofstra’s program prepares students to gain a deep understanding of crime, including its motivations and consequences, from several vantage points. Courses also cover the political, economic, and legal ramifications of crime and how the criminal justice system works.
Students study sociology, psychology, philosophy, political science, forensics, and linguistics. They learn to examine crime from both a legal and a social standpoint (as opposed to Hofstra’s forensic science program, a Bachelor of Science degree, which also covers a broad range of subjects but emphasizes the more scientific side of criminal investigations).
To get hands-on experience, students also participate in internships, wherein they work with professionals in law, social work, and corrections. Many student interns work in specialized courts such as youth courts, mental health courts, and drug courts. Others assist the Department of Probation and other prosecutorial units working on issues such as domestic violence.
Hofstra’s criminology graduates often go on to pursue graduate studies, and many work in fields such as law, criminal justice administration, policy development, or national security. Others work with non-profit foundations or community organizations that deal with a range of justice issues such as prison over-crowding, gun control, or community policing.
Hofstra’s 14,000 students find the university a dynamic place to research and study, with its 140 undergraduate programs, excellent library resources, and state-of-the-art classrooms. Hofstra hosts a plethora of student activities, an active athletics program, and the Hofstra Shakespeare Festival in its own replica of the Globe Theatre. The university also operates Long Island’s oldest public radio station, WRHU-FM (88.7).
After a long day of research, the Professor finally found a place to unwind, right here on the gorgeously landscaped campus. In fact, he found a place that no fine-feathered friend could resist: the Hofstra Model Bird Sanctuary, a two-acre oasis with a songbird study garden, pond, meandering boardwalk, and babbling stream.
To learn more about Hofstra University’s application requirements and deadlines for criminology and other programs, please visit www.hofstra.edu.
