This course is designed to help writers deepen their understanding and command of key elements of fiction, such as voice, point of view, theme, characterization, structure, symbolism, imagery, rhythm, and tone. Students will engage in a range of fiction writing exercises, reading assignments, and workshop activities. The course also includes the study of major works in the novel, novella, and short story forms, along with selected critical texts.

Course Outcomes:

— Analyze the use of key elements of fiction — such as voice, point of view, theme, characterization, structure, reflexivity, symbolism, imagery, rhythm, and tone — in published works.

— Apply these elements purposefully in personal fiction writing through targeted exercises and workshop participation.

— Demonstrate the ability to craft original fiction in multiple forms (short story, novella, novel excerpt), showing attention to craft and revision.

— Critically evaluate peer and professional texts using appropriate literary terminology and concepts from selected critical readings.

— Self-Reflect on the writing process, identifying strategies for revision, development of style, and deepening thematic resonance.

— Integrate instructor feedback to refine drafts and strengthen control over craft elements.

— Integrate theoretical and practical knowledge of fiction craft to produce writing that reflects growth and progression in complexity and control.

This course explores the process writers use to spark inspiration and the manner in which they reveal key information to create a vivid immersive world.  With these objectives in mind, students will develop a concept for a long form writing project. The emphasis will be on building the foundation for that work, crafting plot arcs, detailed outlines, character development, world-building, and thematic exploration rather than drafting full scenes or chapters. The material generated in this course may directly or indirectly support future writing projects.

Course Outcomes:

— Generate and articulate an original concept for a long-form work of fiction (novel, novella, or similar).

— Design plot arcs and subplots that effectively pace the revelation of key information to sustain narrative tension and reader engagement.

— Construct detailed outlines that provide structural and thematic coherence for a long-form narrative.

— Develop complex characters, including backstory, motivation, and relationships, that contribute to the immersive quality of the fictional world.

— Build a vivid and consistent fictional world, attending to setting, culture, history, and atmosphere that enrich the narrative.

— Explore thematic possibilities within a project, identifying how central ideas and motifs may be developed across the work

— Integrate foundational elements of fiction — concept, structure, character, setting, and theme — into a coherent framework that supports advanced creative work.

This graduate-level course provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of teaching college English composition. Students will explore key pedagogical approaches through readings in composition studies and by examining the historical and theoretical foundations of the field.  Additionally, students will develop strategies for writing curriculum design through practical teaching exercises that include responding to student work and fostering inclusive, student-centered classrooms.

Course Outcomes:

— Analyze major theories and historical developments in composition studies.

— Evaluate the strengths and limitations of various pedagogical approaches in the teaching of college-level writing.

— Apply principles from composition theory to the design of effective, inclusive, and student-centered writing courses.

— Develop writing assignments and assessment strategies that align with course outcomes and foster rhetorical awareness and critical thinking.

— Demonstrate effective methods for responding to student writing, balancing formative and summative feedback practices.

— Integrate multimodal and genre-based approaches into composition curriculum to address diverse learner needs and rhetorical contexts.

— Critically reflect on their own pedagogical philosophy in relation to scholarship in composition studies.

— Demonstrate the integration of pedagogical theory and practice through the design of curriculum structures and evaluative approaches for teaching writing.

In this immersive and sensory-focused course, students explore food as both a subject and a lens for compelling nonfiction writing. This course will allow students to practice creatively describing flavors and textures, using different senses as they write. Various writing projects of the course include personal essays about family recipes, critiques of dining options, restaurant reviews from local eateries, food blogs, historical explorations of ancient cookbooks, and cultural cuisine guides. Students also create a "food map" of the city, reflecting on how geography, culture, and memory influence food consumption. The culminating project is a portfolio that archives the stories, reflections, and tastes experienced throughout the course and beyond. 

Course Outcomes:

— Employ sensory detail (taste, smell, touch, sight, sound) to craft vivid, immersive nonfiction writing about food.

— Compose a range of food-centered nonfiction forms, including personal essays, critiques, reviews, blogs, historical explorations, and cultural guides.

— Analyze the cultural, historical, and geographical influences on food practices and representations in writing.

— Evaluate how memory, identity, and place shape individual and collective food narratives.

— Analyze the relationships among geography, culture, and personal experience to interpret how these factors shape food practices and identities.

— Integrate multiple modes of writing, creative, reflective, and analytical, to illustrate progression in craft and conceptual understanding of food writing.

This course explores the deep and dynamic relationship between narrative and the construction of identity. Drawing from literature, memoir, theory, and interdisciplinary texts, the course examines how individuals and communities use storytelling to make sense of themselves, their histories, and their place in the world. Students will analyze a diverse range of narrative forms — from autobiographies and novels to oral histories and digital storytelling — while engaging with critical works in narrative theory. Through reading, reflection and original writing, students will investigate how stories shape identity and how identity, in turn, shapes the stories we tell.

Course Outcomes:

— Analyze how narrative functions in the construction of individual and collective identity across literary, theoretical, and interdisciplinary texts.

— Examine diverse narrative forms — including memoirs, novels, oral histories, and digital storytelling — to identify how storytelling practices reflect cultural, historical, and social contexts.

— Apply key concepts from narrative theory to the interpretation of texts and storytelling practices.

— Evaluate the relationship between memory, history, and narrative in shaping both personal and communal identities.

— Reflect critically on identity through original writing that engages with personal, cultural, or historical narratives.

— Produce original analytical and creative work that demonstrates an understanding of the reciprocal relationship between storytelling and identity.

This capstone course invites students to explore the art and craft of autobiography as both a personal and literary endeavor. Students will engage with key questions of memory, identity, voice, and truth as they develop and write a substantial autobiographical project. Drawing on a range of autobiographical texts, narrative theory, and reflective practices, the course emphasizes the shaping of life experience into a compelling narrative. Students will examine the ethical and aesthetic challenges of autobiographical writing, considering the relationship between personal history and broader cultural contexts, while refining their prose.

Course Outcomes:

— Analyze a range of autobiographical texts and narrative theories to understand how writers construct memory, identity, and voice.

— Examine the ethical and aesthetic challenges of writing autobiography, including questions of truth, representation, and cultural context.

— Develop a substantial autobiographical project that demonstrates intentional choices in narrative structure, style, and voice.

— Apply reflective practices to explore the relationship between personal history and broader cultural, social, and historical contexts.

— Refine prose with attention to clarity, rhythm, and literary craft.

— Integrate theoretical, ethical, and creative perspectives into their approach to autobiographical writing.

— Apply critical and creative strategies to unite personal expression with literary and cultural awareness in writing.