Program

Siena Heights offers a Bachelor of Arts degree major in Creative Writing as well as a Creative Writing Minor. While the focus is on the writing of poetry, fiction, drama, and screenwriting for film, video and television, the program also seeks to educate writers in other areas of literary studies.

SHU’s creative writing program was honored as one of the top 39 creative programs in the nation by “Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers.” 

One of the program highlights is the ability for students to take creative writing classes every semester of their college career. This allows students to build their craft and learn the essentials of pursuing creative writing as a profession from the moment they arrive at Siena Heights.  

Classes are small and intimate, allowing creative writers to get the kind of one-on-one attention they wouldn’t get at larger schools. They also get to connect with a close-knit and committed group of students at Siena who are actively producing poems, short stories, novels and plays.

• Curriculum that allows students to take courses in fiction, poetry, scriptwriting, graphic novels and editing and publishing.
• Eclipse, our literary and arts journal, Spectra, our student news multimedia organization, and workshops and readings with award-winning writers from across the U.S.
• Summer internships to Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing.

What can you do with a degree in Creative Writing?

• You can get an advanced degree by seeking admission to an MFA program.
• You can become a writer/commentator in the print, visual, or online media.
• You can join a public relations or advertising company.
• You can join the movie or TV industry
• You can join the staff of an in-house publication in almost any industry.
• You can, if you dare, make a living as a writer.

• Sigma Tau Delta is Siena Heights University’s English Honors Society and is open to English majors in Literature, Creative Writing and Communications. The club exists to prepare students for professional life and advanced study, while cultivating leadership skills and raising awareness of English studies on campus.
• Spectra is Siena Heights University’s student newspaper. Written, designed, edited and managed by Siena students, the paper provides service Siena’s student body while giving newspaper staff valuable opportunities to develop the skills that can be used in a wide range of professional fields, from business to journalism, from graphic design to photography. To view the online version of Spectra, visit www.shuspectra.com.
• Eclipse is Siena Heights University’s student-run literary and arts magazine. Students write manuscripts, solicit submissions, raise funds, edit, design and publish Eclipse bi-annually. 

Included are courses in Literary Criticism and editing a literary journal. The degree is rounded off by the senior tutorial which requires a creative writing project in the form of poetry, fiction, or drama manuscript.