POC Mentorship: Graduate Faculty Writers of Color - Part 1/3 (Alabama - Missouri)

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INTRODUCTION

A few weeks ago I wrote on the importance of mentorship, especially how finding a mentor of color can be a deeply rewarding and invigorating thing as a writer of color.  In many respects, I felt I'd only scraped the surface -- and I also felt that while I'd been quite fortunate in my experiences, that many other writers of color have not fared so well. I think a big challenge for many writers considering an MFA or a PhD is trying to figure out where to go and who to study with. Often a young writer of color does not have easy access to information about programs or faculty who might be a good fit.  Given the sheer number of possible programs, finding potential faculty mentors of color can be exhausting and discouraging. 

In an effort to remedy this in some small way, I've spent the last few weeks researching graduate creative writing programs, trying to build a snapshot of who is teaching where, and what genres are being covered in different programs. I'd hoped to finish up sooner, but it's turned into a rather expansive project. Due to the amount of information, I've broken this post into two parts.  This first post lists faculty of color in graduate creative writing programs in the first 25 states (Alabama to Missouri).  Additional posts (which I'm still working on) will cover faculty of color in programs located in the remainder of the states (Montana to Wyoming).  

METHODOLOGY

1. For the sake of this project, I've examined mostly MFA and PhD programs, but have also included MA programs where there is a creative writing option.

2. In terms of genres, I have focused on creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry -- but now in hindsight acknowledge that I should have included faculty of color who exclusively teach playwriting, graphic novels, or other less common genres.

3. Rather than split hairs, I've chosen to lump those who teach primarily YA or children's fiction together with those who teach adult fiction as both being "fiction."

4. Likewise with those who are listed as teaching "popular fiction" or "speculative/fantasy fiction" -- all fiction for the purposes of this list.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

1. Token faculty / ambassador problem. A number of universities only employ a single faculty writer of color, despite having a large department of creative writers. While having a writer of color on faculty is a start, it's by no means the end. I worry about some programs where that writer seems to be stuck teaching multiple genres (CNF+Poetry, CNF+Fiction, and sometimes all three), while their colleagues teach a single genre. In some cases, this person is fully qualified to teach all genres -- but sometimes it seems like a stretch and an opportunity for the department to invest in more faculty of color.

2. 2017 hiring boom for faculty of color. I'll be honest, looking over Academic Wikia's listing of new hires for this past round of Creative Writing positions was a pleasant surprise -- there were a lot of writers of color hired to fill full-time tenure track positions, and many at excellent, highly competitive programs. Most of these were hired at the Assistant Professor level. A number aren't listed here because they were hired to teach creative writing in undergraduate programs (and it would have been an even longer list if I had tried to list everyone teaching at the undergraduate level)

3. Moonlighting. Some writers of color show up as faculty at multiple institutions, primarily because they are teaching not just at their home institution, but also at one or more low residency programs.

4. Core vs Adjunct/Visiting. Core faculty at most programs is still not very diverse. Often if there is a writer of color present, they are teaching as adjuncts or visiting writers. While this gives the appearance of "diversifying" the department, adjunct and visiting faculty are by their very nature transient. They also lack power to change or shift the department and pedagogy in meaningful ways. If a university wants to do more than pay lip service to supporting their student writers of color, they need to start hiring more full-time permanent faculty of color who can stay, contribute, and build. There are some exceptions -- many of the programs in California and Illinois are leading the way.

5. YA Lit vs Fiction. One thing I've noticed is that in some programs the only faculty writers of color are writers of YA or teen fiction (and are labeled as such, rather than fiction). It's a small thing, but it does seem to marginalize these writers. It'd be an easy fix to list them both as Fiction and Young Adult. Or just call them Fiction writers and in their bios describe their publications.

6. Text vs photo faculty listings. I really appreciated the departments which made it easy to look over their faculty lists. Just having a photo for each faculty member makes a big difference both in assessing the friendliness and professionalism of the program (good clear high-res photos of faculty do a lot to make a positive impression). It also saved me time if I could look over the faculty directory and see who might be a writer of color (I still did a lot of profile reading and Googling to confirm when in doubt).

7. Mentor deserts. Certain states have 0 faculty of color present:

   • Alaska (now that Sean Hill has been hired away to Southern Georgia University)

   • Delaware (no MFA programs in that state)

   • Idaho

   • Kansas (Darren Canady teaches playwriting at University of Kansas)

   • Louisiana

   • North Dakota

   • West Virginia

   • Wyoming

DISCLAIMER

I have done my best to be thorough, but it's likely that I've missed a few people here and there, perhaps even entire programs.  I apologize in advance and hope you'll let me know who I'm missing.  In choosing to focus on full-time faculty, I am omitting some programs that rely heavily on adjunct and part-time faculty of color to fill their gaps. I'm also passing over a number of strong creative writing undergraduate programs -- regrettably beyond the scope of this current set of posts.  Please feel free to correct me or offer additional suggestions. 

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ALABAMA

• Auburn University (MA)

  • Rajiv Mohabir (Poetry)

• University of Alabama (MFA)

  • L. Lamar Wilson (Poetry)

• University of North Alabama (MA)

  • Daryl Brown (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

ALASKA

ARIZONA

• Arizona State University (MFA)

  • Natalie Diaz (Poetry)

  • Jewell Parker Rhodes (Fiction)

  • Alberto Rios (Poetry)

  • Laura Tohe (Fiction, Poetry)

• University of Arizona (MFA)

  • Julie Iromuanya (Fiction)

  • Farid Matuk (Poetry

  • Manuel Muñoz (Fiction)

• Wilkes University-Mesa (MA/MFA) - low residency

  • Marlon James (Fiction)

  • Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr (Poetry)

  • Laurie Jean Cannady (CNF)

ARKANSAS

• University of Arkansas (MFA)

  • Geffrey Davis (Poetry)

  • Padma Viswanathan (Fiction)

• University of Arkansas-Monticello (MFA) - low residency

  • Melinda Palacio (Fiction, Poetry)

• University of Central Arkansas (MFA)

  •  M. Shelly Connor (Fiction, Playwriting, Screenwriting)

CALIFORNIA

• Antioch University LA (MFA) - low residency

  • Tananarive Due (Fiction)

  • Richard Garcia (Poetry)

  • Lynell George (CNF)

  • Erin Aubrey Kaplan (CNF)

  • Gary Phillips (Fiction)

  • Alma Luz Villanueva (Fiction)

  • Past Guest Faculty:

    • Jimmy Santiago Baca (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

    • Natasha Deon (Fiction)

    • Roxane Gay (CNF, Fiction)

    • Michael Jaime-Becerra (Fiction)

    • Robin Coste Lewis (Poetry)

    • Fred Moten (CNF, Poetry)

    • Daniel Jose Older (Fiction)

    • Nina Revoyr (Fiction)

    • Vu Tran (Fiction)

• CalArts (MFA)

  • Tisa Bryant (CNF, Fiction)

  • Douglas Kearney (Poetry)

• California College of the Arts (MFA)

  • Juvenal Acosta (Fiction)

  • Faith Adiele (CNF)

  • Opal Palmer Adisa (Fiction, Poetry)

  • Aimee Phan (Fiction)

  • Tonya M. Foster (Poetry)

  • Al Young (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

  • Adjuncts include:

    • Anita Amirrezvani (Fiction)

    • Shanthi Sekaran (Fiction)

    • Jasmin Darznik (CNF)

• Chapman University (MFA)

  • Alicia Kozameh (Fiction)

  • Adjuncts include:

    • Victoria Chang (Poetry)

• Mills College (MFA)

  • Elmaz Abinader (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

  • Patricia Powell (CNF, Fiction)

  • Truong Tran (Poetry)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • Susan Ito (CNF, Fiction)

• Saint Mary's College of California (MFA)

  • Lysley Tenorio (Fiction)

  • Recent visiting faculty:

    • Natalie Baszile (Fiction)

    • Cristina García (CNF, Fiction)

    • Brynn Saito (Poetry)

    • Shanthi Sekaran (CNF)

    • Cedar Sigo (Poetry)

    • Arisa White (Poetry)

• San Diego State University (MFA)

  • Marilyn Chin (Poetry) - not currently listed on dept site, but has been teaching here.

• San Jose State University (MFA)

  • Keenan Norris (Fiction)

• UCLA (English Dept)

  • Harryette Mullen (Poetry)

  • Namrata Poddar (CNF, Fiction)

  • Justin Torres (Fiction)

• UC Riverside (MFA)

  • Reza Aslan (CNF)

  • Charmaine Craig (Fiction)

  • Allison Hedge Coke (Poetry)

  • Alex Espinoza (Fiction)

  • Kimberly Norris Guerrero (Playwriting)

  • Rickerby Hines (Scriptwriting)

  • Nalo Hopkinson (Fiction)

  • Michael Jayme / Michael Jaime-Beccera (Fiction)

  • John Jennings (CNF)

  • Laila Lalami (Fiction)

  • Emeritus Professors :

    • Juan Felipe Herrera, Tomas Rivera Endowed Professor Emeritus

  • Lecturers:

    • Sara Borjas

    • Rachelle Cruz

  • Notes: a long history of students attending Kundiman.

• UC Riverside - Palm Desert (MFA) - low residency

  • Stephen Graham Jones (Fiction)

  • Mary Yukari Waters (Fiction)

• UC San Diego (MFA)

  • Camille F. Forbes (CNF, Fiction)

  • Lily Hoang (Fiction)

  • Brandom Som (Poetry)

• University of San Francisco (MFA)

  • Bich M Nguyen (CNF, Fiction)

  • Laleh Khadivi (Fiction)

  • Adjuncts: Brynn Saito (Poetry)

• University of Southern California (PhD)

  • Percival Everett (Fiction)

  • Dana Johnson (Fiction)

  • Robin Coste Lewis (Poetry)

  • Viet Thanh Nguyen (CNF, Fiction)

  • Danzy Senna (Fiction)

  • David Treuer (CNF)

COLORADO

• Colorado State University (MA/MFA)

  • Camille Dungy (Poetry) - in the MFA program

  • Harrison Candelaria Fletcher (CNF) - in the MA program

• Naropa University (MFA)

  • Michelle Naka Pierce (Poetry)

  • Christopher David Rosales (Fiction)

  • Recent Visiting Faculty for Summer Writing Program:

    • Roger Reeves

    • Layli Long Soldier

    • Khadijah Queen

    • Renee Gladman

    • Fred Moten

    • J. Michael Martinez

    • Sherwin Bitsui

    • Cedar Sigo

    • Will Alexander

    • Simone White

    • Tisa Bryant

    • M. NourbeSe Philip

    • Julie Patton

    • Janice Lowe

    • Roberto Tejada

    • Ruth Ellen Kocher

    • Orlando White

    • Rosa Alcalá

    • Samuel Delany

    • Kazim Ali

    • Samiya Bashir

    • Omar Berrada

    • C. S. Giscombe

    • Tonya Foster

    • Christopher Steakhouse

    • Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi

    • Serena Chopra

    • Julia Seko

    • LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs

    • Dorothy Wang

    • Ronaldo Wilson

• Regis University (MFA) - low residency

  • Mario Acevedo (Fiction, Graphic Novel)

  • Traci L. Jones (Fiction)

  • J. Michael Martinez (Poetry)

  • Daniel José Older (Fiction)

  • Khadijah Queen (Poetry)

  • Natalia Sylvester (CNF, Fiction)

  • Sophfronia Scott (CNF, Fiction)

• University of Colorado-Boulder (MFA, PhD)

  • Marcia Douglas (Fiction, Poetry)

  • Stephen Graham Jones (Fiction)

  • Ruth Ellen Kocher (Poetry)

• University of Denver (PhD)

  • Maik Nwosu (Fiction)

CONNECTICUT

• Fairfield University (MFA) - low residency

  • Eugenia Kim (Fiction)

  • Susan Muaddi Darraj ‌(Fiction)

  • Adriana Páramo (CNF)

• Western Connecticut State University (MFA) - low residency

  • Oscar de los Santos (Fiction)

  • Shouhua Qi (Fiction)

DELAWARE

FLORIDA

• Florida State University (MFA)

  • Ravi Howard (CNF, Fiction)

  • Virgil Suarez (Fiction, Poetry)

• University of Central Florida (MFA)

  • Obi Nwakanma (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

  • Brenda Peynado (Fiction)

  • Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés (Poetry)

• University of Miami (MFA)

  • Chantel Acevedo (Fiction)

  • Jaswinder Bolina (Poetry)

  • M. Evelina Galang (Fiction)

  • Amina Gautier (Fiction)

• University of South Florida (MFA)

  • Ira Sukrungruang (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

• University of Tampa (MFA)

  • Erica Dawson (Poetry)

GEORGIA

• Georgia College (MFA)

  • Allen Gee (Fiction)

• Georgia State University (MFA, PhD)

  • John W. Holman (Fiction)

• Kennesaw State University (MA)

  • Tony Grooms (Fiction)

  • Ralph Tejeda Wilson (Poetry)

• Reinhardt University (MFA) - low residency

  • Anjali Enjeti (CNF)

  • Laurence Stacey (Poetry)

• University of Georgia (MFA)

  • LeAnne Howe (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

  • Aruni Kashyap (Fiction)

  • Reginald McKnight (Fiction)

HAWAII

• University of Hawaii - Manoa (MFA)

  • Craig Santos Perez (Poetry)

IDAHO

• University of Idaho (MFA)

  • Daniel Orozco (Fiction)

ILLINOIS

• Bradley University (MA)

  • Thomas Palakeel (Fiction)

  • Demetrice Worley (Poetry)

• Chicago State University (MFA)

  • Kelly Norman Ellis (Poetry)

  • Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Fiction)

  • Quraysh Ali Lansana (Poetry)

  • Nnedi Okorafor (Fiction)

  • Note: MFA program is housed in the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing. Students are taught not just creative writing, but also African American literature and non-African American literature.

• Columbia College Chicago (MFA)

  • Jenny Boully (Poetry)

  • CM Burroughs (Poetry)

  • Re'Lynn Hansen (CNF)

  • Eric May (CNF, Fiction)

  • Alexis Pride (Fiction)

• Illinois State University (MA, PhD)

  • Ricardo Cortez Cruz (Fiction)

  • Duriel Harris (Poetry)

• Northwestern University (MA/MFA) - part-time

  • Chris Abani (Fiction, Poetry)

  • Juan Martinez (Fiction)

  • Naeem Murr (Fiction)

  • Ed Roberson (Poetry)

• School of the Art Institute of Chicago / SAIC (MFA)

  • Calvin Forbes (Poetry)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • Mai Der Vang (Poetry)

• Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (MFA)

  • Allison Joseph (Poetry)

• University of Illinois at Chicago (MA, PhD)

  • Mary Anne Mohanraj (Fiction)

  • Luis Urrea (Fiction, Poetry)

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MFA)

  • Janice Harrington (Poetry)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • Nafissa Thompson-Spires (Fiction)

INDIANA

• Indiana University - Bloomington (MFA)

  • Ross Gay (Poetry)

  • Adrian Matejka (Poetry)

  • Brando Skyhorse (CNF, Fiction)

  • Samrat Upadhyay (Fiction)

• Purdue University (MFA)

  • Roxane Gay (Fiction)

  • Brian Leung (Fiction)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • Kaveh Akbar (Poetry)

• University of Notre Dame (MFA)

  • Orlando Ricardo Menes (Poetry, Translation)

IOWA

• University of Iowa (MFA)

  • Lan Samantha Chang (Fiction)

  • Ayana Mathis (Fiction)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • V.V. Ganeshananthan (Fiction)

    • Prageeta Sharma (Poetry)

KANSAS

KENTUCKY

• Murray State University (MFA) - low residency

  • Blas Falconer (Poetry)

  • Gary Jackson (Poetry)

• Spalding University (MFA) - low residency

  • Deborah Kang Dean (Poetry)

  • Lamar Giles (Fiction)

  • Rachel Harper (Fiction)

  • Jeremy Paden (Translation)

  • Neela Vaswani (Fiction)

  • Rebecca Walker (CNF)

  • Crystal Wilkinson (Fiction)

• University of Kentucky (MFA)

  • Manuel Gonzales (Fiction)

  • DaMaris Hill (Fiction, Poetry)

  • Frank X. Walker (Poetry)

• University of Louisville (MA)

  • Kiki Petrosino (Poetry)

  • Notes: The African American Theatre Program is also located here.

LOUISIANA

MAINE

• University of Southern Maine / Stonecoast (MFA) - low residency

  • Breena Clarke (Fiction)

  • David Anthony Durham (Fiction)

  • Martín Espada (Poetry)

  • Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Fiction)

  • Eléna Rivera (Poetry, Translation)

MARYLAND

• Johns Hopkins University (MFA)

  • Danielle Evans (Fiction)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • Dinaw Mengestu (Fiction)

• Morgan State University (MA, PhD)

  • MK Asante (CNF)

• University of Maryland (MFA)

  • Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes (Fiction)

  • Rion Scott (Fiction)

MASSACHUSETTS

• Bay Path University (MFA) - online

  • Shahnaz Habib (CNF)

  • Susan Ito (CNF)

• Boston University (MFA)

  • Ha Jin (Fiction)

  • Sigrid Nunez (Fiction)

• Emerson College (MFA)

  • Jabari Asim (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

  • Kimberly McLarin (CNF, Fiction)

  • Jerald Walker (CNF)

  • Mako Yoshikawa (Fiction)

• Lesley University (MFA) - low residency

  • Rafael Campo (Poetry)

  • Adrian Matejka (Poetry)

  • Kyoko Mori (CNF, Fiction, Poetry)

  • A.J. Verdelle (Fiction)

• Pine Manor College / Solstice (MFA) - low residency

  • Kathleen Aguero (Poetry)

  • Venise Berry (Fiction)

  • Nicole Terez Dutton (Poetry)

  • Randall Horton (CNF)

  • Robert Lopez (Fiction)

  • Iain Haley Pollock (Poetry)

  • Renée Watson (Fiction)

  • David Yoo (CNF, Fiction)

  • Writers-in-residence:

    • Terrance Hayes (Poetry)

    • Randall Kenan (CNF, Fiction)

    • Helen Elaine Lee (Fiction)

    • Grace Lin (Fiction)

• University of Massachusetts - Amherst (MFA)

  • Ocean Vuong (Poetry)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • Tony Tulathimutte (Fiction)

    • Lynn Xu (Poetry)

MICHIGAN

• Northern Michigan University (MFA)

  • Patricia Killelea (Poetry)

• University of Michigan / Helen Zell Writers' Program (MFA)

  • Peter Ho Davies (Fiction)

  • Tung-hui Hu (Poetry)

  • Khaled Mattawa (Poetry)

  • Visiting faculty:

    • Tarfia Faizullah (Poetry)

MINNESOTA

• Augsburg College (MFA) - low residency

  • Heid E. Erdrich (Poetry)

• Hamline University (MFA) - residency / low residency

  • Swathi Avasthi (Fiction)

  • Coe Booth (Fiction)

  • Matt de la Pena (Fiction)

  • Sherri L. Smith (Fiction)

  • Gene Luen Yang (Fiction)

  • Note: All POC faculty teach YA/Children's fiction as part of the low residency program.

• University of Minnesota (MFA)

  • V.V. Ganeshananthan (CNF, Fiction)

  • Ray Gonzalez (Poetry)

MISSISSIPPI

• University of Mississippi (MFA)

  • Derrick A. Harriell (Poetry)

  • Kiese Laymon (CNF, Fiction)

  • Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Poetry)

MISSOURI

• Southeast Missouri State University (MA)

  • Jenny Yang Crop (Poetry)

• University of Missouri (MA, PhD)

  • Joseph Aguilar (Fiction)

  • Anand Prahlad (Poetry)

• Washington University in St. Louis (MFA)

  • francine j. harris (Poetry)

  • Carl Phillips (Poetry)

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Neil Aitken is the author of two books of poetry, Babbage's Dream (Sundress 2017) and The Lost Country of Sight (Anhinga 2008), winner of the Philip Levine Prize. A former computer programmer and a Kundiman poetry alumnus, he holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside and a Ph.D. in Literature & Creative Writing from USC. He is the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review, the administrator of Have Book Will Travel, and a board member of Poetry East West. (www.neil-aitken.com | neil.aitken@gmail.com | @neil_aitken)