Arcadia University’s new Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is the only low-residency program in the Philadelphia area with both a dynamic online community and residencies abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Umbria, Italy, announced Dr. Steve O. Michael, Provost and Academic Vice President.

Two courses being offered this summer can be applied toward the M.F.A. program. A Summer Fiction Writer’s Residency in Umbria, Italy, on July 7-19 serves as the short-term residency abroad. A Creative Writing Workshop July 8-10 also can be applied to the M.F.A. program.

In the M.F.A. program, students choose the genres they wish to pursue—fiction or poetry. The program is designed to prepare students for careers in writing and teaching the craft at the college level.

“Arcadia University’s low-residency M.F.A. in Creative Writing program uses technology to build a dynamic online writing community for each cohort,” says Joshua Isard, Adjunct Professor of English and Coordinator of the program. “This is a low-residency program, which means students take between six and nine credits each term and are able to manage their own schedules with a full-time professional life outside school. Yet throughout the program, we provide personal attention in small workshops and guide each student in the preparation of a book-length manuscript and a publication plan.”

The program includes three one-week residencies with other cohort members. Two are held at Arcadia University, and in the second year of study, a residency is conducted in Edinburgh, Scotland, or another location such as Umbria, Italy.

Applications are being accepted now, with the first cohort entering in Fall 2011.