Residency Information

"My mentor has infused my passion for writing. I have come to know the characters in my stories. She is the voice that guides me. I hear her asking 'What is your story?' and I tell it."

• Dates 2009-2013
• Fees
• Residency Schedule, January 2009
• Student Comments
• Residency Photos

The residency includes workshops, seminars, lectures, and readings, providing a forum for collaboration and for constructive critique of students' work.

During each residency, students will be matched with faculty mentors who will help students create individualized semester study plans that incorporate the elements of student-designed projects and academically rigorous reading lists.

After each residency, students work on their own, under the guidance of faculty mentors. Academic credits will be awarded upon the faculty mentor's determination of the satisfactory fulfillment of the student's semester study plan. Following the fourth semester, graduating students will spend three days at a final residency to conclude the program.

Dates 2010-2013

2010:

• Winter Residency: January 8 - January 16, 2010
• Summer Residency: June 25 - July 3, 2010

2011:

• Winter Residency: January 7 - January 15, 2011
• Summer Residency: June 24 - July 2, 2011

2012:

• Winter Residency: January 6 - January 14, 2012
• Summer Residency: June 22 - June 30, 2012

2013:

• Winter Residency: January 4 - January 12, 2013
• Summer Residency: June 21 - June 29, 2013

Fees

Housing: Lesley University offers on-campus (dorm) housing for the summer residency only. For the January residency, the MFA Program provides contact information for local hotels and Bed and Breakfasts, arranging the best single- and double-occupancy off-season rates it can find.

June 2009 Residency Schedule

To download a draft of the June 2009 residency schedule in pdf format, please click here. This will give you an idea of how our residencies work.

Student Comments About the Residencies:

"My faculty mentor, Hester Kaplan, was very accessible and flexible, and very invested in helping me when we met. She offered to stay longer than she'd planned in case we wanted to meet her again, and she was always available for impromptu conferencing during meals and free time."

"I took Brian Bouldrey's punctuation seminar. He is a riot and can make anything seem fun and sassy and interesting-even punctuation!"

"Steven Cramer was very helpful as an introduction to the program and his other sessions were extremely instructive about how to read closely and analyze a poet's work. His analysis and handouts on Keats' Autumn gave us all a GREAT example of the layers of a poem and how all these aspects work together."

"Leslea Newman was a fantastic guest and her workshop was masterful. She had more than enough handouts and resources, and her presentation was both a pleasure and a great example of what we can do later in our careers."

"The Sylvester seminar was simply fantastic. She was clear, enthusiastic and inspiring. She really deepened my understanding of the various types of metaphor."

"Both Susan Goodman's seminar on nonfiction and David Elliot's seminar on picture books were excellent. David Elliot in particular made me think about the different uses of picture books as cultural markers."