As part of the English Department at ODU, the MFA Program began in 1994 with twelve students and three creative writing instructors. It continues to grow with vigor: today, a range of 25-35 students work with the program's talented 7-member creative writing faculty in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. In addition to taking workshops and craft courses with the MFA faculty, our students take courses with dynamic faculty who have expertise in American, British, and world literature, as well as literary theory, film studies, and rhetoric. In our 54-hour program, students graduate not only as writers but also as individuals competent in literary studies. Our students accomplish a great deal, even while they are in the program: publishing fiction and nonfiction books with major publishers, stories and poems in national literary magazines and journals, articles and reviews in major newspapers, prestigious citations, awards, and grants.