 Fairfield's MFA has six concentrations, poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, script writing, as well as two new concentrations, publishing and editing and spiritual writing. Having all of our classes, having the dorms and facilities on Anders Island off Mystic Connecticut allows us to feel that we're part of a single, united community. The setting where this program occurs is pretty extraordinary. I mean, just as a place to go twice a year and look at it, Long Island sound in the winter and the summer, it's pretty special. In the summer we often meet outside. It's a lot different from sitting in a cinder block classroom somewhere. Most of my best teaching has been in this setting. And a lot of the reason why is the closeness of the community fosters a different kind of teacher-student relationship than I've ever had. There's a real close friendship as well that develops between student and teacher. I was looking to develop myself as an artist. I wanted to make sure that I had the proper growth in an area that had always been a hobbyist. What you learn in the residencies then gives you a great deal of insight into the kind of instructor you want to work with. And you have access to an amazing array of professional writers who can really meet your needs on an individual basis. People who teach here are pros. They have been writing typically for a while and even our younger faculty have done a couple books. Everybody who teaches here has a sense, I think, of teaching and writing both as important vocations. They're not just writers, they're teachers too because you're a writer doesn't mean necessarily you're a good teacher. One of the things that has really advanced my own art is the conversations that I have with my colleagues. The other faculty members and reading their work has been a tremendous joy. One of the things that we do in the program is to emphasize not only the theory of publishing and writing, but also the ability for students to get published. In the past year alone, ten of our students have gotten their books published as well as hundreds of essays, articles, and poetry. In my thesis semester, I worked tirelessly with my mentor. Putting the book together was quite an effort and that was something that I did as part of the program. We provided the opportunity for those students who wanted to go into college teaching to give them a chance to actually teach college composition classes. I taught in theater. I had taught at the high school level. I've worked with special needs populations. I'd never really had the opportunity to take my passion for writing and teach that at the college level. This program offering the postgraduate pedagogy option has really been a huge boost for me. I started the program because I felt as a writer, the best way to train writers is to do one-on-one mentor-driven training, which is what our MFA program does. Students spend five months working with a particular mentor working on poetry or fiction or memoir writing. That one-on-one training is very similar to the kind of training that a writer would get with a publisher or an editor or an agent. The program is so valuable because of how it gears you up for what's to come beyond. And it teaches you how to be a writer and how to make a writing life for yourself.