Applicants can apply for the Teaching Fellowship when they apply for admission to the MFA Program. The Teaching Fellowship is a selective appointment with one fellow selected from each genre: Creative Nonfiction, Fiction and Poetry. 

Teaching Fellows spend the fall semester of their first year as interns in an undergraduate composition course.  They are mentored by an experienced compostion professor. After successful completion of the internship, each fellow is then able to teach his or her own composition course as a Lecturer in the fall semester of their second year. The Fellowship pays a stipend of $3000 in the first year and approximately $5000 in the second year, but it does not include a tuition waiver. Teaching Fellows are eligible for scholarships.

Applicants with relevant experience - including high school teaching or ESL instruction - are encouraged to apply.  For information on applying, please contact Coordinator of Admissions and Student Services, Candace Eros Diaz at cd8@stmarys-ca.edu or 925.631.4762

Hear from our MFA Teaching Fellows:

"Teaching at St. Mary's has helped me gain valuable experience working with an energetic group of students who are committed to learning (even when class starts at 8 AM!).  While I have taught at both the high school and college levels, I've picked up some great ideas and classroom methods from my mentor teacher along with the other Composition faculty members here!"--Maria Judnick (Creative Nonfiction, MFA '13)

"I was eager to teach, but there were so many things I didn't know about how a class really operated. My teaching fellowship gave me the opportunity to be mentored by a professor before I took the leap. Heading into my very first class, I knew I had learned the skills required to truly serve my students."--Mary Paynter Sherwin (Poetry, MFA '13)