Internships
Students have the opportunity to pursue internships either for elective credit, a stipend or as an extracurricular activity. Internships are available in teaching, publishing, arts administration, teaching writing, or service learning. Off-campus internships at publishing houses, with literary agents, or community engagement internships are also encouraged.
Teaching Internships
The Teaching Internship allows students to observe the conduct of a college course and to share the pedagogical activity of the supervising instructor. The student serves as co-teacher with a mentor teacher from the English Department and assists with an undergraduate course in composition, creative writing or literature. The student attends each course session and shares responsibility for instructing the class and responding to students' written work. Teaching internships are only available to second-year students.
Learning Outcomes for Teaching Internships:
- Interns will observe the conduct of a college course by attending each class session;
- Interns will learn the rudiments of course planning, the writing of paper topics and examinations, grading, and classroom instruction.
Publishing Internships
MARY
Students can learn about small press internet publishing through internships with MARY, the Program's in-house web publication. Student interns assist with various elements of administration, editing, layout, publicity, and advertising.
Wave Books Editorial Internship
Students will work with Wave Books Senior Editor and St. Mary's MFA Core Faculty Matthew Zapruder on specific editorial projects related to books, as well as other editorial and curatorial activities. Depending on what the editors are working on during the time of the internship, students may assist in various ways with current, special or future publishing projects. Wave Books publishes 8-10 books per year, mostly poetry but also books of translation or prose by poets, specializing in the work of mid-career authors. Internships begin Spring 2014.
Caught in the Carousel
Students edit and produce content, manage social media, and outreach with PR firms and record companies at
Caught in the Carousel (CITC), an online monthly music magazine that boasts a global staff of over 40 writers who are located from California to Cyprus. Over the years they've had everyone from novelist Rick Moody to the musician Devendra Banhat contribute to the site and every year their essays are nominated for the Best American Music Writing series. Their contributors have drawn heavily from the MFA Creative Writing Program (from the class of 1997 to the current one) and they're very proud of their close ties with SMC.
Community Engagement and Service Learning
Lafayette Senior Services
Interns will facilitate a creative writing workshop at Lafayette Senior Services. The class focuses on documenting a life story through writing prompts and exercises and discussion of manuscripts. Seniors are invited to attend Saint Mary’s Afternoon Craft Conversations, normally open only to MFA Candidates. An interest in working with the senior population and memoir is strongly suggested. The internship will culminate with a anthology of work and a reading from the seniors at Lafayette Senior Center.
River of Words
River of Words is a linked network of people throughout the United States and the world who are committed to teaching the art and poetry of place to young people. Founded by activist Pamela Michael and then-US Poet Laureate, River of Words promotes environmental literacy through the arts and cultural exchange. ROW reaches thousands of educators and young people around the world through its annual art and poetry contest. Interns work to coordinate the annual youth art and poetry contests, as well as the ceremonies that invite young people to understand their watershed. Interns will also work to publish the River of Words annual anthology.
Special Olympics, Northern California & Nevada
An MFA Candidate works with the General Counsel for our local Special Olympics Program. The internship is geared toward grant writing for the Special Olympics, and the student works under General Counsel’s mentorship to learn the art of drafting grant proposals and corporate and family foundation submissions. This provides an MFA Candidate with the experience of working in the nonprofit sector, while supporting the special needs community.
