Guidelines and Expectations

Independent Study
Participation in a low residency MFA program requires a number of skills and commitments to fulfill the criteria for graduate study. Students must be prepared to balance the rigors of independent study with the demands of their personal and professional lives. Student spends twenty four hours a week on both their reading and writing assignments during the correspondence semester.

Residency Requirements
During each residency students are expected to uphold the following curricular and social standards:

•  To attend assigned workshops, as well as all scheduled lectures, readings and meetings by faculty and staff. It is particularly important that students plan their travel itinerary in order to be present for both the orientation and final colloquium.

•  To keep a detailed journal (ten pages) that focuses on five events (classes, workshops, readings, craft lectures) of the student's choice.

•  To be respectful of others, both in and out of the classroom, and to work diligentlytoward creating a constructive and collegial atmosphere.

•  To devise comprehensive study plans for the correspondence semester that focus on readings, topics for critical papers, and specific craft issues.

•  To turn in an evaluation of each residency, along with the residency journal, three weeks after the residency ends.

Correspondence Semester Requirements

1. Semester Packets: Each correspondence semester includes 4 packets altogether. Correspondence packets are due approximately every four weeks. Please plan carefully in order to meet the semester calendar deadlines. The date designated on the calendar is the due date, not the postal date. All communications about one's inability to meet this schedule should be addressed directly to the MFA office. All packets are to be mailed in hardcopy to faculty. These packets should contain the following:

•  A carefully drafted cover letter to his or her faculty mentor that addresses key aesthetic and craft issues pertaining to each packet in the context of the semester's comprehensive study plan

•  3-5 new and revised poems (2 copies each)

•  Two critical essays (2-3 pages) on readings established in the comprehensive study plan during the residency period (2 copies each)

2. Evaluations: Evaluations are due at mid-term and at the end of each correspondence. Mid-term evaluations are entirely confidential (for the co-directors of the program only). Final evaluations are shared with faculty and students at the end of each semester and placed in students' files.

3. Recitations: Students are required to memorize four poems during each correspondence semester. These are recited at designated times during the residency.

4. Reading Journal: Each semester, students keep a reading journal in which they respond to poems or lines of poems from each book of poetry they read. These responses may be either critical or personal or both. Each response should be more than just an initial reaction to the text, but a thoughtful expression that contains a succinct idea. Although students will not be required to turn these in for formal evaluation, they should bring them to the residencies as proof of completion.

5. Final Packets: At the end of each correspondence semester, students send copies of all eight revised critical papers, a sample of poems (8 to10 in all), and the final evaluation to the MFA office.

6. Boundaries: Students should respect faculty boundaries by limiting correspondence to the actual packets themselves. All other questions should be addressed directly to the MFA office.

Third Semester Requirements
Third semester students should come prepared to the third residency with a thesis topic for their 20 page critical papers. No other critical papers are required during the third semester. The third semester thesis should concentrate on a craft or aesthetic topic that allows for extensive, original development of an idea. This paper is not as much a research paper as an essay that reflects the student's ability to establish an engaging, original discourse on his or her subject. Each packet should contain four to five pages of writing or revision of the essay. Students are also required during the third correspondence semester to continue writing four to five new poems for each packet.

During their third or fourth semester residency, students may choose to teach a class during the January residency J-term for New England College undergraduates coordinated by the Department of English. This option is voluntary and may vary according to enrollment each January. In the past, some students have elected to team teach introductory writing workshops or lectures suitable for beginning poetry students.

Fourth Semester Requirements
During their final correspondence semester students concentrate on their manuscripts with their faculty mentors. This manuscript should contain 40 pages of revised and completed poems when complete. Students should not necessarily view their manuscripts as finished books, but as a record of revised poems written during the students' tenure in the MFA program. During the fourth correspondence semester, seniors write one instead of two critical papers.

Fifth Residency
During this final residency, seniors take part in two of their own workshops, two workshops led by the senior poet in residence (Gerald Stern), and two regular workshops. Fifth residency students also participate in a “senior reading” that is separate from the student reading. The schedule accommodates one tutorial with a second faculty manuscript reader. Seniors are welcome to attend all events including readings and lectures.

Academic Policies

Grades
Grades assigned for the residency and correspondence semesters are pass/fail. These are mailed out to students from the registrar's office at some point early in the correspondence semester.

Standards of Academic Performance
The critical papers and poems presented in the packets should reflect the required time commitment (24 hours a week) of independent study, as well as a thoughtful approach to the assigned readings. If the faculty mentor or MFA program directors determine that the written material presented in a particular packet does not meet this standard, a student may be placed on academic probation.

Academic Probation
At the recommendation of the faculty mentor and MFA Program directors, students are placed on academic probation in a written letter from the MFA office when their packets fail to meet the standards for academic performance. Upon being placed on academic probation, students have 4 weeks to complete or revise their work from a previous packet while fulfilling the requirements of their next packet. One academic probation period is allowed per academic year. The letter of academic probation is placed in the student's folder. A letter from the MFA office announcing the end of the academic probation period will also be placed in the student's folder.

Other grounds for academic probation may be inadequate attendance of classes during the residency program, inappropriate behavior, or failure to complete any assignment such as the residency journal. Resolution for these grounds of academic probation will be determined on an individual basis by the MFA program director.

Academic Termination
Academic termination occurs whenever the resolution determined to rectify the academic probation period is not met or for reasons outlined by New England College as grounds for dismissal.

Leave of Absence
Students may take a leave of absence only in the case of a medical or personal emergency. Students may take up to one leave of absence during their five semesters in the MFA program in Poetry at New England College , including maternity leave. In the event the leave of absence occurs during the correspondence semester following a particular residency period for which credits were earned, students will be required to attend an extra residency program prior to their make-up correspondence semester. Financial refunds will be made according to standard New England College guidelines for withdrawal from courses.

Grievance
In the event that a student is unhappy with their assigned faculty mentor upon assignment of that particular faculty mentor during the residency period, please contact the MFA program directors immediately to discuss the situation. During the actual correspondence semester, students will have an opportunity to express how things are going for them in the confidential mid-term evaluations. In the rare event that irreconcilable differences occurs between a faculty mentor and his or her student, a new faculty mentor will be assigned to the student by MFA program director.

Changes in Tuition Fees
New England College reserves the right to change its tuition and fees at any time. Students will continue to pay the rate of tuition established during their incoming residency at the time of registration.

Residential Life

Attending a Residency
Generally students fly into the Manchester , NH Airport. Car service or cabs are available to transport students at all hours directly to the Simon Center ( 24 Bridge Street , Henniker) which is open 24 hours. Driving directions to the campus can be located on the NEC website at http://www.nec.edu/visitors/directions.html . Campus maps will be included in the orientation packets. All dorm rooms are equipped with phone jacks. Students should plan on bringing their own phones. Internet access in the dorm rooms is available for those with an ethernet card and cable. All others can access their email in the Danforth Library. The Simon Center , or the Science Center computer terminals.

Housing
The New England College campus offers many amenities and a hospitable environment in which to hold the residencies in the MFA program in poetry. Prior to the fall and spring semesters, students attend an 11 day residential program on campus beginning the first week of January and last week in June. Every effort is made to ensure that students in the MFA program are assigned a single occupancy room. However, there may be times when students will need to share a variety of facilities, especially during the January residency when most available housing is already taken by NEC undergraduates.

Drug, Alcohol, and Smoking Policies
Students in the MFA Program are expected to follow all college policies regarding the use of alcohol and illegal substances (drugs) while on campus and the general rules governing residential life on campus. Please refer to the NEC student handbook, The Compass under the "Student Life" menu found at www.nec.edu to become fully acquainted with these regulations. It is every student's obligation to be informed about these regulations prior to attending the program. Please pay special attention to the chapter, "College Policy Specific to Residence Halls." Please do not bring any illegal substances with you during your stay on campus as this activity seriously compromises the program. While moderate use of alcohol is permitted in student rooms, it is not permitted in any public places on campus or outside on campus grounds. Please follow these regulations which will be posted in the residence hall for a 'reminder' of the college's policies. Cigarette smoking is not permitted in the residency halls but only outside in designated areas. Infractions of these policies may result in disciplinary actions which are also listed in the Compass Handbook. If you feel that a particular student or group of students is behaving inappropriately, please notify one or both of the directors of the program so that we can address the problem.

Health Services and Student ID's
The health questionnaire must be filled out and filed with the MFA office in your folder. A picture ID is required for all incoming program students and may be taken either during the designated time during orientation or by appointment. Returning student IDs are reactivated for each residency Since the residencies take place during times when the New England College campus is normally closed for the undergraduate student population; Student Health Services are closed. For a medical emergency, please contact campus security immediately to arrange transportation to the nearest medical facility. For non-emergency medical treatment, please contact the directors for assistance. Each orientation packet will contain a list of local medical facilities and healthcare providers.

Safety
Because students often discuss and write about their most intimate thoughts, feelings and ideas during both the residency and non-residency terms, it is essential that faculty and students work together to create as safe and non threatening environment as possible in the program. This practical dialectic, in which students feel emotionally and physically safe to express their most personal and creative expressions, must work as the operating principle-in both spirit and letter-of any successful MFA program. We ask, therefore, that all members of the NEC MFA community treat each other with mutual respect, refrain from writing about each other in workshop poems, and to work diligently at sustaining a supportive ethos during the residency and correspondence semesters.

Sexual Behavior during the Residencies
While it is not our intention to police the sexual behavior of consenting adults in the program, we specifically ask that faculty and students refrain from becoming romantically involved, as such relationships invariably establish internecine struggles and inequities that compromise the general integrity and efficacy of the program.

Technical Requirements
Although correspondence packets are submitted in hard copy, it is expected that all students and faculty in the program will have internet access and functioning email addresses to receive administrative communications from the MFA office. All work submitted must be typed. All students and faculty may receive an NEC address. Students may also access the interactive Blackboard in order to obtain course documents.

Blackboard
New students and faculty are issued a user name and password to log onto Blackboard. The Blackboard icon is located at the bottom of the NEC home page. Under the menu item, "Course Documents" students and faculty will have access to a variety of important documents, in fact, ALL program documents can be downloaded onto your hard drive. If you have difficulty with the system or need help learning how to access it for the first time, please email technical support, at jgens@nec.edu. There is also an active discussion board under the menu item "Communication" for students to post their own announcements or discuss program issues.

Samples of Work
The following items are provided as samples to indicate the standards expected of work submitted: These samples are provided during your first residency or from the MFA office at your request.

-Study Plan

-Packet containing poems and critical papers

-Student/Faculty Packet Letters

-Faculty Response Letter to Packet

Last updated April 17th , 2004