Michigan Acceptees

[Wicked_Problem]

The Associated Press reports that the $50-million gift to the University of Michigan's MFA in creative writing "is believed to be by far the largest ever gift to such a program." Helen Zell is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned her bachelor's in English; her donation, however, will support creative writing, specifically, and at the graduate level.

"What I've watched happen with the introduction of the Internet and media and blogging, I almost feel like this part of our education is under siege," Helen Zell told the AP. "The ability of fiction to develop creativity, to analyze the human psyche, help you understand people — its critical. It's as important as vitamins or anything else. To me, it's the core of the intellectual health of human beings."

Michigan offers its graduate creative writing students a "Zellowship," a post-graduate year of financial support (currently $22,000) to focus on writing without the burden of further class study or teaching. The $50-million gift is intended to underwrite that program in perpetuity.

Cross-posted in Literature, Rhetoric, and Composition.

[heliogabalus]

Yet Texas still funds better.

[TonyB79]

The Michener program funds at $27/yr for 3 years. Michigan funds at $22k for 2 years, then gives every graduate a third-year fellowship of the same amount.