Erika Dreifus

Teaching this post about NON-academic jobs by @erikadreifus in my grad class this week: http://t.co/OZtmu14Aow We have to show the options.

— Cathy Day (@daycathy) April 5, 2014

I can’t speak for Cathy, but I suspect that her interest in my post from last November (on which she commented at the time) may have been revived by some recent posts and discussions within a Facebook group on Creative Writing Pedagogy. These have included comments on Elizabeth Segran’s articles “What Can You Do with a Humanities PhD, Anyway?” and “The Dangers of Victimizing PhDs” (both of which, I argue, apply to some extent to the terminal MFA degree as well). Also noteworthy within the group lately: Stephanie Vanderslice’s link to a review that praises a book I’m reading right now: Now What: The Creative Writer’s Guide to Life After the MFA and Cathy’s own sharing of a survey on “Creative Writing Programs and the Business of Writing,” which includes questions about job preparation.

In any case, as I’ve told Cathy on Twitter, I’m eager to hear how this week’s class goes. In part, that’s because the weeks are ticking down to the session I’ll be moderating at The Muse & The Marketplace on “After the MFA: Constructing and Leading a Writing Life,” and I know that employment options will be part of that discussion. And in part, it’s because every single day I wake up to a reality in which I have both a PhD and an MFA and am NOT leading the faculty life that I anticipated.

Meantime, I’ve dug up this article on nonteaching jobs on college and university campuses to share with Cathy’s students, with my session’s participants, and with anyone else who may be interested. (more…)