NEW DEGREE PROGRAMS IN WRITING AND PSYCHOLOGY

The family of Seattle Pacific graduate programs just got larger. SPU is celebrating the arrival of three new graduate programs — master’s degrees in creative writing and organizational psychology, and a doctorate in organizational psychology.

MFA – Creative Writing
The low-residency master of fine arts (MFA) at SPU is a creative writing program for apprentice writers who not only want to pursue excellence in the craft of writing but also place their work within the larger context of the Judeo-Christian tradition of faith. This program seeks to extend the tradition of Christian writing in which the highest levels of art, an open-eyed exploration of human experience, and a respect for transcendent mystery are all held in a proper balance.

Program director Greg Wolfe, who is also the editor of Image journal, offers a list of “model writers” whose work sets a high standard for students seeking to excel. The list includes Augustine and Dante, the Pearl poet and Sor Juana de la Cruz, George Herbert and John Milton, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Fyodor Dostoevsky, T.S. Eliot and Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy and Annie Dillard.

Wolfe believes that the program will appeal to writers who care deeply about matters of faith. The program is also intended to help students cultivate reading and writing as spiritual disciplines.

For more information, visit the new MFA Web site.

School of Psychology Programs in Organizational Psychology
The increasing diversity and rapid pace of today’s workplace has made organizational psychology one of the fastest growing and most relevant areas of expertise. In response to this demand, Seattle Pacific has developed master’s and doctoral programs in organizational psychology. Graduates with this training will develop the competence and background to assess and improve organizations at a variety of levels and through a combination of techniques.

Master of Organizational Psychology: The master of arts degree in organizational psychology provides a theoretical foundation for addressing a broad range of behavioral issues in the workplace. It develops professionals within human resources, organizational development and training fields, and it provides organizational leaders with a graduate education that relates directly to their practice as leaders.

The degree consists of 65 credits to be taken over a two-year/seven-quarter sequence. It is designed for the working professional who can devote late afternoons/evenings to taking program coursework.

Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Psychology: The doctor of philosophy degree in organizational psychology provides graduates with the training to occupy the same positions as master’s graduates. The distinctiveness of the doctoral program is in its additional emphasis on theory, methodology and research. It prepares graduates to take on higher level academic, consulting and leadership positions.

The doctoral degree is a 168-unit program and is designed to be taken over four years/16 quarters, with an integrated research and dissertation sequence.

For more information, visit the new Organizational Psychology Web site at www.spu.edu/depts/pfc/.