On November 16, a petition was started to “save the UWYO MFA in Creative Writing” from being eliminated in the next fiscal year. As of December 3, 1,681 people have signed the petition which can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/university-of-wyoming-save-the-uwyo-mfa-in-creative-writing?use_react=false.
One of those signers is graduate student Nicole Foss, “I graduated in the spring with my undergrad in English with minors in Honors and Creative Writing.”
According to Foss, the MFA program in Creative Writing is essential at UW. Since it is the only four year college in the state and is the only institution capable of giving students this program in Wyoming, UW needs to work to provide it.
“If we want the Wyoming experience to be recorded for prosperity, or accessible to those who have never lived here or visited, then we need creative writers,” Foss said. “Writers record the atoms as they fall, which is especially important in a time of such historic significance with a pandemic and budget cuts and a shift in our state’s economy.”
Foss is not the first in her family to go to UW. Her grandfather was born and raised in Mountain View, later attending the university for a degree in mechanical engineering.
Foss said, “Years ago he moved to Colorado to be close to us while we grew up, but to this day, he will watch any show or read any book that is written by a Wyoming writer.”
“The residents of Wyoming want a vibrant community of artists in order to represent their great state to the country and the world. If we intend to be a respectable institution that really looks out for its constituents, then we must value the arts.”
According to Foss, the MFA in Creative Writing is the best way to ensure Wyoming artists and writers are able to share the state’s and residents stories through writing.
“It is how we will tell our stories to the world, and if we take it away, then we will always be the state that is forgotten.”
