creative writing san francisco state university

Make this the year you finally write! Dust off that manuscript that has been sitting in a drawer, get a fresh new notebook, turn on some music, find yourself a little inspiration and begin. 

Joining the San Francisco Creative Writing Institute means more than just taking a class — it’s your invitation to our vibrant community of students and alumni who continue an open exchange of ideas. Join us and join our community.

Our Upcoming Workshops

Intro to fiction, the poetry workshop, drop-in writing workshop, creative writing summer camp, art of the chapbook, who we are....

We’re an independent creative writing institute based out of San Francisco. Founded in 2015, we offer writing workshops in several genres to writers of all experience levels from all walks of life. We encourage people to share their work and connect with peers and mentors. Our instructors are published working writers, professors, editors and master teachers.

Our Teachers

Nick Mamatas

Award-winning Author of 100 short stories, 10 novels, dozens of essays and articles & an editor from Viz Media.

Alexandra Kostoulas

Founder & Director of San Francisco Creative Writing Institute

Tongo Eisen-Martin

Winner Of The American Book Award, California Book Award. Poet-in-Residence At Cambridge University

Our Instructors have taught at these Universities

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Professional Writing & Rhetoric

Professional writers are in demand to link ideas, technologies and products with people who need to understand those developments or to use them. San Francisco State’s Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) program can prepare you for that critical communications role through our major, minor and certificate programs.

Professional writers work in almost every field of industry and public life, including high-technology industries, business, government, research and nonprofit organizations. The work that PWR graduates go on to do might involve technical writing and documentation, editing, graphic and document design, training, research, information management, promotional writing, grant writing or other forms of proposal- and report-writing.

After completing the PWR program, you can begin your writing career with important advantages: an academic degree or certificate in the field, improved and focused skills, an understanding of professional expectations for writers, and a portfolio of relevant writing samples.

PWR was TPW

Note: Starting Fall 2019, the Technical and Professional Writing (TPW) program was replaced by the Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) program. With a few exceptions, students who declared TPW as their major prior to Fall 2019 are not affected by this change and can continue as TPW majors. Please contact PWR coordinator Neil Lindeman with any questions.

Program Contacts

Neil Lindeman , PWR Coordinator Email:  [email protected] Phone: (415) 405-0493 Office: HUM 423

Please get in touch anytime you have questions about your course of study and career planning. In addition, if you can, please arrange for an advising session during the semester you enter the program. At this session, we will set up an advising worksheet for your file, review program requirements, discuss your career interests, and identify a tentative course schedule for you.

- For PWR students with last names A-L, contact Bridget Gelms at  [email protected] - For PWR students with last names M-Z, contact Neil Lindeman at  [email protected]

• Requirements
• PWR Resources
• PWR Scholarships

Requirements for an English Degree with Professional Writing & Rhetoric Concentration

• ENG 218 - Writing the First Year: The World, the Text, and You (3 units)
• ENG 250 - Topics in Literature and Culture  (3 units)
• ENG 402 - Introduction to Professional Writing and Rhetoric  (3 units)
• ENG 420 - Introduction to the Study of Language  (3 units)
• ENG 461 - Literature in English Since 1800  (3 units)
• ENG 480GW - Junior Seminar - GWAR  (3 units)
• ENG 583 - Shakespeare: Representative Plays  (3 units)
• ENG 640 - Global Texts and Practices  (3 units)
• ENG 540 - Professional Editing (3 units)
• ENG 545 - Visual Rhetoric and Document Design (3 units)
• ENG 618 - Individual and Team Writing (3 units)
• ENG 200 - Writing Practices in Professional Contexts (3 units)
• ENG 470 - Writing Professional Promotions (3 units)
• ENG 471 - Writing Technical Documentation (3 units)
• ENG 490 - Grant Writing (3 units)
• ENG 585 - Professional Writing for Digital Audiences (3 units)
• Other courses with the approval of an advisor. 
• ENG 695 - Internship in Professional Writing and Rhetoric (3 units)

Review the current Bulletin for further information. 

Campus Resources

• Computer skills and tools training
• SF State Career Center

Professional Organizations

• American Institute of Graphic Arts
• American Medical Writers Association (Northern California chapter)
• American Society for Training and Development
• American Society of Indexers
• Association of Fundraising Professionals (Golden Gate chapter)
• Bay Area Editor’s Forum
• Board of Editors in the Life Sciences
• Council of Science Editors
• Development Executives Roundtable
• Grant Professionals Association
• International Association of Information Technology Trainers (Itrain)
• International Council for Technical Communication
• Northern California Science Writers Association
• Public Relations Society of America
• San Francisco Bay chapter
• Silicon Valley chapter
• The International Association of Business Communication (IABC)
• The National Writers’ Union (NWU)
• User Experience Professionals Association
• Write the Docs
• Young Nonprofit Professionals Network

Regional Scholarship

The Gordon Memorial Scholarship is sponsored by the Northern California chapters of the Society for Technical Communication. Please see below for more information and for the application. The deadline to apply is July 31, 2023.

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San Francisco State University

California, united states.

The Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University was established in l968; before that, writing courses were taught in the English Department. In 1991, the M.F.A. degree was added in response to an increasing, nation-wide demand for a terminal degree in the field.

We offer three degree programs: B.A. in Creative Writing, M.A. in Creative Writing, and M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Our curriculum reflects our commitment to a variety of styles, subjects, and approaches, recognizing the complexity and breadth of contemporary writing. Graduates of our Creative Writing Program, Graduate and Undergraduate (creative nonfiction, fiction, playwriting, poetry and starting in 2016, literary translation), are instructed in literary analysis and develop their craft to constructively critique their own work and that of others.

The Creative Writing Department offers several awards in short fiction, the novel, playwriting, and poetry. Students publish two literary magazines, Transfer and Fourteen Hills: The SFSU Review. Each year four to six current graduate students are given part-time teaching positions.

Contact Information

1600 Holloway Avenue Creative Writing Department San Francisco California, United States 94132-4162 Phone: 415-338-1891 Email: [email protected] http://creativewriting.sfsu.edu

Michelle Carter

Publications include Hillary And Soon-Yi Shop For Ties (Dramatic Publishing), Ted Kaczynski Killed People With Bombs (Dramatic Publishing). Awards include PEN USA Literary Award in Drama (2012, 2003); Susan Glaspell Award (2010); NEA Grant in Literature; Sloan Foundation Grant; Gulf & Western Foundation Grant; residency, Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

http://creativewriting.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/michelle-carter

Nona Caspers

San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grant (2011), Glimmer Train Fiction Award (2010), National Endowment for the Arts Grant (2008). Publications include Little Book of Days (2009) , Heavier than Air: Stories (University of Massachusettes Press 2006) winner of the Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction.

http://www.nonacaspers.com

Maxine Chernoff

Recipient of National Endowment for the Arts grant (2013). Recent books of poetry are Without , To Be Read in the Dark, A House in Summer, The Turning (Apogee Press, 2008). With Paul Hoover, she translated The Selected Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin, (Omnidawn Press, 2008), which received the 2009 Pen U.S.A. Translation Award.

http://creativewriting.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/maxine-chernoff

Matthew Clark Davison

Awards include San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grant. Work published in The Atlantic Monthly, Per Contra, The Creosote Journal, Lodestar Quarterly, Mississippi Review, The Pacific Review, Argestes and other journals. Runs the Douglass Street Lab.

http://www.matthewclarkdavison.com/

Donna de la Perriere

The recipient of a 2009 Fund for Poetry award, Donna de la Perrière is the author of Saint Erasure and True Crime. Her work has appeared in Agni, American Letters and Commentary, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Five Fingers Review, New England Review & Bread Loaf Quarterly, New American Writing, Volt, and other journals. De la Perrière curates the Bay Area Poetry Marathon reading series every summer at The Lab, a gallery and performance space located in San Francisco's Mission district.

http://donnadelaperriere.net/

Steve Dickison

Director of the American Poetry Archives and SFSU Poetry Center. Author of poetry collection Disposed, co-editor of Prison Culture.

http://www.sfsu.edu/~poetry/staff.html

Anne Galjour

Plays produced include Okra, Bird in the Hand, Hurrican. Awards include Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, the American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award for Emerging Playwright.

http://annegaljour.com/

Paul Hoover

Thirteen poetry collections, including desolation : souvenir, In Idiom and Earth, Sonnet 56, Edge and Fold, Poems in Spanish. Awards include PEN-USA Translation Award, Carl Sandberg Award, NEA Fellowship in Poetry.

http://paulhooverpoetry.blogspot.com/

Andrew Joron

Publications include Force Fields, Science Fiction, Invisible Machines, The Removes, Fathom, The Sound Mirror, Trance Archive: New and Selected Poems, The Cry at Zero: Collected Prose, Collected Poems of Gustaf Sobin, ed., and The Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia, ed.

http://creativewriting.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/andrew-joron

Chanan Tigay

Author of the forthcoming Unholy Scriptures: Fraud, Suicide, Scandal—and the Bible that Rocked the Holy City, and two long works of nonfiction, The Special Populations Unit: Arab Soldiers in Israel’s Army (McSweeney’s) and Nuclear Meltdown, (Rodale Press). His journalism has appeared in publications including Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Jerusalem Post. Awards include UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism’s 2011-2012 Investigative Reporting Fellowship and residency fellowships at Yaddo, the Blue Mountain Center and the Mesa Refuge.

http://creativewriting.sfsu.edu/people/faculty/chanan-tigay

May-lee Chai

https://may-leechai.com/

Caro De Robertis

http://www.carolinaderobertis.com/

Michael David Lukas

http://michaeldavidlukas.com/

Tonya Foster

https://tonyafosterpoet.com

Joseph Cassara

https://www.josephcassara.com

Publications & Presses +

Fourteen Hills

Reading Series +

Poetry Center Reading Series ( http://poetry.sfsu.edu/ )

VelRo Reading Series ( https://www.facebook.com/VelRoReadings )

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San Francisco State University

• Creative Writing

Department of Creative Writing

Location: 1600 holloway avenue humanities building, room 573 san francisco, ca 94132 (see map), hours:  monday through friday, 9am to 5pm, contact:  email:  [email protected]    phone:  (415) 338-1891, webpage:  https://creativewriting.sfsu.edu/, information and student experience.

The Department of Creative writing at SFSU aims to teach students how to fully express themselves and push the boundaries of the writing medium itself.

Personal Experience: Professor Steve Dickison is  a great professor for Creative Writing, especially if poetry is an object of your interest

Important Links

View published work by Creative Writing Alumni:  https://creativewriting.sfsu.edu/alumni-student-publications

Article about acclaimed poet joining SFSU Creative Writing faculty:  "Writing into the unknown: a conversation with Marcus Endowed Chair Tonya M. Foster"

• College of Liberal and Creative Arts
• Fiction Writing

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This degree is approved for distance education by the WSCUC.

Bachelor of Arts in English

Program planners for each option are available on the Department website or in the Department office. Students should consult with Department faculty advisors when choosing a program in English and regularly as they progress towards their degrees.

The Department of English can refer students to one of the coordinating faculty advisors. Regular office hours for all English faculty are posted near the Department office, and information sheets are available detailing which faculty members regularly advise for specific options.

ENGL 100B   , a general education foundation course, is not part of any English option. Some options permit or require courses from other departments; if approved by a faculty advisor, options may also include other courses outside English. Because some courses meet requirements in several options, students can often change options with no significant loss of credit towards the required total; students also regularly double major in two options in English.

In addition to the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in English, English majors must meet the following requirements for University graduation:

• Each lower division course counted towards the English major must be completed with a grade of “C” or better. A course in which a grade lower than a “C” is received must be retaken and successfully completed prior to enrolling in any course for which it is a prerequisite.
• ENGL 380   , required of all English majors, must be completed with a grade of “C” or better. If a grade lower than a “C” is received, ENGL 380    must be retaken and successfully completed with a grade of “C” or better prior to enrolling in any course for which it is a prerequisite.

Option in Creative Writing

(120 units)

The Creative Writing option is designed for students who wish to write as well as study fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction. Exposure to traditional and recent literature is essential for anyone seeking to master the forms and conventions of writing creatively for the literary marketplace.

This option consists of 45 units, 31 of which must be taken in the upper division, including the following:

Lower Division:

Take all of the following (11 units total):.

• ENGL 180 - Appreciation of Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 250A - Survey of English Literature (4 units)
• ENGL 250B - Survey of English Literature (4 units)
• ENGL 270A - Survey of American Literature (4 units)
• ENGL 270B - Survey of American Literature (4 units)

Take one of the following:

• ENGL 204 - Introduction to Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction (3 units)
• ENGL 205 - Introduction to Creative Writing: Fiction (3 units)
• ENGL 206 - Introduction to Creative Writing: Poetry (3 units)

Upper Division:

Take one of the following courses (3 units):.

• ENGL 304 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction (3 units)
• ENGL 305 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Fiction (3 units)
• ENGL 306 - Intermediate Creative Writing: Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 307 - Intermediate Creative Writing: The Novel (3 units)

Take the following:

• ENGL 380 - Approaches to English Studies (4 units)

Take nine units from the following:

• ENGL 404 - Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction (3 units)
• ENGL 405 - Creative Writing: Short Story (3 units)
• ENGL 406 - Creative Writing: Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 407 - Creative Writing: Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 499 - Directed Studies (1-3 units)

Take three of the following classes in recent literature, literary genres, major writers, and literary criticism:

• ENGL 340 - American Indian Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 370 - Chicana/o and Latina/o Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 385 - The Short Story (3 units)
• ENGL 386 - Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 459 - English Literature of the Twentieth Century (1900‑Present) (3 units)
• ENGL 460 - Anglophone Postcolonial Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 466 - Irish Literature in English (3 units)
• ENGL 467A - The English Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 467B - The English Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 469 - Selected Topics - Major English Writers (4 units)
• ENGL 470 - American Ethnic Literatures (3 units)
• ENGL 474 - Twentieth-Century American Literature (3 units)
• ENGL 475 - The American Short Story (3 units)
• ENGL 476A - American Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 476B - American Poetry (3 units)
• ENGL 477A - The American Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 477B - The American Novel (3 units)
• ENGL 478 - American Drama (3 units)
• ENGL 479 - Selected Topics - Major American Writers (4 units)

Take electives to make up a total of 45 units chosen from the classes listed above and/or any upper-division English courses.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing The Write Stuff for Writers

Credit Hours

View Courses

100% online, 8-week courses

Transfer in up to 50% of the degree total

Grow Your Writing Passion into a Career with Liberty’s Online MFA in Creative Writing

Many people write creatively, but few hone their skills to develop their writing craft to its highest form. Even fewer learn the other skills it takes to become a successful writer, such as the steps needed to get a book published and into the hands of readers. Liberty’s 100% online Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing can help you develop your writing passion into a career so you can set your works free to impact culture and the world.

Employers in every industry need professionals who have strong writing skills, so you can be confident that your ability to write effectively can also help set you apart in your current career. With in-demand writing expertise and the ability to customize your degree with electives in literature or writing practice, Liberty’s online MFA in Creative Writing can help you achieve your professional writing goals.

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is designed to help you build on your writing skills with specific workshops dedicated to the craft of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or screenwriting. With a work-in-progress approach to writing practice and mentorship from our faculty of experienced writers and scholars, you can learn the specific skills you need to make your writing stand out.

Ranked in the Top 10% of Niche.com’s Best Online Schools in America

• What Sets Us Apart?
• Private Nonprofit University
• 600+ Online Degrees
• No Standardized Testing for Admission
• Transfer in up to 75% of an Undergrad Degree
• Transfer in up to 50% of a Grad/Doctoral Degree

Why Choose Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing?

Our online MFA in Creative Writing is mainly offered in an 8-week course format, and our tuition rate for graduate programs hasn’t increased in 9 years. Through our program, you can study the writing process and develop your creative skills through workshops with experienced writing professionals. With our flexible format, you can grow in your creative writing while continuing to do what is important to you.

As a terminal degree, the online MFA in Creative Writing can also help you pursue opportunities to teach writing at the K-12 or college level. You will gain comprehensive and in-depth exposure to writing, literature, publishing, and many other professional writing skills that you can pass on to students. Partner with the Liberty family and learn under faculty who have spent years in the field you love. Your career in professional writing starts here.

What Will You Study in Our MFA in Creative Writing?

The MFA in Creative Writing program is designed to help you become an excellent creative writer across the genres of creative fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and poetry. You can learn how to produce aesthetically and culturally engaged creative works while gaining professional knowledge and practice. You will also study foundational contemporary literature so that you have a background in studying important works to draw on for your writing.

To help you in your professional writing, you will also study many essential skills in editing, layout, and the business of publishing so that you can best position yourself for success in the market. Through your creative writing courses and workshops, you can develop your craft so that you will be ready for your thesis project.

Here are a few examples of the skills Liberty’s MFA in Creative Writing can help you master:

• Marketing your projects and pursuing new writing opportunities
• Organizing writing and adapting it to different types of writing
• Tailoring writing to specific audiences and markets
• Understanding what makes art effective, compelling, and impactful
• Writing compelling stories that engage readers

Potential Career Opportunities

• Book and magazine writer
• Business communications specialist
• Creative writing instructor
• Publications editor
• Screenwriter
• Website copy editor and writer
• Writing manager

Featured Courses

• ENGL 600 – Editing, Layout, and Publishing
• ENGL 601 – Writing as Cultural Engagement
• ENGL 603 – Literary Theory and Practice
• WRIT 610 – Writing Fiction

Degree Information

• This program falls under the College of Arts and Sciences .
• View the Graduate Arts and Sciences Course Guides (login required).
• Download and review the Graduate Manual for MFA .

Degree Completion Plan (PDF)

Not sure what to choose?

Speak to one of our admissions specialists to help you choose the program that best fits your needs.

• Tuition & Aid

Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years – and counting.

All Tuition & Fees

Financial Aid & Scholarships

Financial Aid Forms & Eligibility

Scholarship Opportunities

Admission Information for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Admission requirements.

• A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 application fee will be posted on the current application upon enrollment (waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required) .
• Unofficial transcripts can be used for acceptance purposes with the submission of a Transcript Request Form .
• Creative Writing Sample – A creative writing sample of one creative writing work of at least 2,500 words or a culmination of creative writing samples totaling 2,500 words.*
• Applicants whose native language is other than English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an approved alternative assessment. For information on alternative assessments or TOEFL waivers, please call Admissions or view the official International Admissions policy .

*A sample of one or more poems totaling a minimum of 750 words may also be submitted. Song lyrics are not accepted at this time as writing samples.

Preliminary Acceptance

If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must:

• Be in your final term and planning to start your master’s degree after the last day of class for your bachelor’s degree.
• Complete a Bachelor’s Self-Certification Form confirming your completion date. You may download the form from the Forms and Downloads page or contact an admissions counselor to submit the form on your behalf.
• Submit an official/unofficial transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. The preliminary transcript must show a minimum of 105 completed credit hours.
• If you are a current Liberty University student completing your undergraduate degree, you will need to submit a Degree/Certificate Completion Application .
• Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new master’s degree.

Dual Enrollment

Please see the Online Dual Enrollment page for information about starting graduate courses while finishing your bachelor’s degree.

Transcript Policies

Unofficial college transcript policy.

Unofficial transcripts combined with a Transcript Request Form can be used for admission. Official transcripts are required within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first, and will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Before sending unofficial college transcripts, please make sure they include the following:

• Your previous school’s name or logo printed on the document
• Cumulative GPA
• A list of completed courses and earned credit broken down by semester
• Degree and date conferred (if applicable)

Official College Transcript Policy

An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution and is in a sealed envelope. If you have one in your possession, it must meet the same requirements. If your previous institution offers electronic official transcript processing, they can send the document directly to [email protected] .

If the student uses unofficial transcripts with a Transcript Request Form to gain acceptance, all official transcripts must be received within 60 days of the admissions decision or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first. Failure to send all official transcripts within the 60-day period will prevent enrollment into future terms until all official transcripts have been received.

Admissions Office Contact Information

(800) 424-9596

(888) 301-3577

Email for Questions

[email protected]

Email for Documents

[email protected]

Liberty University Online Admissions Verification

1971 University Blvd.

Lynchburg, VA 24515

Ready to Apply?

Submit your application online or over the phone.

Apply by phone: (800) 424-9595

Liberty University is dedicated to providing world-class educational experiences to military students across the globe.

Who May Qualify?

• Active Duty
• Reserve/National Guard
• Veterans/Retirees
• Spouses of Service Members and Veterans/Retirees
• Current Department of Defense Employees

Available Benefits:

• Tuition discounts – $275 per credit hour for graduate courses
• Additional discount for veterans who service in a civilian capacity as a First Responder (less than $625 per course) *
• 8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)

*Not applicable to certificates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an mfa in creative writing.

A Master of Fine Arts degree, or MFA, is a terminal degree in an artistic craft that demonstrates that you have achieved the highest level of training and skill in your discipline. Like a doctorate, an MFA often allows you to teach courses at the graduate level while also providing many opportunities for scholarship and leadership in education. If you want to grow your creative writing skills to become the best writer you can be, then the Master of Fine Arts can help you get there.

How will students work towards developing their writing skills?

With creative writing workshops and a thesis project, you will receive support and guidance to help you become the best writer you can be.

How long will it take to complete the MFA in Creative Writing?

You can complete the MFA in Creative Writing in just 48 credit hours!

Inner Navigation

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• What Will You Study?
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*Some restrictions may occur for this promotion to apply. This promotion also excludes active faculty and staff, military, non-degree-seeking, DGIA, Continuing Education, WSB, and certificate students.

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• Search SF State Search SF State Button SF State This Site

A dozen outstanding graduates to be honored at 2024 Commencement

The student hood recipients will represent their academic colleges at the University’s 123 rd graduation ceremony May 24.

A dozen outstanding graduates will be honored during San Francisco State University’s 123 rd Commencement ceremony, to be held at Oracle Park Friday, May 24. They will represent their more than 7,300 graduating peers in the Class of 2024.

As part of a longstanding tradition, each of the University’s six academic colleges selects an undergraduate and a graduate student to represent their classmates and wear their college’s academic hood during the ceremony. Additionally, two of the hood recipients, one undergraduate and one graduate student, will each deliver a Commencement address.

More details about the ceremony are available on the  Commencement website . 

Genesis Sorrick M.A., Philosophy College of Liberal & Creative Arts

In September 2020, amidst the chaos of COVID-19, the eerie orange sky from raging wildfires and the protests against police brutality, Genesis Sorrick gave birth to her first child. Bringing a human into the world during this time was incredibly daunting. Sorrick responded with her characteristic strength, integrity and clear-sighted optimism. Inspired to understand the world better and envision a brighter future for her daughter, she decided to return to college and complete her B.A. in Philosophy at SF State.

Later, during Sorrick’s first semester as a Philosophy grad student at SF State, she began to experience excruciating pain and debilitating neurological symptoms. Nevertheless, she refused to let desperation consume her. She channeled her energy into understanding her experience and found solace in her academic studies.

She excelled in her courses, writing brilliant research papers, contributing insightfully to discussions and the life of the department, working conscientiously as a teaching assistant and maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average (GPA). Living with chronic pain led Sorrick to her M.A. thesis: a remarkably original, meticulously researched and highly persuasive account of medical gaslighting.

“Philosophy allowed me to ground myself in something other than my pain and focus on envisioning a better world for my daughters,” she said.

Sorrick’s journey has been shaped by additional obstacles. She is a Mexican-born woman and the first in her family to complete a college degree. Also, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she came out to friends and family in high school in a primarily right-wing, conservative town. Rather than dissuade her from pursuing her dreams, these experiences helped Sorrick develop the strength and tenacity she has needed to thrive at SF State, raise her children and live with chronic pain. She is a remarkable person, with a strong commitment to enacting positive change, both as a philosopher and a mother.

Zen Lewis B.A., International Relations/Political Science College of Liberal & Creative Arts

In 2019, Zen Lewis’ journey to SF State began with her emigration from Serbia with the vision of achieving the American dream. As an 18-year-old in a new country with no financial support, she faced daunting challenges with housing and food insecurity, while attempting to find full-time employment with limited English fluency and work experience.

Today, Lewis is graduating with a double major in International Relations and Political Science with the highest honors, accompanied by Sigma Iota Rho and Pi Sigma Alpha societal honors. She represents the will and determination of young immigrant women who hail from war-torn nations to forge a new path, both for themselves and their home countries, so that those wars never occur again.

Lewis is a force of nature who speaks three languages, works full time in the wedding industry and serves as managing editor of the International Relations Journal. While earning the Migration and Refugee Studies certificate, she has demonstrated an exemplary work ethic, enthusiasm for global politics and resilience in the face of obstacles.

As president of the International Relations Student Association, Lewis has been a driving force, encouraging her fellow students and others in her community to get involved in domestic and international politics. She has represented SF State at Model United Nations and Model European Union conferences, where she received the Outstanding Head of Government Award. 

Lewis won the David Jenkins Scholarship for Political Activism for her impactful advocacy of student rights in a political uprising. She used her senior thesis to expand the discussion and analysis of new regime changes, using Serbia as a case study. Off campus, she has organized pop-up events for local artists and fundraisers for nonprofits.

After graduation, Lewis plans to seek a full-time position in San Francisco municipal government and pursue a law degree.

Read about all the other hood recipients on SF State News.

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Minor in Creative Writing

The minor in Creative Writing provides students with a chance to pursue their passion for creative writing while engaging with a wide range of texts, ideas, and cultural works. In Creative Writing classes, students work with an active, publishing faculty. They learn by vigorous practice; by focused studies of craft; and by extensive reading, analysis and discussion of their work, as well as that of published authors.

Program Learning Outcomes

• Creative Work: Students will produce a written creative work demonstrating growth as writers.
• Literature: Students will read, discuss, and analyze the work of a broad range of writers from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds and explain how literature in general, and their own genre in particular, relates to the larger human experience.
• Craft Elements: Students will write and revise creative nonfiction, fiction, plays, and/or poetry using the elements of craft to embody their individual and universal visions as well as analyze and discuss craft elements in their peers’ work.

Minor in Creative Writing - 18 units

A minimum of 6 upper-division units are required to complete the minor.

All coursework used to satisfy the requirements of the minor must be completed with a minimum grade point average of 2.0.

Fundamentals (3 units)

Select One:

Craft (3 units)

Minor electives (12 units).

Select Four: