Category: News

Here at UW-GB, there are many different programs and opportunities presented to people who love all things reading and writing. There is no shortage of programs, opportunities, and events to attend in relation to reading and writing. I remember one thing that confused me though, when first applying to UW-GB, was the difference between majoring in English, and Majoring in the BFA program for Writing and Applied Arts. These two majors overlap in some areas but are also vastly different. When deciding upon and declaring a major, I struggled to decide which would be a better fit for myself, so I thought it would be helpful to compile a list of similarities and differences between the English program at UW-GB, and the BFA program for Writing and Applied Arts.

Writing and Applied Arts BFA:
The Writing and Applied Arts Program was created for passionate writers who want to turn their creative work into a career one day. This B.F.A program was designed specifically to meet industry demand for creatives in the writing field and is tailored toward merging creative expression with the professional world. This is a craft-focused major and allows students to explore, learn, and gain firsthand experience in the world of publishing, editing, and content creation before graduating and finding their professional job. One really cool thing about this major is that internships are embedded into the requirements for the major, thus giving writers a leg up and allowing them to gain valuable experience while still in school. There are four emphases to this major and these are:
● Community Storytelling
○ As the name suggests, this emphasis focuses on community outreach. In this emphasis, you will work to bring your writing to broader communities by organizing regional events, writing for social justice, and advocating to tell stories that are often untold. If you enjoy social justice and writing, this might be a great fit for you!
● Editing and Publishing
○ Editorial production and publication is the main educational goal of this emphasis. Students will learn the ins and outs of working on a content creation team, and this will prepare them for gaining jobs as copyeditors, publishers, publicists, content developers, and marketing professionals.
● Game Writing
○ This is for people who want to delve into the world of game-making. They will learn skills in relation to game craft, and world-building, and learn how to develop stories that will hopefully one day be turned into games.
● Professional and Technical Writing
○ This emphasis has students learn how to work with clients and produce technical manuals, data visualizations, and user interfaces, as well as how to create engaging multimedia designs.

For the creative writer, this major has something for everyone and is really tailored to fit with each individual writer’s creative and professional journey.

Many of the required courses for this major include things like:
● Literary Studies
● Creative Writing
● Grammar
● Technical Writing
● Copyediting and Workflow

There are also classes that involve learning how to edit and publish works of writing, book cover design classes, novel writing classes, literature study classes, and much more. All 4 of the different emphases allow writers to tailor their degree towards their personality, and there really is something for everyone within this program

Click here to explore the Writing and Applied Arts course catalog:
https://catalog.uwgb.edu/undergraduate/programs/writing/#majortext

English Major:
Those who love to read and analyze literature would be a perfect fit for the English program. A degree in English is super versatile and can work with many modern-day jobs, such as technical writing, education, journalism, digital marketing, creative writing, editing, and so much more. Students enrolled in the English program will learn how to read and interpret texts critically, create their own original works that demonstrate their skills as a writer, and learn how to understand the complex social and historical contexts that have shaped much of the classical literature we read today. One great thing about UW-GB’s English program is that it doesn’t just focus on classic literature, and instead does its part in branching out by providing classes centered around the voices of people of color, women, indigenous people, and those in the LBGTQIA+ community. English is about exploring and exchanging new ideas with people. This program will expose you to new voices and widen your perspective on the world. It will challenge your viewpoints, and help you become more well-rounded as a person.

The English program at UW-GB has three different emphases for students to choose from. These are:
● Creative Writing
● English Education
● Literature

These three different emphases allow a wide range of students to find where they fit in this program. There is a bit of overlap with the Writing and Applied Arts program with creative writing and literature studies, but by majoring in English, students will be getting a much more in-depth education in relation to these topics. Writing and Applied Arts prepares students to work specifically in the field they are aiming towards, whereas an English degree is more of an overarching degree. There is more to explore within this degree, and it is probably a bit more versatile out in the professional world, but it does require you to dive in deeper to many of these topics.

Click here to explore the English course catalog:
https://catalog.uwgb.edu/undergraduate/programs/english/#text

Make sure to set up a meeting and consult with your advisor if you have more questions about this, but hopefully, this post was able to provide a little bit more help to those who are still deciding between these two majors.

 

With the semester coming to a close I wanted to put out more information about the B.F.A (Bachelor of Fine Arts) program for anyone who may be interested. I’ll be sharing my favorite classes that I’ve taken that count towards the degree and why I loved them so much. If any of these classes sound right up your alley consider looking into the Writing and Applied Arts!

My number one choice is “Woman in Pop Culture” (WOST 203.) I can’t say enough good things about this class as it was the most fun I’ve taken. This course studies the ways that women and gender have been portrayed and are currently portrayed through the media, television, movies, popular music, and other cultural artifacts. Having a class that also goes into how women are currently being represented made it easy to not only make a connection to the class but was very engaging as the pieces studied are new and current in our society.

American Ethnic Literature (ENGLISH 290) is another one of my top contenders as it goes in-depth on the experience of ethnic groups in America, such as African, Asian, Hispanic, and Jewish Americans, and American Indians. The Asian American experience was the topic that was most heavily focused on when I took the course which is part of the reason, I loved it so much. I learned many things about our country’s past that were never taught in high school. This course is repeatable for credit if topics differ so if you end up loving the class you can always take it again!

My final pick for my favorites list is Practicum in Literary Publishing (ENGLISH 224). This course is hands-on experience in producing a literary publication, from choosing submissions to editing the finished product. Taking this class, you will not only draft weekly articles for the campus newsletter “The Driftwood” but will create an edition of the “Northern Lights Literary & Arts Journal” as a class. If you like writing your own ideas or like the thought of breaking into the editing or publishing field, this class is for you.

 

I dream about getting published. Recently, my internship handed me the opportunity to step out of my dream and think about the reality of becoming a published author. Now I ask, “Would it be possible for me to get published?”

The answer to this question has become clearer and my optimism has skyrocketed after I was assigned to interview,    Casey Thayer for my Creatives Internship. Thayer is the author of:                        Self-Portrait with Spurs and Sulfur and  Love for the Gun. He enlightened me; he reminded me that there are many paths to publishing. Below, Thayer describes his journey of becoming a published poet.

What is your educational background?

I graduated from UWGB in ’06 with a B.A. in English: Creative Writing. That was before UWGB developed the B.F.A. program in Writing and Applied Arts, a program that sounds exciting. I was on the team that helped to resurrect the Sheepshead Review, and through that class, gained a lot of practical experience.

 

After graduating with an MFA from Northern Michigan University, I went on to teach English at UW-Rock County and the City Colleges of Chicago. I was lucky enough to be chosen for a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. That fellowship was a wonderful experience that gave me the time to just write.

When you started submitting your poetry to be published, what was your biggest challenge?

The biggest danger for me, and maybe for all beginning writers, is that I put too much weight on rejections. We might be convinced to believe rejections define the quality of our work. The truth is that your piece being rejected or accepted mostly involves just plain luck.

 

For example, were you lucky enough that your piece was read at nine a.m. or after three p.m., maybe after that reader felt fatigued, after they had waded through mounds of other pieces? Did you get a reader familiar with your genre? Did you get a reader that had a good night’s sleep or one that staggered into the office that morning with a hangover?

 

It’s so important that, when writers receive rejections, we push aside the self-doubt that can stalk us.

How did you deal with rejections?

I embraced an outside measure, which included other writers, to help me judge the quality of my work. I didn’t just rely on acceptances or rejections. This might be important, especially, for poets because they don’t often—in my experience—receive editorial feedback on submissions like fiction writers might.

What is your advice for poets submitting their work for the first time?

First off, have the courage to send out your work. It’s nerve-wracking to share work, especially when you know it might be rejected. But you can’t win if you don’t play. And know that rejection is simply part of the process. It’s rare that I receive acceptances in the first place and rarer still that out of a manuscript of 4-5 poems, I have more than one poem taken by a journal. But acceptances will come if you stick with it, and when they do, the joy of that moment can take a lot of the sting out of rejection.

What motivates you to keep writing?

Getting published drives me forward for a bit, but the joy of seeing my name in print burns away pretty quickly. Publishing can’t be your only motivation. I would argue that it’s more important to find joy in the writing process, in being a part of the world of writing, and in connecting with other writers. It is important to find joy in just creating, in staring at that pure white, blank sheet of paper, in understanding that it does not cost you anything but your time to capture your ideas, your moments, your life.

Coming Fall ’21 – ENGLISH 335: Literary Eras: The Hungry ‘40s Fall 2021: Tuesdays & Thursdays 11-12:20 / Green Bay Campus / Prof. Nesvet 

This Fall, Dr. Rebecca Nesvet will teach a brand-new course, Literary Eras: The Hungry ‘40s (Eng. 335). Here is a little bit more about the course from Dr. Nesvet: 

 

Henry David Thoreau was surprised that his readers wanted to know what he ate and how he cooked it. I’m not. The 1840’s food crises in Britain and Ireland shifted how people viewed social justice. This “Awakening” sparked a basic human rights movement, a belief that everyone deserves food security, education, agency, and especially, the right to lead meaningful lives! 

 

We’ll look at how authors from this time period connected hunger for food with hungers higher up the hierarchy of needs—creating a new and unprecedentedly activist literary culture that is still emulated today. 

 

This in person class will also include humor, entertaining video clips, and powerful discussions about food sustainability, UWGB’s Eco U legacy, and Paying the Price by Sara Goldrick-Rab .

 

Check out this class and all the Summer and Fall 2021 courses. They are sure to be great! 

GREEN BAY, WI.  March 30, 2021— On Friday, April 9^th from 4-5pm, the UWGB Creatives will present “How to Navigate Graduate School Applications,” featuring alumna Gloria Galicia (BA, ‘20).

This event is the second of a three-part “How To” series during March and April, 2021. Organized by the English department Creatives intern team, the series offers students a forum to discuss publishing internships, networking, graduate school, and job search strategies.

Galicia graduated from UWGB in Spring 2020 with a BA in Creative Writing and English Literature and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. She is now in her second semester of the Library Science and Information Graduate School program at UW Madison. She will share her experiences in applying and getting accepted into a top-tier graduate program.

To attend this session, please RSVP here:  How to Navigate Grad School Applications with Gloria Galicia

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About the University of Wisconsin Green Bay:

The University of Wisconsin Green Bay is located on the outskirts of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The campus was founded in 1965 and currently offers 48 different majors and minors for students.

The English Department and Writing and Applied Arts program offer various literature and writing based courses, from World and American Literature to the hands-on Sheepshead Review practicum and Teaching Press. For more information contact Rebecca Meacham, Co-Chair of English and Director, Writing and Applied Arts.