UAS Creative Writing Student Accepted Into Prestigious MFA Program

Callie Ziegler, a recent graduate from the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) has been accepted into the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Florida State University.

Juneau, Alaska

Date of Press Release: February 19, 2020

Callie Ziegler, a recent graduate from the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) has been accepted into the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Florida State University. In addition she was awarded a Teaching Assistantship and a fully funded tuition waiver. Only 12 fiction writers are accepted into this program each year. She will start the new MFA program in the fall of 2020.

Regarding her time as a student at UAS and what has influenced her success, Callie remarked, “I have been very lucky--to have no student debt, to have obtained an internship with Tidal Echoes, to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and to have been accepted into an MFA Program for Creative Writing. On reflection, I realize it was never luck. It was 10 years of making good choices and the support received from others. It was four years in the United States Navy. It was every caring professor and faculty member at UAS, regardless of whether or not their field was English. I can't say enough about the university staff. Someone from each department, from English to Math, has encouraged me throughout my journey. Every service the university provides, from the Writing Center to the Learning Center, has continuously supported me.”

Ziegler is the senior editor for the literary journal Tidal Echoes, mentored by faculty advisor Emily Wall, Professor of English. Wall remarked, “MFA programs are very competitive so this is a huge feather in her cap--and in ours!” Ziegler graduated in Fall 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in English from UAS, but returned for the spring semester to take the senior editor internship with Tidal Echoes. She will begin her MFA program at Florida State in the fall of 2020.

Learn more about English and Literature degrees and other areas of study available at UAS or by speaking to an advisor at 796-6100.