Virginia G. Piper Professional Development Fellowship
The Professional Development Fellowship provides a stipend of $1,000 to current 1st and 2nd year MFA students to assist in their professional development. These fellowship funds are intended to assist MFA students with costs associated with their development as writers including: submission fees, the cost of completing writing projects, conference fees, and the technologies and other resources needed to accomplish their professional and creative goals.
About the Professional Developlment Fellowship
The Virginia G. Piper Professional Development Fellowship is available to be awarded to full-time Master of Fine Arts students in Creative Writing at Arizona State University.
This fellowship award is intended to provide support that positions students for optimum success in the literary arts. This could, for example, be used to cover the cost of submission fees in pursuit of publication, to research a literary project or manuscript, or as entry funds for a conference or literary festival. Additional appropriate uses of this funding might include the cost of technologies needed to complete these or other tasks that will help them reach their professional goals within the literary arts, or even to cover the costs of personal needs of the student so that they are able to complete their work and engage more deeply with the literary community.
Creative Research Fellowship Amount
All applicants that meet the eligibility requirements of the fellowship and properly complete the application process will be awarded $1,000.
Professional Development Fellowship Eligibility
Current ASU MFA Creative Writing students are eligible to apply and may be in their 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd year as a student. Applicants must be enrolled as a student and in good academic standing at the time of the application deadline. Students may only submit one application for consideration during an academic year and must do so by the deadline of 11:59 PM Sept. 19th, 2021. Students must complete all required fields of the application properly to be awarded the fellowship. Students who are awarded the Virginia G. Piper Professional Development Fellowship remain eligible to apply for other fellowships within the same academic year offered by the Piper Center so long as they meet the requirements of the other fellowship to which they apply (see other fellowship descriptions for details).
Creative Research Fellowship Award Requirements
During your Fellowship period, you will be responsible for taking 3 photographs. Within 30 days of the end of the summer, you will need to submit these photos to the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. Along with the items please include a statement of impact about your research and experience or a sample of your completed writing. A Piper Center Staff member may also complete an interview with you about your work. These items will be shared with the Piper Trust who funds the Fellowship and may be published online with the Piper Center.
As a fellowship recipient, you will also have the opportunity to teach a 2-hour free Piper Writers Studio course at some point in the next school year, working with the Piper Center’s Education Programs Manager. This course will be community-focused, and should reference or incorporate aspects of your fellowship time and studies. The Piper Center staff will provide support in helping you develop this course, as needed. This is a great opportunity to share some of what you’ve learned with the community!
Professional Development Fellowship Application
Eligible MFA students must apply via the online portal no later than 11:59 PM on desired deadline. Applications are taken once during the academic year. Files should be titled “LastName Professional Development Fellowship Descriptor” (ex: Doe Engagement Fellowship Bio.pdf).
The application itself should not take more than about 20 minutes and will require you to:
Upload a bio
Upload a photo (optional)
Submit a short statement on how these funds will impact you
Fill out some short survey questions
If you have questions regarding this or other fellowships, please contact Piper Center Coordinator for Educational Programs, Joy Young at joyyoung@asu.edu.
Please note:
The Piper Center is currently looking into building free courses to teach critical skills needed for the creation of competitive fellowship applications. Please subscribe to our newsletter, regularly check our website, or follow us on social media to keep up with our most current course offerings.
Submit your application via this online portal no later than 11:59 PM on Sunday 09/19/2021.
More Information about the Virginia G. Piper Creative Research Fellowship
For more information about the Virginia G. Piper Professional Development Fellowship, please reach out Coordinator for Educational Programs, Joy Young, at joyyoung@asu.edu