Writing Across Disciplines
Learn to write about diverse subjects, engage distinct audiences and write in different genres and styles. UNC’s Writing minor offers opportunities to sharpen your writing skills through real-world engagement, including writing workshops and peer review, honors work in creative writing and community internship programs. Our faculty include prize-winning, published writers in diverse genres who will work closely with you as teachers and mentors.
Experiences to Enrich Your Education and Career
You'll deepen your knowledge through opportunities to work on UNC’s literary magazine The Crucible. The bi-annual magazine features poetry, prose, creative non-fiction, photography and traditional and digital art. Find out more.
“With this program, whether you want to be a novelist, poet or grant writer, you will
be enriched by faculty who will play to your strengths and excite you all the way
down to your core. I count myself among the lucky for being a part of this writing
program.”
-Austin Huber, 2020 UNC English graduate
Your Future in Writing
At UNC, you’ll find a collaborative learning environment led by accessible and supportive instructors who bring professional writing experience to the classroom. We offer creative writing courses from the introductory to the advanced levels in screenwriting, poetry, prose fiction and creative nonfiction. We also offer advanced special topics courses in editing, stylistics and autobiography and memoir.
Consider UNC's Writing minor if you:
- Want to strengthen your writing skills and explore different forms of writing
- Enjoy working in small classes with close faculty mentorship
You’ll learn:
- History and theories of writing
- Strategies and skills for writing in different disciplines
- Creative and analytical skills
Sample courses:
- The Art of Persuasion
- Creative Writing – Fiction
- Technical Writing
- Introduction to Screenwriting
- Advanced Creative Nonfiction
- Creative Writing – Poetry
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Lisa Zimmerman, M.F.A.
Professor of English
Lisa Zimmerman is a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Northern Colorado. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in English and History from Colorado State University and received her MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis.
Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in anthologies as well as magazines including Cave Wall, Florida Review, Poet Lore, Colorado Review, The Sun, SWWIMM Every Day, Natural Bridge, and Amethyst Review, among other journals, and is the winner of Redbook Magazine’s Short Story contest.
She is the author of six poetry collections, three chapbooks, and three full-length books including The Light at the Edge of Everything (Anhinga Press) and The Hours I Keep (Main Street Rag). Her debut poetry collection won the 2004 Violet Reed Haas Poetry Award. Her most recent collection is Sainted (Main Street Rag 2021). Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net and five times for the Pushcart Prize. One of her prose poems is included in The Best Small Fictions: 2020 Anthology (Sonder Press).
Lisa is a coach for the Poetry Out Loud high school recitation project and has taught writing workshops in K-12 classrooms in Colorado and Florida. She has been the poet-in-residence at schools in Fort Collins, Brighton, Aurora, Idalia, and Longmont, and has been a master teaching artist at the annual Aesthetic Education Institute of Colorado/Institute for Creative Teaching at the University of Denver 7 times.
Beyond the Classroom
Whether you’re an aspiring author or plan to pursue a career in business, the writing skills you gain in this program will provide lifelong benefits and will help set you apart in a demanding and diverse job market.
Where can your minor in Writing take you?
With UNC's Writing minor, you’ll be ready to apply your training as a writer, thinker, editor and teacher in fields such as medicine, law, business, media and public service. Career options for this program include:
- Teacher
- Book/magazine editor
- Poet
- Novelist
- Songwriter
- Screenwriter
- Columnist
Ready for what's next? Here's what you need to know.
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Still not completely sold? We understand. Here's more information on cost and aid and how to apply.
