Advocacy for Professional Standards

AWP’s Professional Standards Committee provides letters of support, policy statements, advice, and assistance for the programs and faculty of AWP. The committee coordinates AWP's advocacy of fair treatment of writers in the academy, including adjuncts, professors, and instructors. It also facilitates the creation of new creative writing programs and conducts evaluations or independent assessments of programs at the request of their institutions. AWP has published guidelines that establish the MFA as the appropriate terminal degree for the writer who teaches in higher education, and the committee often works to reinforce those guidelines. In the evaluation of writing programs, the committee uses AWP’s Hallmarks, which set high standards for the development of creative writing programs. These hallmarks are also used in facilitating the establishment of new writing programs.

Advocacy for the Arts and for Public Funding of the Arts and Education

AWP is a proud partner of Americans for the Arts Action Fund—the nation’s largest grassroots advocacy movement dedicated to mobilizing one million advocates to advance the arts and arts education in the United States. The Arts Action Fund can provide you with interactive services to make it easy for you to participate in the legislative process.

AWP is a partner of the Arts Action Fund because it is crucial that we help to support the cultural agencies that help our literary field to diversify and grow. AWP members receive a free e-advocate membership to the Arts Action Fund in order to stay informed on national arts policy matters and to respond quickly and easily to key arts action alerts.

While we hope our members will help us to advocate for the arts and arts education, anyone who wishes to opt out can easily do so. If you prefer not to receive messages from Americans for the Arts Action Fund, you may opt out by going to My AWP Account and indicating your preference in your Personal Information settings.