PLAINFIELD, Vt. – Goddard College is pleased to award the 2017 Goddard/PEN North American Scholarship to Nicole Emma Meistrich of Boulder, Colo.
Meistrich is an Advocate member of PEN America. She attended Warren Wilson College, but later earned a bachelor’s in sociology at Binghamton University. Meistrich is a technical coordinator at an IT consulting firm.
As a student in Goddard’s MFA in Creative Writing Program, Meistrich plans “to uncover new processes to evolve known writing methods,” such as the hybrid form, which “invites us to recalibrate our listening, so that we may find ways to have a productive relationship with contradiction.”
The $10,000 Goddard/PEN North American Scholarship is the result of a partnership between Goddard’s MFA in Creative Writing and PEN America, PEN Canada, PEN Mexico, and PEN Center USA, which together comprise the North American branches of PEN International, the world’s preeminent literary organization. Members of any of these PEN Centers are eligible for Goddard’s new scholarship.
One additional scholarship candidate, Rae Quinn, a student member of PEN America, will receive a $2,000 Engaged Artist Award.
Founded in 1976, Goddard’s low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program was the first of its kind in the nation. The low-residency program is offered at campuses in Plainfield, Vt., and Port Townsend, Wash. The 48-credit, student-centered program is ideal for students with family, work, or personal obligations that choose to hone their writing skills while maintaining their other commitments. The program regularly hosts luminaries from the theater, film and publishing industries, and conducts Playwright Enrichment, Visiting Writers and Visiting Alumni Writers series.
About Goddard College
Goddard College is a liberal arts institution offering low-residency bachelor’s and master’s degrees from its campus in Plainfield, Vermont, and its educational sites in Port Townsend and Seattle, Washington. At Goddard, students decide their areas of study, determine which resources they will use, and devise how they will measure and demonstrate what they learn. The College was founded in 1863 and moved to its Plainfield campus in 1938. It is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc., through the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education.
