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CORVALLIS - Before launching an effort to offer a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing, the Oregon State University English Department brought to campus an external review team to get an objective look at the merits of the initiative.

The team members reached an interesting conclusion: not only would an MFA degree be appropriate, they wrote, but based on student demand and faculty excellence, such a degree could quickly elevate OSU into one of the top creative writing programs in the country.

That transition is now under way. In February, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education formally approved OSU's request for developing a "Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing."

"Actually, our creative writing program has been developing steadily since the mid-1980s," said Tracy Daugherty, a professor of English who directs the OSU program. "The MFA degree is a natural transition to the next level. Our graduates already have published widely, received fellowships, and moved into various jobs, including teaching, journalism, technical writing and working with arts organizations.

"But those who wanted to pursue a master of fine arts had to look elsewhere," Daugherty added. "Now OSU can become a destination point for creative writers."

In the last decade or so, OSU's reputation for creative writing has skyrocketed. Daugherty and English Department colleague Marjorie Sandor have each won Oregon Book Awards and received national attention for their works. Daugherty and Jennifer Cornell, who teaches fiction writing, each have won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

That talent isn't restricted to the English Department. Kathleen Dean Moore, a philosopher, has written two acclaimed books of nature essays, and Clem Starck, a carpenter in the university's maintenance and facilities program, is one of the state's most accomplished poets.

Though the MFA faculty is concentrated in English, having those diverse resources around campus makes OSU somewhat unusual - and enriches the potential of the student experience, Daugherty pointed out.

OSU's creative writing faculty may not have received this much attention since the 1950s, when Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bernard Malamud ("The Fixer," "The Natural" and "The Magic Barrel") was on the faculty.

When the new master's program is fully launched, OSU expects to enroll about a dozen students each year on a highly competitive basis, Daugherty said. A handful of students already are taking classes toward that first degree, which likely will be handed out this spring.

This will be a busy year for the MFA faculty. Among those publishing:

• Keith Scribner, whose debut novel received raves in the (New York Times?), will have his second novel, "Miracle Girl," published by Riverhead Books in the spring of 2003;

   

• A short-story collection by Marjorie Sandor, "Portrait of My Mother Who Posed Nude in Wartime," will be published in the spring of 2003 by Sarabande Books;

   

• Tracy Daugherty will publish an essay collection, "Five Shades of Shadow," in February (University of Nebraska Press), and a story collection, "It Takes a Worried Man," in June (Southern Methodist University Press). His novel, "Axeman's Jazz," is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2003 by the SMU Press.

Daugherty said the English Department and the College of Liberal Arts will continue offering its Visiting Writers Series, which has brought to campus a number of noted authors, including Michael Ondaatje, Russell Banks, Gary Snyder, Yusef Komunyakaa, Bret Lott, Toi Derricotte, Frederick Busch, Pattiann Rogers, and Stephen Dunn.

Bringing such talented writers to Corvallis has energized an already-vibrant literary community, Daugherty said.

"With the combination of a receptive community, a talented faculty, and a first-rate education for students, there's no reason we can't make the mid-Willamette Valley a real mecca for talented young writers," Daugherty said.