The goal of the Creative Writing Major is to prepare students to become socially aware professional writers and creative professionals. Towards that end, the creative writing program provides students with the opportunity to engage with issues of environmental awareness and social justice through creative practice. Students also gain a depth and breadth of understanding of literature, enabling them to analyze and evaluate how their creative practice engages, revises, or contests literary traditions, genres, and forms. The purpose of combining literary studies and creative practice is to produce a unique form of aesthetic maturity.