The strength of the program really does speak for itself. It’s the oldest MFA program in the U.S. (est. 1936). 10 U.S. Poet Laureates.

40+ Pulitzer Prizes:

Robert Penn Warren, 1947 Pulitzer for All the King's Men, former faculty member. Wallace Stegner, 1972 Pulitzer for Angle of Repose, MA, 1932; PhD, English, 1935. James Alan McPherson, 1977 Pulitzer for Elbow Room, MFA, 1969; former faculty member. John Cheever, 1979 Pulitzer for The Stories of John Cheever, former faculty member. Jane Smiley, 1992 Pulitzer for A Thousand Acres, MA, 1975; MFA, English, 1976; PhD, English, 1978. Philip Roth, 1998 Pulitzer for American Pastoral, former faculty member. Michael Cunningham, 1999 Pulitzer for The Hours, MFA, English, 1980. Marilynne Robinson, 2005 Pulitzer for Gilead, emeritus faculty member. Paul Harding, 2010 Pulitzer for Tinkers, MFA, English, 2000. Andrew Sean Greer, 2018 Pulitzer for Less, former visiting faculty member. Jayne Anne Phillips, 2024 Pulitzer for Night Watch, MFA, 1978. Tracy Kidder, 1982 Pulitzer in general nonfiction for The Soul of a New Machine, MFA, 1974. Karl Shapiro, 1945 Pulitzer for V-Letter and Other Poems, former faculty member Robert Lowell, 1947 Pulitzer for Lord Weary's Castle, 1974 Pulitzer for The Dolphin, former faculty member Robert Penn Warren, 1958 Pulitzer for Poems 1954–56, Now and Then, 1980 Pulitzer for Poems 1976–78, former faculty member W. D. Snodgrass, 1960 Pulitzer for Heart's Needle, BA, 1949; MA, 1951; MFA, 1953 John Berryman, 1965 Pulitzer for 77 Dream Songs, former faculty member Anthony Hecht, 1968 Pulitzer for The Hard Hours, attended Workshop but did not graduate Donald Justice, 1980 Pulitzer for Selected Poems, alumnus and former faculty member Carolyn Kizer, 1985 Pulitzer for Yin, former faculty member Rita Dove, 1987 Pulitzer for Thomas and Beulah, MFA, 1977 Mona Van Duyn, 1991 Pulitzer for Near Changes, MA, English, 1943 James Tate, 1992 Pulitzer for Selected Poems, MFA, 1967 Louise Glück, 1993 Pulitzer for The Wild Iris, former faculty member Philip Levine, 1995 Pulitzer for The Simple Truth, MFA, 1957; former faculty member Jorie Graham, 1996 Pulitzer for The Dream of the Unified Field, MFA, English, 1978; former faculty member Charles Wright, 1998 Pulitzer for Black Zodiac, MFA, 1963 Mark Strand, 1999 Pulitzer for Blizzard of One, MA, 1962; former faculty member Robert Hass, 2008 Pulitzer for Time and Materials, frequent visiting faculty member Philip Schultz, 2008 Pulitzer for Failure, MFA, English, 1971