Hello MCAD MFA Community, My name is Ellen Mueller, and I've been directing the program since fall 2018. I'm writing this letter to say hello, and let folks know about some of the updates we've made over the course of my first year as director of the program. Each of these updates started with meeting and listening to alumni, faculty, staff, and community members near and far. We're working on building regional and national "Launch Programming," with a special emphasis on networking [and funding!] to work with galleries, art centers, residencies, and more. We've already secured donor support for two of the five current programs. Interested in helping out as a donor, or know an organization we should be working with? Send me an email at emueller@mcad.edu. We've added travel opportunities to New York and Los Angeles (alumni are welcome to join us). Read more about our inaugural trip and the alumni we visited in these two articles We've updated the mentor/mentee experiences, and now there's a handbook for mentors and mentees. We've similarly updated Mid-Program Review and Thesis Review (scroll to the end of the MFA Handbook to check out the rubrics). We've rearranged the curriculum schedule to give students increased time for making in the 4th semester (now the public research presentations take place at end of 3rd semester). We've created a guide for studio visits to help students feel supported and encouraged to pursue these. Building on feedback from alumni, we've put together a sheet of MFA alumni benefits (ever-growing!) We updated the MFA Program website to make it responsive and functional on mobile devices. Whew! That's a lot - thanks for checking it out. Have ideas to help build the MFA Program for students, alumni, and the community? Reach out to me at emueller@mcad.edu. Sincerely, Ellen Mueller Categories Acknowledgements