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Meet Your Professor: Monica West
She discusses her role as a thesis adviser in USF’s MFA program.
What brought you to USF?
I saw the job posting from USF, applied for it, and had a Zoom interview with members of the team — Dave Madden, Laleh Khadivi, and Doug Powell. I had known about the program for a while, so when I got offered the job it was a no-brainer.
What do you do as a thesis adviser?
This spring I have five students in their fourth semester with ideas for book-length manuscripts. They send me work, and we meet to discuss that work, whether it’s short story collections, novels, memoirs. By the end of the semester they have a revised manuscript, about 100 pages or longer.
How do students choose a thesis adviser?
You give them a really clear instructor biography — with what you’ve written, how they work with you, and what your area of expertise is. Students pick and rank three professors, and then the program administration matches you. The wonderful thing about the pairings is that there’s enough people that you can get paired with someone who’s an expert in the field that you’re looking to write in.
What is your area of expertise?
I read a lot of women’s fiction, fiction about BIPOC people, and fiction written by people of color. I’m also traditional in the sense of storytelling and less experimental in my own writing.
How would you describe your advising style?
As an adviser, I love helping you put something in place that you’ve been thinking through. I love seeing a project from the very beginnings of a really rough idea until it becomes a fleshed-out version of something. I see my role as asking questions or giving you a frame to think about how to best make your manuscript fit what you want it to be.
In what ways does being a practicing writer impact your teaching and advising?
My writing impacts my teaching, and my teaching impacts my writing. At any given moment I’m always open to having conversations about the practice of writing, and I’m really transparent about my publishing journey. I have a session at the end of every semester that I call “Ask Me Anything.” That’s often this hour-long discussion about anything you want to know about publishing a novel, writing a query letter, finding an agent, small or large presses.
What’s your favorite thing about USF?
The students. I’ve met incredible students, and to this day, I still have relationships with many of them. I’m still writing recommendations, reading drafts, and fielding questions about things post-graduation.
