Todd Pitt graduated from George Mason University in 2004 with a B.A. in Economics, a double minor in Information Technology concentrating in web design & programming and in English concentrating in poetry & writing.

In the field of economics, Todd studied under and was mentored by Tomas Rustici at GMU’s world class freemarket economics department. Professor Rustici is a renowned or infamous (depends on who you talk to) economist and teacher at both George Mason and Georgetown Universities. Todd’s economic achievements at GMU include winning the Chairman’s Award which was awarded by Walter Williams. Also Todd won the James Buchanan Award, which is awarded by Mason’s first Nobel laureate for economics and the father of modern Public Choice Theory: James Buchanan.

In the fields of poetry and digital poetry/electronic literature (whichever you would like to call it) Todd studied under and was mentored by Carolyn Forche and Mel Nichols. He won the Innovations Information Technology 2004 Award for his Plum Flowers Poem Generator, which is the first electronic literature piece that begins to explore the realm of Digital Poetry of Witness. The generator is published in English Matters Issue 8 – Text & Technology.

Todd has continued post-Mason to work with Carolyn Forche as her protege to develop Digital Poetry of Witness. He and his wife Kyoko Kobayashi are working to record Carolyn’s complete audio works in spoken word form for future generations of poets to come.