Jonathan Pitts was born in the center of Cajun country in Louisiana, and from there has lived and worked on five continents. Dr. Pitts teaches creative writing, professional writing, and literature courses as well as the senior capstone sequence. He spends the majority of his time working with students and helping them succeed in their courses, internships, and post-graduate work (from Duke law school to Microsoft). His teaching and writing interests--criticism, theory, fiction, and nonfiction--range from media literacy to intercultural conflict, much of this work based on his experiences living with the Crow Indians in Montana, Africans in Africa and America, and, most recently, the complex, globalized multiculturalism of Turkey.
A former Peace Corps volunteer (Gabon 1986-88), in his spare time Dr. Pitts enjoys triathlon training and racing, running, tennis, soccer, karate, coaching his kids' teams, and cooking and eating. A nationally ranked multisport athlete, Dr. Pitts has competed at the national and international levels and advises the ONU Endurance Multisport Club. His wife, Marjorie Naylor Pitts, is the founder and director of the Bridging Program for International Students. She teaches ESL at ONU and directed the Sakae Japanese Institute for eight years. They have three children: Jackson, Hayden, and Madeleine.
Dr. Pitts spent 2010-11 with his family in Turkey, where he was the Fulbright senior lecturer in American Studies. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in American Studies and traveling around the country, Dr. Pitts lectured at various universities and undertook service projects, including a book drive for Turkish students organized by Dr. Rob Scott and the students of Sigma Tau Delta. Here you can watch a video made by Dr. Pitts's Turkish students.
Fulbright Senior Lecturer in American Studies, Ankara, Turkey, 2010-11; Associate Professor of English, Department of English, Ohio Northern University, 2003-10; Assistant Professor of English, Department of English, Ohio Northern University, 2000-03.
PhD in English, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1999.
MA in Creative Writing, University of Idaho, 1993.
BA in English, University of Idaho, 1991.
American Studies, African Literature, African American Literature, American Indian Literature, Creative Writing (Fiction and Nonfiction), Professional Writing, Cultural Studies, The Civil War, World Literature, Digital Publishing, Media Studies,Turkish/Ottoman culture and history.
Sara A. Ridenour Endowed Chair in the Humanities, 2012-13.
Fulbright Award, Senior Lecturer in American Studies 2010-11, Turkey.
University Favorite Professor, Mortar Board, 2009.
Alpha Xi Delta Professor of the Month, ONU, 2002.
Donald Murray Prize, National Council of Teachers of English, 2003.
Editors' Prize for Nonfiction, The Missouri Review, 2001.
J. Golden Taylor Prize, Western Literature Association, 1998.
Finalist, Quarterly West Novella Competition, 1997.
American Studies, African Literature, African American Literature, American Indian Literature, Creative Writing (Fiction and Nonfiction), Professional Writing, Cultural Studies, The Civil War, World Literature, Digital Publishing, Media Studies,Turkish/Ottoman culture and history.
"Creating and Revising the Professional Writing Program at Ohio Northern University: A Case Study." Design Discourse. Eds. David Franke and Alex Reid, Parlor Press, 2010.
"Little People". Writing on the Edge and The Missouri Review, 2001 and 2003.
“’What community?’: A Service-Learning Writing Curriculum at the Edges of a Reservation.” Reflections On Community-Based Writing Instruction 1.2 (Winter 2001): 8-13.
"Writing On: Blood Meridian as Devisionary Western." Western American Literature, Spring 1998.
"In the Market: Bricolage in Gabon." The Journal of African Travel Writing, 1998.
