Chris Funkhouser (born June 26, 1964), also known by the pen name C.T. Funkhouser, is an Associate Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is the author of Prehistoric Digital Poetry: An Archaeology of Forms, 1959-1995 (2007), Technopoetry Rising: Essays and Works (2007), and Selections 2.0, a CD-ROM eBook (2006) available online. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2006 and was sent to Multimedia University in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
Funkhouser was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1964 and is the eldest of two siblings, Stewart and Margaret. His father John was a surgeon and officer in the US Navy and his mother Avery a homemaker involved with fund raising for several organizations. Because of his father's affiliation with the military, his family made several relocations along the East Coast of the United States until finally settling in West Falmouth, Massachusetts in 1977. He graduated from Falmouth High School in 1982 and was a state champion in the half mile with his track team.
In 1986, Funkhouser received his B.A. from the University of Virginia. Originally a math major and preparing for business school, his surroundings largely influenced him in realizing the abstractions of poetry and art were much more interesting for him than those of high level math. These early-on revelations during his first year of college prompted his switch to a major in English. During his time as an undergrad at U.Va., he worked as a radio programmer at WTJU-FM, was a staff member of the Virginia Literary Review, published his first poem Nocturnal Sands (1985), and continued his athleticism as a co-captain decathlete for the track & field team.
During the summer of 1986, Funkhouser traveled to Boulder, Colorado for a Summer Writing and Poetics Program at Naropa Institute (now Naropa University). His interactions with the faculty at Naropa, which include several American Poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, William S. Burroughs, Robert Creeley, Joanne Kyger, Jim Carroll, Ed Sanders, served as driving factors for his inspiration in dedicating his life to writing and poetry.
Returning to the University of Virginia for his M.A. in English, Funkhouser co-founded We Press with high school friend and roommate Ted Farrell in 1986. It was through We Press that Funkhouser was able to publish books and artwork within various medias. We Press also served as a tool for connecting him with poets from around the country.
Between receiving his M.A. in 1988 and starting his Ph.D. at SUNY-Albany in 1992, Funkhouser lived in Berkeley and Santa Cruz, California. His interactions with other innovative poets and musicians within the area proved invaluable towards his sense of being a poet, performer, and publisher. Though he had not originally planned on returning to graduate school, he learned through a friend about several multimedia writing activities transpiring at SUNY-Albany. After attending a writing session there with Don Byrd, Funkhouser was inspired to explore the technological possibilities for poetry. He received his Ph.D. in English in 1997 and has been applying digital technology to poetry ever since.
Early Works with Digital Literature and Hypertextmoreless
Funkhouser's first digital project was We Magazine issue 17, an electronic network composed of 18 different installments via the Internet in 1995. He also spent time exploring MOO space, a text-based system in which users can create virtual space and interact with other users online. Funkhouser's MOOAGE (2002) is a created text taken from dialogs and interactions with others from different MOO's. His first hypertext work was based on an essay entitled Proto- Anthology of Hypermedia Poetry and re-purposed as a hyperlink on the World Wide Web. As WWW search engines started recognizing the link, Funkhouser was put in contact with like-minded scholars around the world.
In 2001, Funkhouser was introduced to Malaysia’s first digital poet Nazura Rahime. After traveling to visit her school, Multimedia University, he left with a positive impression, taken by the school and country. His Fulbright proposal Hypermedia Writing served as a way to return to Malaysia for an extended period of time. During his eight months there, he gave a series of lectures on campus as well as the International Islamic University of Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), and National University of Singapore. He worked on an extensive multimedia project 13 States of Malaysia, composed of various poems, audio recordings, and digital images. Funkhouser’s first exhibition as a visual artist also took place in Malaysia.
Currently, Funkhouser is an Associate Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at NJIT. He teaches several courses including Digital Poetry and Literature Online. He has developed courses at NJIT including Elements of Visual Design, Hypertext Design Studio, Cybertext, Electronic Publishing Lab, and Advanced Electronic Publishing. Funkhouser also does podcasting via iTunes U.
Funkhouser is married to Amy Hufnagel, a visual artist, photographer, and arts educator. They have two kids, Constellation Hufnagel Funkhouser (born 1999) and Aleatory Zoon Heep Funkhouser (born 2005).
