Dr. Daniel Vollaro
Contact Information
About
Biography
Dr. Daniel Vollaro is an associate professor of English who teaches composition and professional writing courses. In a previous life, he worked in publishing, journalism and the corporate world, but today, he applies that real-world knowledge and experience to his teaching. He is a practitioner of project-based, experiential- and service-learning, and he recently designed a special classroom to support these teaching and learning styles (W-1202). He is currently leading a team that is creating a Digital Humanities lab at the college. He is a creative, committed writing teacher with more than twenty years of classroom experience.
Vollaro is also a writer. His collection of essays about growing up in Northwestern New Jersey in the 1970s and 1980s, Reservoir: Tales from the Other Jersey, was published this year by Gypsy Daughter Press. His essay "Breaking the Wheel: Game of Thrones and the American Zeitgeist" was recently included in a collection of writing about the popular HBO fantasy series, Power and Subversion in Game of Thrones, published by McFarland Books. His personal essays have been recently published in Adbusters, As It Ought to Be Magazine, Boomer Café, Litro, Michigan Quarterly Review, Missouri Review, Rise Up Review and The Smart Set. His fiction has been published in Blue Moon Review, Crania, Creo, Fairfield Review, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Thrice Fiction and Timber Creek Review.
Education
- Doctorate – Nineteenth Century American literature – Georgia State University
- Master’s – Jewish-Christian studies – Seton Hall University
- Bachelor’s – English, journalism minor – The College of New Jersey
Publications
Pop Culture Writing
- "'For the body is not one member'": The Moral Optimism of Deadwood." PopMatters Magazine, August 26, 2024.
- "Jim Morrison's Spoken-word Effect." PopMatters Magazine, August 21, 2023.
- "How Would Depression-era Family-centric Show 'The Waltons' Fare in These Times." PopMatters Magazine, March 28, 2023.
- "It's a M*A*S*H World Now: Remembering the Great Antiwar TV Series Fifty Years Later." The Smart Set September 15, 2022
- "Breaking the Wheel: Game of Thrones and the American Zeitgeist." Published in Power and Subversion in Game of Thrones, by McFarland Books October 21, 2021
Creative Nonfiction
- "Last Day of the '90s." North Meridian Review, Autumn 2024 (nominated for a Pushcart Prize).
- "Earth First! An environmental group's uncompromising protests sparked pushback in the 1990s--were they saviors or saboteurs?" Adirondack Life Magazine, May 2024.
- "If Docks Could Talk: A Schroon Lake family tradition assembled board by board." Adirondack Life Magazine May 16, 2023.
- "Three Bodies on a Beach." Litro Magazine May 13, 2023.
- Reservoir: Tales from the Other Jersey (book). Gypsy Daughter Press October 7, 2021.
- "Where Have You Gone, Dr. Pierce?" Litro Magazine May 19, 2020.
- "Mythopoesis." Missouri Review May 4, 2020.
- "The White Man Who Fell Asleep in a Kiva." Exulansis, May 3, 2020.
- "A Minute With Zack de la Rocha." Litro Magazine, Oct 2019.
- "The Lookout Tree." Michigan Quarterly Review, Jul 2019.
- "Coffee in Hell, with Ralph Nader, Dorothy Day, and Zero Mostel." Rise Up Review, March 4, 2019.
- "Steal This Book: Grasping the Thoreauvian Revolution." The Smart Set, December 2, 2018.
Fiction
- "The Cairn." 96th of October, March 1, 2025.
- "The Last Americans." New Maps Magazine, February 2025.
- "Under the Mango Tree." Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, November 1, 2024.
- "The Wetlands." New Maps Magazine, Fall 2023.
- "Forward and Back." Thrice Fiction, Aug 1, 2018
- "Chunky Che." Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, May 1, 2018
- "Remember You Are Dust." Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Feb 1, 2018
Political Writing
- "Robin Hood, Where Are You?" As It Ought to Be Magazine March 28, 2022.
- "Riot of the Fiftysomethings." As it Ought to Be Magazine June 21, 2021.
- "The Project Mayhem Age." The Smart Set June 7, 2018