Daniel Vollaro

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 also serves as the coordinator for Digital Humanities for the School of Liberal Arts. 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 in 2021 by Gypsy Daughter Press. He has published many works of fiction and creative nonfiction. He was listed as a “notable” writer in the 2020 edition of Best American Essays and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 

• 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

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