Dylan Rollo uses his cell phone to capture an image of himself with his dog.

Dylan Rollo, Ph.D

Visiting Assistant Professor

Education

PhD in Rhetoric & Public Culture – Northwestern University, 2024

MA in Communication & Rhetorical Studies – Syracuse University, 2016

BA in Rhetoric & Communication Studies, Writing – Drake University, 2014

Research

Dr. Rollo’s research explores the rhetorical functions of utopian imagery found in media and architecture and how the broader political imaginary shapes and is shaped by design arts. He employs an interdisciplinary approach informed by visual culture, cultural studies, queer theory, new and historical materialisms, and human geography.

Courses Taught

  • COMM 104 – Public Speaking
  • COMM 204 – Dialogue and Public Debate
  • COMM 280 – Introduction to Communication Messages
  • COMM 281 – Introduction to Communication Messages
  • COMM 301 – Image Ethics

Selected Publications

“In a Queer New Light: Eluridating Difference Beyond Clarity,” Text & Performance Quarterly 46.4 (2026)


“On the Ruins of Black Utopia: Moving Memories of Buxton, Iowa,” coauthored with Faber McAlister, in Relics of Modernity: Theorizing Rhetorics and Performances of Ruins, edited by Andrew F. Wood, Lexington Books (in publication, 2025)


“‘Just Wait Here Ten Minutes’: Mobility’s Masculinism within Urban Exploration,” Women’s Studies in Communication 41.4 (2019)


“Display Case: Kevin Spacey’s Shattered Closet, Integrity, and Image,” QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking 5.2 (2018)


“Look to the Starchitects: The Rhetorical Mode of Celebrity in Disaster Recovery,” in How Celebrity Lives Affect Our Own: Understanding the Impact on Americans’ Public and Private Lives, edited by Carol M. Madere, Lexington Books (2018)