Education

Research Interests

Morality, Culture, Cognition, Religion, Emotion, Emerging Adulthood, Family, Life Course, Theory

Book

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Works in Progress

Rotolo, Michael. “Fight-or-Flight for America: The Development of Christian Nationalist Ideology during the Transition to Adulthood.” (Revise & Resubmit at American Sociological Review)

Rotolo, Michael. "Culture Beneath Discourse: An Ontology of Cognitive Cultural Entities." (Under Review)

Rotolo, Michael, and Raechel Kiesel*. "The Moral Dictionaries of American Young People: A Longitudinal Examination of Moral Foundations." (Draft in Progress) (*Undergraduate Student)

Rotolo, Michael. “America’s Moral Compass: The Search for a Good Life in the 21st Century.” (Book Manuscript in Progress)

Rotolo, Michael. “The Power of Belief or, More Specifically, ‘I Believe.’” (Analyzing Data)

Grants and Fellowships

• Graduate Student Research Award, ND Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, 2019. $1,196
• Research Grant, ND Center for the Study of Religion and Society, 2019. $2,350
• Leadership Advancing Socially Engaged Research (LASER) 2019-2020 Cohort, University of Notre Dame, 2019-2020. $500
• Engaging Young Adults Initiative Grant, Lilly Endowment Inc. & Sunnyside Presbyterian Church, 2018. $62,679
• Conference Presentation Grants, ND Center for the Study of Religion and Society, 2017-2019. $3,354.31 cumulatively
• Conference Presentation Grants, ND College of Arts and Letters, 2017-2019. $1,497.07 cumulatively
• University Presidential Fellowship, University of Notre Dame, 2016-2021. $29,000 annually

Awards and Honors

• Robert J. McNamara Student Paper Award, Association for the Sociology of Religion, “Moral Religiosities: How Morality Structures Religious Understandings during the Transition to Adulthood,” 2020
• William V. D’Antonio Award for Graduate Student Excellence in the Sociology of Religion, Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Notre Dame, 2020
• John J. Kane Memorial Award for Most Outstanding Graduate Student, Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame, 2019
• Student Paper Award Honorable Mention, American Sociological Association Section on the Sociology of Religion, "Religion Imagined: The Conceptual Substructures of American Religious Understandings," 2019
• Mary Ellen Konieczny Best Graduate Student Sociology of Religion Paper Award, Center for the Study of Religion and Society, "Religion Imagined: The Conceptual Substructures of American Religious Understandings," 2019
• Commencement Reader, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2016. Chosen by PTS President and Deans for representing the spirit of the Class of 2016

Other Writing

Michael Rotolo. 2020, April 8. “Could the Coronavirus be Good for the Church?” on Red Letter Christians.

Michael Rotolo. 2019, December 21. “Image Schemas: The Physics of Cultural Knowledge?” on Culture, Cognition, and Action (CultureCog) Blog.

Research Experience

Teaching Experience

Conference Presentations

October 23, 2020 — “Fight-or-Flight for America: Becoming a Christian Nationalist during the Transition to Adulthood,” Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting, originally scheduled for Pittsburgh, PA.

August 8, 2020 — "Culture Beneath Discourse: Theorizing the Properties and Relationships of Cognitive Cultural Entities," American Sociological Association Virtual Annual Meeting, originally scheduled for San Francisco, CA.

August, 2020 — “Fight-or-Flight for America: Becoming a Christian Nationalist during the Transition to Adulthood,” 82st Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, originally scheduled for San Francisco, CA.

October 25, 2019 — "America’s Four Religiosities: How Moral Orientations Structure Religious Practice During the Transition to Adulthood," Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.

August 12, 2019 — "Religion and Ultimate Concerns During the Transition to Adulthood: The Role of Values in Forming Religious Outlooks," 81st Annual Meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, New York, NY.

October 28, 2018 — "Imagining Religion: The Unconscious Substructures of American Religious Understandings," Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV.

August 13, 2018 — “Imagining Religion: An Image Schematic Approach to Cultural Cognition,” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.

October 27, 2017 — “Preparation for the Journey: The Role of Experience in Parent’s Religious Transmission Approaches,” Harvard Divinity School Ways of Knowing Graduate Conference on Religion, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

October 13, 2017 — “Measuring Religiousness: Conventional Measures vs. Self-Evaluation From Adolescence to Young Adulthood,” Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.

Invited Talks

March 5, 2020 — “Accompanying Young Adults,” Panelist, Lilly Engaging Young Adults Statewide Commencement Gathering, Indianapolis, IN.

February 5, 2020 — “Seeking the Good Life: The Moral Development of Young People in America,” Program Speaker, The South Bend Rotary Club, South Bend, IN.

February 2, 2020 — “The Subtext of Religious Parenting,” Book Talk, Sunnyside Presbyterian Church, South Bend, IN.

December 24, 2018 — “Holy Family,” A Reflection on My Research Pertaining to Present-Day Religion and Young People, First Baptist Church, Henderson, NC.

January 28, 2018 — “The Sacredness of Stories,” Lecture on Young Adults and Religion, Sunnyside Presbyterian Church, South Bend, IN

April 23, 2017 — “How We Are Similar and Why We Are Different: A Sociological Approach to Understanding Each Other.” Lecture on Personhood, Sunnyside Presbyterian Church, South Bend, IN.

Professional and University Service

Ad Hoc Reviewer: American Sociological Review, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

Other Service and Leadership

Other Employment and Experience

Professional Memberships