UConn 360: The UConn Podcast

Episode 122: Meet Our Dean of Students

Fany DeJesus Hannon serves as the Dean of Students and absolutely loves her job…and UConn students. A native of Honduras, she embraces her Latino heritage and applies it to how she and her office help Huskies succeed. The Dean of Students office works with virtually every area of campus to help undergraduates get the most of their college experience. Fany looks at college as a “family business” and encourages parents and guardians to be active participants at UConn. She has been part of the UConn family for 18 years and is the former director of the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center. Fany even told us the Latino cuisine she like to eat when she visits her family in Florida!

Episode 121: Helping Huskies Earn Scholarship and Fellowships

It’s the second week of classes on all of UConn campuses and our guest on this week’s UConn 360 podcast is busier than ever. Vin Moscardelli is the director of the Office of National Scholarships & Fellowships, which helps identify students for such honors as the Rhodes, Fulbright, Truman and Udall programs. Moscaredelli’s office guides students through the application process and has some great stories about how some scholars have found out they are winners.  Moscardelli also tells us about his background and his time as a political science professor and what that is like during this time of political division. He’s also a huge college sports fan and we talk about his favorites!

Episode #120: A Real Pain in the Knee

Neal Glaviano is an assistant professor at UConn in the Department of Kinesiology and serves as the clinical education coordinator for the master’s in athletic training program. He works with a number of areas on campus ranging from athletics to ROTC. Neal joins us in this episode and talks about treatments for knee pain for everyone from college athletes to members of the military to weekend warriors. He explained how a shoulder injury sustained as a high school football player first got him interested in athletic training. Neal also provides advice to parents on how their child can try to avoid injuries and how playing a variety of sports growing up is helpful.

Episode 119: A Firefighter for UConn... and Beyond

UConn Deputy Fire Chief Chris Renshaw is involved in virtually every aspect of campus life. He is a key part of the Division of University Safety whose mission is to make sure the entire campus community is safe on a day-to-day basis. Chris is also heavily involved in special occasions like a Presidential visit and sporting events. When he’s not keeping UConn safe, he’s been known to travel around the country for the safety of others as he helps battle large forest fires. He also chatted with us about the long and proud history of the UConn Fire Department and how rare it is for a University to have its own department.

 

Episode 118: Researching the Arctic

UConn faculty have performed research all over the globe, but few have gone to a more remote place than professor of marine science Penny Vlahos. Vlahos, along with two other UConn researchers, travelled to the Arctic in May of 2023 to gather samples from sea ice that is expected to be extinct by 2040 and gather clues about our future without it. She shares details about the logistics of traveling to that region of the world and stories of other research trips she has taken around the globe. Vlahos also talks about what she likes to do in her free time, including baking bread!

Episode 117: Hittin’ the Links with Coach Pezzino

UConn golf coach Dave Pezzino has been on campus for 17 seasons and has led the elevation of the program to the national scene. He joins us on the latest version of the UConn 360 podcast to talk about that climb and what it is like to be part of the overall Husky culture. Coach Pezzino also gives us some insight on his experience playing alongside Tiger Woods one day, what it is like to be the father of two pairs of twins and what UConn 360 co-host Izzy Harris should concentrate on the next time she hits the driving range!

Episode 116: The New Kids…and Children’s Lit

The UConn 360 podcast is back…with some new co-hosts. Izzy Harris and Mike Enright of University Communications have taken over the reins of UConn 360 and hope to live up the high standards of information and entertainment provided by colleagues Tom Breen and Julie Bartucca. In this first (or 116^th) episode, Izzy and Mike introduce themselves to the audience and then are joined by Professor Victoria Ford Smith of the Department of English, who is an expert on classic children’s literature, Robert Louis Stevenson and a slew of other topics.

Goodbye - or Maybe Au Revoir?

After six years, 115 episodes, two national awards, and countless memories that will last a lifetime, UConn 360 is going on indefinite hiatus. Does this mean you'll never again hear from the only podcast known to science that covers the University of Connecticut from every conceivable angle? Probably not! Who knows? The future is unwritten, as Tom's favorite band once observed. So put on your best UConn sweater, scoop yourself a bowl of Dairy Bar ice cream, and join us for a stroll down memory lane as we bid adieu - for now - to what we once advertised on UConn buses as "the only podcast in the world." 

The Politics of Wild Weather

From raging wildfires in Canada to record rainfall in New York City to an out-of-nowhere hurricane slamming into Mexico, 2023 has been yet another year with abundant evidence that our weather is getting harder to predict - and disasters harder to manage - as the planet continues to heat. Talbot Andrews, assistant professor of political science, focuses on how institutions, public policy, and the physical environment shape preferences and behavior related to climate change. She uses a combination of experiments, public opinion data, and formal theory to answer questions such as: When do people believe in climate change? When are they willing to support climate change mitigation policies? 

She sat down with UConn 360 to talk about extreme weather and public policy, and, while it's a sobering topic, delivers an optimistic message.

After that, UConn 360 travels back to 1989, to discover what it means to be a Suitcase Campus. 

How Hip Hop Conquered the World

This year marks the 50th anniversary of hip hop, which emerged from block parties in the South Bronx to become the dominant form of popular music in the United States and beyond. How did this unlikely underdog story happen? What kind of changes to the music and culture have taken place over five decades? What do you do when Chuck D from Public Enemy keeps giving you the brushoff? To answer these questions and more, there's no one better qualified than Professor of History Jeffrey Ogbar, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music and author of the award-winning book, “Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap." In one of the most fun and wide-ranging conversations in the illustrious history of UConn 360, he lends his insights into how this vital expression of the Black experience in the US became the dominant mode of popular music, and why it remains urgent and fresh after 50 years.

 

After that, Tom and Julie journey back to the late 1970s to learn about how UConn was responding to the energy crisis: with chilly buildings, solar panels, and carpools that made lifelong friendships.