UConn 360: The UConn Podcast

Dig This Episode, Literally! (Well, Not Literally)

This week, UConn Humanities Institute Fellow Siavash Samei '19 PhD tells us about his work on archaeological digs in what used to be Mesopotamia, we learn about a class so good students deliberately flunked so they could take it again, and we almost forget to brag about an award. 

A Nation in Turmoil

With marches and protests in small towns and big cities across the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by Minneapolis police officers, we convened a panel of UConn faculty members affiliated with the Africana Studies Institute to help us understand the events unfolding across the nation and the world. Joining us are Melina Pappademos, associate professor of history and Africana Studies and director of the institute; Sean Salvant, associate professor of English and Africana Studies; Bede Agocha, assistant professor in residence of psychological sciences and Africana Studies; and David Embrick, associate professor of sociology and Africana Studies. 

Awopbopaloopbop AlopbamUConn

This week, Professor Jeffrey Ogbar talks about the art and lasting influence of Little Richard, and we journey back to the 1940s, when a professor was on trial for suspected anti-American sympathies.

The Graduate

This week we bid a bittersweet farewell to Maxine Philavong, who graduated from UConn on May 9. We also talk with Prof. Nu-Ahn Tran about her work in archives that shed new light on the origins of the Vietnam War, and learn about a week that convulsed the university in 1970.

Gamers, Graduates, 'Husky Farm Girls'

This week, we check in with students who are building a Minecraft graduation for UConn seniors and we learn about life on campus in 1905 from the perspective of an original member of the women's basketball team. 

Anatomically Correct Squids

There's still a lockdown, we're still recording from four socially distant locations, and we're still bringing the high heat: this week, Prof. Sarah McAnulty talks to us about adorable squids and the genesis of the Skype-a-Scientist initiative, and we visit Maxine's History Corner to learn what UConn students were forbidden to do during the 1918-1920 flu pandemic (hint: pouches were involved).

Coronavirus Exile: Week One

This week we come to you from four different towns across the great state of Connecticut, where the global pandemic has deposited us for the time being. We also hear from professor and landscape photographer Janet Pritchard about the Guggenheim Fellowship she won to document the Connecticut River watershed in photography, and we learn about the previous times when UConn was forced to cancel graduation ceremonies. Wash your hands and join us! 

The Great Storrs Air Raid

This week, we speak with Prof. Lucy Gilson about the ways in which business and research go together; we hear about how the Guerrilla Girls changed the way we think about art; and we look back on a very patriotic series of fires on the Storrs campus. 

Keep On Truckin'

This week, we learn about a student's innovative initiative to promote composting at UConn; we get a glimpse at an exhibition of work by the underground comics artist R. Crumb; and we ask ourselves if they built the library without calculating the weight of books (answer: this did not happen). 

Radio Free UConn

This week, we learn about the UConn Woodsmen, one of the most distinctive and interesting student groups on campus; Prof. Christopher Vials tells us why a new anthology on the history of anti-fascism is so timely; and we meet early radio pioneer Dan Noble, and ponder the call letters of UConn's first radio station.