UConn 360: The UConn Podcast

Professor of puppet arts Matthew Isaac Cohen has laid hands on each of the 23,000 puppets that comprise the largest Indonesian puppet collection in the world. Over the last eight years, he has researched the Dr. Walter Angst and Sir Henry Angest Collection of Indonesian Puppets at the Yale University Art Gallery, Cohen has taken great care with each of the artifacts, some hundreds of years old. He joins us on the podcast to talk ab...

UConn is known for many things – great academics, championship sports …. and the world’s great ice cream (in our humble opinion!). Joining us on this edition of the podcast is Bill Sciturro, who is the manger of the UConn creamery that is responsible for making the ice cream that is sold at the UConn Dairy Bar. Bill tells us a little bit about the history of ice cream making at UConn and what flavors are the most popular. He has an...

When somebody scrolls through the top product categories on Amazon odds are some 60% of the brands for sale will be ones you’ve never heard of before. That poses a challenge for marketers looking for their brands to be chosen among the many options, including familiar ones. UConn marketing professor Danielle Brick has researched how novel brands can make inroads in a very crowded marketplace and it has been published in the Journal...

UConn’s nationally-renowned Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health promotes solutions to food insecurity, poor diet quality, and weight bias through research and policy. Marlene Schwartz is the director of the Rudd Center and joins us on the podcast. She is also a professor of Human Development and Family Studies. Marlene talks about how the Rudd Center performs research and advocates on these various issues. She also gives parents...

Robert Bird, a professor of business law in UConn’s School of Business, has a new book out -  “Legal Knowledge in Organizations: A Source of Strategic and Competitive Advantage.” Bird tells us that most companies believe that lawyers and legal knowledge are only necessary to avoid breaking the law or getting stuck in a lawsuit. Legal knowledge, however, is much more valuable than that and can be a source of competitive advantage fo...

John Toribio is a doctoral student at UConn in polymer chemistry – and is the first student to join us in this current format of the UConn 360 podcast. In addition to his studies, he is the CEO and CTO of Zemi Labs, (zemilabs.com), which is a start-up company creating smart clothing for comprehensive health and fitness. The company creates wearable garments that provide real-time relevant analytics about human bio-mechanical data, ...

It is March, which means Saint Patrick’s Day and Irish-American Heritage Month in the United States. Here at UConn, Mary Burke is a professor in the Department of English and oversees the Irish Literature Concentration. She joins us on this episode of the UConn 360 podcast to talk about Irish studies on campus and her background as a scholar and professor. Mary explains the origins of the holiday back in Ireland and some of her own...

Former UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun won three national championships for the Huskies, but the relationship he has with players goes well beyond in the court. Calhoun has recently finished his third book - “More Than a Game: How the UConn Dynasty Was Built on a Culture of Caring” – which he co-authored with sportswriter Dom Amore. The book takes a look at Calhoun’s relationships with a number of former players from all h...

Jennifer Fields is an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at UConn and recently published a study about high school athletes and their lack of knowledge in nutrition. Fields knew that college student-athletes often turned to unscientific outlets, like social media, for nutritional information in the absence of formal education. Given this, she became interested in seeing if similar patterns existed for high school athletes....

Husky baseball coach Jim Penders joins this edition of the UConn 360 podcast as he enters his 22nd season guiding this historic program. He is just the fifth coach to guide the team in the past 100 years and Penders talks about the responsibilities that carries. The Penders family has deep baseball and athletic roots in Connecticut and nationally, which inspires him every day. He has spent 33 of the past 35 years as part of the “Ho...

There are many ways that UConn impacts the citizens of Connecticut beyond its obvious academic mission. The Connecticut Transportation Institute is one of the outlets and it is led by director and associate research professor Eric Jackson. The institute serves to advance the maintenance and enhancement of transportation systems and safety, with a particular focus on Connecticut’s current and future needs. Eric joins us on the UConn...

Anna Mae Duane is the director of the UConn Humanities Institute and is currently coordinating a year-long series of events to address the feeling of loneliness that some college students have. Anna was inspired to do this when she received a letter from a UConn student who had given up on companionship. Anna talks about events that happened in the fall semester and some that are planned for the spring....

UConn is the home to the oldest planetarium in the state of Connecticut as it was originally built in 1954. The facility underwent extensive renovations in 2023-24, led by the efforts of assistant professor of physics in residence Matt Guthrie. Guthrie worked with a number of different areas of campus on the project, which includes a new projector, new seating and a surround sound system. The building has also been renamed in honor...

It’s the start of the holiday season and people are getting ready to celebrate all kinds of traditions. Associate professor of anthropology Dimitris Xygalatas joins the UConn 360 podcast to talk about his research in why rituals and events like holidays are so important to the human experience. Dimitris has performed research all over the world on this topic and explains why in-person events are even more crucial with the rise of s...

Jason Lee, an associate professor in the College of Engineering at UConn, has wanted to travel into space since he was a child. He got a chance to do that for 45 days – without ever leaving earth! For 45 days, Lee, lived in NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog habitat at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, participating in a simulated journey to Mars. He and three others operated in a constrained environment, completing mission-cri...

UConn is known around the country for great academics, championship basketball and the greatest ice cream you can find. Now, award-winning cheese can be added to that list! Cheeses produced at UConn’s Creamery have recently won major awards in national and regional contests, including winning a first prize at the American Cheese Society Annual Judging and Competition. Dennis D’Amico, associate professor of animal science, joins us ...

Coach Tom Moore is entering his 20th season (during two stints) on the UConn men’s basketball coach staff and has been part of four national championships with the Huskies. He has been involved in college basketball at every level – a head coach in Division I and III and an assistant coach in Division I and II. He talks to us about the similarities, and differences, between Dan Hurley and Jim Calhoun and what it is like coaching in...

Alan Marcus is a professor in UConn’s Neag School of Education and among his areas of focus is global education with an emphasis on the Holocaust and teaching difficult history. Last year, he led a program at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs that Taught lessons about the Holocaust and larger issues of identity. The program, which was also offered to local members of the community, consisted of interactive experiences with Holocaust...

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 ...