UConn 360: The UConn Podcast

November is Native American Heritage Month and the current research of assistant professor Kali Simmons examines the representation of Indigenous Peoples in contemporary American horror cinema. She is an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and joined the English and social & critical inquiry faculty in 2024. Kali is a graduate of Portland State University and has advanced degrees from t...

The Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation will be hosting its “Day of Discovery” on this week, which is an opportunity for UConn students to find out and explore what is available to them through Werth as part of their academic experience. Aaron Rosman is a program manager at Werth Institute Aaron and is a long-time member of the UConn community. He joins us on this episode...

The first week of October is Banned Books Week in the United States and our guest on this episode of the podcast is Kate Capshaw, a professor of English and social and critical inquiry at UConn. The American Library Association tracks book banning and reports that 4,235 titles were challenged in 2025 and 92 percent of those challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and de...

Ben Spaeth is the vice president of the UConn Ballroom Dance Club and joins us on this episode of the UConn 360 podcast. The club welcomes dancers of all experience levels and teaches a variety of ballroom dance styles through lessons, social dances, and competitions. Ballroom dance refers to a variety of partner dances across several different styles and speeds. Each dance has its own unique mood...

Laura Glitz is entering her second season as the women’s tennis coach at UConn and joins us on the podcast right after the conclusion of the U.S. Open. She knows all about that event as she played in all four Grand Slam events as a professional player. Laura was ranked among the top 300 singles players in the world and the top 90 in doubles. Following her pro career, she took up college coaching a...

This summer there has been a lot of buzz about the spotted lantern fly – they seem to be everywhere in Connecticut, from big cities to farms and gardens. Our guest on this episode of the podcast is Evan Lentz, an assistant educator at the UConn Extension. He gives us an explanation of how the spotted lantern fly became so prevalent in the state and the biggest dangers they present, hint: it has to...

Field hockey is one of the most tradition-filled sports here at UConn as the program has won five national championships.  Paul Caddy joins us on this episode of the podcast and is entering his seventh season as the head coach of the program. He was an assistant coach for 19 seasons prior to becoming the head coach and was part of three national championship staffs. Paul has led UConn to the NCAA...

With the issue of Cyclospora dominate this new summer and how it affects the safety of the lettuce we eat, we welcome Indu Upadhyaya to the podcast. Here at UConn, she leads the Food Safety Team in the College of Agriculture, Heath and Natural Resources. Her expertise includes food safety education for farmers, processors and consumers and safe food handling from farm to table, Indu is a native of...

Andy Horowtiz is our guest on this episode of the UConn 360 podcast. He is an associate professor of history at UConn and also serves as the Connecticut State Historian. Andy discusses with us the recent America 250 celebration and a series of historical signs he designed that describe Connecticut’s various roles in the Revolutionary War. He also writes a column in the publication Connecticut Expl...

Invasive plants are a serious ecological concern. Without natural predators, they push out native plants and the wildlife that depend on them. In Connecticut, there are more than 100 identified invasive plants. Members of UConn Extension’s Sustainable Landscape Program began the development of an invasive plant certificate program in 2024. In early 2026, the College of Agriculture, Health and Natu...

The Department of Journalism at UConn is the only nationally accredited journalism program in New England. Students learn to become intelligent, responsible, articulate journalists, and clear communicators in all forms of media through practical training and a liberal arts foundation. Marie Shanahan is the head of the department and is our guest on this episode. She began her career as a print rep...

A New York based costume designer, Sarita Fellows is an assistant professor of costume design in the School of Fine Arts at UConn. Sarita is very interested in events such as the Met Gala and looks at those events more as art than fashion design. Sarita was born in Sierra Leone, first experienced the stage while living in Uganda and has a master’s of fine arts in design from Tisch School of Design...

The Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, known as CCEI was established in 2007 as the first organized center to support entrepreneurship activity at UConn. CCEI leads initiatives focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, experiential learning, and economic development. It’s been recognized in the Princeton Review’s Top 50 Entrepreneurship Programs nationally and has supported mor...

Jason Candle joins us on this episode of the UConn 360 podcast and was named the football coach last December after completing a very successful 11- year tenure as the head coach at Toledo. He led the Rockets to a school-record 81 wins over that time with nine bowl appearances and 12 NFL Draft picks. Jason also served as an assistant coach at Toledo for seven years before becoming head coach and s...

Our guest this episode is Luisana Duarte Armendáriz, who is a doctoral student concluding her studies at UConn this spring. She is already an accomplish author of children’s literature and is a graduate assistant in the Creative Writing Program in the Department of English. She has had an incredible variety of experiences in her life, ranging from graphic designer to high school teacher to an acce...

The UConn men’s and women’s basketball teams are the talk of the sports world this week as both teams are head to the NCAA Final Four. This podcast is a media roundtable taking a look at the upcoming games in Indianapolis and Phoenix. We start with the long-time color announcer on the UConn Radio Network Wayne Norman and then we talked to four student journalists – Sam Calhoun and Matt Dimech, who...

Our guest on this episode is Pagie O’Keefe, who is the vice president of communications for HuskyTHON 2026. HuskyTHON is a year-long effort by UConn students to raise funds and awareness for Connecticut Children’s, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. This effort culminates in an 18-hour dance marathon that features thousands of Huskes. This year’s HuskyTHON dance marathon took place two weekend...

Jonelle Reynolds is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives here at UConn and brings a positive outlook to us on this episode of the podcast. She has been at UConn for over a decade and currently develops, manages, and supports culture, engagement, and inclusion strategies across the university. Jonelle’s work blends strategy and operations, identifying gaps in resources and training a...

Our guest on this episode is Dr. Jeffrey Hines, who leads the Office for Inclusion and Civil Rights for both UConn and UConn Health. The office ensures the University’s commitment and responsibility to foster equitable and inclusive working and learning environments. Jeff has an amazing background as he earned his undergraduate degree and medical degree from Brown University. He then did his resid...

Keith Bellizzi is a professor of gerontology in Human Development and Family Sciences here at UConn. He has spent the last two decades studying resilience, cancer survivorship, healthy aging, and behavioral change. Keith recently published a new book entitled “Falling Forward: The New Science of Resilience and Personal Transformation.” Bellizzi was diagnosed with cancer in his early 20s and has fa...

Eric Merkle is the long-time Bakery Manager for UConn Dining Services and oversees a staff of over 20 full-time bakers and student workers. The UConn Bakery produces thousands of muffins, cookies, and baked goods each week. The bakery starts each day at 3:30 a.m. – long before the rest of campus is awake. Eric studied bakery and pastry at the world-famous Culinary Institute of America. Each year,...

Happy New Year to all of our UConn 360 Podcast listeners. Women’s ice hockey coach Chris MacKenzie is our guest on this episode and his team is currently ranked fifth in the country. He is in his 13th year in charge of the Huskies and has led UConn to the Hockey East regular season championship in each of the past two years. Chris was the national coach of the year in 2024 as he led UConn to its f...

Our guest on the final UConn 360 podcast of the year is a familiar one to listeners of the Healthy Rounds radio show. Dr. Anthony Alessi of UConn Health is a neurologist specializing in general neurology, neuromuscular diseases, EMG and sports neurology and the long-time host of the show. It is moving to a podcast format in January and listeners can reach out to Dr. Alessi with questions at info@a...

Rob Landolphi is the Director of Culinary Development for UConn Dining Services. In his role, he and his team develop the menus to the over 200,000 meals served to students each week in Storrs. Rob joins us on his episode to talk about how student tastes have changed over the years and how everything from social media to the Cultural Centers on campus affects what is served in dining halls. For th...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, over half a million K-12 students in Connecticut had to rapidly pivot to remote and hybrid learning. Now, after five years, schools have reestablished their regular rhythms, and it’s easy to imagine that the pandemic’s effects on learning have subsided along with social-distancing and mask mandates. But unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many students. Our guest o...