The Frontman
Touring with UConn-formed band Parsonsfield (formerly Poor Old Shine) takes a back seat to reviving a shuttered iconic music venue for Chris Freeman ’12.
Category: Arts
Happy Birthday, Hip-Hop
History professor and hip-hop scholar Jeffrey Ogbar marks the genre’s 50th anniversary with a spin on “3 books,” sharing one classic, one favorite, and one essential rap album.
A Good Life
Noemi Zelanski Kearns ’89 (SFA) remembers the late renowned graphic artist Peter Good ’65 (SFA), the designer behind enduring work including the University’s oak leaf and the Hartford Whalers logo.
Unmasked
How a UConn puppeteer went from being the beer guy at Whole Foods to creating animatronics for the biggest theme parks, robotics for cinematic superheroes, and crazy-clever costumes for Masked Singers.
He Sells
Take a look at Dave DeLucia’s fascinating collection of shells, which he sells on eBay — not to be confused with the seashore.
Feel Your Best Self
Educators and puppets unite to teach kids about emotions.
Rage Against the Fashion Machine
The founder of UConn’s student-run clothing Swap Shop would like us all to take a moment to consider what is required to make a single cotton T-shirt.
“I’ll Take Mihir Nene for $27,000, Ken”
Recent alum Mihir Nene has joined the elite club of “Jeopardy!” champions.
The Secret Life of Dexter Gabriel — aka P. Djèlí Clark
In which the separate worlds of a sci-fi novelist and a history professor collide.
Walk This Way
An alum and Guggenheim Fellow whose art is about nature, adventure — and sneakers.
“The Wheels Are Part of the Dancing”
Beverly Weurding’s popular wheelchair dance program now includes Bollywood and hip-hop.
Fierce Woman: Micaela Levesque
Micaela Levesque ’17 (CLAS) has known that art was her calling since middle school.
And Now I Spill the UConn Secrets
The graphic memoir that’s getting so much attention for Margaret Kimball ’06 (SFA) had its beginnings in her UConn English course “Coming of Age in American Autobiography.”
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Lectures
The man behind those gorgeous campus photos on Instagram is a longtime UConn professor and wildlife biologist.
Love, Life, and the Miracle Movies of Oscar Guerra
Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Oscar Guerra wants to have a conversation about immigration. Not a policy debate or a campaign rally or, god forbid, a made-for-cable screaming match. But an honest and open talk about what it means to be a working-class Latinx immigrant in America in the 21st century.
We Are but Players
A lot has happened since Geoffrey Sheehan ’84 (SFA) and Laura Sheehan ’85 (SFA) put on “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” with a $300 budget in Hartford’s Bushnell Park.
Off Broadway
Stuart Brown, the recently retired director of student services at UConn Waterbury, moonlights as a theater critic, podcaster, and creator/host of the online radio broadcast “Sounds of Broadway,” which boasts 40,000 listeners a month.
Armchair Travel to India, Israel, and Spain
Executive director of UConn Hillel Edina Oestreicher ’90 (CLAS) plans to hike the 500-plus-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain. But first, she’ll read about it.
Nightclub Confidential
Matt Smith ’92 (CLAS) was in trouble. He had a full house, it was approaching 9 p.m., and he still hadn’t heard from his headliner.
Our American Girls
What do you do with a history doctorate and a pop culture obsession? If you’re these two alums, you create a hit podcast centering on ’90s nostalgia.
Truth, Fantasy, and Getting in the Zone
UConn’s fire chief, William Perez, has decidedly eclectic taste in reading material.
The Grouch’s Girlfriend
Meet Grundgetta, the Grouch’s forever girlfriend.
Forever Stamps of Forgotten Breeds
A new pane of USPS stamps features photos of pre-industrial farm breeds by Aliza Eliazarov.
Professor’s Pride
Poli sci professor Christine Sylvester catches up with former student Timothy Bussey, author of “Freedom to Serve: The Definitive Guide to LGBTQ Military Service.”
Keeping Students Crafty
Sommer and her colleagues are using their teaching skills in the war against Covid-19 by bringing virtual arts to students.
Making the World More Poetic
Where some poets turn ever inward, Marilyn (Waniek) Nelson turns outward, and there is compassion in every line she writes.
Lauren Stowell ’06 (CLAS)
Among the documentaries this alum has made for ESPN is the recent fan favorite, “Tiger Woods, America’s Son.”
The Key of Life
“I didn’t realize research could be going out and gathering people’s stories,” says singer Brianna Chance ’23 (SFA).
Inspiration
He helps them improve their interviewing, reporting, writing, and photography skills. In turn, says professor Scott Wallace, his students remind him how much the profession of journalism matters.
Art Alfresco
Avery Point’s Open Air by Night exhibits drew film and video submissions from artists not just in Connecticut, but around the world.
Married to the Arts, Engineering — and Each Other
Long before a new institute at UConn bore their name, Donna Samson ’84 (SFA) and John Krenicki ’84 (ENG) were juniors living in McMahon Hall.
The Art of Flotsam and Jetsam
Elizabeth Ellenwood ’20 MFA, a recent Fulbright recipient, turns beachcombing into advocate art.
On the CW
Adetinpo Thomas ’15 MA is happy to be acting in Atlanta.
Craned
“The Arc” has a new home.
Midtown Funk
From a European tour to Madison Square Garden, the Funky Dawgz Brass Band is on a serious roll.
tiny
The Lilliputian Landscapes of Judy (Hall) Robinson-Cox ’71 (SFA) shine a spotlight on small.
The Shape of Storrs
Geology professor Robert Thorson says UConn is UConn because glacial ice slid by 20,000 years ago and shaped the landscape that today includes our iconic Horsebarn Hill.
We Are the Champions
“Curiosity is key” is the motto that took Ben Curtis ’06 (CLAS) from interning with the New York Yankees his senior year to celebrating at the Oscars.
Game of Chairs
This year’s ubiquitous “GOT” conversation gets a nod at the William Benton Museum of Art with a show of 13 chairs by contemporary artists.
3 Books with Mo Cotton Kelly
Montique “Mo” Cotton Kelly says she never tires of the joy that “cracking open a new book, smelling it, and turning the pages” brings her.
Show Runner
Jenn Suozzo ’99 (CLAS) was named executive producer of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” last fall. The former dancer says she directs each episode as if it were a ballet.
Master Class
Grammy-winning composer Kenneth Fuchs shares with students the lessons he’s learned from industry giants — and from his beloved high school band director.
3 Books with Daniel Burkey
The last millennium, the next millennium, and outer space
Alexandra Eckhardt ’11 (ED, SFA)
She is not throwing away her shot
Beetle Bailey loves UConn
Cartoonist, Bill Janocha’s nods to UConn in 2016, 2017, and 2018
The Shape of Water
Ned Kahn sculpts with nature
3 books with Sandra Chafouleas
Dogs, Kids, and Blind Spots
Julie’s Uncle
Making connections through the new UConn 360 podcast
UConn to House Maurice Sendak Archive
Original art from our country’s leading children’s book illustrator will be housed, and available to researchers, at UConn
Dan Rousseau Lights It Up
On the CNN set with Emmy winner and alum Dan Rousseau
Drew Cole ’14 (CLAS)
UConn Alum rocks “The Voice”
Serenade
Listen as the UConn Choirs tour Europe
A “Brainpower Job”
Alum Michael Bradford’s Highly Unlikely Path to Heading UConn’s Dramatic Arts Department
“It’s time to write, to read, and to drive with the top down.”
The English professor and humorist, Gina Barreca discusses writing about those we love, and shares an excerpt from her new book: If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?
50 Years of the Benton
In honor of The Benton’s anniversary, we present highlights from favorite visiting exhibitions and examples of pieces added to the permanent collection, one for each year from 1967 to 2016.
Jackie Burns is Back on Broadway
For Burns ’02 (SFA), it’s easy being green — as Elphaba in “Wicked.”
3 Books with Geno Auriemma
What is the longtime WBB head coach reading?
Bobby Moynihan ’99 (SFA)
We talk with the “Saturday Night Live” vet who’s one of UConn’s most famous alums.
Shakespeare’s Folio: What these eight alums’ dreams are made of
Think sports tournaments are grueling? Try performing in three different shows playing three different roles on three different stages in one day!
Band Camp
What happens during those 12 days in September?
Keys to the Kingdom
See and hear our new Steinways and get a behind-the-scenes tour of the Steinway factory.
The Real McCoys
Producing a film about rumrunner Bill McCoy led these married alums to make and market a Prohibition-style rum that’s the real McCoy.
The Clothes Make the Ogre
At CRT, UConn’s dramatic arts students get the chance to act alongside professionals.
Micki McElya a Pulitzer Finalist
Kudos Micki McElya a Pulitzer Finalist Associate History Professor Micki McElya’s book, The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery (Harvard University Press), was named a 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist for General Nonfiction. In its citation, the Pulitzer Prize committee called her work “a luminous investigation of how policies and practices at Arlington National […]
“In Russia, you simply couldn’t be a writer if you were Jewish”
Assistant professor and acclaimed novelist Ellen Litman talks about her childhood in Russia and her life in Connecticut.
We All Scream
Remember This? We All Scream This photo of students processing ice cream at The Creamery predates the opening of the Dairy Bar in 1955, says Sara Putnam, director of communications at the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources. UConn has been processing milk in one way or another since the early 1900s. Recently the […]