Writer

Kenneth Best

Ken Best served as editor of UCONN Magazine for 10 years. He is a co-host of the UConn 360 Podcast. He previously covered news and sports in Connecticut for The New York Times, edited the Weekend section for the Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time, wrote arts and culture stories syndicated by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service and was the media coordinator for Yale-New Haven Hospital. During the summer of 2015 he hosted “Walking a Blues Road,” a weekly program on WHUS in Storrs based on the holdings of the Samuel and Ann Charters Archives of Blues and Vernacular African-American Musical Culture at UConn’s Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. He is the author of Eight Days a Week: An Illustrated Record of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Pomegranate Books).

Author Archive

Lara Herscovitch '95 MSW moved from social work to traveling the world playing music, but says it's all part of a continuum.

UConn-Trained Social Worker Became ‘Highway Philosopher’ Through Her Music

Lara Herscovitch '95 MSW describes her journey from social work to touring the world as a musician.

July 31, 2020 | Kenneth Best

The Dover Quartet, which will perform three live, online concerts for the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on July 14, July 21, and July 28

Jorgensen Center Debuts Digital Stage with ‘Midsummer Music’ Series

UConn's Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts launches a live, digital concert series starting July 14, 2020.

July 13, 2020 | Kenneth Best

A handwritten ledger from the 18th century

UConn Library, School of Engineering to Expand Handwritten Text Recognition

The UConn Library and the School of Engineering are working to unlock handwritten works from history for contemporary scholars.

July 9, 2020 | Jean Nelson '04 MS, The UConn Library

Research & Discovery
View of United Nations forces, traveling in trucks, crossing the 38th parallel as they withdraw from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, 1950. (Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images)

UConn Expert Sees Tensions Rising on 70th Anniversary of Korean War

On the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, UConn's Alexis Dudden says prospects for a genuine peace on the peninsula are deeply uncertain.

June 25, 2020 | Kenneth Best

Unearthing Evidence of More Sophisticated Manufacturing in the Bronze Age

A UConn Humanities Institute Fellow's work took him to a region of the Middle East where he found evidence of complex manufacturing and trade from the Bronze Age.

June 24, 2020 | Kenneth Best

Antiwar protesters in 1965 stand to the left of a counter-demonstrator with a sign reading "The Only Good Communist is a Dead Communist."

Race, Far-Right Politics Had Large Role in Shaping U.S. Cold War Policies

A UConn scholar says domestic politics played a larger than recognized role in shaping US foreign policy during the Cold War.

June 22, 2020 | Kenneth Best

A picture of UConn Stamford at night, with cars driving by, leaving streaks of light behind them.

UConn Stamford Student Leader Is Phi Beta Kappa Public Service Scholar

The president of the Student Government Association at UConn Stamford is one of just 20 students in the country to win a prestigious public service scholarship.

June 16, 2020 | Kenneth Best

"The Presentation," a 19th century painting depicting a celebration for the first black Union Army soldiers from New York as they set off for battle in New Orleans.

UConn Professor Tells How Sons of Slaves Overcame Obstacles to Pursue Education

UConn's Anna Mae Duane discusses two African American men whose antebellum lives ask a still-relevant question: What does it mean to be American?

June 3, 2020 | Kenneth Best

Musician Little Richard performs on the recording studio at a microphone and piano in circa 1959.

UConn Historian Considers the Legacy of Little Richard, Architect of Rock ‘n’ Roll

UConn historian Jeffrey Ogbar discusses the career and legacy of pioneering rock 'n' roll artist Little Richard.

May 28, 2020 | Kenneth Best

Dr. Mervyn F. Silverman, Director Of Health for the City and County of San Francisco, displays poster and leaflets during the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Looking at the Social Side of COVID-19 Through HIV Research

UConn researchers say the HIV/AIDS epidemic offers important lessons for confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.

May 18, 2020 | Kenneth Best