The Ampersand

Over our years, we've collected quite the stories of A&S students at the University of Colorado Boulder living out the alchemy of ANDing. Their experiences perpetually nudge what we suppose our stude…

Tenacity is often portrayed as acting with a confident, if insensible inevitability. Characters like Creed's Donnie Johnson, Selena and even Jack Sparrow of The Pirates of the Caribbean barrel into a…

Coming as soon as that tantalizing ice cream truck jingle, we are deep in production of The Ampersand's third season. So that you need not waste time deciding between your favorite desserts, we've pu…

Yes, this trailer for season two of The Ampersand is nine months late. But, like the Scotch that inspired Erika and Producer Tim to match the guests to their ideal labels, this one is worth the wait.

For The Ampersand’s final episode of season two, we have the joy of interviewing Dr. Reiland Rabaka, professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and director of the Center for A…

Fear of failing stops many of us from tackling curiosities or opening doors on new adventures, but what if we could live without that anxiety of falling from heights? For today's guest, Rachel Suter,…

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (a rabbit hole courtesy of today's guest Camden Sharkey) defines sonder as "the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your o…

On The Ampersand, we love to highlight stories of people who bring together their widest interests, research and making. In most cases, these disparate facets of being shine from our brightest sides—…

How do you pass your values on to those you love? Or live out those same values in your workplace?

On today's episode, Bernadette Stewart, assistant dean of people, engagement and culture at the Univ…

On The Ampersand, we take pride in the ground each episode covers. Today's guest, though, sets a high standard for the breadth through which we can meander in 30 minutes. Mathias Nordvig is a teachin…

Today's guest, Mikayla Huffman, is pursuing a PhD in astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Huffman's research delves into numerical modeling of impacts onto icy …

What happens when you not only collaborate on a project, but you also meet your creative work and research bestie?

The result, in the case of today's guests, is We Are Coming, a project by Yumi Janai…

At what point does the drive for positivity become toxic? This week’s guest, June Gruber, studies moments that people deny themselves the full complexity of their emotions in order to try and stay ha…

We're back! Our lovely listening ANDers made season one such a huge success that we're spending this summer recording seasons two and three of The Ampersand! While we're hanging out at Interplay Reco…

Sammy Ramsey’s interests have always been wide, but many mentors told him to keep those passions private and choose one professional lane. On The Ampersand’s final episode of season one, Ramsey, who …

Why is it challenging to tell our stories, even when we are deeply passionate about the subject matter? On today’s episode of The Ampersand, Sarah Sohkey, an associate professor of political science …

On The Ampersand, we highlight stories of people who dive into their interests. Equally important is the way we tell our stories. Today’s guest is Aliya Trapp, an undergraduate student at the Univers…

When Christopher Lowry told us there is correlation between the number of plants you eat and emotional well-being, we stopped. Lowry, who is an associate professor of integrative physiology at the Un…

A mid-career pivot is terrifying enough, but what if you decided on a new interest midway through your PhD’s field research? That’s part of Karen Bailey’s story, who is today’s guest on The Ampersand…

How do you talk to your kids about their interests? For kids who become college students, that conversation often affects the major they choose first—a process that many worry abound in implications …