Campus Events

Category: Campus Events

Welcome Week 2018 Events

Image of a map on display and Welcome Week, one of our favorite weeks of the year, is coming up soon! We’re hosting or taking part in all kinds of events to welcome new students along with families and friends to campus.

Below is a lineup of the major events! In addition to these, we’ll also be meeting with sports teams and Waseda students!

Tuesday, September 4th

Resources Fair, 11:30 am to 1 pm (Campus Center): Be sure to visit your soon-to-be friends from the Mudd Library at our table.

Parents, Family & Friends Library Drop-In, 1 pm to 3 pm: While new students are off doing activities, come to the library and make yourselves comfortable, wander around, grab a magazine or newspaper, relax in the Milwaukee-Downer Room, use our wireless, and sip some coffee or tea. Enjoy our library!

Thursday, September 6th

Welcome to the Mudd Open House, 9 am to 12 pm: Stop by the Mudd and meet the people who can help you succeed. Not only can you find out about the library (both online and offline), take a tour, and enjoy some food—you can build with Legos, make origami bookmarks, play on the Wii, and more! It’s both fun and educational—and you can’t beat that.

Friday, September 7th

Getting to know the library presentations and tours, beginning at 1:30. Get off to the best start by learning all about what the Mudd Library can do to help you succeed. Each session will last approximately 20 minutes. Come to as many as you’d like!

  • 1:30 pm, What’s the Mudd
  • 1:50 pm, Tour the Mudd
  • 2:00 pm Scores and CDs and Streaming, oh my!
  • 2:30 pm, What’s the Mudd?
  • 2:50 pm, Tour the Mudd
  • 3 pm Scores and CDs and Streaming, oh my!
  • 3:30 pm, What’s the Mudd?
  • 3:50 pm, Tour the Mudd
  • 4:00 pm, Scores and CDs and Streaming, oh my!

Read the whole schedule on the Welcome Week events page. Want to know more about the library, visit our welcome students page.

Welcome the Lawrence University, new students! We’re looking forward to meeting you!

 

History of the Book Exhibit

Here at The Mudd we love books – we acquire them, we organize them, we help students engage with them everyday – but it’s rare that we get the chance to truly reflect on how books have shaped and been shaped by the course of history. However, we are lucky enough to host an exhibit created entirely by Lawrence students as apart of Prof. Garth Bond’s class “History of the Book”. Under the guidance of Professor Bond and librarian Jill Thomas, several Lawrence student’s engaged critically with selections from our special collection to examine how the role of books have changed throughout time and suggest perhaps how we have changed with them.

Topics range from Catherine Stowe and Harriet Beecher Stowes’ 1869 guide The American Woman’s Home: or Principles of Domestic Science to Artist Books to an analysis of 15th century Christian books. The exhibit, featuring the work of students Sara Armstrong, Allison Brooks-Conrad, Rufino C. Cacho, Anna Cohen, Yarely Covarrubias, and Hanwenheng (Billy) Liu will be up until January 15th. This exhibit is a special opportunity to view some pieces from our special collections in person outside of the Milwaukee Downer room, so be sure to stop by the Mudd before then. For those of you who want to spend some more time with these pieces, selections are digitized in the database Artstor under Selections from Special Collections, Seeley G, Mudd Library. Photographs of the exhibit are available in the History of the Books album.

      These precious books alongside the work of our students provide great insight into the lasting impact books have not only in our own lives but also in the lives of those who lived long before us and surely those who will live long after we’re gone.

Welcome, Andrew Solomon!

         Everyone at the Mudd is very excited for the upcoming convocation by  Andrew Solomon, a writer, lecturer, and activist. Solomon’s work explores everything from psychology to LGBTQIA+ rights. In addition to being a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University Medical Center and the President of PEN American Center, he is also an accomplished author. Solomon has written several books including, The Noonday Demon : An Atlas of Depression which received the 2001 National Book Award. His most recent book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, for which his convocation address is named, explores issues associated with parenting exceptional children and ultimately concludes that its diversity that unites us all.

Andrew Solomon’s insightful works are available at the Mudd and can be found in the library catalog. Solomon is also a renowned speaker, having giving multiple TED Talks, including: “Love No Matter What“, “Depression, The Secret We Share“, and “How the Worst Moments in Our Life Make us Who We Are“.

We look forward to seeing you at the convocation on Thursday, February 2nd at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel- and in the Mudd if you need any help at all!

Update: View the recorded convocation on the Lawrence University Livestream.

The Mudd Welcomes Natasha Trethewey to Lawrence!

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Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey will be at Lawrence November 1.

The Seeley G. Mudd Library is pleased to welcome poet Natasha Trethewey to Lawrence!

You can read more about Natasha and her work at the Poetry Foundation. Ms. Trethewey is also a professor at Emory University. Check out the links provided to learn more about her numerous accomplishments and honors.

The library has many of Natasha’s works available in our collection, including:

Native guard

Beyond Katrina : a meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Bellocq’s Ophelia : poems

Domestic work : poems

Black nature : four centuries of African American nature poetry

In addition, we’ve created a display featuring her poetry for your reading pleasure. Stop by the library to enjoy an assortment of Ms. Trethewey’s work before what is sure to be an interesting and thought-provoking convocation.

Natasha Trethewey’s talk, titled “The Muse of History: On Poetry and Social Justice,” will take place on Tuesday, November 1, at 11:10 am in the Chapel.  We’ll see you there!

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Stop by the Mudd to read some of Natasha Trethewey’s work!

Fiber Arts in the Library

Do you enjoy knitting, crocheting, and other fiber arts? Along with members of the library staff, the Lawrence University Fiber Arts Club will be meeting in the library on Tuesdays and Thursday at 5 p.m. All members of the Lawrence community who are interested in joining in a group of fiber arts enthusiasts are welcome!

So all of you avid and novice knitters, crocheters, brocheters, embroiderers, needle workers, etc., bring your yarn, thread, needles, hooks, fabric, and whatever else (or just your curiosity for learning a new craft) and join in!

When & Where: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on the first floor of the library.

Spread the word!

The Mudd Welcomes Lan Samantha Chang to Lawrence!

Spring term finals are over and the hustle and bustle of students writing, reading and concentrating intently in the busy, buzzing library has given way to quiet stillness.

This can only mean one thing: Commencement is just a few days away!

If you’re as excited as we are about Lan Samantha Chang delivering this year’s commencement address, you’re in luck. We’ve created a display featuring all three of the Appleton native’s novels.

The display also features The Workshop: Seven Decades of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop – 43 Stories, Recollections, & Essays on Iowa’s Place in Twentieth-Century American Literature. This book is a compilation of works created by participants in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, of which Chang is the current director.

If you’re wondering what to do with the several days before commencement, stop by the Mudd and check out some of Chang’s work before she arrives.

While you’re here you can catch up on some current news, watch a movie, read a magazine or novel (Chang’s are available!), work on a puzzle or just hang out. (You know, all of the things you’ve been daydreaming about doing since spring break ended.)

Thanks for a fabulous academic year, everyone, and congratulations to our graduating seniors!

Join us as we welcome Lan Samantha Chang back to Appleton.

 

Lawrence’s Own Makerspace!

Have you heard about the new Lawrence University Interdisciplinary Makerspace for Engaged Learning? It is an exciting space for hands-on learning and creation, located on the first floor of the Mudd Library. A makerspace is any space that encourages making, tinkering, and creativity. Some are focused more on technology, some on manufacturing, some on building, and some on crafting. Our space is a little of each of those with an academic focus. The LU makerspace includes two 3D printers, a desktop 3D scanner, a handheld 3D scanner, an electronic cutter, a sewing machine, and supplies for painting and making collages (learn more on our guide). The space also houses the digital conversion lab.

Instructional Technologist Arno Damerow, Reference Librarian Angela Vanden Elzen, and Associate Professor of Chemistry Dave Hall oversee the daily use of the space, work with students and classes, and plan makerspace events and speakers.  A large group of Lawrence faculty and staff, including Anna Simeth from the Development office, contributed to the grant proposal to the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) that allowed for the purchase of much of the equipment.

Read more about how this great space came to be (thanks to help from our friends in Technology Services, Facility Services, and Provost Dave Burrows), read about assignments, and view documentation on the makerspace website. Keep up with recent news and uses of the space with the makerspace Twitter account.

Part of the grant from the ACM included funding to bring in speakers to discuss the idea of maker pedagogy, and how to integrate it into higher education. Our first speaker, Matt Sonnenberg from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, will present on March 31st at 11:10 a.m. in the Warch Campus Center Cinema. Matt will share his experiences with integrating 3D printing into classes on the UWSP campus. All are invited to attend this presentation.

Have questions about the makerspace or interested in using the space with your classes or an independent study? Contact us at makerspace@lawrence.edu.

The Mudd Welcomes Krista Tippett to Lawrence!

Here at the Mudd we’re all very excited for Krista Tippett’s convocation on Tuesday February, 16 at 11:10 a.m. in the Memorial Chapel entitled, “The Mystery and Art of Living.” Tippett is the Peabody Award winning creator and host of On Being, a public radio broadcast which explores the questions of “What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?” Tippett’s thoughtful approach embraces the complexities of the moral, ethical and spiritual and in doing so invites people of all faiths and backgrounds to join the conversation. In 2014 she received the National Humanities Medal at the White House, and if she’s good enough for President Obama she’s good enough for us.

If you’re interested in exploring Tippett’s work there are many resources to do so at the Mudd Library. In addition to her many journal articles available through our online catalog, her books Einstein’s God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit and Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters – And How to Talk About It are both available for checkout. You can also reserve any of the listening rooms on the first floor if you’re in need of a quiet space to listen to episodes of On Being.
We hope to see all of you at the convocation and in the meantime feel free to stop by the Mudd and use any of our resources, including our reference librarians, for more information on Tippett and her work.

Here‘s Tippett speaking at The TED Charter for Compassion in 2010.

 

Mudd Gallery: Liam Hoy

Currently on display in the Mudd Gallery through October 13 is “Graduation” by senior studio art and environmental science major, Liam Hoy.  Hoy’s ideas for the exhibition were influenced by the beginning of his final year in undergrad, and the uncertainty of the future post-graduation (thus the reason for the title of the show). The exhibit is comprised of original ceramic sculpture works from 2015. It features three large ceramic sculptures suspended on wooden spider legs, and a small crowd of porcelain figures. While trying to determine how to best represent the excitement and nervousness prompted by his senior year and the future, Hoy was inspired by spiders- “they seem scary at first, but if you stop to appreciate them, they do good things.” The crowd of small, curious people represent graduates, and the gallery walls are painted black to contrast with the white glazed ceramics and porcelain figures.

Be sure to stop by the Gallery on the third floor and spend some time with this wonderfully unique exhibit!

The Mudd Welcomes James Zwerg and Congressman John Lewis!

All of us at the Mudd are honored to welcome James Zwerg and Congressman John Lewis to campus this weekend. Each of these brave men will be receiving an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree at commencement on Sunday, where Lewis will deliver the commencement address.

Meanwhile, we’ve expressed our admiration and appreciation by gathering some interesting and pertinent materials from our shelves together so that you, our wonderful patrons, can easily access these important works. We invite those of you wishing to learn more about the civil rights movement as a whole, as well as the integral role played by both Lewis and Zwerg, to stop by and delve into our resources.

John Lewis’ award-winning memoir, Walking With The Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, is featured in our display and available for check out. His 2012 publication Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change, which “draws from his experience as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement to offer timeless guidance to anyone seeking to live virtuously and transform the world,” is also available.

Graphic novels are an accessible medium that present complex issues in a beautiful, artistic way, and the graphic novel March is a great example of this. It is “a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.” Written in the format of a comic book, March is a great introduction to the intricacies of the civil rights movement, and Lewis’ role in it.

The display also includes several books expounding on the work of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Lewis founded the SNCC and Zwerg joined shortly thereafter. To learn more about this organization, check out A Circle of Trust. For a feminist perspective, we are showcasing another important work: Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.

If you’re interested in the Freedom Riders, our Archivist has created a display featuring moving images of the riders in action, as well as local newspaper articles from the time covering the movement. One chilling photograph shows Lewis and Zwerg, both bloodied, after an 1961 attack in Alabama. To learn more about the significance of the Freedom Rides, the DVD Freedom Riders is available, as is the book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.

For a sweeping and comprehensive view of the civil rights movement as a whole, check out Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement, a 14-hour documentary covering the movement from 1960 to 1985, available as a series of DVDs. We also have the documentary’s companion book, America’s Civil Rights Movement, for deeper exploration.

Please join us in welcoming James Zwerg and Congressman John Lewis to campus! Stop by the Mudd to learn more about the work and achievements of these men before they arrive. You are sure to be inspired by their courage.