The Anatomy of an Invitation

If you're a high school junior or senior (or the parent of a high school junior or senior, for that matter), then you've already experienced the joy (?) of having your mailbox constantly stuffed with college pamphlets. Most of them will end up as scratch paper, doorstops, bonfire fodder, etc. -- so part of my job is to make sure we're producing things you'll actually want to read. Every college has its own approach to publications -- some go for the unsmiling black-and-white photos, some prefer the classic glossy-photo-of-college-students-laughing-on-the-lawn (guilty as charged). Here at Mudd we try to mix in a healthy dose of quirky science-y stuff whenever possible.

Case in point:



This is my favorite piece we've done to date, not because it's the snazziest (I think the left brain/right brain lenticular designed by the fabulously creative Janice Gilson takes the cake), but because it was actually inspired by Mudd students. Johnson, one of our favorite tour guides, was telling me about a prank he'd pulled on another much-loved tour guide, Lilian. He and some friend had labeled everything -- and I mean EVERYTHING -- in Lilian's dorm room. Ratio of red shirts to black shirts. The fabric breakdown of the sheets. The chemical composition of the air. Hmm, I thought. A scientist's view of the world? And so using the prank as an inspiration, we took a photo of Mudd and labeled everything we could (I admit the binary tree is a bit of a stretch, but we had to work in computer science somewhere). So Johnson, Lilian, Leon, Fiela, Hannah, this one's for you. Thank you, Mudders.

Oh right -- the event. Well, we'll get to that too. July 12 & 23, we're hosting "Mudd Unveiled: Discovery Days" (acronym: MUDD. Oh, we amuse ourselves). Tour, information sessoin, and even a free lunch, all in four compact hours. You can RSVP online at www.hmc.edu/rsvp.