CMU Libraries

We're thrilled to introduce Leslie Liu @desire_engineering , the inaugural recipient of the Posner Fellowship for Creative Practice! Leslie holds an MS in Computational Design from @cmusoa @carnegiemellon and is a product designer whose work explores how tools shape — and are shaped by — the people who use them. From building data visualization tools for @NASA 's Perseverance rover to prototyping with @Google Labs, Leslie brings a rare blend of design rigor and creative curiosity to the Center. For her fellowship, Leslie is exploring the book as a sculptural and time-based medium — designing speculative reading prosthetics inspired by historical book objects in our collection. Think: wearable annotation devices, sentence-level bookmarks, and a computationally augmented cumdach (a medieval book shrine). We can't wait to see what she creates from working with the collection. 🔗 Learn more about the CMU Libraries Special Collections Short-Term Research Fellowships at the link in our bio.

🎨 New at the Posner Center! 🐦 Stop by this weekend to see a special display featuring the work of CMU senior Michelle Oh alongside one of our most treasured holdings — John James Audubon’s Birds of America (1840–1844), the first comprehensive study of bird species native to North America. 🦅 Michelle @gin.yoo.art is a @cmucfa major with a minor in game design and animation, created a stop-motion animation inspired by her research at the Posner Center. Her piece reimagines Audubon’s hunting expeditions, drawing on the humor and absurdity found in his own writings — with a special nod to the Cedar Waxwing plate. Come see how historical collections can spark fresh, creative interpretation! 📅 This weekend: Saturday: 10am–1pm Sunday: 10am–3pm 📍 Posner Center, @CarnegieMellon

Special thanks to everyone who participated in the campus-wide United Way Campaign! 🥧 Pie-in-the-Face is one of the fundraisers, along with the 🐶 Pet Photo contest and (new this year) 👶 Baby Photo contest. 🫶 Our brave participants were Business and Entrepreneurship Librarian Ryan Splenda and Senior Associate Dean Joelle Pitts. @unitedway @unitedwayswpa @carnegiemellon

May 8 marks 50 years since Pittsburgh's most beloved neighbor stopped by our commencement. 🎓 In 1976, Carnegie Mellon University awarded Fred Rogers an honorary doctorate in fine arts. As Mr. Rogers stood before the graduates, he spoke about what it means to build bridges between the world as it is and the world as we hope it to be. He told the graduates that he remembered his own commencement well. He said it was an exciting time, but also a frightening one. He reminded everyone there that "(t)he most essential element in the development of any creation must be love." For decades, that love has continued to flow through this neighborhood. CMU alumni appeared on and helped create Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, from Francois Clemmons (CFA 1969), beloved as Officer Clemmons, to Hedda Sharapan (DC 1965), who worked on the show for years and still consults for Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood today. CMU psychology alumnus Junlei Li (DC 2003) first encountered Rogers' work as a graduate student on campus in 1999, and it shaped his career in child development research. From 2013 to 2018, he served as Co-Director of the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Now called the Fred Rogers Institute, it remains the single most authoritative resource for studying Rogers' legacy, housing over 22,000 items from his life and career. And at Fred Rogers Productions, CMU graduates are still in the neighborhood. Melanie Harke (SCS 2006, ETC 2008), Jack Rowley (CFA 1981), Michelle Janco (CFA 2020), and Alan Friedman (HNZ 2007) are among the Tartans continuing to bridge the gap between the world as it is and what we hope it could be. At CMU, our hearts remain in the work that Mr. Rogers championed for all of us. @cmulibraries #FredRogers #MisterRogersNeighborhood #CMU #CarnegieMellon #Commencement #Pittsburgh #WontYouBeMyNeighbor

The Sustainability Initiative recently connected with partners working on the Sustainable Development Goals across local government, the @unitednations , and education sectors. 🇺🇳 The team met with staff from the NYC Mayor’s Office of Operations, presented at the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) workshop, and spoke at the @prattinstitute ’s Research Open House at its Research Yard in Brooklyn. 🏙️ Sustainability Initiative Director Alexandra Hiniker was joined by the program's five interns from various areas of @carnegiemellon who shared initiatives spanning sustainability programming, community building, and communications strategy across #CMU campus: • Aleena Siddiqui, a senior at @cmuengineering • Ameena George, a sophomore at @teppercmu • Egshiglen Batjargal, Imama Zahoor, and Iris Hung, graduate students at @heinzcollege 🌎 The workshop brought together presentations from participating institutions, followed by small group breakout discussions where attendees shared challenges, strategies, and ideas for collaboration.

#CMUOverTime is on to the 1970s! This decade saw less construction than the last, but the views are just as gorgeous. Slide 1: A view of Hamerschlag Hall in 1976. Slide 2: The biggest construction project on campus this decade was the completion of Science Hall, later to be renamed in honor of longtime trustee Raymond Wean. Slide 3: Along with a new science building came a new science library! This image shows what is now Sorrells in 1972. Slide 4: Back in the 1970s, you could stand by the Fence and see all the way down to St. Paul’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue! This view changed with the later construction of Gates-Hillman and Purnell. Slide 5: A view of @cmucfa from an upper window in Hamerschlag Hall. Slide 6: This image shows the entirety of campus as it was in 1976, when it was taken from the top of @pittofficial ’s Cathedral of Learning. Slide 7: Buildings on campus used to be covered in ivy, like Baker Hall is here. Slide 8: Nowadays, you might see robots on The Cut helping to maintain the grass, but in the 1970s, they weren’t so lucky. Beyond the facilities truck, you can also spot the unfinished niches on the CFA building. Slide 9: A snowy look at @cmufence shows there was also some advertising done on the trees next to it. No word on whether the rules for painting the Fence also applied to the trees – any alums who would care to share their memories? Stay tuned for our next look back when it’s time for the students of the 1970s to shine! And if you’re interested in more historic photographs, be sure to check out the University Archives Digital Collections (link in our bio). @carnegiemellon #cmu #tartans #pittsburgh #historicpittsburgh

Last week, Simon Armitage — Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom — visited the Posner Center and read new works drawn from a book that sat on his childhood shelf: "The Ornithology of Shakespeare" by James Edmund Harting. 🐦‍⬛ Each new poem was inspired by a bird found in Shakespeare's writing. We had the pleasure of sharing with Simon some of the Posner Center's most extraordinary holdings — all four Shakespeare Folios and Audubon's The Birds of America — a perfect pairing for a poet whose new work finds birds in Shakespeare's verse. This event was presented in partnership with the @international.poetry.forum and @cmulibraries .

“Librarians are so knowledgeable about so many interesting things and different resources. They can help wherever you are in the research process.” –Violet Pronko, @cmu_dietrichhss Across @carnegiemellon ’s campus, students experience the Libraries in many different ways — through study, research, collaboration, and discovery. This month, we're sharing some reflections drawn from student voices featured in our stories over the past year.

“The University Libraries is one of the few places on campus where I don't feel rushed. At a school like CMU, I think it's so valuable to have a place of relative calm and of no expectations to relax, meet friends, or get work done.” –Moira Doolittle, @cmucfa Across @carnegiemellon ’s campus, students experience the Libraries in many different ways — through study, research, collaboration, and discovery. This month, we're sharing some reflections drawn from student voices featured in our stories over the past year.

What a day! This "Take Your Child to Work Day," young makers visited the Posner Center for Special Collections and built their own Renaissance cipher discs — the same paper encryption machines that appear in books from 500 years ago. They explored rare books and early technologies and learned how centuries-old ideas about secret writing still shape the technologies we use today. 📖 🧮 Missed the event? Check out our interactive online exhibit: "Cipher Discs: Renaissance Encryption Machines" from the Exhibits page on the CMU Libraries website.

Across @carnegiemellon ’s campus, students experience the Libraries in many different ways — through study, research, collaboration, and discovery. This month, we're sharing some reflections drawn from student voices featured in our stories over the past year. “There’s so many amazing opportunities available, from exhibitions to zine-making, that I think anyone could find something that suits their tastes. You don’t need to be doing research for a class to enjoy the Libraries — we’re here for everyone! –Angie Reyes-Meza, @cmu_dietrichhss

The CEO of the UK's Carnegie Hero Fund Trust recently visited @CarnegieMellon . During the visit, Gillian Taylor stopped by the Posner Center for Special Collections to look at some Andrew Carnegie memorabilia with Dean Keith Webster. Collections Archivist Emily Davis put together the collection and gave interesting background information for each piece. The Carnegie Hero Fund Trust was set up to recognize civilian heroism and give financial assistance, where necessary, to people who have been injured or to the dependents of people who have been killed in attempting to save another human life in peaceful pursuits.