Class Notes

Jack Nasar, AB ’69, penned his seventh book (under the pen name Leona Victor): The Right Angle: A Retort to Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (Vikinc, July 2024). Nasar is an academy professor in the Knowlton School at The Ohio State University. His previous books include Design by Competition: Making Design Competition Work; The Evaluative Image of the City; Designing for Designers; and Environmental Aesthetics: Theory, Research and Applications.

Lawrence Millman, AB ’68, penned Drinks With God (Austin Macauley Publishers, May 2025). The book is a satire about having fictional drinks with the supreme being, during which he confesses he’s an almighty bumbler — if a mistake can be made, he will make it.

Joel A. D’Alba, AB ’66, received the 2023 Arvid Anderson Public Sector Labor and Employment Attorney of the Year Award from the American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law. The award recognizes an attorney whose career substantially contributed to the development of public sector labor law as exemplified by Arvid Anderson. The selection committee includes the co-chairs of the state and local government bargaining and employment law committee.

Robert Zaller, MA ’63, PhD ’68, a distinguished university professor emeritus at Drexel University, has published an article, “Misotheism in Robinson Jeffers’ Construction of Divinity,” in South Central Review, a journal of Johns Hopkins University Press. He has penned two books of poetry, After the Fire and The Dresden Zoo, both with Moonstone Press.

Ron Fischer, BS ’62, retired in January 2024 as owner of Professional Engineering Co. Patron Services, Inc. and is living in Summerville of St. Andrew’s retirement community in Eureka, Missouri.

Robert Tanenbaum, BFA ’59, is the subject of the hardcover book The Movie Poster Art of Robert Tanenbaum (A to Z Media, November 2023), written by Dennis L. Prince. Tanenbaum has worked on more than 200 movie posters, helping promote classics like A Christmas Story, Superfly, Battlestar Galactica, Cujo and The Color of Money, to name a handful. The book also features rare alternate compositions and the original poster for Jaws.

Zoe Mercado, AB ’24, was selected to be part of Carnegie Mellon University’s inaugural cohort for the Rales Fellows Program. Launched in 2023, the program is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of STEM leaders and driving innovation by increasing access to a life-changing graduate education. Rales fellows receive a comprehensive, cohort-based experience, faculty mentorship, exclusive professional development, networking event opportunities and a financial award that covers tuition, as well as a monthly stipend for living expenses.

Carlos Cepeda Gómez, BArch ’24, is the first recipient of the Eugene J. Mackey III Travel Scholarship. This scholarship honors the legacy of Mackey Mitchell Architects founder Eugene J. Mackey III, BSAS ’60, BArch ’62, and his belief in the transformative power of architectural travel and drawing. The scholarship allows deserving students of architecture, particularly those who might not otherwise have the opportunity, to pursue their passions and expand their knowledge through travel.

Scott Hershberger, AB ’20, completed a master’s degree in science communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in summer 2024 with a focus on climate change communication. He is now the forestry communications specialist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension, where he works to empower individual and family forest owners to manage their woodlands sustainably. In addition to developing educational materials and programming to help owners address the changing climate, he is involved in multistate efforts to better integrate climate change into the work of the Cooperative Extension Service.

Lydia Paar, MFAW ’19, published her debut essay collection, The Exit Is the Entrance: Essays on Escape (University of Georgia Press, September 2024). The essays explore her attempts to evade or transform the lower-middle-class American experience across varied cityscapes, towns and in-between places. Poets & Writer’s Magazine featured it as one of five books in its annual New Nonfiction roundup of 2024 (September/October issue)