Class Notes

Scott F. Hall, GF94, professor of art and design at the University of Central Florida, was granted the title professor emeritus by President Cartwright on Feb. 9. Going forward, Hall, his creative work and research will remain permanently affiliated with the university.

Kate (Epstein) Mankoff, LA93, who writes under the pen name Kate Brookes, recently published Transister (She Writes Press, August 2023), a candid memoir on parenting a transgender daughter. The memoir is “a raw, honest and sometimes hilarious account of Kate’s journey as her young child grapples with gender identity to become her authentic self.”

William Krause, GR93, was honored by Scherzo, a leading journal for classical music criticism and information, which selected his biography of Spanish composer and conductor Federico Moreno Torroba as one of the 10 best music books published in Spain in 2021. Co-authored with Walter Clark, Moreno Torroba: A Musical Life in Three Acts was published by Oxford University Press in 2013. In 2021, the book was translated into Spanish and published by Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales.

Ruth Hecht, FA93, teaches art to students in grades 7-12, including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and pottery.

DL Warfield, FA92, was commissioned to design the in-ground bronze casted monuments for the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, located in front of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The second induction year ceremony was held Feb. 28, 2023. The walk of fame has inducted icons including James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince, Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder, Outkast and Quincy Jones.

Pauline Merrill, MD91, GR91, joined The Looking Glass Eye Center in Brevard, N.C. Merrill is a nationally recognized ophthalmologist specializing in treating diseases of the retina.

Robert Barnett, GA91, founder and president of CBH Architects, is moving his firm to Summit, N.J., following 12 years in South Orange, N.J. After gut-renovating two homes in West and South Orange, N.J., Barnett founded CBH as a general contractor and became a licensed architect. He splits his time between South Orange and Brasília, Brazil.

Michael Bross, LW90, was appointed chief legal officer and corporate secretary at Rackspace Technology.

Camille L. Vélez-Rivé, LA89, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November and sworn in as a U.S. District judge for the District of Puerto Rico. President Biden signed her commission on Dec. 9, 2022. Previously, she had served as a U.S. Magistrate judge for the District of Puerto Rico since 2004.

Photine Liakos, LA88, MD92, HS97, wrote three essays in What We Bring to the Practice of Medicine: Perspectives from Women Physicians (The Kent State University Press, April 2023). The book, consisting of essays by women physicians working in diverse fields of medicine around the world, highlights their compassion, humor and resiliency, while revealing what life is really like for a variety of women in medicine today.