Class Notes: 1983
Epic Universe, the first major theme park to be built in the United States in 25 years opens on May 22, 2025. Steve Tatham ’83 is the executive creative director for Universal Creative of the project. In his role, he leads the creative team and is responsible for all creative execution. His role is define as being the voice and the vision of the project. His role is to ensure that the team delivers on, as he says, the “promise of the premise” and that the creative execution matches the creative intent. He has been with Universal Creative for ten years starting with a four-year stint at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. Prior to that he spent 28 years at Disney starting at Walt Disney Imagineering, the theme park design entity of Disney, as a set designer in 1987 after completing his masters in architecture at UCLA.
Sneed B. Collard III, Class of 1983, received the 2024 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for his children’s picture book, Border Crossings (Charlesbridge Publishing). The book, illustrated by Howard Gray, takes a look at the impact of the border wall on wildlife. The Orbis Pictus is the nation’s oldest children’s nonfiction award and is given out each year to the best children’s nonfiction book of the past year. Sneed’s inspiration for the book came from birding trips along the US/Mexico border both before and after the wall was constructed.
Tracie White’s book, The Puzzle Solver (Hachette Press), was named the
Winner of the Narrative Non-Fiction Award at the International Book
Awards in June, and, in July, was named a Finalist for the Chanticleer Book
Awards “Journey Award” for emerging new talent and outstanding work in
the genre of overcoming adversity.
