Guelph Alumnus Magazine, Summer 2003 by University of Guelph

It's 100% of their dependents who are really at risk. Life insurance is for the li ving. Your life insurance could be all that stands between yo ur loved ones and a lifetime of need. You see, it's not reall y insuran ce ... it's groceries, utility payments , clothes, ca r maintenance, loan payments, ren t or mortgage .. . in fac t, it's everything that your family depends on you fo r right now.

FACT: The death rate of Canadians between the ages of 30 and 49 is 5. 8 per 1, 000. ** If you were one of the 5.8, could your family cope financially without you? The unthinkable can happen. Don't let your family's story be a tragic one. For their securi ty and for your own peace of mind, find out more about the valuable and affordable Term Life, Major Accident Protection and Income Protection coverage designed for alwnni of the University of Guelph.

FACT: In Canada, life insurance represents only 2.4% of household estate planning.*** Life insurance is an affordable way to maintain your family's net worth after you've passed away. Consider all the payments yo u make on a monthly basis. Pe rh aps you have a mortgage, outstanding credit card balances, car loans or student loans. If you passed away and your fa mily cashed in your assets (h ome, RRS P's and other investments) to pay all you owe, what wo ul d be left? Would it be enough to provide them with a suitab le lifestyle? Think about it.

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lumn 1â&#x20AC;˘ A S SOC I ATI O N

The Manufactu rers Life Insurance Company According to the Canadian Ownership Rcpon. A BCilChmark for the 21st Century (2000) by LIMRA International, Canadians aged 35 to 55 have an average of3.6 times their annual income in life insurance coverage, while Canadians aged 55 to 64 have only 2.4 times their annual income in coverage. 25% of all Canadian households have no life insurance at all, while 16.5% of Canadians aged 35 to 55 do not own any life insurance coverage. u Smti stics Canada, Death 1998 - Report 84F02 11 XPI3 . ... Investor Economics The Household Balance Sheet Report- 2001 Edition.

message from the

SUMMER 2003

in and Around the University

HANCELLOR

Lincoln Alexander has been reappointed for an unprecedented fifth term at U of G, and 14 of 35 Canada Research Chairs have now been named. Guelph faculty and students have received numerous honours, including a National Aboriginal Achievement Award to English professor Thomas King and a prestigious research award to zoology PhD graduate Ryan Gregory.

RESEARCH alumni Matters A ROBOTIC EVOLUTION A small group of Guelph researchers is building a reputation in the development of intelligent personal robots that are inspired by biological systems.

alumni are reaching out to each other through the Online Community, where they have access to class bulletin boards, travel advice and mentoring opportunities. Alumni Weekend will celebrate student/ alumni traditions and the l OOth anniversary of the founding of Macdonald Institute. And U of G graduate Robert McLean perseveres after the Columbia shuttle tragedy. UELPH

TEACHING & LEARNING INSPIRATION IS NOT ENOUGH Guelph faculty talk about creativity and strategies they use to help students learn to take risks that will lead to creative work in art, music and literature.

on the Cover Guelph research in biologically inspired robotics inspired this

PROFILE OF A PRESIDENT

illustration by Louis Fishauf.

ROZANSKI 'GRADUATES' FROM U OF G After 10 years as U of G president, Mordechai Rozanski leaves Guelph with memories of campus life, colleagues and alumni friends.

11 Summer 2003

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Quelph alumnus Su mmer 2003 • VOLU M E 35 IssuE 2

Editor Mary Dickieso n Director Charles Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc. Contributors Stacey Curry Gunn Barbara Chance, BA '74 Rachelle Coo per Lori Bona Hunt Suzanne Soto SPARK Program Writers Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84 Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9 169 519-654-6122 Direct all other correspondence to:

Co mmunicatio ns and Public Affairs Un ive rsity of Guelph Guelph, Ontario N I G 2W l Fax 519-824-7962 E- m ail m .dicki eso n@exec. uoguelph. ca www. uoguelph. ca/news/alumnus/ The Guelph Alumnus magazine is published three times a year by Communications and Public Affairs at the Un iversity of Guelph. Its mission is to en hance th e relationsh ip between the University and its alumni and friends and promote pride and comm itment within the University community. All material is copyright 2003. Ideas and op in io ns expressed in the articles do not necessa rily refl ect th e id eas or o pinion s of the University or the edi tors. Ca nada Post Agreement# 1500023 Pr inted in Canada by Co ntact Creative Services. ISSN 1207-7801 To update yo ur alumni record, co ntact: Alumni Affairs and Development Pho ne 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 5 19-822-2670 E- mail alumnireco rds@uoguelp h. ca

UNIVERSITY 9!GUELPH

2 GuELPH ALUMNUS

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

message from the President MORDECHAIROZANSKI

HIS IS A BITTERSWEET MESSAGE because it family of alumni who have graduated since OVC's first signals the end of my second term as president of convocation of students in 1866 and to look forward to the University of Guelph. the many future graduates who will emulate their preAfter 10 years at Guelph, it's hard to leave, but I'm decessors' successes. looking forward to a new challenge at Rider University jamie-Lee joins a distinguished community of alumin New jersey. And I know U of G will be in great hands ni that spans the globe and is a tremendous source of with my successor, Alastair Summerlee. expertise and leadership in society and, closer to home, A faculty member in the Departin the University community. ment of Biomedical Sciences since Guelph is fortunate to have alumni 1988, Alastair has also held a series of who are generous with their time and successful administrative positions, support, alumni who want to be including his current role as provost involved with students as mentors and and vice-president (academic). A dedadvisers, alumni who value the heritage icated colleague and an outstanding of the campus and take pride in conprovost, he has already helped advance tributing to its future. the excellence of the University in Over the last decade, I've had the numerous ways and will lead it to new opportunity to meet and get to know many alumni. I have valued your friendlevels of success as your president. Much of that success will rest, as it ship, advice and support. You know better than anyone that has during my tenure, on the talented and caring people who make up the UniU of G is a university rich in history, yet versity of Guelph communityfocused on providing each new faculty, staff, students, retirees, generation of students with the board members and alumni. highest-quality education. SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE I remember my own first In I 0 years' time, I've also AND AN EMBRACE impression of Guelph as a had the privilege of addressing human place where people more than 18,000 new graduOF INNOVATION ARE shared great pride in the Uniates at convocation. They are COMMITMENTS THAT WILL versity's past and even greater the best evidence of our success confidence in its future. Today, I as a university, carrying with NOT FALTER ON share that pride and confidence. them Guelph's deepest value of THIS CAMPUS It's no secret that U of G is caring for others. in the top tier of Canada's Whatever your year of post-secondary institutions. graduation, I hope you will Not only are Canada's best students knocking on our always be interested in your alma mater and will make doors, but the national media are also reporting our the effort to maintain relationships with the classmates successes and we're attracting first-class faculty and staff and faculty who influenced your own journey of intelfrom around the world. Sustained excellence and an lectual and personal growth. embrace of innovation are commitments that will not I hope you will also recognize yourselves as ambasfalter on this campus. sadors and advocates for the University of Guelph and One of the best examples of this came during winits mission to discover and disseminate new knowledge. ter convocation ceremonies when we celebrated a wonEducation is one of the most important gifts we can bestow on our society. I am deeply grateful for my educaderful moment in University of Guelph history. On Feb. 19, Jamie- Lee Brown received a bachelor of arts degree tion and the opportunities it has afforded me, including for her studies in psychology and became the Univerthe opportunity to further my vision of education with likesity's I OO,OOOth graduate. minded colleagues at the University of Guelph. It has been That milestone gave us a chance to look back at the a privilege to serve as president of this great institution.

Summer 2003 3

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ALEXANDER REAPPOINTED

INCOLN

ALEXANDER

HAS

BEEN

appointed to an unprecedented fifth term as chancellor of U of G. The reappointment was approved by Senate Jan. 28. The former Ontario lieutenant-governor first became chancellor of the University in 1991 and will begin his next three-year term in October. "I am tremendously proud and overwhelmed;' says Alexander. "It is a challenging

BAR CODES FOR LIFE

position that I love, and I will continue to try my best to further enhance the image of this great university." During his years as chancellor, he has conferred degrees and diplomas on more than 20,000 graduates at convocation. He serves on the University's external relations committee, Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, and has been an active public supporter of the University.

Canada Research Chairs filled

EVERY LIVING BEING

carries a unique DNA sequence that could soon be used to identify all species on the planet. Zoology professor Paul Hebert and his research team are proposing to "bar-code" all species, much like retail products are now tagged on store aisles. The retail industry's Universal Product Code system uses 10 digits at each of 11 positions to create 100 billion different combinations or bar codes, which are in turn assigned to specific products. Hebert notes that DNA is encoded using four chemical bases and that the genomes of most species are millions of these nucleotides long. He says an examination of only 45 of these nucleotide positions can yield close to a billion bar codes that can be used in species recognition.

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G HA S N OW received funding for 14 of the 35 Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) it expects to fill as part of the federal government's program to build world-class centres of research excellence. Federal CRC funding is enhanced through contributions in support of research infrastructure from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust, making U of G's 14 chairs worth a total of $23 million. U of G's newest chair holders are: Prof. Arend Bon en, formerly chair of the University of Waterloo's Department of

Kinesiology. He joined Guelph's Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences May 1 as holder of the Canada Research Chair in Metabolism and Health. Prof. Joseph Lam, Department of Microbiology, Canada Research Chair in Cystic Fibrosis and Microbial Biology. Prof. Barry Smit, Department of Geography, Canada Research Chair in Global Environmental Change. Bonen is a leading researcher of transport proteins that act as gatekeepers into muscle cells and regulate metabolism by controlling substrate entry into the cell. His research will advance under-

standing of potential therapies for metabolic diseases. Lam's research also relates to human health. He is investigating pathogen-host interactions to develop more effective ways to target and treat deadl y chronic pulmonary infections related to cystic fibrosis. A world expert on adaptation to climate change, Smit is examining the social and eco nomic implications of global climate change and how to manage the associated risks and opportunities. Until recently, most research related to global environmental changes has concentrated on the physical and biological processes involved.

•

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PEOPLE IN THE NEWS • CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS • UNIVERSITY NOTES

U of G Orchestra was undaunted

NGLISH

COMPOSER

Gustav Holst's most famous work, The Planets, is too large a piece for most Canadian orchestras to perform on their own. But that didn't stop Henry Janzen, conductor of the 45-member U of G Orchestra, from fulfilling his longtime dream of staging the masterpiece. In April, he Jed the orchestra in a performance of the work at Guelph's River Run Centre, accompanied by more than 50 other musicians from the National Ballet, the Canadian Opera Company and local youth and community orchestras. "I thought this would be a great challenge for the orchestra," says Janzen. "It's a really popular piece of music, so I figured it probably wouldn't be too difficult to persuade extra

SHY KIDS

It took two large classrooms with the dividers removed between them to accommodate rehearsals for The Planets. Henry Janzen conducted the 100 musicians required to perform the Gustav Holst masterpiece.

players to participate. The reality is, there won't be that many chances in their lifetime for them to play this piece." Holst's seven-movement masterpiece did, indeed, produce a memorable evening for both musicians and audience, despite the fact that bad weather forced a day's delay in the

AUTHOR RECEIVES ABORIGINAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

ROF .

THOMAS

KING,

English and Theatre Studies, received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award for 2003 in the arts and culture category. ''I'm really pleased," says King. "So much of the press is about the negative stuff, but these awards are really looking at accomplishments that people have been able to make." He is the author of four best-

Thomas King, centre, with Ontario lieutenant-governor James Bartle· man and Cynthia Rathwell of Star Choice Communications.

performance. "It's a really great piece of music," says Janzen. "The movement 'Mars' is so incessant and has such large brass forces and organ and everything else in it, and it shakes the ground. You feel as if you're caught up in this horrible activity, but it's so powerful and it's totally unstoppable:'

selling novels, two non-fiction books and numerous television, radio drama and fum scripts. He is also the creative force behind CBC Radio's Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour. It is through humour that King has been able to bring First Nations issues to the forefront of Canadian society. He has also been chosen to give the 2003 Massey Lectures, a national series run out of the University of Toronto and broadcast by CBC Radio. The series began in 1961 .

CHILDREN MAY BE a lot shyer than their parents or teachers think, says Prof. Mary Ann Evans, Psychology. Evans had more than 400 children in grades 5 and 6 describe their shyness and asked each child's parents and teachers to rate the child's level of shyness. The results showed that about 25 per cent of children report themselves as being shy. But about one-third of the children who rated themselves as shy were not characterized that way by their parents or teachers. "Many teachers and parents don't pick up on these internalized thoughts and feelings," says Evans. The study also found that these children have lower self-esteem than do children whose shyness was recognized by their parents and teachers.

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Summer 2003 5

in and around the University

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MUSCLE PROTEINS PROF. }OHN DAWSON, Chemistry and Biochemistry, hopes that researching muscle protein interactions will offer clues to alternative treatments for cancer. The two proteins Dawson is studying, actin and myosin, are common to all our cells and, through their interaction, allow our muscles to contract and extend. Because myosin is critical in the late stages of cell division, inhibiting its action could possibly halt the cell division that results m tumour growth.

SOVIET ADVENTURES

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PRoF. STEPHEN Hemhan, Languages and Literatures, has received a lot of attention for his book of essays about Canadian literature, When Words Deny the World: The Reshaping of Canadian Writing. The book was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award. His latest book, Lost Province: Adventures in a Moldova Family, is the first mainstream book written on the former Soviet republic.

I 0.

6 GuELPH ALUMNUS

M.Sc. student Vicky Lee, second from left, and MBA

undergraduate students Renzo Gomaz, Brian Palmer

student Wilda Lau were a winning combination at

and Stephanie Sage for biodegradable planters

Project SOY this year, capturing top place with their

called Plant Soylutions.

creation, Flavone Ice, breath strips containing bone路

Food science students Alice Lee, Marie-Claire

healthy isoflavones . With them are their project

Hurteau, Elizabeth Raditsis and Linda Shantz won

mentors, food science graduate student Vincent Sy,

third prize for Pastawave, a soy macaroni and

a first-place winner at last year's competition, left,

cheese product.

and Massimo Marcone, a technician and adjunct professor in the Department of Food Science. Second place went to biological engineering

Project SOY was initiated in 1996 to harness the creativity of students in finding innovative new uses for soybeans, Ontario's number one cash crop.

CASE ADVANCES HUMAN RIGHTS

WARLEY RECEIVES HONORARY DEGREE

ATRICK CASE, director of the Human Rights and Equity Office, has been appointed chair of the board of directors for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. He will take over the position from U of G chancellor Lincoln Alexander. Case has been a leader in implementing human rights strategies at the University since 1999. He is also currently cochair of the equality rights panel of the Court Challenges Program of Canada, serves as an adviser to several organizations on equal rights and employment equity, and is teaching a course on "African Canadians: Racism and the Law" at Osgoode Hall Law School.

ETIRED PROFESSOR T.K. "Sandy" Warley received an honorary doctor oflaws degree at February convocation ceremonies, which also recognized Canad ian broadcaster Bob McDonald and author Nancy Huston.

history of international negotiations. In retirement, he has been an active volunteer for the OAC Alumni Association. McDonald is best known as host of the CBC Radio science program Quirks and Quarks. Huston, originally from Alberta, addresses social issues in her novels, essays and children's books. She is currently on faculty at Harvard University.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS WIN NATIONAL AWARD G LANDSCAPE architecture professors Cecelia Paine and Jim Taylor have received a Nat ional Citation Award from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) for their CD-ROM titled Canadian Impressions!ImpresOF

A faculty member from 1970 to 1991, Warley chaired the then department of agricultural economics and extension education from 1970 to 1974 and was an expert on the

How much DNA is enough?

HY DO SALAMANDERS

have 20 times as much DNA as humans do? Ryan Gregory, PhD '03, wants to understand why there's such a variation in the amount of DNA in different animals and what it means for animal metabolism and development. As part of his PhD thesis in zoology, he compiled the world's largest database of animal genome sizes and made first-time measurements of the genomes of about 400 invertebrates, ranging from insects and spiders

to earthworms. His online collection ( www.genome size.com) includes about 3,000 animals and has become a critical resource for scientists worldwide. In recognition of that work, Gregory has been

sions canadiennes. The CD-ROM provides a visual digest of 80 executed works oflandscape architecture across Canada. The project team included landscape architecture graduate students Lorraine Falconer, Dorota Mlynarz and Laureen Snook. For more information about the CD or the CSLA, visit the Web site www.csla.ca.

says Leri, who received $148,126 to study drug-motivated behaviour in rats. His studies of the

RATS AND FUNGI GO UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

neurological processes involved in drug relapse include the development of animal models of human drug addiction. He

UNIVERSITY

Guelph professors will have "New Opportunities" to conduct innovative research, thanks to a $346,671 investment from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFJ). Both new to the University of Guelph, Profs . Francesco Leri, Psychology, and Leonid Brown, Physics, will use the funding to equip their research laboratories. "A major difficulty for young investigators like myself is to establish a new lab from nothing, but CFI makes it possible;'

wants to understand why people who break drug habits often suffer a relapse. Brown will use his $198,545 in CFI funding to create one of

named the winner of the 2003 Howard Alper Post-doctoral Prize, the most prestigious post-doctoral award made by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Currently an NSERC post-doctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History's Institute for Comparative Genomics in New York City, he plans to return to Canada. "I am a very proud Canadian and hope to contribute as much as I can to Canadian science and society in the future:'

the most advanced biospectroscopic facilities in North America at Guelph. His research explores the way photoreceptors function in plants and fungi. The life cycles of many plants and fungi are regulated by sunlight, and the organisms possess various photoreceptors - photosensitive proteinsthat detect and use the light.

QUEEN'S JUBILEE AWARDS

ORE

THAN

EDIBLE VACCINES A

U OF G RESEARCH

team that includes Prof. Patricia Shewen, Pathobiology, is creating a beef cattle vaccine disguised as alfalfa, a common feed supplement m the bovine diet. The scientists have genetically modified alfalfa to produce antigens within its greenery. They hope this alfalfa will expose the tonsils of calves to antigens and act as a vaccine against shipping fever, an infection of the lungs and lower respiratory tract by an organism that resides in the tonsils.

RETIRE OVERUSED FARMLAND

46,000

GUELPH RESEARCH-

Canadians have been awarded the Golden jubilee Medal of Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of their contributions to fellow citizens, community or Canada. Among the recipients are former U of G president Bill Winegard, retired rural extension studies professor )im Shute, Animal-Care Services director Denna Benn and political science student John Aimers. Congratulations to these and other members of the U of G family who have been so honoured.

ers are looking at the economic benefits of retiring overused farmland by returning it to a more natural state, with grass and tree cover that will help soil recover. This may also help alleviate public concerns about water pollution, say Prof. Wanhong Yang, Geography, and Prof. Alfons Weersink, Agricultural Economics and Business.

Summer 2003 7

U of G alumni, partners and fri ecen t gifts to The Campaign for the University of Guelph are notable because of the stories they tell. Brothers who wanted to support rural youth, a tourism company that values the Guelph graduates in its workforce, a major corporation that benefits from U of G research -

they've all found a way to achieve their personal

and business goals while investing in the future of the University of Guelph. In recent months, the campaign has grown through the support of the campus community, industry partners, foundations and friends. Individual gifts from alumni are also demonstrating that the people who know U of G best believe the University's work is worth supporting.

U of G donors were 4-H fans

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Frank Agro Scholarships will fund undergraduate and graduate scholarships for students who have been involved in 4-H programs. The gift of more than $1.15 million comes from the estate of brothers Angelo and Frank Agro, who ran a champion Holstein breeding and artificial insemination business in Waterdown, Ont. Their international customers for semen and bulls included Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Frank died in 1996 and Angelo in 2000. "Angelo and Frank often talked to

GuELPH ALUMNus

me about wanting to do something for the agricultural college," says their lawyer and friend, Fritz Wigle. "They appreciated the help they received there when some of their cows were sick:' Beginning in fall 2003, the gift will establish an annual $4,000 entrance award ($1,000 for each of four years) for a 4-H member from anywhere in Canada who enrols in an undergraduate program at Guelph. It will also establish an annual graduate scholarship of $3,000 for students in any U of G program, based on academic and research excellence and demonstrated involvement in 4-H activities. In addition, the gift will fund nine graduate scholarships through the Ontario Graduate Scholarships and

Ontario Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology (OGS/ST) programs for students with current or past involvement in 4-H. The OGS/ST programs maximize the impact of privatesector investment by providing a twoto -one match from public funding. Each annual scholarship is valued at $15,000. U of G's own involvement with the Canadian 4-H Council extends back more than 25 years. As a 4-H program sponsor, Guelph has lent faculty and staff expertise and the use of University facilities for 4-H programs and events. Now celebrating its 90th anniversary in Canada, the 4- H program involves more than 32,000 youths aged nine to 21 and 10,500 volunteer leaders.

r1ds invest in the future Alumni campaign relies on student callers N THE OTHER END of that phone call just might be a voice from your alma mater. Following on the success of its on-campus community campaign, and support from industry and research partners, U of G has launched an alumni campaign to help reach the overall goal of $75 million by the end of2003. Beginning in June, student callers will contact all University alumni to share information about Guelph's major fundraising campaign and to ask for support. The Campaign for the University of Guelph has already attracted investment from business and industry partners, foundations, volunteers, faculty, staff, students and friends. The University of Guelph Alumni Association made a leadership gift of $500,000 to support the classroom complex, and many individual alumni have also made contributions. Now the entire alumni base of more than 70,000 will be asked to make their donation. Alumni may designate their campaign gifts as they choose. Priorities for the University-wide alumni campaign are the science and classroom complexes and the Library Learning Commons. In addition, each college has identified priority campaign projects if alumni prefer to direct their gifts to the college from which they graduated.

Fairmont's vice-president, human resources. Two out of three of Fairmont's general managers are graduates of HTM's Advanced Management Program for the Hospitality Industry. Clark herself took a short custom course in financial management offered by U of G at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. President Mordechai Rozanski says the Fairmont gift will allow U of G "to advance our experiential education niche through the expansion of our teaching restaurant, enabling us to increase our enrolment and continue to provide a first -class learning environment to educate the next generation of hospitality and tourism leaders." The donation is being made as part of The Campaign for the University of Guelph and is the second major gift U of G has received in support of the HTM expansion. The $3.5-million project will double the restaurant's food production space, and a new multi-purpose atrium will be built for use as an 85-seat dining room, lecture space and special-event facility.

Agilent supports research and teaching CI ENCE RESEARCH and teaching at the University of Guelph will be further strengthened through a recent University campaign gift of $425,000 worth of equipment from Agilent Technologies Canada Inc. The equipment- a bioanalyzer, two UV-visible spectrophotometers, a capillary electrophoresis instrument and a liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer- will provide students with research opportunities in advanced analytical techniques and instrumentation. College of Biological Science dean Michael Emes says this campaign gift "reinforces firmly the link between an exceptional research environment and our undergraduate programs, in which our students have unparalleled opportunities to experience and participate in what is happening in modern science:' Patrick Zimanyi, Agilent's Canadian busi-

Bigger kitchen means more students HE ScHOOL OF Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) has received $200,000 from Fairmont Hotels and Resorts to help finance the expansion of the school's kitchen and teaching restaurant. "Our company recognizes the University of Guelph as being very progressive and i.Jmovative with its programs;' says Carolyn Clark,

Summer 2003 9

ness team manager, Life Sciences Business Unit, says educational institutions such as Guelph "play an important role in our business by educating the best and the brightest students to reach their potential." His company is a subsidiary of Agilent Technologies Inc., a global technology leader in communications, electronics and life sciences. Prof. David Evans, chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, uses some of the equipment for his research on viral proteins. He's also exploring potential use of the new instruments for higher-quality DNA analysis and screening by researchers in CBS, the College of Physical and Engineering Science, OAC and OVC. Currently located in Evans's department, the equipment will be housed in a custom-designed laboratory near the teaching labs in U of G's new science complex, one of the largest science facility projects under way in North America.

Guelph community invests in U of G HE UNIVERSITY of Guelph will join forces with the Guelph Community Foundation in the first partnership of its kind in Canada. Called UG2CF, the partnership will enable Guelph residents and businesses to invest in both the University and the community. Gifts to UG2CF will remain in the foundation's endowment fund in perpetuity, while generating ongoing financial support for one of Canada's leading educational institutions. Both the University and the foundation will recognize donors and inform them of the results of their gifts. Launched in 2000, the Guelph ~ Community Foundation is a philan:3 thropic organization that builds <! endowment funds from charitable gifts <! i):i and provides grants to support local in initiatives in education, health, social ~ services, arts and culture, and the envi~ ronment.

GUELPH ALUMNUS

Mark Hanson, Cezarina Kora, Diane Stanley-Horn and Laura Van Eerd from the Department of Environmental Biology and mast~r's student Cheryl Corbett and PhD students Jason Cathcart and Kris Mahoney from the Department of Plant Agriculture. They dedicated their prize to retired Prof. Gerry Stephenson, who was faculty adviser for the design project.

Building the future NLY IMAGES ON paper and builders' blueprints three years ago, U of G's three current construction projects are on track and on budget. The 52,000-square-foot classroom complex will be ready for classes in September, says Angelo Gismondi, senior project manager for the science and classroom complexes. The classroom complex will accommodate 1,500 students. The construction of Phase 1 of the science complex began ramping up in January 2003 and will create an additional163,000 square feet of teaching and research space on the Guelph campus. Phase 2, expected to begin in the fall of 2004, will add a further 210,000 square feet of teaching, research and ancillary space, including student common space. Meanwhile, the mechanical and electrical work is being completed on the 133,000-square-foot University of Guelph-Humber building, with work moving ahead on the installation of windows, drywall and flooring. Located in northwest Toronto, the four-storey building will initially accommodate more than 2,000 students and will be ready in time to serve the double cohort of students expected to arrive at Ontario colleges and universities this September, says David Trick, chief executive officer for the University of Guelph-Humber. To see regular updates on the progress of these buildings, visit the Web sites www. uo guelph. ca!toward201 O.shtml and www.guelph humber.ca!visitors/ index.shtml.

Students' effort earns scholarship gift ROPLIFE CANADA has made a $20,000 campaign gift on behalf of a team of seven Guelph graduate students who won first prize in a multimedia design competition sponsored by the company. The CropLife gift is being used to establish a new graduate scholarship for students in environmental biology and plant agriculture. The team won for its CD-ROM on crop production in Canada, created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Crop Life Canada, which represents the manufacturers, developers and distributors of plant life science products. Titled "Fifty Years of Growing Technology;' the interactive program is featured on the Web sites of U of G's Department of Environmental Biology and Crop Life Canada and will be offered as an educational tool for teachers. Team members were PhD students

RozANSKI ' GRADUATES '

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Guelph's sixth president leaves a 10-year legacy of vision, investment and national recognition By Mary Dickieson

T HIS 1993 INSTALLATION ceremony in War Memorial Hall, Mordechai Rozanski promised he would be visible on the University of Guelph campus during his presidency. He didn't know how visible until some time later when he received a note complimenting him on his choice of red pyjamas. "I didn't want to be that visible;' he laughs.

For the past 10 years, Rozanski and his family- his wife, Bonnie, and their son, Daniel- have made their home on campus in the 1882 stone cottage known as the President's House. It's a busy spot, surrounded by several student residences and sitting right across from Creelman dining hall. And for several years, Student Health Services was right next door.

Summer 2003

There's also a bus stop beside the Presiicated alumni. I hope I have helped the close to 18,000 graduates of my time to feel that dent's House that's used by students coming home from a night out in downtown Guelph. same kind of pride in their alma mater." Like parents sleeping with one ear open, "we Building that pride starts in first year, says Rozanski. He has hosted an annual barbecue usually hear them getting off the bus in the early hours every Friday morning," says for new students and served each year as facRozanski. "Often they'll sing loudly or caJJ out ulty mentor to aU of G President's Scholar. their goodbyes. I think they just want me to know they're home safely." As most Guelph alumni know, DR. RozANSKI's PRESIDENCY living on campus is a memorable HAS BEEN MARKED BY experience, but maintaining a norCHALLENGE, INNOVATION AND mal family life in the midst of 16,000 SUBSTANTIAL GROWTH IN students surely takes a bit of compromise and a sense of humour. GuELPH'S ACADEMIC STATURE, With his second term as president ENROLMENT, FINANCIAL now complete, Rozanski will be movRESOURCES AND REPUTATION. ing to New Jersey with his family to HE IS AN EXEMPLARY LEADER become president at Lawrenceville's 138-year-old Rider University. It's AND A PASSIONATE ADVOCATE familiar territory, with Bonnie's famFOR EDUCATION. ily an hour away in Manhattan and friends made during the years when Michael Walsh, BA '69, MA '70 and PhD '93 he was an administrator at nearby Chair, U of G Board of Governors Fairleigh Dickinson University and Wagner College and she was manager of computing at a New Jersey division of He felt a little pride himself when he recogDassault International. nized one of those scholars in the recent television production of The Music Man. "We Like all U of G graduates- Rozanski chuckles that it's taken him lO years to gradwere watching the movie at home, and suduate - the Rozanski family will leave with many fond memories of the Guelph campus, the friends they made here and the impact their experiences at U of G will have on their future lives. "It's a bittersweet moment," says Rozanski. Just to set the record straight, Bonnie earned her credentials in much less time, earning an M.Sc. in computing and information science from U of Gin 1997. She may well know the president better than any other U of G graduate does, but many alumni have become his friends and trusted advisers. "One of my first contacts with the University of Guelph was Bill Brock, BSA '58, who chaired the Board of Governors committee that hired denly there was Marty Beecroft singing in a barbershop quartet. It's wonderful to see the me;' says the president. "He's been a great friend to me and to the University. But 1 achievements of our young alumn i." learned very quickly that Bill's affection for Rozanski admits it was difficult to turn down the Board of Governors' offer to stand Guelph is not an exception. We are fortunate to have a large family of active and dedfor a third term, "but I believe in renewal;'

he says. "Guelph will benefit from institutional renewal, and I will also benefit from the opportunity to take on a new challenge." Change has been a regu lar part of the president's life. Born in Poland and raised in Montreal, he studied at McGill University and then went on to complete a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. A specialist in modern Chinese history, he spent tin1e in Asia and was a faculty member and administrator at several U.S. institutions before coming to U of G. "I'm thankful that Bonnie and Daniel were willing to share my desire to come back to Canada for this important period of our lives," he says. "I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the education l received as an immigrant to Canada, and serving Guelph offered me a chance to reciprocate. Moreover, I found that the University of Guelph community shared my belief that post-secondary education should not only be of the highest quality, but also a widely accessible path that offers limitless opportunities for successor generations." That conviction was demonstrated off campus as well in Rozanski's role as chair of the Council of Ontario Universities over the last two years as he led successful efforts to restore substantial investment in Ontario's 18 universities. In addition, he headed a 2002 task force that reviewed Ontario's funding formula for the public school system. The resulting Rozanski Report recommended some $2 billion in increased funding and has become a household name across the province. When asked about the highlights of his decade at Guelph, Rozanski is quick to focus on "the U of G family." "I've had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful peoplefaculty, staff, students, alumni, my colleagues in administration and our dedicated board members. They've made my job easier and very rewarding. I've felt very much at home here, not just as a resident of the campus but also as the colleague of others whose goals and aspirations are entirely in keeping with my own views about what a university should be." Those views meshed early on in Rozan-

12 GuELPH ALUMNUS

find a niche where their interests would fit ment growth on the Guelph campus, while ski's tenure as he led the University through the needs of citizenship, society and careers. a strategic planning process that was highadvancing the University's reputation for Guelph reconfirmed its commitment to academic quality and taking advantage of ly participatory and highly successful. As an institution, Guelph reaffirmed and articuthe agri-food sector and rural communities its research strengths in the life sciences. lated its key objectives related to learning, through a new partnership with the Ontario During the last decade, enrolment has grown research, continuing education, internafrom 12,000 to the currel).t 16,600, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Food that quality of entering students has risen. tionalism and collaboration. Those broad added several research facilities and the agriAmong comprehensive universities, goals became promises to keep and, Maclean's has ranked Guelph first or later on, quotable quotes picked up second in the calibre of new students by the national media to explain why DR. RozANSKI ALWAYS TRIED Guelph is being recognized as a preover the past four years. TO MAKE SURE THE STUDENT When the trustees of Rider Unieminent post-secondary institution. VOICE GOT HEARD ON CAMPUS In 2002, when U of G was named versity hired Rozanski to be that AND WAS ALWAYS PROUD OF THE for the second time as the top cominstitution's sixth president, they no prehensive university in Canada, doubt took notice of Guelph's fiscal FACT THAT GUELPH IS KNOWN Maclean's magazine recognized record under his leadership : AS BOTH A STRONG ACADEMIC nine consecutive years of balanced Guelph's focus on students and its SCHOOL AND A UNIVERSITY budgets; reputation for sustained academic WITH A FRIENDLY FACE TOWARD excellence, a direct result of the Uniexpansion and diversification of the University's financial resources; versity's ongoing planning process. STUDENTS. THAT's WHY I'M Through successive government buda $40-million increase in research STILL HERE. get challenges and in response to the funding to current annual support concerns of those who invest in pubof more than $106 million; Laurie Halfpenny-Mitchell, B.Sc.(Eng.) '97 lic education, the Rozanski team is growth of the University's endowPhD Program in Biological Engineering still creating opportunities to advance ment by some $100 million to a the University's quality and stature. 2002 total of $134 million; cultural colleges at Alfred, Kemptville and a 600-per-cent increase in financial aid to Every team leader looks for ways to supstudents; and port his or her players, and Guelph's Ridgetown to the University family. longest-serving president is no exception. The new University of Guelph-Humber $250 million in public- and private-secEnthusiastic enough to jump in fully clothed program- integrating a university hontor investment for U of G facilities and at the opening of the University's infrastructure. As Rozanski's tenure ends, U of gold pool in 1993, Rozanski has also put his pride on the 50-yard line in G is undertaking the most significant front of a Homecoming crowd to building and renovation activity in "kick off" U of G's annual United its modern history, supported by a successful $75-million fundraising Way fundraising drive. This spring, campaign. On-campus growth is he traded his Gryphon red pyjamas for a jersey to cheer on Guelph's varbeing guided by a recent review of the University's campus master plan. sity basketball team at the Canadian It's a campus that Daniel first finals in Halifax. Ten years of presidential duties explored on a bicycle, where his parents have included numerous shovels of hosted hundreds of dignitaries and special guests, and where they will say sod to turn and ribbons to cut, many of them the result of alumni initiatives goodbye to their alumni friends in June. and support. He's sold newspapers, "Our 10 years at Guelph are a short time when compared with the dropped pucks and served hot dogs, pizza, coffee and celebratory cakesrelationships of many alumni classes," says Rozanski. "I look forward to all to encourage the Guelph spirit. During Rozanski's term, the Unimeeting grads at Alumni Weekend, where we will celebrate the 70th anniverversity refocused its institutional vision and ours degree and a community college diplosary of OAC '33 and the I 00-year legacy of ma- is addressing the increased demand set high standards for meeting its academfor post-secondary education in Ontario, Macdonald Institute . Our alumni have ic and social responsibilities. Academic worked hard to maintain these connections, renewal over the last decade was guided in as well as providing new programs of interand we will have a great time sharing memest to students and employers. part by the advice of alumni and the acadories about our alma mater." ga emic desires of incoming students trying to U of G leaders also planned for enrol-

Summer 2003 13

Evolutionary â&#x20AC;˘ Mach 1nes Guelph engineers match wits with the physical universe to build robots based on the biological world

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an R2-D2 around the house? An indestructible personal assistant who can repair anything, including himself. An odd-looking robot made of metal and plastic that is so human-like in its ability to perceive and satisfy our needs that we actually call it "he." R2-D2 of Star Wars fame represents a generation of"intelligent" robots yet to be born in a commercial sense, but their gestation is well under way in research facilities around the world, including the University of Guelph. As technology and scientific knowledge continue to advance, humans are becoming increasingly more dependent on robots. The biggest dependency is in the North American automotive industry, where more than 90 per cent of modern robots "work" assembling and welding vehicle body parts and panels, finishing and painting car bodies, and stacking and moving partially completed cars. Robots are also indispensable tools in the aerospace industry; electronics manufacturing; oil, gas and mineral exploration; forestry; and other types of precision work in environments hostile to humans. The industrial use of robots- heavily focused on assembly-line operations -is known as traditional robotics.

Story by Suzanne Soto and Murray Tong 14 GuELPH

ALUMNUS

Summer 2003 15

The evolution of robotics research, howto behave like networks of neurons (the basic our group at Guelph is small, our specialties ever, is in the area of non-traditional robot cell of the nervous system). The future of are at the forefront of this type of research." use. U of G engineering professor Medhat Since arriving at U of G three years ago, truly intelligent robots may depend on the Moussa says many of today's research successful marriage of artificial neural nethe has worked in two primary areas: creatworks and robotics engineering, demandefforts, and certainly tomorrow's, are ing a user-adaptive prosthetic hand and focused on the development of personal sering a thorough understanding of the funcdesigning personal service robots to help vice robots that assist humans one-on-one elderly or disabled people around the house. tioning of biological systems. and improve the quality of their lives. Current prosthetic hands, he says, are Unlike traditional robots, whose moveheavy and require users to undergo much ments are wholly predetermined and depentraining before they can actually use the limb, dent on the structure built around themoften leading to frustration. As a result, many on the plant floor, for example- service prosthetic hands end up not being used at all. robots are meant to be independently "What I am doing is trying to create a deployed in non-structured environments prosthetic hand that learns from its user and such as homes, offices and hospitals. adapts to the user's preferences, so that after The robots themselves are user-centred a while, the hand becomes accustomed to and user-adaptive, which means they can that specific user rather than the user learnlearn from their users and alter their actions, ing how to use the hand." unlike traditional machines, which operate As such, the hand must be able to learn only on command. how to grasp objects, how much force to "These robots are also meant to be used apply and how tightly to squeeze, based on by non-technical people, as opposed to tradiinformation it has received from the user. tional robotics, which require skilled person"This process consists of three stages," nel or engineers to run them," says Moussa. Moussa explains. "The first stage is percepHe should know. The engineer is one of tion or an ability to sense what the user a handful of researchers at Guelph conwants and to be able to use this feedback. ducting work in the emerging field of nonThe second stage is that the hand must be traditional robotic applications and robots able to reason from this sensing and make that merge technology and engineering with a particular decision. The third stage is the biological and other life sciences research ability to act. In the case of the hand, this to create more intelligent machines. would be opening and closing, grasping all U of G, he says, may not be kinds of objects, moving things among the major robotics around and putting things up research players in the countryor down." Guelph researchers are developing a such as the universities of Toron"We have conducted severto and British Columbia and al simulations, and the results new generation of personal service robots McGill University- but in the are very promising," he adds. to assist humans one-on-one in home, area of non-traditional robot use In the area of personal serz ~ and application, the small Guelph vice robotics, Moussa and his office or hospital. ~ group is among the strongest. graduate students have created f. ~ Part of the1r strength comes a small mobile robot equipped f:5 from a close working relationship with a camera and a small arm 0 ~ with other like-minded engineers that enables it to sense objects ::f. in the school's Intelligent Systems and pick them up. "It's the type of robot you ~ Laboratory and with computer 8: scientists in the Guelph Natural may someday expect in a home;' he says. "Its camera can pick up ~ Computation Research Group Si_ (GNCG). Hosted by the Departan image, analyze it and feed this information to a reasoning ~ ment of Computing and In foro mechanism before attempting to pick the ~ mation Science, GNCG scientists are also In Moussa's lab, "we are looking at wear~ experimenting with autonomous mobile object up." able robots or prosthetic hands, hands that robotics and artificial neural networks. The robot, he says, is in its infancy and, can help blind people better navigate their sur>roundings, robots that incorporate comput~ This technology tries to imitate the orgaas such, does what infants do. It moves to er vision, and robotics that some day may help grasp an object, but often drops it or fails [5 nization and functioning of the human iE brain by programming silicon microchips people with physical therapy efforts. Although to pick it up at all. Through the use of arti-

GuELPH ALUMNUS

ficial intelligence, however, the robot can process this information and can incorporate what it's learned in subsequent tries. "The work is going very well," he says, adding that the ultimate goal of it all is to someday develop a robot that could conceivably perform tasks around the house

worn on the user's body- feed information into a special glove worn by the user. The glove has vibrating motors (buzzers) sewn into each finger that send impulses to the wearer, warning of impediments and terrain fluctuations ahead. Traditional navigation systems provide auditory feedback, and they usually have a steep learning curve and overburden the auditory channel, says Zelek. "We wanted our system to be intuitive for the user." Images from the cameras are processed in the computer and translated into information about the location of obstacles within the camera's range, up to 30 feet. Then, the buzzer on the finger corresponding to the direction of that obstacle is activated. For example, if the glove is worn on the left hand, an obstruction lying straight ahead would trigger the buzzer on the middle finger. If the obstacle is just to the right of centre, the index finger would buzz. The stimulus on the user's fingers is used to direct the person around obstructions, says Zelek, who is also investigating possible new methods of conveying terrain information through a subset of the buzzers. His technique of acquiring information about the environment is unique because of his use of dual cameras, which perceive depth the same way 3-D glasses do. Tradi-

as a room full of people, where movement creates multiple signals and provides little useful information about obstacles. "In the case of sonar, busy environments cause multiple signals to get back to the user, which can get confusing," says Zelek. In addition, sonar and ultrasound systems con-

such as preparing food, giving sume a lot of energy and need medication, answering the to be recharged every few hours. phone, turning on lights and He and his research team Truly intelligent robots will marry generally monitoring an elderwanted their navigation system ly or disabled person. to be wearable, comfortable and engineering design with sensory and In another part of the engi affordable. "If it isn't comfortable, computing technologies that imitate the neering building, Prof. John no one is going to want to use it;' Zelek is leading the develophe says. "The system can't intrude functioning of the human brain. ment of vision-assisted robots. on the user's daily activities." "I want to make machines see," The glove is built from inexpensive off-the-shelf compohe explains, adding that this nents. Thanks to advanced techpart of robotics research is crucial. "A robot will perform only nology, the computer is small, as well as it can see the world." about the size of a deck of Zelek and a research team cards, and consumes little power. New technology- minihave already developed a minicameras, in particular - also camera-assisted navigation sysenables the navigation system tem for the visually impaired, a tiona! techniques of information gathering to be very discreet. The cameras can be technology he calls "the logical extension of the walking cane." The system provides usually use sonar or ultrasound waves, mounted on shirt buttons, and the whole blind individuals with tactile feedback on which are bounced around objects in the unit can be sewn into a jacket. their immediate environment. Two small room, similar to a bat's method of navigaZelek has been able to test his "seeingWebcam-sized video cameras wired to a tion. But these methods of sensing can be eye" glove with the co-operation and particportable computer- all of which can be easily foiled by complex surroundings, such ipation of about a dozen visually impaired

Summer 2003 17

individuals affiliated with the Canadian from a distance, so there is no need for of patient progress," he says. National Institute for the Blind in Waterloo. direct interaction between the two. Prof. Simon Yang heads up another large "The response was very favourable," he In the system he 's designing, however, engineering lab working in the field of biosays, adding that he is now testing a robot the robot will be in direct contact with the logically inspired robotics. These are robots that can walk up and down stairs and uses actual user. "So we need to ensure the systhat use insights gained through the study tem is safe, flexible and able to ease interthe same technology as th e glove. of biological systems and mechanismsAnother member of the Intelligent Sysaction between human and machine." from insect behaviour to human thinking tems Lab, Prof. Hussein Abdullah, is an expert and perception. Much of Yang's work is in robotics and mechatronics. He has built aimed at industrial applications, particuand is testing a mechanical system designed larly in the field of agriculture. to help people requiring physical therapy and "Biologically inspired approaches are rehabilitation, such as victims of strokes, trafproviding a radical alternative to convenfic accidents and sports mishaps. tional methods of computational intelli One of the better ways of treating these gence in robotics and automation," he says. injuries, particularly when limbs are "They are resulting in systems that can actuinvolved, is through physical therapy requirally respond to their environments and can ing patients to repeat a motion or task. deal with multiple changing goa ls in Abdullah says that although intensive physdynamic and unpredictable settings." ical treatment does strengthen impaired Many of these robots, he adds, take their limbs, it can take a long time to bring about inspiration from the simple movements of improvement. There's also no accurate way insects. "But th ey don't replicate those natof determining if a particular therapy or uralmovements and systems. What we do motion is the most effective course of action. with th ese robots is take the idea from the "The current conventional physical and natural system and improve on it." occupational therapy in treatment centres is Over the past few years, animal-like subjective, labour-intensive and costly, parrobots have been playin g an increasingly ticularly for the health -care system," he says. important role as a link between the worlds "This is where I believe robotics could make of biology and engineering. The new mula significant contribution. We're trying to tidisciplinary field of biorobotics provides develop robotics that may someday be able to tools for biologists studying animal behavperform some of these repetitive treatments, iour and test beds for th e study and evaluareduce the need for hLUnan attention of biological algorithms for dants and bring down costs." engineering applications. The second thing the system Yang and his resea rch team Biologically inspired robots wiLL actually is being designed to do is monhave developed a robot designed itor and keep track of the for agricultural work. The robot respond to changes in their environments and patient's muscular and other uses map building, localization, make judgments such as when is the best reactions to the treatment prosensing, planning, tracking and gram. "This feedback would control techniques to manoeutime to water or pick fruit crops. then be a great tool for the docvre around a farm field. It can tor or physical therapist and the navi ga te rugged and steep hills patient in determining, on a and avo id obstacles. The robot week by week basis, if the treatcan also take an image of a plant mentis working or if alterations and determine whether it needs are needed;' Abdullah says. water or fertili zer. In collaboration with indusHe stresses that his work on the robotics system is just begintry partners, these Guelph engining. As part of developing these neers are also trying to develop robots, he needs to do a lot of robots that would inspect, hanresearch, particularly in the area of safety. Abdullah adds that the system, when dle and package food; biomechanical robots "When people use robotics on a factory developed, will not supplant the physical to help veterinarians in their work with therapist or completely take over that work. injured livestock; robotic applications for use floor, the robot's working area is usually in clearing land mines; and robots that not totally secured, so none of the operators "It will just be a very useful aid for the therinterfere with the robot's space;' he says. In only pick fruit but also have the smarts to apist in performing the repetitive element addition, the operato r can run the robot of the training program and keeping track figure out which fruit is ripe for picking. ga

GuELPH ALUMNUS

us A newsletter for alumni of the College of Biological Science • Summer 2003

Axelrod Institute poised for growth U

oF G 's Axelrod Institute of Ichthyology held a grand reopening this spring, marking the completion of more than two years of renovations and additions funded by federal and provincial governments and industry partners. "We will also celebrate the fact that the institute is now positioned to take off as a nationally and internationally recogni zed resea rch, teaching and service facility," says Prof. Patrick Woo, Zoology, who became the institute's director jan. l. The Axelrod Institute is a Ca nadi an leader in fisheries research and aquatic science and the holder of one of th e world's largest collections of museum -quality fish fossils. About 20 core faculty members in the institute from the CBS, OAC and OVC study key issues such as fish health and nutrition, the impact of barriers controUing pest species in the Great Lakes and native fishing rights. More than a dozen resea rchers have joined the institute recently. The centre also hosts visiting scholars from around the world. Woo plans to develop multidisciplinary graduate courses and explore new revenue sources by offering services such as workshops to fisheries and aqua culture industries. He also hopes to raise the institute's international profile. Closer to hom e, Prof. Steve Crawford ,

At work in one of two new labs in the Axelrod Institute, are, from left, graduate students Momoko Kawai , Taco den Haas and Josh Clark. Here, th ey're using state·of·the·art so ftware to study the age and growth history of fish . Zoology, has worked for more than a decade with First Nations communiti es along the Bruce Peninsula on fisher ies management and ecology. The Axelrod Institute is currently negotiating an agreement that wo uld see his positio n funded equall y by Guelph and the bands and would help ease th e transfer of native students to U of G. The institute also works with the Great Lakes Fishery Co mmissi o n, a partnership

between Ca nad a and the United States. Under a program to manage fisheries and control sea lamprey in the Great Lakes, the commission recently gave the institute more than $200,000 a year to fund two tenuretrack positions at the institute. Prof. Gordon McDonald studi es the physiology of freshwater and marine fish ; Prof. Rob McLaughlin studies the effects of sea lamprey barriers on biodiversity of stream fi shes.

WHAT'S INSIDE

UNIVERSITY Q/'GUELPH

DEAN's MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . . . . . . • .. . ... • . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 · ·· · •·•··· · •· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . .

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RESEARCH ON BRAIN I N J UR I ES COLLEGE UPDATES

Zygote Plus

Summer

2003

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Dean's Message

LTHOUGH MANY have commented on our harsh winter, my first winter as dean of CBS at Guelph was wonderfully invigorating. Real snow coupled with blue skies and sunshinecompared with the endless rain, grey skies and dull hue of my previous home in the United Kingdom: perception is everything! From my perspective as dean, there has been much to enjoy and admire on campus and there is much to be optimistic about for the future. In january, the contract for the new science complex was awarded to Aecon Construction. Work has already begun on Phase l of the project, which should be completed near the end of 2004. As we prepare for this change and the wonderful opportunities it presents, it is gratifying to record the success of some of our faculty whose excellence has been recognized both within the University and externally. CBS professors Moira Ferguson, John Greenwood, Barbara Mable and Bill Woodward received the President's Distinguished Professors awards at a reception in January

honouring faculty from across campus. In March, Prof. Chris Whitfield, acting chair of the Department of Microbiology and holder of a Canada Research Chair, received the 2003 Roche Diagnostics Award, the most prestigious award of the Canadian Society of Microbiology. Remarkably, previous holders of this award include fellow microbiology professors Terry Beveridge and Cecil Forsberg. Also in Januar y, it was a pleasure to present the CBS Dean's Scholarships to

outstanding undergraduate and graduate students whose achievements and vitality bode well for the future of Canadian science. That month, Prof. Alastair Summerlee was named the new president of the University. He has had tremendous success as provost, and we look forward to his leadership as the University continues to grow. We also record our gratitude to outgoing president Mordechai Rozanski, who will take up new cha llenges elsewhere. He has been at the helm of a ship that had to be charted through difficult waters when he first arrived. He has succeeded admirably in guiding it into new ventures and making it one of the most attractive vessels in Canada. Winter convocation was capped by an inspirational acceptance speech by honorary degree recipient Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks. Finally, many alumni and students took part in the CBS Careers Night, my first chance to meet members of the CBSAA. Michael Emes, Dean

CBS Students Honoured UJ

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GRADUATING CBSstudentsare this year's recipients of the Un iversity's :3 15th annual R.P. Gihnor Student Life Award >~ and fourth annua l Brian D. Sullivan Stua..... dent Leadership Award. 0 :c a. David Hartell, a molecular biology and

genetics major, received the Gilmor Award, which recognizes individuals or groups who have contributed to the betterment of student life at the University. jonathan DaSilva, a biological science major and outgoing president of the CBS Student Council, received the Sullivan Award, which is presented to a graduating student who has made significant contributions to student leadership through his or her involvement as an elected or appointed student representative. Hartell, who served as a student senator for two years and was co-chair of Student Senate Caucus in 2002/2003, was also a START program group leader, orientation volunteer, Project Serve term leader and CFRU Radio volunteer. DaSilva has served as

Zygote Plus

Summer

2003

Jonathan DaSilva external commissioner for the Central Student Association, secretary of the Ontarian board, vice-president (public relations) of the CBS Student Council, president and chair of Student Volunteer Connections and a member of the Citizenship Working Group.

How does vision help us navigate our environment?

ICTURE THIS SCENARIO: You and your two young children are driving down a street when a dog suddenly scurries into your path. Almost instinctively, you slam on the brakes. Although this might save the animal, it could have disastrous consequences for you and your children, even if everyone is safely buckled in their seats, says Prof. Lori Vallis, Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences. Many a brain injury has resulted when drivers, swerving to avoid an object on the road, lose control of their vehicles and end up hitting a telephone pole, a guardrail, a tree or another car, says Vallis. And even though children may be properly restrained, they could still hit their head slightly against the side door or the front-seat cushions, causing internal brain injuries. "I don't like saying this, but my advice to parents in these situations is: Keep driving;' she says, adding that she's not being cold-hearted. Rather, her comment is based on her studies of children who acquired brain injuries this way. "Sometimes, the force of slamming on the brakes causes the brain to move forward and hit the front part of the skull or the back or side and cause serious damage." This damage can affect brain function responsible for motor co-ordination and movement, resulting in individuals who suddenly cannot navigate their environ-

ments successfully, says Vallis. "These individuals look fine;' she says. "They have good vision and sense of touch and balance, but what changes is their ability to integrate all this information." Vallis, who has a PhD in kinesiology specializing in biomechanics from the University of Waterloo, is interested in exploring how children, the elderly, people with a motor impairment and people with neurological deficits use sensory information, particularly vision, to navigate when walking in complex environments. She first became interested in these areas while doing her master's degree in human kinetics at the University of Ottawa, where she studied infant movement. Later, during a post-doctoral fel-

lowship at Laval University, where she worked with patients with traumatic head injuries, she realized the importance of vision in the whole equation. "Vision is one of our most dominant senses," she says, adding that a good illustration of its power occurs when we're stopped at a traffic light and the bus beside us suddenly starts moving forward, giving us the unsettling sensation of moving backwards. "Unfortunately," she adds, "there is not a lot of information known as to the general science of how vision is used to navigate through our environment." Until recently, equipment needed to track visual information on individuals was both expensive to buy and cumbersome to use, says Vallis. "Now, we can use a very small camera that attaches to a baseball cap. A small video camera is used to track movement of the eye, and a second camera tracks the environment so we can see exactly where people are looking in their surrounding environment. "My ultimate goal is to understand how healthy adults and healthy kids move and use vision to navigate complex environments, so that we can, in turn, help special populations, such as motionimpaired children and elderly individuals, overcome their difficulties."

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NUTRACEUTICAl RESEARCH THRIVING

health product (NHP) supplements for improving human health and performance. The unit has enabled many graduate students and more than JSO undergraduates to gain practical research or business experience. Researchers have worked with government agencies and businesses ranging from NHP growers to multinational firms, using clinical trials to study the effects of NHPs on depression, irritable bowel syndrome, cold and flu symptoms, cholesterol levels, weight loss and arthritis. For more information, visit the Web site www.hnru.uoguelph.ca . By Julie Conquer, Director

ROWING INTEREST in using individual food or plant components to improve or maintain human health has meant lots of activity for nutritional scientists in Guelph's Human Nutraceutical Research Unit (HNRU), who are studying functional foods, nutraceuticals and natural health products to reduce or prevent disease. The HNRU was established in 1998 in the Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences to explore and develop the use of nutraceutical and/or natural

Zygote Plus 3 Summer 2003

FOUR YEARS FOR HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE CENTRE

OF G's HEALTH and Performance Centre marked its fourth anniversary last fall. Located in the Powell Building, the centre provides quality sports medicine and health promotion programs to the University and the community. Each semester, the facility enables 40 undergraduate and four graduate volun-

centre introduced the "BodySwing Connection" golf performance program, which assesses key factors in injury prevention and golf performance. The centre's team also provides information through a regular "Ask the Expert" spot to viewers of Rogers Cable. For more information, call centre director Cyndy McLean at 519-824-4120, Ext. 53319, send e-mail to cmclean@uoguelph.ca or visit the Web site www.uoguelph.ca/hpc.

CAMPAIGN SEEKS AlUMNI SUPPORT

Physiotherapist Teresa Piotrowski, left, works with a patient in the Health and Performance Centre. teers to gain experience by working with practitioners in sports medicine, physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic, pedorthics, fitness and nutrition. Among its unique health promotion programs, the Health and Performance Centre offers a popular "Fitness and Nutrition Success" program that has been adopted by several organizations. This year, the

AVING RAISED 93percentofits goal of $75 million through contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations, the University of Guelph will focus on generating alumni support during the final year of its campaign, which has been themed "The Science of Life, The Art of Living." Two of the most innovative initiatives to be funded by this campaign are the science and classroom complexes. The 373,000-square-foot science complex will house more than 100 research and 40 teaching laboratories, as well as the new Advanced Analysis Centre, and will bring together departments in the colleges of Biological Science and Physical and Engineering Science. Construction began last fall and will continue until mid-2006. The classroom complex, to be completed by September 2003, will house leadingedge lecture theatres and classrooms with multimedia equipment.

CBS Alumni Association- Membership Form The follow ing membersh ip plans are available to you: 0 Annua l Membership: $10 per year 0 Life Membership: $75 0 Life Membersh ip In sta lment: $20 per year for four years ($8o total) Name: (Include maiden name if applicable) _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Year of Graduation:

UILDING ON A TRADITION that reaches back many years, the annual CBS Careers Night kicked off Biology Week in January. This year's event combined the efforts of college departments and representatives of the CBS Alumni Association, the HK/HB Alumni Association, the CBS Student Council and student councils from the areas of nutritional sciences, biomedical sciences and human kinetics. The result was the largest Careers Night the college has ever hosted. Thirty-six alumni from various backgrounds were on hand to discuss their careers. More than 200 students attended the informal round-table evening and got first-hand information from grads from the 1970s all the way up to 2002. The evening wrapped up with a wine-and-cheese reception for the alumni speakers, hosted by the CBS Alumni Association.

A toxicologist at the Centre for Forensic Science in Toronto, David Riley, M.Sc. '90, talks with students at the annual CBS Careers Night.

Address: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ __

City: _ _ _ _ __ _ _ Province/State: _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ Country:

CAREERS NIGHT lARGEST EVER

Zygote Plus

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Telephone:(H) _ __ __ _ _ __ _ (B) _ __ _ _ _ __ _

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Enclosed is my cheque for$ _ _ __ made payable to the CBS Alumni Association. Please return to: CBS Alumni Association Alumni House University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1

Summer 2003 Published by the College of Biological Science Contact: Sam Kosakowski Tel: 519-824-4120, Ext. 54703 Fax: 519-767-2044 E-mail: skosakow@uoguelph.ca

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INSPIRATION IS NOT ENOUGH It takes a skilled hand to create what the mind can see By Rachelle Cooper N THE 1500s, Italian sculptor Michelangelo said:"! saw the angel in the marble and carved until l set him free." Michelangelo's angel represents that great inspiration for an idea that artists crave. Not everyone has the ability to see greatness in a block of stone. Nor is there a formula for creativity- no rules a teacher can give students to enable them to "see"

the angel in marble or on a blank canvas, computer screen or music score. The little epiphanies that artists experience often come at unexpected times. Although they can't be taught, professors in Guelph's College of Arts use different stimuli to help students trigger their own moments of inspiration. Once a person gets a glimpse of the angel, an astute teacher can play a major role

Summer 2003 19

in helping the young artist set it free. It's the laborious part of the creative process- the shaping of a painting, a short story or a song- that can be taught at university. People are often considered naturally creative as young children. They explore their imaginations through play and test limits by taking risks. When they start school, their creative juices can become suppressed by rules and boundaries. It's at university that people are not only given the time and permission to take risks again, but are also encouraged to push the boundaries and explore new ideas. "Creativity has to do with suddenly coming face-to-face with something and recognizing how little you know about it;' says Prof. Janice Kulyk Keefer, School of English and Theatre Studies. "It's about trying to experience the world as you did as a child, when you didn't already know everything, when a mud puddle wasn't something to be stepped over on the way to school but something to get into with your hands and your body, something to respond to and draw with." Kulyk Keefer is somewhat of a creativity expert. An author of numerous works of fiction, poetry and literary criticism, she has twice been nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award, is a two-time winner of the CBC Radio Literary Competition and was awarded the 1999 Marian Engel Award. She came to Guelph in 1990 to help launch its creative writing program, which has since produced several published and award-winning authors, including Joanna Cockerline, BA '99 and MA '00, who was a 2003 CBC Radio Literary Competition winner. "I think creativity can be fostered and I think it can definitely be stifled, but everyone has their own inspiration," says Cockerline. "I do think there are techniques that profs can use to bring it out and to push it further, to mould it." A student's greatest fears are often what can trigger the best writing, says Kulyk Keefer. Although she can't force students to open up, "you can make people aware of factors that inhibit freer expression of ideas;' she says. Fine art professor and painter Will Gorlitz adds: "You can encourage people not to focus only on the development of their skills, which has to happen, but also on stimuli in the world around them. In some ways, creativity depends on their willingness to take

20 GuELPH ALUMNUS

risks and to sometimes do things they feel inherently disinclined to do." Gorlitz was financially dependent on his risk-taking abilities for 18 years as he supported himself as an independent artist before beginning to teach. He came to Guelph in August 2001 from the University of Waterloo, where he received the 2001 Distinguished Teacher Award. He exhibits his work- which has been recognized and examined in various periodicals, books and catalogue publications- in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Co-ordinator of Guelph's master's program in fine art, Gorlitz is also teaching undergraduate drawing and painting courses. He likens his role in the classroom to that of a coach with hockey players on the ice. "You know you can't actually score the goal for them. You talk to them, give them encouragement and especially reinforce the things they're doing right." Encouragement and positive reinforcement are two ways Gorlitz and other U of G professors prompt creativity. Students are much more likely to take creative risks if they feel connected to the people around them. The biggest advantage university students have over artists outside an academic environment is the community of peers and seasoned artists that surrounds them. "An artist can be an artist without going to university or taking a class," says Gorlitz. "Not having an education doesn't disqualify you, but submitting yourself into a program of art education is basically a proposition of agreeing to enter a community where not only do you have your own propositions, but you also have the propositions of faculty and other students who set challenges for you. It's all done in a very co-operative, discursive manner." Recognizing that creativity is the lifeblood of every academic discipline, College of Arts dean Jacqueline Murray says Guelph excels at fostering this kind of rapport across campus. "Establishing a sense of community is inherent within or under our rubric of learner-centredness;' she says. "Part of what we do is create a safe space for students to explore and express their creativity and to develop their ideas and find new and different ways of thinking and experiencing and communicating. I think we do it brilliantly here."

Music professor Ellen Waterman agrees that an empathic classroom environment is critical to the creative process. She's a professional flutist who specializes in experimental forms of new music, teaches courses in 20th-century and contemporary music and leads the Contemporary Music Ensemble at Guelph. "I don't think you can teach creativityyou allow it to happen by creating environments where people feel free to explore," she says. "I've never met a group of students who wouldn't take you up on that if you could create the proper circumstances. By encouraging students to feel free to play within very good parameters, you allow them to explore and live up to that responsibility." U of G fine art faculty say the biggest change to teaching in their discipline over the past few decades has been the amount of leeway students are given. Contemporary professors are finding the more freedom students have to explore within clear parameters, the better the results. Gorlitz gave his second-year painting class a non-representational abstract project witl1 very few restrictions and was "so delighted with the results, I was almost dumbfounded. I felt so elated because I hadn't seen anything like it in ages." For Cockerline, it was when her professors gave her more space that she had the most creative success. "My favourite profs were ones who really encouraged me to take risks to push myself, to step outside the boundaries," she says. "In terms of really getting students to push their work to the next level, I think the fewer restrictions, the better." Jesse Stewart, a PhD candidate in the School of English and Theatre Studies and an award-winning percussionist with a master's degree in musicology and composition, is facilitating a music ensemble at Guelph that's devoted to free improvisation- music composed and performed in the moment. He says when the classroom hasn't been established as a safe place, "it's a serious impediment to creativity and to the learning process in general. People have to feel it's OK to take chances, to play something or state an idea, even if it doesn't come out the way they intend it to. I often remind them that there are no wrong notes in the music we make. I see this as a big part of my responsibility in the group!' The process students engage in is more

MUSICIAN ELLEN WATERMAN TRIES TO CREATE AN EMPATHIC CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND REMINDS STUDENTS THAT THEIR MUSIC SKILLS ARE NOT SEPARATE FROM THEIR IMAGINATIONS.

First-year students Karl Skene, electric guitar, and Tegan Ceschi-Smith, classical violin, wrote music together with encouragement from Prof. Ellen Waterman, a fiutist who specializes in experimental forms of music_

important than the end product, says Waterman. For a project in her Contemporary Music Ensemble, two first-year studentsa classical violinist and an electric guitarist -decided to explore each other's music worlds, so the guitarist bowed the guitar and the violinist learned to let loose a bit. "I thought it was a great idea," says Waterman. "Will it be a piece of music that will be heard a hundred years from now? Of course not, but that's not the important part. The important part is the process they went through." In their own creative processes, Garlitz,

Kulyk Keefer and Waterman say they have success when they don't place many restrictions on themselves. "I constantly surprise myself because I have no idea what's around the next corner," says Garlitz. "I've recognized moments when an idea comes to me, a notion, a hint of something that's of interest that l start following in a deliberate way, and suddenly a whole series of little epiphanies happens in relation to it." Says Kulyk Keefer: "It's a rare luxury, feeling free to play, to explore, to reach out for something without knowing what you're going to put your hands on- not to grab,

but to touch . To me, there's nothing more satisfying and more exciting than feeling yourself moving towards the discovery of something, crossing a threshold you never knew was there." Arts professors are now using mixed media in their classes more than ever to help stir up their students' creative juices. In their sculpture classes, fine art professors Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse regularly use sound, video, images and performance. "We always bring a complete sound system with a subwoofer and CD player into class;' says Kozzi. "Sometimes we spin vinyl as well, depend-

Summer 2003 21

ing on what we're doing." Gorlitz also uses music as a creative stimulus in class. When his second-year students were working on their abstract project, he used "very cool fusion jazz of Miles Davis because of its serpentine construction, which seemed parallel with the sensibility that students were likely to follow in their own personal way!' Kulyk Keefer says because painting has a strong impact on her own writing, she sometimes brings visual art into her creative writing classes. After visiting the Kat he Kollwitz exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, for example, she showed her class overhead projections of some of Kollwitz's most powerful works. That provided a springboard for discussing the different strategies used by creators of visual and verbal images to express powerful emotion and for exploring where the line between profound feeling and easy sentimentality lies. Waterman has used film to inspire her students to write a new piece of music. She says she also borrows exercises from theatre warm-ups to loosen up her students. Another way U of G helps students think laterally is by offering options in course selection. Guelph's encouragement of interdisciplinary studies helps students draw on many fields of study for inspiration. "The integration of knowledge and interdisciplinary approaches to questions and problem solving is absolutely critical to the creative process because each person gets new ideas by learning how different traditions and disciplines see things," says Murray. "Part of creativity can be relating previously unrelated material or modes of thought that allow you to see things in a new way. The broader the educational base, the more likely it is that there will be this kind of synergistic spark of insight." Guelph's holistic approach to education allows students to draw inspiration from their different strengths. "One of our best pianists is a science major," says Waterman. "He's absolutely dedicated to music and he's a good science student. Students here can get training that's detailed and thorough and much broader than I ever got. They have quite a good range of choices." U of G professors have found that being exposed to as much creative and intellectual material as possible increases students'

22 GuELPH ALUMNus

chances of seeing their own angel. "What I try to make clear and emphatic to my students is that creativity breeds creativity;' says Kulyk Keefer. "You cannot be a poet without reading a tremendous amount of poetry of all kinds. But poets also listen to music, go to plays and films, and read fiction and non-fiction in order to remain open to all kinds of creative expression. You don't want to be boxed into one genre; you need to be responsive to other artistic forms that can show you how to do new or better things in the poetry you write. I want my students to see how what they're struggling to express through poetic language and form may be analogous to what a jazz musician or what an abstract expressionist painter might be doing:' Even within one genre, professors encourage diversity. "In music training, quite typically, historians are in one box, performers are in another, composers are in another, and these are all well-defined jobs;' says Waterman. "The composer is to be creative, the performer is to interpret accurately and the historian is to think about all these other things. I don't get the boxes at all. I work across all three of those areas and into some others, and I don't see any merit, especially early on, of trapping somebody in a very small role." Although Cockerline has become a novelist, she received her inspiration from theory classes. "Reading the texts for my theory courses and thinking about them in new ways were really valuable and helped me examine how I was going to shape my own craft and think of my own ideas and perspectives;' she says. "It's helped me get at the heart of how language operates." Guelph professors are themselves inspired by helping their students shape ideas into something that can move others. If students struggle to gain inspiration, they soon learn that the idea is, in many ways, the easy part. It's the shaping and revising and perfecting of the idea that requires time, skill and a more disciplined kind of creativity. "A poem pouring itself on the page is obviously the first crucial step because you have to have something to work with," says Kulyk Keefer. "But I try to stress with students in creative writing courses that revision can be just as creative an act as the initial putting on paper of urgent ideas and feelings." The skills needed to shape an idea can be taught. Brush techniques, uses of colour,

revision techniques, tempo and rhythm all act as the foundation on which artists can build their repertoire. "It's like cooking," says Gorlitz. "The first time you have to boil an egg, it's a mystery. But at a certain point, it becomes second nature, and then you try more adventurous things. Eventually you can make a souffle, but you certainly wouldn't start with a souffle." As students develop their skills, they can express themselves more freely, have more fun and have greater success experimenting. Waterman tries to remind students that their music skills are not separate from their imaginations. "! have never felt a divide between intellectual activity and so-called creative activity;' she says. "The two are very much parts of the same whole, and you can't achieve creative success without using them both:' Accepting constructive criticism is essential to shaping an idea so that it moves the work's audience. Gorlitz believes being able to justify one's work is integral to producing quality creative work. "I want people to respond to their urges, but then to examine them as well. If someone just says: 'This is how I felt, I was feeling creative; the words aren't inherently bad, but they've fallen into a certain kind of usage that's problematic and very difficult to deal with in an educational context or even in a critical context." Artists of all genres need to engage in dialogue to be effective. "Talking is a big part of art, even though there's nothing visual about it;' says Gorlitz. Dialogue between student and teacher and between peers refines students' work and makes them accountable for their creations. In his improv music ensemble, Stewart tries to foster dialogue about the music the group makes. "In my view, dialogue- that is, twoway communication- is an essential part of the learning and creative processes." Kulyk Keefer adds that dialogue also helps writers realize their uncertainties and frustrations are an integral part of developing as an artist. "It's essential to be sharing your work with other people, to be listening to other writers, to get the sense that you're not the only one grappling with this particular problem or having doubts about whether your work is any good," she says. Knowing your work is good also involves

WRITER JANICE KuLYK KEEFER AND PAINTER WILL GoRLITZ AGREE THAT CREATIVITY FLOURISHES WHEN STUDENTS ARE WILLING TO TAKE RISKS AND LEARN TO FREELY EXPRESS THEIR IDEAS.

A novelist and poet herself, Prof. Janice Kulyk Keefer leads a workshop session with students from an undergraduate poetry class. From left: Anya Lipchak, Andrea Bennett, Kulyk Keefer, Karla Kale, Jamie Charbonneau, and Annie Hardwick.

the painful process of sharing it and receiving feedback from the real world of consumer critics;' says Gorlitz. And after shelling out thousands of dollars for a liberal arts education, parents and students often want proof that the encouragement to play and explore will eventually have a monetary value. Statistics Canada 2001 census data show that Canada's university graduates make, on average, $25,545 more than full-time workers who have only a high school diploma and $20,000 more than community college graduates. Those figures reinforce the monetary

value of a university degree, but the longterm benefits of learning to tap into your creative side are greater than any amount of money; it can lead to a fuller life. "Creativity is a way of thinking and seeing and acting and problem solving, so it's something we're doing all the time, every day," says Murray. Adds Waterman: "! can't think of any activity in life that doesn't require you to think on your feet, to come up with solutions, to work rigorously through processes, to relate to other people, to collaborate, to get up in front of other people and make some kind of

presentation or state your case- whether it's to a group of people or contesting a parking ticket- it's all a performance. In institutions like universities, we're driven to justify everything we do in really concrete terms. I've just listed a number of skills that translate very tangibly to other professions, but I'm a little wistful for a time when perhaps one can say these things are worth doing because it's good to be alive and it's good for there to be beauty around you and it's good to experiment." Students aren't just carving out the angels they see in marble, they're carving out their futures. ga

Summer 2003 23

She's got the stars on her side By Andrew Vowles

CHERRY wouldlovetomeet pop legend Tina Turner. Oh, and Bono, front man of Irish rock group U2. Not that the 1991 U of G biology graduate is star-struck: Cherry just wants to recruit the high-powered singers in her novel decade-long fight against racism. It was 10 years ago that Cherry, a freelance journalist in Toronto, began a nonprofit organization called Artists Against Racism (AAR). Today, the group includes more than 100 musicians, actors and writers who provide their names- and not a little money- to serve as anti-racism role models for youth in Canada and the United States. The goal of preventing racism grew, in part, from Cherry's personal experience. The youngest of three daughters in a jewish family, she had encountered racism before, but one incident in the early 1990s stands out in her memory. She had completed her B.Sc. and was studying veterinary medicine at the time. Although she later withdrew from the Guelph program for health reasons, Cherry was working as a student intern at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack when she and the supervising veterinarian were insulted by a horse handler's anti-Semitic remarks. A few years later, she found Canada's media headlines dominated by related news- rallies at Queen's Park, recruitment in schools by white supremacist groups, the formation of hate organizations on the Internet and the establishment in Toronto of the largest haterock record label in North America. "Ali these things had come to a crisis;' says Cherry.

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GUELPH ALUMNUS

By then, she was working as a freelance journalist. She wrote an article about her encounters with anti-Semitism that was published in the Globe and Mail and drew a response from Canadian artist and musician Mendelson joe. Their discussion sparked her idea to launch a Canada-wide poster campaign that would use the star power of artists to deliver a "racism is uncool" message to youngsters. joe agreed to produce and donate a painting for the cause. He also helped with funding and gave Cherry leads on other artists, including such early adherents as children's entertainer Raffi and Neil Peart, drummer for the Canadian rock group Rush. That fledgling poster campaign took off. By 1995, 16,000 posters containing a list of entertainers' names were distributed to schools across Canada, as well as to public libraries and YMCA- YWCAs. Today, the group numbers more than 100 entertainers from around the world, including actors Dan Aykroyd, Kiefer Sutherland, Mike Myers and Sarah Polley; musicians Barenaked Ladies, Robbie Robertson, Lenny Kravitz, Leonard Cohen, Phil Collins and Prairie Oyster; writers Pierre Berton, Margaret Atwood, jane Urquhart, Michael Ondaatje and Alice Munro; and directors Norman jewison and Atom Egoyan. A Violet Ribbon campaign has seen such celebrities as Celine Dion and )ewison wear the group's signature ribbon at the Academy Awards. High schools regularly sponsor "band bashes," while AAR hosts events such

as the One People benefit concert and booths at concerts and music festivals across North America. The charity also promotes the message via radio and television public service announcements, magazine and billboard advertisements, labels on album covers and poster ads in washrooms, restaurants, subway stations and movie theatres. "At the very beginning, I never aimed to create anon-profit organization," says Cherry, who's been described in newspaper and magazine articles as having resourcefulness, pluck, even a "magic touch." She allows that at times, she's needed all those qualities and more in dealing with the egos of some of the artists' managers. "At one point, it was such a struggle to get to the artists;' she says. There were also some surprises in store, including the manager of one country singer who refused to pass along her request to get involved. It turned out that both the artist and the manager harboured virulent racist views, a revelation that was eventually exposed by the Globe and Mail. "That actually helped me get more artists." The connection between the stars and social justice may have been forged in Cherry's childhood when she first watched and was inspired by the Hollywood film The Ten Commandments. Closer to home, one of her ancestors escaped from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, and she recalls stories about relatives who fled from anti-Jewish pogroms in Ukraine before the First World War I. She herself spent several years figure skating at a Toronto club that had previ-

ously banned Jews. She was also influenced by people like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Rachel Carson and Elie Wiesel. "I have a natural sense of justice," says Cherry. "Whenever I would read about people not being treated with a sense of equality, it just incensed me, and I always wanted to do something about it." Her efforts have gone beyond Canada's borders. In 2000, she and other AAR organizers were invited to Washington to meet with the anti-racism office of the Clinton administration. That was shortly after the head of the organization's Indiana office, photographer Trace Poulson, won an award from the Indiana Civil Rights Association for organizing a peace concert to counteract a major Ku Klux Klan rally. A second U.S. office operates in Rhode Island under the leadership of a university

student whose professor was a former associate of King's. In late 2001, the organization received a Global Tolerance Award from the Friends of the United Nations. AAR has also received the Toronto Mayor's AntiRacism Award and the Sassaby Cosmetics 1996 Internet Award. Awards are gratifying, but what difference is the organization making? Acknowledging that it's difficult to tell, Cherry says the best gauge is from students who write that they've been influenced by AAR materials and the artists' personal quotes. "We get teachers e-mailing us all the time about adding our educational material and Web site to their course curriculum. We've brought up a whole generation of kids and helped change the educational system. Rather than fighting racism, it's easier to prevent racism than to stop it."

Artists Against Racism is now embarking on a major fund raising campaign to take its anti-racism message to children and youth worldwide- what Cherry calls "more of the same but on a bigger scale ." At the same time, she's thinking her lOth anniversary is a good time to hand over control of the organization to someone else. After a decade as executive director, she wants to focus on long-standing interests in writing about health and the environment. She's currently working on a documentary about environmental health and is producing an anti-pesticide TV ad campaign. ''I'm against the use of pesticides for controlling West Nile virus," says Cherry, who hopes to partner with an environmental organization. "We will kill more people through pesticides than West Nile virus will. There are better ways to control the disease." ga

Summer 2003 25

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UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

ALUMNI PROFILES

GUELPH GRAD APPLAUDS NASA FRIENDS AND SPIRIT

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OBERT McLEAN, B.Sc. '78, WILL never forget the day he watched the space shuttle Columbia launch into the sky with a piece of his past and future on board. The Southwest Texas State University professor had an experiment on the mission. A specialist in biofllms, McLean designed his shuttle experiment to study how different strains of bacteria mingle in the absence of gravity. The bacteria that he and three of his students sent into orbit were so tiny, they could fit into a raindrop. They were packaged for the journey between two layers of Teflon, each only a few inches in depth . But the knowledge those bacteria could bring back to Earth had the potential to be colossal. McLean watched the shuttle launch in Florida with about 80 other researchers who had projects on the mission . "It was awesome to see, an amazing moment," he says. But even more vivid in memory is the day he learned the shuttle and its crew were not coming back. "I was on my way to the airport to meet one of my students for the return flight to Florida. I stopped at a coffee shop. Someone inside said they had heard that NASA had lost contact with the shuttle." McLean was stunned at first, then consumed by grief for his NASA colleagues. "I kept thinking about the families." As he made his way back home, McLean's cell phone started ringing. It was his university and then reporters. Word had

~ got out that he had a project on board, and

he found himself answering media calls from all over Texas, the western United 0 States and even from Alberta, where he Vl >Vl earned a PhD from the University of CalL.W f::J "'0 gary. "It was pretty intense for a while." u In the past couple of months, McLean has 2 been able to refocus on his research. Biofllms 0 I 0.. are the slime-encased natural environments t;]

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that bacteria form on surfaces, and the Columbia experiment was intended to determine whether three types of bacteria- E. coli, Pseudomonas and Chromobacteriumwould form biofilms in the absence of gravity. The hope was that the research findings would help develop disease treatments and eventually prolong travel in space. "The idea is that a bacteria combination can work as a water filter system on space missions where water is limited, recycling and reusing water," he says. The control half of McLean's experiment is still in his lab, where he and his students are focusing on the components ofbiofilms'

growth and development, such as the ability of individual bacteria to grow slowly, survive starvation and stress, and perform metabolic activities. There is a chance they may recover their Columbia experiment. Not long ago, McLean learned that the section of the shuttie that contained his research survived the fall to Earth fairly intact. ''I've learned a lot from this experience, namely that anything is possible and you don't give up - ever," he says. "Even when things are dangerous and, even in this case, where seven wonderful people lost their lives, we shouldn't turn back."

atters HIGHLIGHTS • GRAD NEWS • OBITUARIES • CALENDAR

INVITATION FOR COMMERCE GRADS

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR JOB

HE GuELPH CoMMERCE SociETY is a student government group that pro-

motes U of G commerce programs by hosting social events and attending conferences and workshops. They invite alumni participation in their annual golf tournament and invite commerce grads to visit their Web site at www.uoguelph.ca/-commerce.

NOTE TO ENGINEERING GRADS

ATIE MOUNTJOY REPRESENTS THE

Guelph branch of Engineers Without Borders, an organization that collects used tools and equipment to help launch business ventures in the developing world. They'd like to hear from owners of business and/or manufacturing companies who could help by donating used equipment. For details, send e-mail to kmountjo@uoguelph.ca.

REACHING OUT TO ALUMNI

LUMNI AFFAIRS AND Development has three projects under way to provide fast, efficient communication with alumni via the Internet. "Our job is to engage alumni in the life of the University;' says Jennifer Brett, manager of events and communications. "We want alumni to be up to date on what's going on and hopefully get involved themselves:' More than 1,400 alumni have already registered for Guelph's Online Community (OLC), giving them access to class bulletin boards, travel advice, mentoring opportunities and a cost-efficient way to keep in touch with the University and other alumni. This free service has been up and running for 18 months. In addition, the department has just launched a new easy-to-navigate Web site that features information on everything from class projects to reunion dates. A photo gallery will provide a snapshot of recent alumni events.

For graduating U of G students, Careers Night is one of the most important events of the winter semester. Alumni participation is invaluable because it gives students a chance to talk to graduates working in their field of interest. "These are some of the best alumni programs we offer," says alumni manager Laurie Malleau, who helped organize this year's event for students in U of G's geography program. "Our students are so appreciative of the advice provided by alumni, who, in turn, have the opportunity to mentor a group of outstanding young professionals." Speakers at the geography event included, front row, from left: Jim Hosick, 'o1; Luigi Derose, '94; Prof. Jan Mersey; and Johanna Wandel, MA '95. Back row: Stanley Jones, '72; Douglas Smith, 'o2; PhD student Robert Mcleman; Laron Hopkins; '73; Wayne Caston, '77; Alex Komarniski, '72; Brian Morber, '90; and Patti Young, '93·

And this summer, U of G will send the first issue of a new alumni e-newsletter. It will go initially to every graduate who has given an e-mail address to Alumni House. "Thee-newsletter will provide headlines and brief updates on campus news and events," says Brett. "Readers who want more information will be able to click the headline link to a full article in the Web version of the Guelph Alumnus or other campus publications." Visit the new Web site at www.uoguelph. ca/alumni to update your mailing address online. Provide an e-mail address if you would like to receive the alumni e-newsletter.

WRONG LETTER, RIGHT CAREER

ONSUMER STUDIES CHAIR Marjorie Wall was featured in the Winter 2003 issue of the Guelph Alumnus in a story about the legacy of Macdonald Institute. We apologize for mispelling her last name and hope our readers enjoyed her perspective on how the college has reinvented itself in response to changes in Canadian society. Wall earned a B.H.Sc. from Macdonald Institute, an M.Sc. from the College of Family and Consumer Studies, and aided the transition to today's College of Social and Applied Human Sciences as a faculty member.

Spring 2003 27

alumni Matters Coming Events june 20 to 22 -Alumni Weekend. See page 29.

june 5 - Farewell reception for U of G president Mordechai Rozanski, Gryphon Dome, 3:30 p .m . to 6 p .m. The Board of Governors invites all alumni and community friends to attend. june 7 - Golf tournament for lacrosse alumni. Contact Sam Kosakowski at Ext. 54703 or skosakow@uoguelph.ca. july 12 and 13 - Kemptville College Alumni Weekend. Contact Ellen Mooney at 613-258-8336 or emooney@kemptvillec. uoguelph.ca. Sept. 5 - OAC Alumni Association annual golf tournament in Guelph. Contact Carla Bradshaw at Ext. 56657. Sept. 27 - Homecoming. U of G alumni and staff enjoyed a tour of San Antonio's famous Riverwalk during the March 8 Texas reunion . Left to right : Pam Healey, BA '73, assistant vice-president (development); Janet Greathouse, David Taylor, DVM '86; Karen Grant, B.Sc. '88; Wendy McDowell, B.Sc.(Agr.) ' 78; Patrick McDowell; Jeffrey Rowe and Margaret Gale·Rowe, B.Sc. '82, with their children, Bronwyn and Alison; and Shirley and Ted Freeman, ADA '56.

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ALUMNI CLOTHING &.. GIITS The University Bookstore located in the MacNaughton Building bookstor@uoguelph.ca (519) 824-4120 x 53690 28

GuELPH ALUM N us

2003-2004 Agri-Tourism Holidays Experience the Bounty! Apimondia 2003, August 16-31,2003

Library

For details of alumni events, call the extension listed at 519-824-4120 or send e-mail to alumni@uoguelph.ca.

Experience apicultural and cultural attractions in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia.

January 2004 • Arizona- Mi xed Ag/Go lf • New Zealand/ Australia from Januaty 23 to Febmary 16

February 2004 • 8 days- Tulare Farm Show, CA • 8 day Costa Rican Tours, either Butterfly/ Horticulture OR Dairy tour; incl. resort holiday •

~ gnTours Canada Inc.

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Celebrating Traditions The rich history of the University of Guelph includes traditions created by alumni from every era, every college and every class. Alumni Weekend 2003 is an opportunity for you to bring those traditions back to life by rekindling friendships with former roommates and classmates. • This year is extra special with events marking the lOOth annivers~ry of the founding of Macdonald Institute. Come back for your reunion, bring your family, visit your old stomping grounds and see what's new! • University of Guelph Alumni Association (UGAA) Awards of Excellence will be presented to Bruce Christie, ADA '58, and Clifford Chappel, DVM '50. • All Guelph alumni are invited to attend Alumni Weekend. View registration details online at www.uoguelph.ca/alumni.

FRIDAY, JUNE 20 Registration- Alumni House, 9 a.m. to 7:30p.m. Alumni-in-Action Hospitality Room- All day at Alumni House. Macdonald Institute Stamp Event- Creelman Hall, 10:30 a.m. Canada Post will introduce

a stamp marking the 1DOth anniversary of the founding of Macdonald Institute. College Directions Seminar Series- Lunch in the Whippletree at noon,

seminars from 1:30 to 4:30p.m., hosted by the Mac-FACS Alumni Association. aAC Past Presidents' Dinner- Turfgrass Institute. 5 p.m. Welcome Barbecue -

Creelman Hall, 5:30p.m.

ave Past Presidents' Social -

OVC Lifetime Learning Centre, 7 p.m.

Macdonald Institute Book Event- University Club, 7:30p.m., hosted by

College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS) Dean Alun Joseph.

SATURDAY, JUNE 21 Registration -

Alumni House, 8 a.m. to 7:30p.m.

Alumni-in-Action Hospitality Room- All day at Alumni House. aAC Alumni Association AGM- Macdonald Hall149. 9 a.m. ave Alumni Association AGM- OVC Lifetime Learning Centre. 9 a.m. CSAHS Tours- Macdonald Institute Building, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., includes tour. films and reception . President's Lunch and Golden Anniversary Celebration- Gryphon Dome, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.,

honouring 1953 classes, presentation of UGAA Awards of Excellence. Trolley Tours -

From the Mitchell Athletic Centre, 2 to 4 p.m

Macdonald Institute Heritage Event- Mac Hall1 02, 2:30p.m., grand opening

of Alumn i Heritage Room and Adelaide Hoodless Garden. UGAA Wine & Cheese- U of G's new classroom complex, 3 p.m .. ribbon-cutting for the alumni

concourse, presentation of Gordon Nixon Leadership Awards to student groups. CSAHS Tours -

Macdonald Institute Building, 330 to 4:30p.m., includes tour, fi lms and reception.

Silver Anniversary Dinner

Creelman Hall, 6 p.m reception, 7 p.m. dinner.

Engineering Banquet- Wh ippletree, 6:30p.m., welcoming engineering graduates of every year. Mac-FACS Gala -

University Centre courtyard, 5:30p.m. reception, 7 p m dinner,

9:30p.m. dance to the Roya l City Big Band . Alumni Pub -

Brass Taps, 9 p.m .. dance music from the 1970s, '80s and early '90s.

SUNDAY, JUNE 22 Ecumenical Service -

War Memorial Hall. 9 a.m.

Farewell Breakfast- Creelman Hall, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

CLASS REUNIONS

aAC '33, '38, '43, '48, '48A '49, '53, '53A, '58, '63, '63A, '68, '73A, '78 and

'88; Mac '38. '48D. '52. '53. '53D. '56, '56D, '57D, '63, '64, '66 and '68; FACS '73, '78, '83 and '87; HAFA '73 and '93; Human Kinetics '83; ave '43, '48, '50, '54, '58, '63, '73, '78 and '02; Engineering '93; Landscape Architecture '78; Physical Education '73

Accommodation is available on campus. For information or to register, contact Alumni House at Tel. 519-824-4120, Ext. 56544 E-mail' alumni@uoguelph.ca Web: www.uoguelph.ca/alumni

GRAD NEWS

Bacteria cultured a promising career

1930 • William van Diepen, BSA '35, enjoyed a 37-year career with the United Fruit Company (known today as Chiquita

WHEN JEREMY YETHON, B.Sc. '97 and PhD '01, enrolled at Guelph in 1993, he planned to study biochemistry. But after taking an elective course in microbiology, he became fascinated by bacteria and other micro-organisms, and that changed the direction of his career. After the U of G President's Scholar completed his two Guelph degrees, he started work as a post-doctoral fellow at McMaster University. He is also the recipient of one of Canada's most prestigious awards for young scientists- the Polanyi Prize in Physiology/Medicine. Named after John Charles Polanyi, a Canadian Nobel Prize winner for his work in chemistry, the prize recognizes outstanding young researchers in the early stages of their careers.

Yethon's current research is on a eukaryotic system. He is studying a family of proteins in mammalian cells that regulate cell death or survival in response to various stresses. He hopes to combine what he learned from his PhD work on bacterial antibiotic resistance with his post-doctoral work to "be able to probe the molecular interactions between bacteria and eukaryotic host cells that are critical in the onset and progression of bacterial infection." His work has garnered much attention, particularly from the pharmaceutical industry, with several companies expressing interest in pursuing his thesis results for the development of novel antibiotics. Part of what earned Yethon

U of G's most prestigious entrance award was his desire to give something back to his community and society. As a student at Nelson High School in Burlington, Ont., he coached a midget boys' volleyball team, volunteered at the local association for community living and was one of the school's top stu· dents. Today, his hands-on approach to the betterment of society takes place in a research lab where new discoveries may improve the health of generations to come. Yethon is married to Wendy Fairs, B.Sc. '99, a graduate of Guelph's program in food sci· ence. He enjoys running and manages to enter several road races a year. Future plans include running the Boston Marathon.

Guatemala, New Orleans, Miami and Boston. He retired after 12 years as vice-president of research and development at company headquarters 111 Boston. Van Diepen continues to do consulting work in the banana industry and lives in Florida with his second wife, Polly, to whom he has been married for more than 20 years.

played football and contributed to three consecutive intercollegiate championships. After graduation, he played for the Ottawa Rough Riders, helping the team win the 1951 Grey Cup. Later in his career, he was appointed track veterinarian at the Rideau Carleton Raceway, where he took up harness racing and became a driver, breeder and trainer. • Maurice De Kindt, ADA '56 and BSA '62, recently moved from Tecumseh, Ont., to Windsor. He retired 10 years ago as agricultural manager at the Green Giant processing plant in Tecumseh. • Don Ghetti, BSA '51, has received a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for his continued support of his community and country. A distinguished agrologist and longtime volunteer for

the Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, he is a former citizen of the year and Centennial Medal recipient for Niagara-on-theLake, Ont. He is also past president of St. David's and District Lions Club and recipient of the club's highest award, the Melvin Jones Fellowship. Ghetti and his wife, Gloria, have two children, John and Donna, and two grandsons, Scott and Joshua. • Marilyn, B.H.Sc. '55, and Ken Murray, BSA '50, received an Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the Waterloo Wellington Fundraising Executives organization last November. They were honoured for their commitment as volunteers, financial contributors and board members in a variety of organizations that blend their

1940

Polly and Bill van Diepen

• Murray Mutrie, DVM '45, has a veterinary practice in Woodstock, N.B., where he lives with his wife, Pauline.

Brands International). He joined the company in 193 7 after earning a master's degree in tropical crops agronomy and was stationed in Spanish Honduras. During his career, he travelled widely and lived in

• Bernie Brennan, DVM '51, a member of the Ontario Racing Commission, was recently inducted into Ottawa's Sports Hall of Fame for his outstanding athletic performances over the years. While at university, he

1950

30 GUELPH ALUMNUS

interests in education, music and art, community health care and conservation. Both have been active since graduation in alumni activities and the advancement of U of G's educational mission.

1960 • Doug Speers, B.Sc. '66, is president and CEO of EMCO Ltd., a leading manufacturer and distributor of building materials in London, Ont. He was ranked the 65th top CEO in Canada for 2002 by The National Post. EMCO Ltd. also produces custom components and brass aluminum forgings. • Terry Taylor, BA '68, has been appointed CEO of Advocis, the newest professional association of financial advisers in Canada. Advocis began operating jan. 1, 2003, and replaced the existing Canadian Association of Insurance and Financial Advisers and the Canadian Association of Financial Planners.

1970 • Bernd Flock, B.Sc. '76, moved to Austria with his wife after graduation and did volunteer work with an interdenominational Christian mission group. Returning to Canada in 1978, he worked for Environment Canada, then did consulting for both the federal and provincial governments in pollution control. In 1993, he and his wife moved back to Austria, where they are involved in counselling, youth work and church planning. • Steve Hoare, BA '71, recently left his position as director of strategic planning with the Australian government's Department of Agriculture, Forestry

and Fisheries to run his own consulting business. His work focuses on animal health economics. Previously, he completed post-graduate studies at the University ofWageningen in the Netherlands, was CEO of Animal Health Australia Ltd. and served on the Exotic Animal Disease Preparedness Council. • Larry McCuaig, M.Sc. '70 and PhD '74, is a naturotherapist practising in Ottawa. Last year, he and his wife, Lynne, com-

government. He is currently involved in a major Inter-American Development Bank/Government of Guyana initiative to introduce widespread use of ICT for economic reform and national development. In 1999, he was recruited by the World Bank Group to act as its principal management information officer. • Gord Miller, B.Sc. '76 and M.Sc. '78, is the environmental commissioner for Ontario. His most recent report, Climate

Change: Is the Science Sound?,

Larry and Lynne McCuaig

pleted the Camino de Santiago, a traditional pilgrimage trail across Spain to the burial place of Saint James the Apostle. McCuaig undertook the 780 kilometre trek to see what effect the sustained daily exercise would have on his fibromyalgia symptoms. He explains that fibromyalgia syndrome is a disease that affects the muscles, ligaments and tendons. Although the 31-day journey did not "cure" his condition, he says he did realize a decline in the symptoms. • Larry Meek, B.Sc. '77, is a Washington-based independent management consultant who deals specifically with the use of information and communication technology (ICT) by the U.S.

was presented to the provincial legislature. • Ron Porter, B.Sc. '75, has been promoted to senior vicepresident, automotive finance and indirect lending, at Scotiabank. He has worked for the bank since the early 1990s and was previously vice-president, automotive finance. • Fred Promoli, BA '70, recently participated in the world's longest bicycle race, the firstever Tour d'Afrique. The race is a 10,500-km (6,000-mile) expedition from Cairo to Cape Town, covering 10 countries in all. Cyclists average 100 km a day for 100 days, raising funds for and awareness of the preservation of African wilderness and wildlife, as well as promoting cycling as an alternative to automobile-based transportation. • Monica Siegenthaler, B.A.Sc. '74, is completing post-graduate studies in non-profit and voluntary-sector management and is working as executive director of Daybreak, a charitable organization in Ottawa. Friends can contact her by e-mail at mon

icasieg@hotmail.com. • Gordon Sim, BA '74, won an Oscar for achievement in art direction for the movie Chicago. He was set decorator for the 1920s-style musical that received a total of 13 nominations and six awards, including best picture. Born and raised in St. Thomas, Ont., Sim received all his formal training in Guelph's drama program. "The Drama Department was very good;' he says. "Anumber of people went on to do very well. Rex Buckle, whom I still keep in touch with, taught a great film course. We had good people:' After graduation, Sim worked with the Elgin Theatre Guild, the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival and Ottawa's National Arts Centre before focusing on television commercials and feature films in Toronto. His credits for set decoration include AI Pacino's Sea ofLove and Norman jewison's Hurricane. His most recent work, The In-Laws starring Michael Douglas, is being released in May. He is currently working on a political satire starring Gene Hackman. • Keith Walton, B.Sc. '77, has spent the last 25 years in various supervisory, technical and managerial capacities in the plastics manufacturing industry. He is currently employed with Colortech as the operations manager responsible for the Brampton, Ont., operation of Polyp last Mueller. The company manufactures colour and additives concentrate. His daughter, Erin, will graduate from U of G this year with a BA and has been accepted into Jaw school at the University of

GRAD NEWS UPDATE Send address changes and Grad News to: Alumni Records, University of Guelph, Guelph ON N1G 2W1 Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550, Fax: 519-822-2670, E-mail: alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

Summer 2003 31

Western Ontario. He and his wife, Donn a, also have a son just finishing high school.

1980 • Todd Bryant, B.Sc. '89, was recently appointed plant manager of Ford's Oakville, Ont., manufacturing plant. He began his career at Ford as a production supervisor and has since held positions in manufacturing planning, quality control and lean manufacturing. • Brian Cameron, B.Sc.(Agr.) '81, is the new general manager of the Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia (DFNS). He is responsible for milk marketing, quota management and general dairy governance for Nova Scotia's 340 dairy producers. He joins DFNS after three years as manager of the Dairy Research and Techno!ogy Centre at the University of Alberta. Cameron and his wife, Corinne (Chisholm),B.Sc.(Agr.)

'8 1, live in the Truro area. • Tom Carroll, BA '85, is a painter, sculptor and printmaker who lives in Acton, Ont., with his wife, Inke Wevers-Carroll. Last summer, he turned his talents to the stage to provide unique portraits and set design work for a production of the musical Grease at the Guelph River Run Centre. • Leslie Chisholm, B.Sc. '85 and M.Sc. '88, moved to Australia in 1995 to do a PhD in marine parasitology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. She spent much time living on Heron Island, located on the Great Barrier Reef, investigating flatworm parasites of sharks and rays. Last year, her work took her to Malaysian Borneo, where she was involved in a large collaborative project to chart the diversity of sharks and rays and their parasites. She recently moved to

Adelaide, South Australia, to do post-doctoral work at the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide. She says she is now a fair dinkum Aussie citizen and can be reached byemail at chisholm.leslie@saug ov. gov.au. • Nicholas Clements, B.Sc. '84, and his brother have a landscape maintenance company called Panoramic Landscape Services just outside Washington, D.C. They provide services to the entire D.C. and Baltimore area. • Laurie Cook, B.Sc. '82, has been appointed partner with the Toronto law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in the area of securities and capital markets. • Wendy Harris, B.A.Sc. '8 1, worked in Canada for more than 10 years as a financial planner before moving to southern California for her husband's work. She and her family now

live in Rancho Cucamonga. • Louise (Giroux) Hastie, B.A.Sc. '87, is a professor at the Durham College School of Business in Oshawa, Ont., and is pursuing an MA in education through Central Michigan University and the University of Toronto. She has lived in Whitby since 1990 with her husband, Andrew, and twin sons, Scott and Michael, 9. Before joining Durham, she worked at Procter and Gamble for 13 years in a number of research, sales and marketing roles. She would like to hear from 1987 and '88 FACS grads at hastiefamily@rogers. com. • Monique LeClerc, M.Sc '82 and PhD '87, earned a BA at McGill University before coming to U of G. She is now a professor at the University of Georgia, where she works in the environmental physics lab in the College of Agricultural and Envi-

ronmental Sciences. She was recently appointed president-elect of the International Society of Biometeorology (ISB), an organization that fosters the study of interrelations among humans, animals, vegetation and the atmosphere. She had previously held a three-year appointment as vice-president and had served two terms as head of ISB commissions. LeClerc and her husband, jesus Mata, live in Williamson, Ga., with their two children. • Lou Maieron, B.Sc. '83, received an Award of Merit from the Credit Valley Conservation Authority for the protection of water resources around environmentally sensitive springs in the town of Erin, Ont. Owner of Silvercreek Aquaculture, a fish farm and consulting business, Maieron is a professional fisheries biologist. • Edward Malek, B.Sc. '88, is

an inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in North Bay, Ont., where he enjoys many outdoor activities, including hiking and scuba diving. He recently received a national President's Award for making a positive contribution to the workplace. Contact him at maleke@inspection.gc.ca. • Deborah Juby, B.Sc. '85, recently received her chartered accountant designation. She works for Davis Martindale LLP in London, Ont. • Jacqueline McGlade, PhD '82, was recently appointed executive director of the European Environment Agency (EEA) in Copenhagen . The EEA is the main European-level provider of environmental information to policy-makers and the public. She is currently Natural Environment Research Council Professorial Fellow in Envi-

ronmental Informatics and Mathematics at University College in London, England. • Kelly Munkittrick, B.Sc. '80 and M.Sc. '83, earned a PhD from the University of Waterloo and now holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Ecosystem Health Assessment at the University of New Brunswick. His research involves studying the fish populations of the Saint john River and the effects of industrial and urban effluents. The goal is to develop a reliable method for analyzing and monitoring water conditions and environmental change. • Jim Murray, M.Sc. '80, is provincial supervisor of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. He is also the CEO of optimal solutions, a consulting firm dedicated to helping people and organizations reach their full potential. His recently

published third book, The Optimal Negotiator: A Companion for Serious Deal Makers, covers everything from complex commercial transactions to everyday encounters with others. For more information, visit www.optimalnegotiator.ca. • Alison Shannon, B.Sc.(H.K.) '81, is a kinesiologist specializing in educational, developmental and applied kinesiologies. She is also a certified brain gym instructor/consultant and works with people experiencing challenges m learning, speech, vision, behaviour, focus and memory, as well as those with ADD/ADHD, autism and Alzheimer's. She also practises body talk and touch and says both areas of study have helped her end her own use of hearing aids. She and her husband, Mike, live in Jerseyville, Ont ., with their four sons. Friends

can contact her at shannon williams@sympatico.ca. • Mark Shurvin, BA '81, has accepted a third term as chair of the Hamilton Conservation Authority. The region's largest environmental management agency, it spearheads grassroots environmental efforts to help ensure a safe and sustainable community. He is also an adjudicator with the Ontario Ministry of Labour. • james Sidlofsky, BA '83, has been appointed partner with the Toronto law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in the area of energy markets. • Tony Sibbald, BA '89, has been named sales promotion

thankful he'd been exposed to large-animal medicine at OVC when he was asked last winter to provide emergency care for a New York Police Department horse that had been hit by a car. Finora, who grew up in Toronto, hasn't provided medical care for horses since his days at OVC. He's now a resident in small-animal internal medicine and oncology at the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. The injured horse, Boots, had a massive chest injury to the muscle, cartilage and bone of its sternum, but has made a full recovery and is expected to go back to active duty. • Elaine Anderson, B.Sc. '96, was married in 2001 to Christian

Tony Sibbald

Elaine and Christian Fuchs

manager of Vector Marketing Canada, a company he's been employed with as a sales representative since 1991. His new position co-ordinates sales promotion activities for the entire Vector Canada operation. • Tannis Slimmon, B.Sc.(Agr.) '82 and M.Sc. '88, a well-known

Fuchs, B.Sc.(Agr.) '96, and they live in Guelph. She is a food-safety consultant and trainer and can be reached by e-mail at e.anderson@rogers.com. • Tracy Cocivera, MA '99 and PhD '03, received an award for the best PhD dissertation in human resources research from the newly formed International Alliance for Human Resources Research at the February conference of the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario. Her dissertation was titled "Influence in Organizations: Testing an Integrative Model of Agents' Decision-

Guelph singer, is heading south of the border to showcase her talents at the 15th annual North American Folk Alliance conference in Nashville. Together with her band mates, she will debut a collection of tunes from their new album, Oak Lake. The folk alliance aims to increase public awareness and demonstrate the artistic and cultural importance of folk music and dance.

1990 • Kevin Finora, DVM '99, was

GuELPH ALUMNUS

Making Processes for Selecting Tactics:' She is currently working as an industry consultant. • Reuben Costa, BA '94, is a human resources assistant at the Canadian Food Inspection

Agency in Guelph. He lives in Brantford with his wife, janice, and infant daughter, Claudia Maria. He recently released his second full-length CD of original music. Contact him at rjcos ta@rogers.com. • Cameron Deacoff, B.Sc.(Env.) '98, spent 15 months working in Alaska as a fisheries observer and assisted in marine mammal studies in Florida and Maine. He has a master's degree in marine management from Dalhousie University's Marine Affairs Program (MAP) and now works with MAP and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to support integrated management of Nova Scotia's coastal waters. He lives in Halifax. • Michelle Elliott Brown, B.Sc. '92, was married in December 2002 to Australian Robert Brown. They live on a dryland farm in Victoria, Australia, raising cereal crops and fat lambs. That's quite a climate adjustment from the three years she lived in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, before moving down under. • Lian Goodall, BA '95, lives in Ottawa and has just published her second book, William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows, for children 14 and

• Anne (Foster) Low, B.Sc: 95, lives in Toronto. She married Mike Low in 2002 and this year launched her own e-commerce business, Stickermarket. The Internet-based business sells stickers to teachers, scrapbook enthusiasts and sticker lovers of all ages. For details, see www.stickermarket. com. • Stephanie McClellan, BA '96, was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame last fall in recognition of her athletic achievements. The 29-year-old disabled athlete cycled 9,018 kms across Canada to promote the abilities of people with disabilities. • Chukwiemeka Okere, PhD '95, holds a senior faculty position at the School of Agriculture at the University of the South Pacific's Alafua campus in Apia, Samoa. His responsibilities include conducting research and teaching diploma, undergraduate and graduate students in the

Chukwiemeka Okere

Lian Goodall up. Her articles and children's book reviews can be viewed at www.liangoodall.com. • Ryan Ewaskiw, BA '96, is a music teacher and lives in St. Thomas, Ont., with his wife, janet, and infant daughter, Emma.

areas of animal production, reproductive and environmental physiology, breeding and genetics. He teaches both on campus and in distance education and extension programs. • Tammy (Tipler) Priolo, B.A.Sc. '90, lives in North Bay, Ont., with her husband, Clark, and their daughter, Erica. She operates a genealogical research and consulting firm called GenAdventures and is currently collecting information on the early Italians of North Bay. She will speak to the local genealog-

ical society in October. She says hello to all her classmates and welcomes contact by e-mail at tpriolo@hotmail .com. • Lisa (MacCormack) Raitt, M.Sc. '93, has been appointed CEO at the Toronto Port Authority (TPA). She will continue to also serve as harbourmaster with the TPA, a position she has held since January 200 l. A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, she was called to the bar in 1998 and gained maritime legal experience in the United Kingdom. • Joe Regan, B.Sc. '91, and Nancy Milton, BA '95, were married Oct. 4, 2002, in Toronto. They now live in Bloor West Village. He is a venture capitalist, and she is a sales and marketing program manager.

Nancy Milton and joe Regan

• Ken Spence, B.Comm.'96, is sales manager for Pearson Technology Group Canada in Toronto. The company is one of the largest computer book publishers in the world. Spence is engaged to be married this December and will be moving to a new home in Whitby. He would like to hear from class-

mates at kspence@durham.net. • Heather Williams, B.Sc. '95, is teaching high school biology at the Seaway District High School in Iroquois, Ont. She is also program leader for the science department. • Patrick Woodcock, BA '96, is a poet and the only Canadian writer to be invited to attend the 41st International Poetry Festival, Sarajevo Poetry Days, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. His work, including The Six O'Clock Club, AthElia and Scarring Endymion, has been translated into Bosnian, Russian, Icelandic and Polish, an indication of his growing popularity in the international poetry community. His next collection of poems is titled The Challenged Ones.

2000 • Jennifer Feasby, BA '02, is a Jesuit volunteer working in Belize for an organization called Youth Enhancement Services. She is a teacher and counsellor at an alternative school for atrisk young women. • Nicole Mackereth, BA '00, has moved to Toronto, where she continued her education in the museum studies program at the University of Toronto. • Marc Thibault, M.Sc. '01, is working in the Toronto office of J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing and information firm that specializes in automotive research. He tracks purchase and delivery satisfaction for Subaru Canada, as well as service satisfaction initiatives.

OBITUARIES George Grieve, DVM '68 and M.Sc. '73, died )an. 26, 2003. He was owner and director of the Glen Erin Animal Hospital and the Meadowvale Animal Clinic in Mississauga, Ont., and director and partner of the Mississauga Veterinary Emergency Clinic. He was active in numerous professional associations and was president -elect of the American Animal Hospital Association at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife, Betty, two children and one grandson. Lawrence Kerr, BSA '29, died Feb. 4, 2003. He was active in a number of agricultural organizations and was honoured by several for his efforts in rural stewardship and the promotion of an efficient agri-food industry. The farm operation he started near Chatham, Ont., in 1934 remains a model of good husbandry practices, producing seed crops in combination with livestock production and many acres of vegetables and fruit for both processing and retail sale through a farm-based market. At his alma mater, he served as a member of the OAC Advisory Committee and was a charter director of the OAC Alumni Foundation. He contributed to the founding of the University of Guelph as

vice-chair of the Board of Regents of the Federated Colleges and was a member of U of G's first Board of Governors. He was named an Honorary Fellow of the University in 1973, received an OAC Centennial Medal in 1974 and was named Alumnus of Honour in 2000. Predeceased by his wife, Mary, in 1996, he is survived by a son, Robert, B.Sc.(Agr.) '68; a daughter, Elaine Duffy; and their families. Regis Simard, PhD '87, died from cancer July 5, 2002. He was a noted soil scientist, author of more than 100 scientific papers, former editor of the Canadian Journal of Soil Science, former president and Fellow of the Canadian Society of Soil Science and a Fellow of the International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Develop-

ment. Most of his career was spent with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Sainte-Foy, Que., where he was closely associated with Laval University, but he was head of the soil science department at the University of Manitoba at the time of his death. He has been recognized many times for his contributions to the advancement of soil science in Quebec. He is survived by four daughters, Maria, Liisa, Saara and Leia, aged seven to 17; and his fiancee, Lucie Vallee. Jean Steckle, B.H.Sc. '52, died at her home in Kitchener, Ont., Jan. 17, 2003. She was a graduate of Guelph, Cornell University and the University of Reading in England. She had a long career in nutrition, serving the United Nations in Africa and Rome, the International Development Research

Summer 2003 35

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Diploma in Leadership An innovative , limited-enrolment program combining e-Learning with a residential component

Foundations of Leadership Course Starting june 21, 2003

join us for

The learning of leadership Conference june 24-25, 2003

GuELPH ALUMNUS

OBITUARIES

Centre in Africa and Ottawa, and Health Canada, working with native populations in many parts of the country. In retirement, she established the]. Steckle Heritage Homestead, where she developed programs related to agriculture, food and nutrition for youth, families and various community groups. She is survived by her brother, Robert, BSA '52. Daniel Abraham, ODH '78, in 2000 Alan Aylsworth, BSA '37, Nov. 12, 2002 Denis Bailey, DVM '54, Dec. 23, 2002 Clifford Beaumont, ODH '66, August 2001 Jean Beddore, DHE '34, Jan. 15, 2003 Mary (Wodskou) Brancroft, B.H.Sc. '53, Dec. 15, 2001 Margaret Calder, B.H.Sc. '60, Feb.28,2003 Ewart Carberry, BSA '44, Feb. 10,2003 Archibald Cooper, ADA '48, April 12, 1999 Norman Epps, BSA '49, Feb. 21,2003 John Fawkes, ODH '74, in May 2002 Norman Folland, BSA '35, October 2002 Billy Gee, DVM '68, Sept. 30, 2002 Erika Haefele, B.Sc. '01, December 2002 Walter Hanbidge, BSA '48, Nov. 30, 2002 Mary Hewer, BA '72, Nov. 29, 2002 Harley Janson, DVM '38, Nov. 23, 2002 Theodore Julie, DVM '55, Dec. 6, 2001 Shirley King, B.H.Sc. '54, March 2000 Alain Lapalme, B.Sc.(Agr.) '82, July 6, 2002 Thorcuill MacDonald, B.Sc.(Agr.) '75, Oct. 7, 2001 James MacGowan, BSA '38, Dec. 22, 2002 Grazina Maclonis, BA '75, February 2001 Elizabeth MacLachlan, B.Comm. '91, in 2002 Forbes MacLeod, DVM '40, Feb. 2,2003

James MacNeil, BSA '49, July 2002 Laura Marshall, DHE '48, Dec. 24, 2002 Robert McCondochie, BSA '57, August 2002 Dorothy Nicholson, DHE '39, July 2000 Walter Perrin, ADA '32, in 2002 Elizabeth Phillips, DHE '39, Sept. 4, 2002 Aniela Radek, BA '78, Dec. 2, 2002 Bryon Richardson, BSA '33, May 29, 2002 Selma Rock, B.Sc.(Agr.) '87, June 8, 2002 Sister Mary Elizabeth Ross, DHE '27, date unknown Robert Saunders, BSA '57, Jan. 21, 2003 Roderick Scott, ADA' 47, Feb. 11, 2003 Jean Singleton, DHE '33, in 1999 Shirley Smith, DHE '40, Feb. 11,2003 Earl Stephenson, ADA '33, in 2000 Charles Sutter, ADA '63, Dec. 4, 2002 Dorothy Taylor, DHE '31, Nov. 5, 2002 Claudia Thompson, B.A.Sc. '74, Oct. 25, 2001 Reginald Thomson, DVM '59, Dec. 14, 2002 William Tolton, BSA '36, Dec. 26, 2002 Ivan Townsend, BSA '48, Dec. 8, 2002 Teunis Van Dop, ODH '67, in 2002 Lloyd Van Gorder, DVM '49, Jan. 8, 2003 Michael Vasselsue, BSA '40, Dec. 29, 2002 Jean Waghorne, DVM '42, Feb. 8, 2003 Richard Wallace, ADA '78, May 24,2000 Louis Young, BSA '27, date unknown FACULTY Eric Hani, post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Microbiology, Aug. 7, 2002 Prof. Phillip Sweeny, Microbiology, Jan. 15, 2003

Learn Hire Your Co-op Student From The University of Guelph Students are available from the follcming programs: B.Sc. (Technology)

Commerce

Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Agricultural Business

Physics & Technology

Hotel & Food Administration Housing & Real Estate Mgmt.

Environmental Sciences

Marketing Management Management Economics in

Engineering

Industry & Finance

Biological Engineering Systems & Computing

Biological Sciences Biomedical Toxicology

Environmental

Environmental Toxicology

Water Resources

Food Science Microbiology

Physical Sciences Applied Math & Statistics

Social & Applied Human

Biochemistry

Sciences

Biophysics

Child Studies

Chemical Physics

Economics (B .A. and M.A)

Chemistry

Family & Social Relations

Computing & Information

Gerontology

Science (B.A, B.Sc, B.Comp.)

Psychology

Physics

Visit us online to hire your next University of Guelph co-op student. If you would like more information about the University of Guelph Co-op Programs, please contact us at (519) 824-4120 x 52323 or visit us online at www.coop.uoguelph.ca

University of Guelph, Co-operative Education Services, Guelph, ON N1G2W1

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