Guelph The Portico Magazine, Fall 2005

FALL 2005

While Gryphon athletes soar, U of G falls behind in financial support and facilities

PORTICO FaJI2005 • VOLUME 37lSSUE 3

Editor Mary Dickieson

Director Cha rl es C unningham

Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc.

Contributors Jennifer Brett Fraser Barbara Chance, BA '74 Lori Bona Hunt Rebecca Kendall, BA '99 SPARK Program Writers Stacey Curry Gunn Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84

Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 Direct all other correspondence to: Co mmuni catio ns and Public Affairs University of Guelph

Faculty of Management Graduate Programs Innovative programs combining online learning with residential components.

Canada needs inspired leaders and managers more than ever. In times of limited resources, conflicting demands, and rapid cultural and technological change, organizations need skilled leaders and managers to guide them in the achievement of their goals.

Guelph, Onta ri o, Ca nada N1G 2W1 E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/

The Portico m agazine is published three times a year by Com munications and Public Affa irs at the University of Guelph. Its mission is to enhance the relationship between the University and its alumni and friends a nd promote pride and commitment within the University community. All material is copyri ght 2005. Ideas and opinions expressed in the articles do not necessar il y refl ect the ideas o r opinions of the University or the ed itors.

Publications Ma il Agreement # 40064673 Printed in Canada -

lSSN 1714-8731

To update your alumni record, contact: Alumni Affairs and Development Phon e 5 19-824-4 J 20, Ext. 56550 Fax 5 19-822-2670 E-ma il alumnirecord s@uogu elph.ca

UNIVERSITY g;-GUELPH

2 THE PORTICO

MAKING A DIFFERENCE WHERE A DIFFERENCE MATTERS

HROUGHOUT ITS 140-year history, the University of Guelph has been in the business of food, water, health and environment. From the first agricultural professor who planted barley on these grounds to the scientists here today who harvest the secrets of genetic material from the nucleus of a single cell, the University's great scientific minds have expanded our understanding of the ideal environments in which humans and other species can thrive.

There is no other research institution in Canada with deeper roots in the life sciences or a more comprehensive approach to study in these critical areas. Our roots are also deeply imbedded in the development of Canadian society, for we believe that our use of science must be fully integrated into our country's culture and the values that govern our way of life. After all, the University's founding college was established to promote the use of"scientific knowledge in agriculture" because provincial leaders knew then that those advances would ultimately improve the quality of life of Ontario's 1874 agrarian society.

The blending of science and culture on campus was promoted by faculty like Joseph Reynolds. When you read later on in this issue about the J.B. Reynolds Medal in Physics, you might be interested to know that the man who pioneered Ontario's soil testing program was first and foremost a professor of English. Reynolds launched a course in Canadian literature at Guelph in 1909 that was the first for any school of higher learning in the country.

We are still working to improve quality of life, but today's world demands that our focus be on a global society. With a population approaching nine billion, we are facing unparalleled pressures on our environment, not enough nutritious food to eat, the faster spread of illness among people, the ready transmission of diseases between animals and people, and the growing web of health challenges that result.

At the University of Guelph, we are committed to directing our core capabilities toward these global challenges.

We have the highest concentration of biological and agricultural scientists of any university in Canada. We are home to national research centres in toxicology, environmental metals and ecosystem health, and serve as the focal point in Canada for the study of polymers, films and biosurfaces. The University has pioneered a unique research and teaching relationship with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and has developed broad expertise in dealing with environ-

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mental issues. A large part of the University's research mandate is focused on protecting public health, including research that explores the interplay among animals, people and the environment.

These strengths stem from the University's tradition of interdisciplinary research and its proven track record in the "new science" of simultaneous exploration that is now recognized as the best way to solve our 21stcentury global problems.

Guelph researchers work in investigative teams that cross traditional science disciplines to take advantage of multiple points of view and expertise. Our new science complex was designed to allow geneticists, ecologists and animal and plant biologists to work alongside biochemists, microbiologists, chemists, physicists, engineers and computing scientists. The co-operative spirit that is so indicative of the University of Guelph will allow our scientists and scholars across campus to challenge and help each other, encouraging new discoveries that are good science and good for the future of humanity.

This is important not only for Canadian society, but for all areas of the world. To survive the pressures of more people and greater economic demands, we must also cross political and geographic boundaries to explore and share our understanding of how the health and welfare of humans relates to the general health of the planet.

ALASTAIR SuMMERLEE PRESIDENT

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Fall 2005 3

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS •

RESEARCH •

CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS

& Another Fulbright HoRNSBY, BA'04,isoff to Tufts University in Boston under a Canada-U.S. Fu lbright Fel lowship. The $15,000 award will allow Hornsby, a master's st udent in political science and longtime U of G stu dent leader, to study trade and the env ironment. He is interested in the implications of the North American Free Trade Agreement for Canada's con tribution to the Kyoto Protocol.

The Fulbright program is an interAVID

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Uncovering forts is prof's forte I

N THE DESERT I N SOUTHERN

Jordan, Prof. Andrew Sherwood, Languages and Literatures, and a group of researchers are trying to piece together a puzzle that will bring years of investigation into a long-buried past into focus. The group is working at a site in Humayma, Jordan, that was once home to the Nabataeans, a group of traders who transported goods from the east to the Mediterranean.

Sherwood's team has been excavating bits and pieces of a Roman fort on the site since 2000. The area was part of the Roman Empire, and Sherwood says building forts was a common strategy on the frontiers. The fort is the largest fort in southern Jordan and dates to about 110 to 117 AD. Its looming presence in the southern desert may have served as a deterrent to potential invaders or may simply have been a symbol of administration.

In 2004, through geophysics sur-

4

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veys, Sherwood's team discovered what they believe to b e defensive ditches around the fort, designed to halt enemy forces. Such ditches are common around Roman forts in Europe, he says, but until this discovery, no one had thought of looking for them in the Middle East.

The surveys also helped the researchers discover potential kiln sites west of the city. If the kilns are verified, it means there was pottery production at Humayma that supplied cer tain types of pottery throughout th e country. The team also found a paved entryway that leads to a shrine that may be some sort of religious structure.

A latrine, which functioned with running water, a valuable commodity at the site, was of special interest this summer because it was found durin g the final days of excavation the previ ous year, says Sherwood. "One of the ironies of excavation is that yo u usually find something totally un expected in the last week."

Further investigation of the latrine was expected to provide more clues about the importation of western and Roman technologies and cultural ideals at Humayma .

national educational exchange program designed to increase mutual understanding between the United States and other countries. Previous Fulbright Fellow Yolanda Wiersma, B.Sc. '96 and M.Sc. '0 1, is now a PhD candidate in th e Department of Integrative Biology. She completed the second year of her doctoral studies at Duke University in North Carol ina.

GRANDPA GETS A MEDAL

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Emily, William "Bill" Brock, left,

poses with U of G chancellor Lincoln Alexander prior to the june convocation ceremony where Brock was presented with the Lincoln Alexander Medal of Distinguished Service for his contributions to the University.

Brock has been a strong supporter of U of G since graduating from OAC in 1958.

His many contributions have included chairing Board of Governors and the Heritage Trust board and creating the Brock Doctoral Scholarship.

More than 2.300 degrees and diplomas were awarded during nine convocation ceremonies june 13 to 17, including honorary degrees to former Ontario attorney general lan Scott, economist and political scientist Mel Watkins, family studies researcher and advocate Robert Glossop, leading U.S. microbiologist Ronald Atlas and eight-time Olympic equestrian show jumper lan Millar.

RETHINKING CANADIAN LIT Can we still think in terms of a "Ca nadian" national literature now th at we live in global times?

That's one of th e questions being consid ered by Prof. Sm aro Kamb o ureli , School of English and Theatre Studies. She was recently named to a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair at U of G a nd will receive $700,000 from Industry Canada over the next seven years to establish a n Institute o f C ritical Studies in Canadian Literature.

Kamboureli says it's time for scholars in Can ada and abroad to rethink th e the-

marie, disciplinary and institutional assumptions and the frameworks within which Canadian literature has been produced, studi ed and taught in the last 20 yea rs.

In jun e, she and colleagues fro m Simon Fraser University in British Columbia hosted the first part of a national co nference call ed "Tran sCanada: Literature, Institutio ns, Citize nship" that aims to question structures and institutional models that influence Ca nadian literature. Part 2 is scheduled for Guelph next year.

Kamb o ureli is currently writin g a book o n dias-

po ric nationalism and just signed a co ntract with Oxford Ca nada to compile her second a nthology on multi cultural writin g in Ca nada. She says th e cultural and political situation tn Can ad a has changed substantially since she compiled Making a Difference: Canadia n M ulticultural Literature in 1996.

"There's now a different sen se of what con stitutes multiculturalism and di aspo ra in Canada. I want the a nthology to question how we can still think in terms of a national literature now that we live in global times."

Fall 2005 5

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What happens in viral infections?

Pathobiology professor Dorothee Bienzle wants to know what happens at the cellular and molecular levels when an animal is infected by a virus, specifically the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which results in tumour formation, immunodeficiency and organ dysfunction in cats.

Because FIV is closely related to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, "understanding how the feline virus interacts with its host may yield important clues about preventing and treating such infections in all animals, including people," she says.

A professor at OVC since 1999, Bienzle was recently named to a Tier 2 Canada ~_, Research Chair in Veterinary Pathology that will provide $500,000 in funding over ~ five years. Her lab will continue its focus on the course of FIV infection in cats, as ~ well as the progression of lung inflammation in horses. )> ~ Bienzle has also received the Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Asso-< @ ciation for HIV Research, a Medical Research Council of Canada fellowship, and a ~ New Opportunities Award from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

HIS BRAIN WAS BIGGER THAN HIS BITE

Courts get tougher U of G sociologist Myrna Dawson says Cana·

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In a first-ever study, scientists from Guelph and two Australian universities dug into the fossil record to determine the mammal with the most powerful bite in the world. They also discovered that the bigger the brain, the wimpier the bite.

OVC biomedical sciences professor jeff Thomason and researchers from the University of Sydney and University of Newcastle compared the bite force of 39 species of mammalian predators, both living and extinct. Their sample ranged from cougars, hyenas and badgers to lions, tigers and bears.

A marsupial lion that roamed Australia during the Ice Age- Thylacoleo

6

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carnifex -

emerged as the champion chomper.

"Pound for pound, it was the hardest-biting animal ever;' Thomason says. It became extinct about 40,000 years ago.

Named for its cat-like appearance, the 200pound marsupial lion is related to the koala and the wombat and had shearing teeth and sharp thumb-like claws.

The researchers used a scientific model developed by Thomason to do the comparisons. It allows predictions of bite force to be made based on skull dimensions, making it possible to compare animals that lived thousands of years ago with those still roaming the Earth today.

The study also found that carnivores with the largest brains had a smaller bite force. The thought is that brain volume impinges on available area for muscle development, reducing the power of the bite, says Thomason.

"So the marsupial lion could certainly bite, but it probably wasn't too bright."

dian courts have toughened up when respond· ing to intimate violence. Her findings are detailed in a report requested by the Depart· ment of justice Canada.

She studied all known Toronto homicides resolved through the courts from 1974 to 2002. During the study period, 20 per cent of the 1,137 people accused of homicide were charged with killing an intimate partner.

Dawson found that, during the mid to late 1970s and early 1980s, people accused of killing intimate partners were less likely to be convicted of first- or second-degree murder than were those who killed non-intimate partners. This was not the case in the late 198os and 1990s. In addition, from 1984 on, people accused of killing intimate partners were more likely to be found guilty at trial than were those accused of other types of homicide.

"The movement to fight violence against women certainly served as the impetus for change in dealing with these crimes in the criminal justice system," says Dawson.

As a result of lobbying, the government

introduced mandatory charging in the early - - -- - - - - • 198os. In 1996, it amended the Criminal Code so that a spousal or parental relationship between a victim and offender can be considered an aggravating factor at sentencing.

• Physics professor Eric Poisson is the 2005 winner of the Canadian Association of Physicists' Herzberg Medal, which recognizes outstand· ing research achievements of sci· enlists aged 40 and younger. On faculty since 1995, Poisson researches the physics of gravita· tiona! waves and is investigating "tides" raised on black holes by nearby objects, much as ocean

Trading good fats for bad

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Not all fats are created equal. So says Prof.

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THIS SOY LINE TASTES FINE professor Peter Pauls may have a solution for consumers who complain about a " beany'' aftertaste from soy milk. His research team is crossbreeding and identifying better-tasting bean varieties that can be used commercially by the agri-food industry.

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fatty acid in soy's oil component, causes the off-flavour that many North Americans don't like. His research group determined that soybean flavour is much improved if this fatty acid isn't broken down through oxidization.

From there, they developed a soybean with almost 75-per-cent less linolenic acid and none of the enzymes responsible for fatty acid oxidiza tion .

Graduate student Shan-Yan Luk made soy milk from both low-linolenic soybeans and other soybean lines and conducted taste tests with volunteers.

Throughout testing, the low-linolenic soybeans came out on top, says Pauls.

They also sent the bean to a soy milk company in Belgium, where taste tests generated similar results.

Wrestling Association. He will be responsible for overseeing Canadi· an amateur wrestl in g leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Ch in a. A former Gryphon wrestler, Cox was inducted into the Canadian Ama· teur Wrestling Hall of Fame in May.

• Prof. john Dwyer, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, was recent· ly invited to join the public health system accountabiliti es subcom· mittee of the Ministry of Health and Long· Term Care. Dwyer was se lected because of his back· ground in performance measure· ment and program evaluation. He is also one of 12 people across the country chosen by Health Canada to serve on its external Food Guide Advisory Committee.

Fall 2005 7

[athletics]

Female Gryphons hit tlieir stride

But can U of G athletics keep up with the competition?

by Lori Bona Hunt

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of G athletics director Tom Kendall is always thinking about the competition. He can rattle off a list of Guelph's toughest provincial rivals: Queen's, McMaster, Carleton, Windsor, Western, Lakehead and Laurentian.

Kendall isn't worried about the other schools' strengths in any particular sport.

The competition he's more concerned about starts before any games are even played and continues long after the sports seasons have ended. The contest is attracting the best and brightest athletes, providing them with topnotch facilities and ensuring they have every opportunity to reach their full potential.

You'll notice Kendall isn't talking about U of G going head-to-head with American universities. Part of his 35-year career in athletics management, coaching, recruiting and teaching was spent at schools south of the border, where money for scholarships and recruitment efforts is often plentiful for collegiate-level sports. He knows first-hand

8 The Portico

that most Canadian universities can't even begin to compete in that financial league.

The competition he's focused on is taking place on the home front- and it's getting fierce.

"We're not just competing against schools in Ontario;' says Kendall, who joined U of G in August 2004 from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. "In the West, for example, the provincial governments are actually pumping money into college and university athletics- in the form of both buildings and scholarships -to try to stop students from going elsewhere. The fear is, if they leave, they won't come back."

Universities outside of Ontario have different rules for athletic scholarships. For example, a student athlete can have his or her tuition and fees paid in full by a university in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. But in this province, the Ontario University Athletics (QUA) limits the amount of athletic

awards to $2,500 a year and bans scholarships for first-year students. Many OUA universities - including Guelph- have chosen simply not to offer athletic scholarships.

But the building boom has definitely hit Ontario with a bang, Kendall says. There has been a surge in the construction of athletic and recreational facilities at OUA colleges and universities during the past five years.

Consider Kendall's "toughest competitors" list. Queen's is currently building a $275-million student athletic facility that includes a new stadium- one of the largestever construction projects in provincial his-

Athletics director Tom Kendall, alumni development officer Sue Lawrenson, centre, and marketing manager Karen Zuccala, hope to be as successful winning external support for Gryphon sports as student Neb Zachariah is at the triple jump.

tory. A $47-million centre is under way at McMaster, fuelled by a $10-million gift for a new stadium from the man who turned Tim Hortons into an international franchise.

Carleton is spending $20 million on a new arena and sports fields. Windsor recently invested $ 13 million in a new stadium and track. Laurentian anted-up $6.5 million for a new field house. Lakehead spent

$4 million on a new covered sports facility.

Ten to 15 years ago, U of G was known for having some of the best athletic facilities in the province, says Kendall. That was around the time the twin-pad arena and Olympic-sized swimming pool first opened.

But since then, other schools have caught up or surpassed Guelph.

"We still have good facilities, but the fact

is that many other schools are actively pursuing bigger and better projects, and it has an effect on our recruitment," he says. "Like it or not, what people see when they visit a campus does affect their decisions."

Kendall is quick to add that athletic facilities are just one of a number of elements that attract student athletes, and U of G is extremely strong in some of the other key recruitment areas, starting with its reputation for academic prowess. That has long been a powerful recruitm ent tool in attracting the best and brightest athletes and scholars, he says.

Fall 2005 9

One was Tim Mau, a five-time OUA allstar and the Gryphons' most highly decorated basketball player to date. "Coming out of high school, I had some early ambitions to go to the United States;' the Ottawa native says.

"One of the reasons I didn't go is that I didn't want to end up at a big American school on an athletics scholarship where it's all about winning and losing and there is no emphasis on academics. I knew if I stayed in Canada and studied political science, I'd be guaranteed a good education. And Guelph had a number of good things going for it, among them its academic reputation."

After completing bachelor's and master's degrees, Mau went on to play professional basketball in Lebanon before completing a

D.Phil. at Oxford University, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar. He is now a professor in Guelph's Department of Political Science.

Mau is just one example of the scholarathletes attracted to Guelph. This year alone, 27 Gryphon athletes earned OUA achievement awards and 68 were named Academic All-Canadians- an honour awarded to varsity athletes who maintain a cumulative academic average of 80 per cent or higher.

The University's emphasis on learning and research is why U of G priorities have centred around the construction of new facilities that enhance the educational experience, such as the science complex and the technologically advanced Rozanski Hall classroom complex.

Experience â&#x20AC;˘ g1ves racer an edge

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t 28, Kristina Rody is a decade older than many of her competitors on the cross-country and track-and-field circuits. But in her sport, where strength and. endurance play a major role, the graduate student's age is actually a benefit.

But she doesn't see it that way.

Other runners may be younger, stronger and, at times, even quicker. "But they're not as experienced;' Rody says with a smile.

"They like to lead into the wind; they start at too fast a pace. Often, a race has more to do with experience, and that's where I have the edge."

Indeed, Rody's U of G record backs up that assertion. She has established herself as the best women's cross-country runner at Guelph and, arguably, in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) history.

And this past year- her last as a university-level competitor- was her best ever. Rody was undefeated in cross-country competition.

She won the CIS national title, running a five-kilometre course in 17 minutes and one second. She captured the gold medal at the Ontario University Athletics (OVA) championships. In both

10

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races, she beat out her closest competitor by more than 30 seconds.

Last fall, Rody won the prestigious Willamette West Coast Invitational, one of the largest collegial cross-country meets in North America, which included a field of more than 400 athletes.

She also competed in indoor track and field and was Ontario's and Canada's topranked 3,000-metre runner in 2005, winning the provincial title and finishing fifth at nationals. She earned U of G's Female Athlete of the Year honours.

In addition, the four-time all-Canadian is credited with leading her cross-country team to the OUA title and to a silver medal at the CIS championships in 2004.

It's also the reason Guelph is renowned for its commitment to developing the whole student, not just the athlete, with a focus on accessibility and opportunity, says Kendall.

In fact, that philosophy is what attracted him to Guelph from Nova Scotia.

"Athletics has to be part of the overall development for a student; it can't be the be-ail and end-all. Students should have the opportunity to win a national championship or make an Olympic team and get an excellent education!'

Women's basketball coach Angela Orton agrees. "I really believe we're developing people and citizens, and we've always felt very strongly about that as a coaching staff' That's why Orton is available to her play-

Not bad for someone who considered herself"just an average runner" in high school. "''ve definitely gotten better every year;' Rody laughs.

"I've learned a lot. I know what works to my advantage. I'm a strength runner, which basically means I don't look very pretty running. But any adverse conditions- wind, rain, steep hills- seem to favour me."

Rody also credits her success to a renewed focus on athletics. She competed for U of Gas an undergraduate before heading out west to Whistler, B.C., where she trained for marathons.

She returned to Guelph a couple of years later to take part in the National Endurance Centre based at U of G and decided to start work on a master's degree in rural planning and development. She figured she might as well compete again because she had one year of eligibility remaining.

"It turned out to be a great decision;' says Rody. "The flexibility of a graduate program and the faculty allow me to focus more time on athletics."

She trains about 20 hours a week, running an average of 140 km. She plans to gain some sponsorships and compete professionally next year. "Hopefully, it will work out. If not, I have my master's degree to fall back on."

Two years shy of 30, Rody has definitely found her stride. But, she adds with a grin, "I haven't yet hit my peak."

ers around-the-clock and aims to not only strengthen them physically but also strengthen their character.

Another one of U of G's strength is its reputation for having excellent, dedicated coaches, which has long been a magnet for up-and-coming sports stars.

Neb Zachariah is one of those up-andcomers. The national champion long jumper just completed her rookie year. She considered going to school in the States before deciding to stay in Guelph, and one of the reasons was U of G's head track-and-field coach.

"Dave Scott-Thomas is really passionate about athletics and puts a lot of himself into the sport," she says. "There's also a lot of support from the other coaches. 1 figured I

was better off here."

At the same time, however, students, faculty and staff should also have the best sports programs and services the University can provide, says Kendall. That's becoming increasingly more difficult. U of G has 31 different sports teams, 18,000 full- and parttime students and another 3,500 faculty and staff, all of whom have access to the facilities.

"We're bursting at the seams, our equipment is outdated and our fields are overused," he says. "We need to do better."

Since arriving at U of G, Kendall has made an admirable start. The cardio and weight areas of the Mitchell Athletics Centre got a $100,000 overhaul, and the space was transformed into a more modern, well-

Sports and school are priorities

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indsay Trimble has been called the epitome of a student athlete, excelling in both the sports arena and the classroom.

She started playing ice hockey when she was just seven years old, joining a boys' team because "I wanted to be just like my big brother."

At first, her parents were a little reluctant because of her small size. "When my dad made me choose between dance and hockey, I think he was a little disappointed because, without a second thought, I chose hockey," she says.

"But both my parents were really supportive, and my brother was really cool for letting me tag along. You don't meet too many older brothers who actually enjoy playing sports with their little sister:' Trimble added field hockey to her roster in high school and continued playing on boys' ice hockey teams all through high school, serving as team captain in her final year.

"I have loved everything about the sport for as long as I can remember. For a long time, I seriously thought I would someday play in the National Hockey League:' During her four-year career at U of G,

Trimble played varsity field hockey, indoor hockey and ice hockey. As a frosh, she was recognized as being the most dominant first-year field hockey player in Canada, winning the coveted Canadian Interuniversity Sport Rookie of the Year Award.

This year, she was the second-highest field hockey scorer in the country, an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) all-star, league MVP (a first for a Gryphon) and First Team all-Canadian. In ice hockey, she was fourth in OUA scoring and a three-time provincial all-star.

Her achievements were recognized by the University, which awarded her its prestigious W.F. Mitchell Sportswoman Award, presented to a graduating student who has demonstrated outstanding talent and abil-

equipped fitness centre. The facility now complements the $2-million Gryphon Dome, a covered athletics facility that opened in 2001 and was funded by students.

Most recently, Kendall has created two new positions to focus solely on development, fundraising and marketing. The goal is to boost external support for new facilities, equipment and programs by soliciting corporate donors and reconnecting with athletics alumni.

Karen Zuccala came on board in july to manage marketing and communications.

Sue Lawrenson, who joined U of G last fall as the athletics development officer, is focusing on updating the database of athletes and renewing contact with Gryphon alumni.

ity in a sport, as well as exceptional leadership and involvement in athletics. She has also been honoured with U of G's Mary Beverley-Burton Rookie of the Year Award and the Shirley Peterson Award for most improvement over three years.

This year, Trimble won the President's Trophy, which recognizes both athletic and academic excellence. She had an 82.45-per-cent average in U of G's demanding human kinetics program and is a three-time Academic All-Canadian, an honour awarded to varsity athletes who maintain a cumulative academic average of 80 per cent or higher.

"Sports and school are both priorities in my life," says Trimble, who plans to pursue a master's degree in physiotherapy at the University of British Columbia.

"I simply made sacrifices in other aspects of my life to make the time to do both. I didn't go out much, I didn't go home on many weekends, and I definitely didn't have as much time to just sit around and vegas I would have liked. But I think if you're determined and motivated, you can accomplish a lot with a small amount of time. I just tried to focus all my energy on the task at hand."

This summer, Trimble's focus was on maintaining her record in another "sport" -tree planting in the Alberta wilderness.

"Last year, I 'highballed' the contract for the second year in a row," she says.

"That's tree planter slang for planting the most trees of anyone in camp."

Fall 2005 11

"We're going back 20, 30 years trying to reconnect with a lot of these people," Kendall says.

He adds that alumni are extremely interested in maintaining ties to athletics. "Many of them have fond memories of their experiences as players on teams. They tell us they want to be a part of what we're doing but don't know how to get involved."

Kendall says such alumni support is more crucial than ever because of ongoing government belt-tightening nationally and provincially and continuing budget cuts at the University level.

One of the areas where he's hoping to significantly boost outside support is U of G's women's sports programs. Internally, he works hard to ensure that the financial pie is divided as evenly as possible among the teams and that there is gender balance. But the pool of outside funds he can dip into is much deeper for men's programs.

"There are a number of reasons for this;' says Kendall. One is that men's football, hockey and basketball traditionally bring in the most revenue from games and donations. Another is the simple fact that men's teams have been around longer.

"At U of G, the football, basketball and rugby teams are more than 75 years old, so there's a lot of history there and a lot of alumni," he says. "But in Canada, women's sports have developed in a major way only in about the past 15 years. Most of them started out as clubs. It's really only been in the last decade or so that women who played on sports teams have started to be in a position where they can give something back to the schools that helped make a difference in their lives."

But he acknowledges that asking them for help is a delicate matter. At many universities, funding for women's teams lagged for years. "Many women may have had very positive experiences as players, but they may

Determined â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ JUmper 1s top rookie

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eb Zachariah's fairy-tale rookie year nearly came to an abrupt end at the provincial track-and-field championships.

The 17 -year-old jumping sensation had been spectacular all season. She was consistently ranked No. 1 in the country in the triple jump and was among the top 10 in the long jump, her secondary event.

She was pumped going into the Ontario University Athletics finals in February, ready to vie for a spot at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national tournament.

"I was going through my usual warmup, doing some approaches to see if my run-up was on;' she recalls. "When I started running, my knee began throbbing, then I couldn't step on it at all and I just sort of collapsed. I had tendinitis all season and had just been trying to manage it, but this was different. The pain had never been so intense before."

Zachariah started crying. "The coach thought it was because of the pain, but I was crying because I thought he was

12

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going to tell me I couldn't compete because of the injury, and I really wanted to make it to nationals. I was determined to try and make it."

So she took some ibuprofen, wrapped up her knee and jumped. She came away with the bronze medal in the triple jump and a sixth-place finish in the long jump.

"It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do because I could have injured myself even more," she says.

Two weeks later at the CIS championships, Zachariah jumped her way to a

not have the same perspective about the financial support their team received."

Kristina Rody, a U of G national champion cross-country runner, says she has observed a difference in the amount of funding the women's team has received over the years, but believes it's based more on results than gender.

She first competed for the Gryphons as an undergraduate student in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But when she returned to Guelph to do graduate work in 2004 and rejoined the women's cross-country Gryphons, "I noticed the team was getting way more money than it did before."

She adds that, during the years she was away, the men's and women's cross-country teams won several national championships.

"It's only been in the past 10 years that our sport really started to generate some steam:' The same can be said for most of U of G's women's sports programs, which have

first-place finish and into U of G record books with a 12.30m leap. She came way with both the gold medal and all-Canadian status. She also finished fifth in the long jump.

"I always wanted to do well my first year, but I seriously didn't think anythi11g like this was going to happen," she says.

"The coach kept telling me I'd make it to nationals my first year, but I never thought I would win. It was a complete shock."

She capped off the season by earning U of G's coveted Dr. Mary Beverley-Burton Rookie of the Year Award.

A track-and-field competitor since Grade 7, Zachariah was only 16 when she applied to U of G during the "double cohort" year.

Her age was one of the reasons she decided to stay in her hometown. She noticed the age discrepancy between herself and some of her competitors right away.

"Many of them were older and more experienced, which is an advantage in some things, like knowing how to handle big meets. You have to stay focused and not get overwhelmed by the fact that you're competing in front of so many people. Experience definitely helps with that. I just tried to forget that my competitors were older and more experienced than I was and tried to stay focused on their athletic ability."

improved and excelled during the past decade.

This past year was the most successful ever.

The women's basketball team won the provincial title- its first in 24 years- and earned a ticket to the CIS championships.

The women's cross-country team won silver medals at both the OUA and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships, as well as an individual gold medal at the nationals and individual gold and silver OUA medals. In addition, a Gryphon runner was named both the provincial and national Rookie of the Year.

In track and field, the women's team placed fifth nationally, its highest -ever finish, and brought home an individual gold medal in tl1e long jump, silvers in the high jump and pentathlon, and a bronze in the pentathlon.

The field hockey team also had its bestever year, ranking fifth nationally and winning a team bronze at the provincial championships. Two team members were honoured provincially with MVP and Rookie of the Year awards.

At the OUA finals in figure skating, the

Gryphon quartet placed first, an individual skater captured second, and one team member was named OUA Competitor of the Year.

In other women's teams, wrestlers brought home an OUA gold and bronze medals; the golf Gryphons captured silver at the provincial finals and a team member won a bronze medal; the rugby team won an QUA bronze; an ice hockey player was named the OUA west division's Rookie of the Year; individual rowers captured silver and bronze OUA medals; and the swim team won its OUA division for tl1e first time and brought home 10 individual medals: two gold, five silver and three bronze, with one team member capturing five medals.

"There is no doubt about the calibre of our female athletes," says Kendall, who has coached women's sports for 22 years. In 1977, he joined the University of Winnipeg's sport studies department and was asked to take over as the women's basketball coach.

"I reluctantly agreed. I had never coached women and had no interest in coaching women. I had always coached male athletes:'

Basketball women have stellar year

N

one of the players on this year's provincial championship-winning women's basketball team can remember the last time U of G captured the Ontario title.

That's because it was 25 years ago, before any of the team members were born.

Not only did the team bring home the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) trophy, but it also upset the defending champions, the Ottawa Gee-Gees, 87-68 in the finals. It was the Gryphons' 16th straight win of the season.

The win guaranteed the team a spot at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport tournament in March. It was the first time Guelph's women's basketball team had attended the national championship since 1981. It came away with a sixili-place finish and ended the season with a record of

3 I wins and nine losses.

"This team has displayed such talent and perseverance and has certainly brought recognition to Gryphon athletics;' says Brenda Whiteside, associate vicepresident (student affairs). "I think they took people by surprise because they're such a young team."

All five of Guelph's starters are in only

But he was soon in awe of the dedication and skill of female athletes. "I also appreciated their lack of ego."

During the 16 years he spent at Winnipeg, the women's basketball team won II conference titles and tl1ree CIS titles in 1993, 1994 and 1995. Between October 1992 and December 1994, the team established a North American college record, winning 88 consecutive games.

He expects to see the same kind of success in women's sports programs here at Guelph, a campus that is 70-per-cent female.

"They should dominate;' he says with a laugh.

Joking aside, the current gender makeup of the University, where females have outnumbered males since 1980, is all the more reason to focus on boosting outside and alumni support for women's sports teams, says Kendall. That increased support will help U of G maintain its edge in terms of attracting top-notch athletes, he adds.

"Once we get organized, I think people will be blown away by what we can do," Kendall says. â&#x20AC;˘

their second year of eligibility. Players Stephanie Yallin and Sharon Hollinshead were named to the QUA west all-star team, and Heather Angus was named a member of the west all-rookie team.

In addition, coach Angela Orton was selected as the OUA west division Coach of the Year for the fourth time 'in her career. She was also named a Fox 40 OUA Coach of the Year, becoming the third Gryphon coach to receive the honour in its six-year history.

Orton, who was only 25 when she joined U of G's coaching staff in 1988, is herself a former award-winning basketball player. She played for the University of Toronto, was a three-time all-American and was a member of the Junior National and Canadian National teams She says her team's sensational year has raised the bar for women's basketball at U of G. The team has tasted victory at the provincial level and learned what it takes to capture a title, she says. "The potential for us to grow is phenomenal."

Keep an eye on this year's team at http://www. uoguelph.ca/ athletics.

Fall 2005 13

I

PROPES SO NOT EVERY DAY you can give politicians a piece of your mind before an audience of Canadians from coast to coast. But that's the opportunity regularly

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14 The Portico

afforded to political science professor William Christian when CBC Radio comes calling or he pens a story for one of Canada's major dailies.

Christian has been a regular political commentator for CBC for many years and a writer for several more. It all began when he was an undergraduate student at the University of

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OF PUNDITS Toronto and was asked to review president john Kennedy's Profiles in Courage for the student newspaper. He took on the assignment remembering how outraged he had been in

I 960 when Kennedy won the election after clearly losing (in Christian's opinion) the debates with Richard Nixon.

He got his first real taste of punditry in

I 972. As a newly minted professor at Mount Allison University, he covered Canada's federal election from Moncton, N.B., with his colleague Colin Campbell.

Fall 2005 15

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Today, after 25 years at U of G, 10 books to his creclit and a place in the Canadian Who's Who, Christian is a familiar figure on the pundit circuit. He enjoys writing and admits that political commentary, like politics itself, becomes a habit you can't easily quit.

Over the years, he has written numerous freelance op-ed pieces and book reviews for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. In 1993, his biography of renowned Canadian political philosopher George Grant reached the No. 2 spot on the Toronto Star best-seller list, behind Pierre Trudeau's memoirs.

These days, Christian assuages his considerable appetite for writing with regular biweekly columns in the Kitchener- Waterloo Record and the Guelph Mercury. These extracurricular activities add up to more than 15,000 written words a year and countless hours spent on the telephone providing background information to reporters of all stripes.

Why does he do it? "I like journalists, and I understand the time constraints they're under;' he says. "I always return their calls:' He says he's paying his dues to the media so that when he feels compelled to comment on an event -like the constitutional crisis Canada experienced in May- he has a way to do it.

For their part, reporters can count on

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Christian to have an opinion. CBC producer Antonia Reed, a 1998 Guelph graduate, once said Christian "knows his stuff about Canadian politics, and he's not dry. He's got the right mix of knowledge and irreverence to be both entertaining and informative."

His irreverence applies to all political parties, politicians and governments without exception, but Christian's comments always try to put their actions into historical and philosophical context.

"Most Canadian politicians and citizens are lacking any depth of historical understancling in which politics takes place;' he says.

"It's as if things like Martin's parliamentary crisis was the first time it ever happened, and it's not. !like to try to show these problems in relation to things that have happened in the past to help resolve present problems."

With reams of opinion pieces bearing his name, it's only natural to wonder where Christian himself fits along the political spectrum.

He has written several books on ideology, but his personal philosophies defy categorization.

He admits he's much more comfortable characterizing where other people fit.

And he believes that labelling oneself with an ideology is a simplistic exercise that, for those who do, "solves a lot of their problems of thinking."

In recent months, Christian has thinking a lot about this issue. He and Campbell just finished editing an American political science textbook to reflect a Canadian perspective. Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal, Canadian Edition will be published in 2006 by Pearson Publishing Group.

For his own writing, Christian chooses to adopt whatever perspective on an issue seems suitable at the time.

"Sometimes it might be left, sometimes it might be right, sometimes it might be centre, sometimes it might be off the wall."

One clue, however, to the qualities he values is the portrait on his dining room wall, a picture of his "hero;' 18th-century English politician and philosopher Edmund Burke.

If Christian had to identify with anybody, he says it would be Burke, an "evolutionary conservative" who espoused the importance of slow change. Burke was noted for his lack of strict adherence to a particular political doctrine. History remembers him as a Whig politician who spent all his career on the opposition benches. He protested the British government's ultimately unsuccessful handling of its American colony and supported the Irish Catholic struggle for fairer treatment under the law.

Eighteenth-century England crops up in

Jean Chretien's mind when he appeared before the Gomery inquiry in February.

He reminded me of another public figure who lived over 200 years ago, Edmund Burke.

Although he held office for only a brief period, he was always a leading political figure.

In 1790, in the face of the French Revolution, Burke wrote his famous Reflections on the Revolution in France, a work that most still consider the founding document of conservatism.

When Burke retired after almost 30 years of public service, emotionally broken by the premature death of his only child, Richard, King George III granted him a pension. His political enemies promptly attacked it.

Several of Burke's comments reminded me of Jean Chretien. Burke came from a

modest background- you might even call it "small-town cheap"- and he resented the aristocratic snobs who had half his ability, twice his power and 10 times his pretensions.

"At every step of my progress in life (for in every step was I traversed and opposed), and at every turnpike I met, I was obliged to show my passport, and again and again to prove my sole title to the honour of being useful to my country by a proof that I was not wholly unacquainted with its laws and the whole system of its interests both abroad and at home."

Politicians know, or ought to know or soon learn, that you have to have a pretty thick skin if you intend to survive in polit ~ icallife. You don't last for 30 or 40 years without one. Burke knew that even when

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from Prof. William Christian on the Gomery inquiry. Does it represent a smoking gun ready to bring down the Liberal government, or will Canadians forgive and forget?

Christian wrote the folloeing opinion piece in the spring, but says Paul Martin may be looking for golf balls of his own to juggle when Justice Gomery finally issues a report.

CHRETIEN DOES NOT DESERVE SUCH SHABBY TREATMENT "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."

This line from Shakespeare's play King Lear would probably have been running through

16 The Portico

PARTIES, POLITICIANS AND GOVERNMENTS

so many areas of Christian's life that you can almost see him wearing a wig and waistcoat. "''m fascinated by the 18th century;' he says, "its politics, culture, clothing and craftsmanship. It was a period of enormous taste and elegance. The world was relatively small and intimate but filled with people of great intellectual capacity. It was a period in which great thin gs were happening in the political arena- the American and French revolutions- and a time of great moral debates on issues like the slave trade and Britain's overseas relations with India . The 18th century boasted a remarkable set of politicians, intellectuals, artists and craftsmen."

Christian's love of antiquity and politics come together in one of his hobbies. Since his student days, he's been buying prints by 18th-century English caricaturist James Gillray. Gillray, he says, "is vicious. He sees into the foibles of politicians and rips them apart."

Christian doesn't pull any punches either, but his humour has a moderating effect. To wit, his columns dealing with parliamentary wheeling and dealing are a combination history lesson and cutting critique. His quills are

often aimed at leaders who violate their own party policies or take advantage of what he sees as the failings of Canada's Constitution.

He stirred the debate last spring by trying to explain why Paul Martin could ignore his government's May 10 defeat on Stephen Harper's no-confidence motion and what, if anything, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson should or could have done about it.

Christian critiqued the Conservative party's policy convention in Montreal, where there were no facilities for delegates to register in French, and the Liberal convention,

A NOTE ON THE IILLUSTRATlON English caricaturist James Gillray pro· duced more than 12,ooo illustrations during the late 1700s and early 18oos.

His caricatures of the court of George Ill and politicians like Edmund Burke made him immensely successful. Bor· rowing Gillray's style and one of Burke's pontifications, Guelph artist Debbie Thompson Wilson, BA '77, throws a quill or two at Canadian political leaders and one popular pundit.

where cocktail parties drew larger crowds than policy debates did. He analysed the New Democratic Party's well-organized campaign to solicit votes for Tommy Douglas in the CBC's Greatest Canadian contest, and argued that Parti Quebecois members may have turned on Gilles Duceppe because he was too soft on Canada.

Democratic renewal is a favourite topic for Christian, who says it's desperately needed in both federal and provincial governments across Canada.

"Voters don't trust politicians, and they don't feel their votes count. In increasing numbers, they don't bother voting. The problem is especially serious among the young, whose turnout rate is very low. That represents a serious problem for the future because the non-voters of the present are expected to be the non-voters of the future:' Even on vacation this summer, Christian kept us informed about a byelection in New Orleans where both candidates were Republicans and the low voter turnout was blamed on a hurricane watch.

"The nice thing about being a political junky is that wherever you go, there's always politics and it's usually interesting." •

By Stacey Curry Gunn and Mary Dickieson • Illustration by Debbie Thompson Wilson

people told lies or half-truths about you, often you just had to put up with it and let your actions speak for you.

"Loose libels ought to be passed by in silence and contempt. By me, they have been so always. I knew that as long as I remained in public, I should live down the calumnies of malice and the judgments of ignorance.

If I happened to be now and then in the wrong (as who is not?), like all other men, I must bear the consequence of my faults and my mistakes."

Jean Chretien was called before a tribunal, rather than being left in peaceful retirement.

Judge John Gomery is no public figure.

He has no experience of public life. He is a 73-year-old judge who has done nothing in

his life except practise law. Since 1999, he has been president of the Copyright Board of Canada, of all things.

To adapt Burke and to put his words into the former prime minister's mouth: "But as to public service, why, truly, it would not be more ridiculous for me to compare myself in experience of public life with Judge Gomery than to make a parallel between his services and my attempts to be useful to my country."

What I found sad about the whole affair was that there was no public outrage that a man who had dedicated his life to his country was so shabbily treated.

Hauled to an inquiry to serve the interests of his small-minded successor, he was accompanied by a few old and loyal friends.

Fortunately for the petit gars, they were

the best political brains in Canada, just as he is the best politician in Canada. Likes attract.

The Canadian public wasn't, for the most part, interested. Canadians discard politicians like old sweaters. In the words of Stan Rogers' song about retirement, The Last Watch: 'itt 64, you're still the best; One year more, and then you're less Than dust upon the floor."

The Canadian people should be ashamed of the way they treated jean Chretien, and they should find some way to make it up to him.

He made his point with the golf balls. But if he had been a Shakespeare-quoting man, he might have turned as he was leaving the room and said: "The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart, see, they bark at me:'

Fall 2005 17

o doubt about it, Sam Coats has met more U of G graduates than most people. He's got pictures of about 18,000 of them.

Sam and his wife, Peggy Anderson, opened a photography business on campus ten years ago, and they've never looked back.

"Guelph students are the friendliest, most creative people," says Sam, who has taken grad photos of students lying on their bed in residence, sitting in their favourite chair at the Brass Taps, riding a skateboard or bicycle, piled into the back of a pickup truck, skating at the twin-pad arena, playing in the fall leaves and even pretending to "flash Gordon" at the corner of College Avenue and Gordon Street.

Real nudity is a no-no- no matter how many tattoos you have- as are any other antics that would be dangerous or disrespectful to the U of G convocation hood. But "if you can think of a unique grad photo, it's probably been done;' says Sam. "We've photographed hundreds of pets, and Einstein the owl from OVC is like a family friend."

He says group photos are the current fad for graduating students, and student clubs often try to outdo each other with antics like climbing on the cannon or posing at the bottom of the pool. Sam also puts together composite photos for numerous class groups and photographs about 400 couples at the annual College Royal ball.

He says Johnston Green is by far the most popular spot for grad photos, but it wasn't always that way.

Sam and Peggy introduced the idea of outdoor grad photos to Ontario in 1995 when they rented their first studio space in the University Centre. Back then, most students came to see Sam only because their parents insisted, and no one wanted to be seen walking around campus in a convocation gown.

Jenny Meakins, B.A.Sc. '96, was the first student brave enough to follow Sam's camera to the portico on Johnston Green. Now "the walk of fame," as one male grad put it, helps Sam shed 10 pounds every fall.

His pedometer records 15 kilometres a day during October and November, when he takes about half of the year's 2,200 grad photos.

Photographers have recently begun to offer outdoor grad photos at other Ontario universities, but Sam's proud to say Guelph grads got them first.

While he's busy behind the camera, his mom and dad are usually behind the front counter at AndersonCoats Photography. Their real names are Mary and Jim, but since retiring to Guelph nine years ago, they've gotten used to student greetings such as "Hi, Sam's mom:' That's what people at the University of Guelph are like, says Sam. "Friendly ... and very photogenic."

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by Mary Dickieson

18 The Portico

u

Sam Coats

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Annika Rear, B.Sc.(Agr.) 'o2 Christina (Woodley) Kirwan, B.Sc. 'oo Alas, Sam loves the photo but can't remember the names of these star skate rs. Please send your twin-pad story to the editor at m.dickieson@ exec.uoguelph.ca BA 'os grads in the tree, left to right: Just in Bedard, Deanna Duplessis, Moira O'Neill, Bronwyn Underhill and Mark Richard. Standing: Laura Sparling, Valeria Pascale, Pamela Grace, Emma Nishimura and Meaghan Decourcy.

Jacqueline Ott, B.Sc. 'os and Dryfuss.

From the top: Matthew Anderson, B.Sc.(Agr.) '03; Gregg Bolt on; Matthew Nelson, B.Comm. '03; Matthew Archiba ld, B.Sc.(Eng.) '03; and Ryan Gervais, B.Sc.(Eng.) '03.

Jaclyn Go ldman, B.Sc. 'os Left to ri ght: Meredee Shaw, B.Sc.(Eng.) 'o3; Kimberly Pitts, B.A.Sc. 'o3; Colleen Howard, BA 'o3; and Dawn-Michelle Gauthier, B.Sc. '03 .

9

Jill MacEachern, B.A.Sc. '04.

Nina teBoek horst , B.Sc. '04; and )en Cox, B.Sc. '04.

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Mimidoo Ahua, BA 'os, with her parents, Liz and Alsen, and her siste r, Kashimana.

Fall 2005 19

[faculty profile ]

FIGH Personal experience increases commitment to protein research

ANCER, LIKE LIGHTNING,

can indeed strike more

than once. Just ask Prof. Frances Sharom, Molecular and Cellular Biology. The U of G professor was just 37 with two pre-teen children when her first husband, Mohamed Sharom bin Mohamed Said, died in 1991. Ten years earlier, he had undergone surgery for cancer of the thymus gland, a rare form of the disease that strikes a lymphoid organ located in the chest cavity. A decade later, the cancer had recurred, but this time it had spread to his abdomen.

"It was pretty large by the time they found it;' says Sharom.

That personal tragedy brought home something she'd already known from her laboratory studies at Guelph. Resistance to tumour-fighting drugs can make cancer fiendishly difficult to combat. Some versions, such as colon and kidney cancer, appear naturally resistant to treatment. Others, having been beaten down initially as in Mohamed's case, come back after months or years smarter and stronger than the most powerful drugs doctors can prescribe.

Being able to eradicate cancer from the

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beginning would be a major benefit for patients and physicians, says Sharom. "If we could kill the primary tumour with chemotherapy, it wouldn't spread around.

We're working on that:' For much of her nearly three decades at Guelph, Sharom has been working on a ubiquitous protein that plays a kind of Jekyll-and-Hyde role in cell membranes throughout the body. The P-glycoprotein (Pgp) multi-drug transporter pumps toxic substances out of cells. That's a boon if you're healthy, but not if you're hoping to grant tumour-fighting drugs a free pass into

cancerous cells. Those powerful chemotherapeutic drugs look like just so much poison from Pgp's vantage point, so the protein works hard to flush them back out.

Overcoming built-in defences against those drugs is a common problem in treating many of the more than 200 forms of cancer, says Sarah Bouma, senior research manager for the Ontario division of the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) in Toronto. Referring to Sharom's studies, Bouma says: "Her area of multi-drug resistance is highly important if we're going to improve the lives of cancer patients in this country."

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Fall2005 21

How important? Earlier this year, the CCS renewed the biochemist's former fiveyear grant to the tune of more than $713,000 over the next five years. Out of more than 300 grant applications for this funding round, only about one-third were successful, says Bouma. "For Dr. Sharom to receive this award, her research is obviously demonstrated to be among the best in the country."

That award - provided through the National Cancer Institute of Canada- is among the most recent funding granted to Sharom by a number of agencies, including Science and Engineering Research Canada (NSERC), the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation. In 2003, she was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Membrane Protein Biology to study the structure and function of membrane proteins involved in cancer and other genetic disorders.

Sharom belongs to numerous professional organizations and is a past president of the Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Admittedly rather a mouthful, that group's name hints at the boundary-erasing nature of her research and teaching interests in biochemistry and biophysics. Indeed, cell membranes -and her longtime fascination with their role as interfaces between inner and outer worlds- serve as a handy metaphor for her interdisciplinary pursuits in the lab and the classroom here at Guelph, and even for her interweaving of those professional pursuits and her personal experience of cancer.

22

The Portico

Sharom's busy lab stands directly across the hall from her second-floor office at the west end of U of G's growing science complex, itself a tangible sign of that meshing of disciplines. Opened in fall 2004, Phase 1 of the complex brought together molecular and cell biologists, microbiologists, botanists and biochemists in tl1e newly formed Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

During a recent tour of her lab- actually several interconnected labs, including equipment shared with other researchers - Sharom explains that much of the activity of the grad students, technicians, postdocs and summer students who work in tile lab is aimed at teasing out the molecular secrets of P-glycoprotein and how it helps tumours resist chemotherapeutic drugs.

In a growth room, cells intended to provide a fresh source of Pgp proliferate quietly inside flasks being automatically rotated inside a bank of incubators. It's like looking at natural selection in a bottle.

"This cell line was generated by the same process as is happening in cancer patients," says Sharom. "The cells started off being drug-sensitive and, after growth in the presence of a chemotherapeutic drug for many generations, ended up as drug-resistant:' The cells themselves are a line of Chinese hamster ovary cells that have been used in Jab research for about half a century.

These particular lines were established by Canadian cancer geneticist Victor Ling, who first described Pgp's pumping role in multi-drug resistance. A key step in Sharom's

own career came in the late 1980s when she completed a research leave with the person she calls " the father of P-glycoprotein" at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto.

"I was happy to accommodate her since she was bringing new ideas and approaches to study Pgp;' says Ling, who is now in the faculty of medicine at the University of British Columbia and vice-president of research at the B.C. Cancer Agency. He says his former protege's hard work and creative approaches have made her"recognized internationally as a leading scientist in what has turned out to be a highly competitive field."

Twice a week in Sharom's lab, those multi-drug-resistant cells are harvested in a centrifuge, broken open with high-pressure nitrogen and then extracted repeatedly with detergent to eventually yield purified protein.

Samples then undergo analysis in a fluorimeter, a device that shines light through a

Frances Sharom's research team includes, front row from left: ]in Ni, M.Sc. 'os; Sandra jeftic; Sharom; Rebecca Rodrigues; and Wenyang Chen. Middle row: Pei路hua Lu, M.Sc. '94; joseph Chu, B.Sc. '86 and M.Sc. '89; and Andrew Dyer. Back row: Paul Eckford, B.Sc. '01; janos Juhasz;

MP"""'""

Webster; and Rong路hua Liu, PhD

I

solution of the protein. Fluorescent light is emitted from the sample in patterns that give the researchers clues about the protein's complex folded structure- information vital to figuring out how it works. Using a steadystate fluorimeter, Sharom can track any of some 150 chemicals, including chemotherapeutic drugs, flowing across the membrane and binding to the protein.

Back in her office, she shows off a computer model of P-glycoprotein embedded in a membrane, including precise locations where single or multiple drugs bind in the molecule. It's not difficult to make the mentalleap to possible applications of her work.

"P-glycoprotein is of interest to all drug companies," she says. "Drug companies are interested in knowing what drugs will get kicked out:' Sharom has worked with several pharmaceutical companies in the United States

tion by the time she was completing her B.Sc. She earned a PhD at the University of Western Ontario in 1978 and returned to Guelph for a post-doc. She was appointed an NSERC University Research Fellow in the former Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1980 and accepted a tenuretrack assistant professor position in 1984.

By then, U of G itself had already become home in more than one sense. Sharom had originally moved to Guelph from England in 1971 when her father, Charles Capstick, was appointed founding chair of the University's new Department of Computing and Information Science (CIS). Her mother, Ellen Capstick, also a scientist, had taught A-level biology in England and helped out in the zoology teaching labs at U of G. Charies left U of G in the late 1970s. Sharom's younger brother, Simon Capstick, B.Sc. '79, is a theoretical physicist at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

"We don't really speak the same language;' she says of her brother.

That comment might be a bit self-effacing. After all, it's partly Sharom's ability to speak across disciplines that made her an obvious candidate in 2003 to become director of Guelph's Biophysics Interdepartmental Group (BIG) graduate program. This program enables master's and PhD candidates from a variety of departments to study biological processes using tools and techniques from the physical sciences. Students are cosupervised by faculty from U of G's College of Biological Science, College of Physical and Engineering Science and Ontario Veterinary

and Canada to test their proprietary drugs to see if they interact with Pgp. Although she doesn't work with clinicians, her work may feed into the development of modulators, compounds intended to block the pumping action of the membrane protein when taken in combination with regular chemotherapy. Researchers have studied such modulators for about 20 years; among today's versions, which are designed to be less toxic and more effective, one particular compow1d is now showing promise in clinical trials.

The kind of research occurring in Sharom's lab- and the resultant pictures on her computer monitor- would have appeared out of reach when she began her chemistry/biochemistry undergraduate degree at Guelph in 1971. "Membranes were a total black hole until the 1970s," she says.

Still, the possibilities in membrane biochemistry had become a source of fascina-

,I

Fall2005 23

...

;

5HA ROM ' s INTEREST IN MEMBRANES AND HER BIOCHEM IS TRY LAB IN GUELPH's NEW SCIENCE COMPLEX REFLECT THE FACT THAT SCIE NTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS NOW HAPPEN LESS

College, as well as from other universities.

Sharom is one of four Canada Research Chairs in BIG; the program includes eight faculty members recognized as national or international leaders in their research fields.

The program numbers about 25 students today- up from six just two years agopursuing degrees in five biophysics disciplines: cellular, molecular, structural, computational and biomechanical. Unlike graduate biophysics programs at other Canadian universities that stress medical and clinical applications, BIG focuses on basic discovery research.

"It seems that a lot of graduate research is highly specialized, whereas graduate training in BIG helps students acquire a working knowledge of multiple fields, which I think employers see as desirable," says Chris Hill, who defended his PhD thesis in the spring. He studied yet another kind of protein involved in multiple sclerosis, working with cell biologist Prof. George Harauz.

Sharom belonged to Hill's advisory committee, although he first encountered her in a membrane biochemistry course during his undergrad program.

"She's so thorough; she's really on top of what students in BIG are doing," says Hill, now a staff scientist for Iogen Corp., an Ottawa biotechnology company working on ways to convert plant cellulose into ethanol for auto fuel.

Another student who took the same membrane biochemistry course as an undergrad was Jeff Sharom.

"Watching your mom up at the fi¡ont of the classroom can be a bit of a surreal experience, let me tell you;' says Jeff, who completed an honours biochemistry co-op program in 2001.

"It was a great class, though. I can see why she's gotten awards for her teaching:' Frances Sharom's classroom accolades include a 1992 Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations teaching

24 The Portico

award, a 1993 Lieutenant-Governor's Award, a CPES Professorial Teaching Award and a University of Guelph Faculty Association Special Merit Award.

Those honours came while she still belonged to the former Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in CPES. Last fall, she and seven other biochemists moved to CBS to become part of its newly restructured Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. As with construction of the new science complex, that restructuring is intended to integrate various scientific disciplines in teaching and research collaborations. Department chair Prof. Chris Whitfield says these physical and administrative changes reflect the fact that scientific breakthroughs now happen less within conventional disciplines and more at the interfaces between them.

Perhaps embodying that sentiment in a different way, Sharom's biochemist son is now pursuing a PhD in molecular and medical genetics at the University of Toronto. He's studying how abnormal signalling prompts cells to divide in the classically uncontrolled manner that characterizes cancer.

Jeff Sharom's wife, Jennifer Baker, also took that membrane biochemistry undergraduate class. Having completed a co-op biophysics degree in 2001, she is working on a PhD in biochemistry at U ofT. His sister, Sofia, is studying business administration at York University.

Recalling his father's death- Jeff was only 12 then- he says: "It was a difficult time. Imagine raising two kids by yourself and still being able to achieve the kind of professional success she has. I find it pretty amazing myself."

Frances Sharom's strength was tested by a second lightning bolt just two years ago, when her fiance, John Chapman, was diagnosed with kidney cancer only weeks before their planned wedding.

"That was a pretty scary time," she says,

adding in signature wry fashion that matters were hardly helped when hospital visits were restricted that summer by Toronto's SARS scare. They postponed the wedding until after Chapman's surgery.

Today, he's fine, Sharom says.

On her side of the family, the recurrent af!ljction is not cancer but heart disease, including cholesterol trouble. Here again, there's a link back to her lab. She's recently become interested in yet another transport protein, NPCl, this one involved in Niemann- Pick Type C disease. This relatively rare inherited disorder in young children is essentially a cholesterol storage disease, which allows cholesterol to build up in vital organs and the brain, leading to fatal deterioration of the nervous system. Sharom has received research funding from the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation to study the NPCl protein's role in moving cholesterol around inside cells.

It's her personal experiences as well as her strong belief in the importance of sharing her work that have made Sharom into an occasional- and sometimes controversial- volunteer speaker for the CCS. Her frank message may occasionally make some listeners uncomfortable, such as the handful of tobacco farmers among a group she once addressed in Port Dover, Ont. "I made statements about smoking being the biggest single preventable cause of cancer, and I don't think I was popular." Her smile, more than a little mischievous, hints at irony.

Says Bouma: "She's passionate about the research she does. She enjoys what she does."

Small wonder, then, that this busy researcher and teacher welcomes any opportunity to speak across the walls of academe, whether it's addressing a cancer society function or guiding tour groups of prospective students or visiting dignitaries around that still-new lab. "It's part of what we do as scientists," she says. â&#x20AC;˘

omecoming is one of the biggest annual events at the University of Guelph.

H

Alumni Fun Run 9 a.m. registration at Alumni House 10

a.m. start for a five-km run through

the Arboretum Sponsored by the Human Kinetics and Human Biology Alumni Association.

All alumni, their families and friends are invited.

and a ticket to the football game; RSVP to eventrsvp@uoguelph.ca.

Licensed Hospitality Tent Open noon to kickoff at

opens post game until 6 p.m., at Alumni

Register by e-mail at

Alumni Swim Meet 9 to

11

a.m. in the Gold Pool

W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre

2

p.m. and re-

Stadium gates

Community Barbecue Begins at noon at Alumni Stadium Kids' zone and barbecue open to all.

Men's Lacrosse Game

The tradition continues as former Gryphon

Noon at the multi-purpose field

swimmers compete against current ath-

The Gryphons prepare for their first

letes, followed by a pancake breakfast at

league contest by taking on alumni. For

Alan Fairweather's home. There is no cost,

details, contact Sam Kosakowski at

FRIDAY, SEPT. 30

and Gryphon T-shirts and gear will be available for purchase. For information,

6:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn

event. Tickets are $25 and include lunch

Registration fee is $15; get details at

Gryphon Hall of Fame Dinner

contact Jeff Slater at jeslater@uoguelph.ca.

Induction ceremony for athletes, builders

1980 are invited to attend this inaugural

www.alumni.uoguelph.ca/hkhbaa. eventrsvp@uoguelph.ca.

Cheer on the Gryphons (past and present), meet friends and enjoy that great campus food.

All intercollegiate team members from

Glory Bowl

skosakow@uoguelph.ca.

Football Game Kickoff at

2

p.m. in Alumni Stadium

Guelph vs. Toronto

and teams.

10

Purchase tickets from Janis Macpherson at

Friends of Gryphon Football alumni take

j macp her@ uogue lp h .ca.

the field and reminisce about their glory

Post-Game Reception

years as players.

Friends of Gryphon Football invite you to

SATURDAY, OCT.

1

a.m. at Alumni Stadium

Library Openings

Friends of Gryphon Football

10:30 a.m. in McLaughlin Library

Catch the Gryphon spirit and send Toronto home singing the Blues.

drop by the Gryphon Room.

Geography Alumni Reception

9 a.m. in the Gryphon Room

The official opening of the OAC '39

Breakfast and general meeting to elect a

Room and the Florence Partridge Room.

University Centre, Level 5

new executive and vote on changes to

Free refreshments.

Geography alumni and students are invit-

the constitution. Read proposed changes at www.gryphonfootball.com.

25th Reunion for Varsity Athletes 11

a.m. at the Holiday Inn

4 to 6 p.m. in the Grad Lounge,

ed for refreshments and field trip stories.

The Hutt Building will also be open.

For up-to-the-minute news, visit www.uoguelph.ca/alumni or www.uoguelph.ca/athletics ---

--

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS •

EVENTS •

NETWORKING

u of guelph Employee and Student Volunteer Awards

The University of Guelph Alumni Association awards for 2005 celebrate commitment, creativity and effective communication.

Alumna of Honour David Urban

Mary Coy le

MARY CoYLE,BA'78andMA'85,is an effective leader who inspires others to share her commitment to the world's disadvantaged people. A graduate of Guelph's program in rural planning, she honed her administrative skills during a CUSO placement in Botswana, as an adviser for the Sulawesi Regional Development Project in Indonesia, and serving Canada's First Nations people through the Calmeadow Foundation.

She is now director of the Coady Inter"' national Institute and a vice-president ~ at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova ~ Scotia. The demand for her expertise in ~ sustainable development is evidenced ~ by her recent appointment as an advisu ~ er to the Canadian Judicial Council.

0

z

<(

~ Medal of Achievement s

~DAVID URBAN, MFA'94,isoneof i§ Canada's most prominent painters

i

whose work also attracts a discerning international audience. His is an impor>~ tant voice in contemporary painting due ~ to his notable exhibition activity and his Q articulate defence of the genre through >~ publication and curation. His artwork has been exhibited in the most respectii: ed commercial galleries but also in sig~

5

26 THE PoRTico

nificant museums both in Canada and abroad. In 2002, he organized a major survey exhibition of paintings by Canadian artists for the Shanghai Art Museum in China. In 2003, he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art.

Volunteer Award

IN 2005, THE UGAA added two new awards to recognize the volunteer spirit among University employees and students. Recipients of the first employee and student volunteer awards were University professor emeritus Leonard Adams, School of Languages and Literatures, and international student Xiao Wang, who came from China to complete a master's degree in Sociology and Anthropology.

Full citations for the 2005 UGAA awards are at www.uoguelph.ca/news/portico.

Alumna is role model for future vets CARIN WITTNICH, DVM '76, was named the OVC Alumni Association's 2005 Distinguished Alumna and received her award at Alumni Weekend.

Wittnich, who is a professor in the departments of surgery and physiology

Sandy Warley

THORALD K. (SANDY) WARLEY, H.D.La. '03, has pursued a career in volunteerism since retiring from the faculty of U of G's Department of Agricultural Economics and Business in 1991. He came to Guelph as chair of the department in 1970 and remains one of the strongest advocates for his discipline, the Ontario Agricultural College and the University. The OAC Alumni Association has relied on his talents in strategic planning and communication for more than a decade. He has also contributed to numerous community organizations, including the Guelph Wellington Men's Club, the MS Society and the Guelph Horticultural Society.

Carin Wittnich

at the University of Toronto and director ofU ofT's cardiovascular sciences collaborative program, has expanded the horizon for veterinary careers.

Her research on gender differences and heart disease has made important contributions to the health of women and children. This resulted in her being awarded the Order of Ontario in 2001 and the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 2002.

OuR GRADS STAY IN ToucH

U OF G ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ugaa@uoguelph.ca www.alumni.uoguelph .ca/association

ALUMNI AFFAIRS Director, Susan Rankin sran kin@uoguelph .ca College of Arts, Deborah Mas kens d mas kens@ uogue lp h .ca CBS/CPES, Sam Kosakowski skosakow@uoguelph.ca CSAHS, Laurie Malleau lmalleau@uoguelph.ca OAC, Carla Bradshaw cb radsha@oac. uoguelph.ca

Left: George and Jeanette Bartlett from South Africa. Right, from left: Neluka Lean-

OVC, Melanie D'Aloia

age, B.Sc.(Agr.) '96 and M.Sc. 'o1; David Elliot, B.Sc. '96 and M.Sc. '99; and Nicolas

mdaloia@ovc.uoguelph .ca

de Salaberry, M.Sc. '01, in Ottawa.

Events/Communications, Jennifer Brett Fraser

George Bartlett, B.Sc.(Agr.) '55,

points out that strategic events and elec-

travelled halfway around the world to vis-

tronic communication are key to keeping

jbrett@uoguelph .ca Chapters, Mary Feldskov mfeld sko@u ogue lp h .ca

it his U of G classmates during their 50th

alumni across the world engaged with

Young Alumni/Students,

anniversary at Alumni Weekend. The effort

the University.

Jason Moreton jmoreton@uoguelph.ca

he and his wife, Jeanette, made to come

"President Summerlee has a strong

from their home in South Africa makes a

vision that sees the University of Guelph

DEVELOPMENT

pretty clear statement about the value of

as an internationally renowned institu-

maintaining lifelong Guelph friendships.

tion, building on our reputation for excel-

College of Arts, Deborah Mas kens dmaskens@uoguelph .ca

To cultivate that spirit, Alumni Affairs

lence in teaching and research," she says.

and Development (AA&D) has been tak-

"This vision is being passionately sup-

ing its show on the road to many Cana-

ported by alumni, and we want to keep

CBS/CPES, Katherine Smart smart@uoguelph.ca

dian cities, giving grads a chance to

them up to date on our progress and

"6

reunite in their own hometown and talk

involved in every way possible."

S\

_,

Chris Terry, BA '70, is a member of the ~

to University staff about anything from

senti-~z

Guelph's national rankings to the success

Ottawa chapter who echoes that

of the Gryphon basketball team.

ment. "Alumni are somewhat like stake- ~

AA&D is also establishing chapter

"'

holders in a company. They may not have ~

g

CSAHS, Jennifer Barrett j eba rret@uoguel ph .ca OAC, Paulette Samson psamson@uoguelph .ca OAC, Pat Holmlund holmlund@uoguelph.ca OVC, Stephen Woeller swoeller@uoguelph.ca Athletics, Susan Lawrenson

groups in cities where there are signifi-

a financial interest, but they have a psy-

cant numbers of Guelph grads. Ottawa

chological and emotional stake in the Uni- ~

slawrens@uoguelph.ca

was the first city to launch an official

. h vers1ty," e says.

Library, Lynn Campbell lynn .campbell@uoguelph.ca

~

~

chapter, with more than 300 alumni turn-

U of G chapters have also been estab- ~

ing out this spring for an event eo-host-

lished in Victoria and Vancouver, B.C., and ~

ed by U of G president Alastair Summer-

in Port Charlotte, Fla., and groups are

~

GRAD NEWS UPDATES alumnirecords@uoguelph .ca

0

lee and Roberta Bondar, B.Sc.(Agr.) '68.

AA&D vice-president Joanne Shoveller

organizing in several other Canadian cities ~

ALUMNI ONLINE COMMUNITY

-

www.olcnetwork.net/uoguelph

0

Winnipeg, Toronto, London, Calgary ;;

says the visits have been an opportuni-

and Montreal - as well as various loca-

6

ty to build on the tradition of alumni

lions in the United States, the United

~

involvement at U of G. "Having an alum-

Kingdom and China.

i1

g

ni community that is informed about the

For more information about the U of

University and involved as volunteers and

G chapter program, contact Mary Feld- ~

supporters is critical to our success." She

skov at mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca.

~

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS Job Postings, Jan Walker jwalker@uoguelph.ca

ALUMNI HOUSE 519-824-4120, Ext. 56934

U OF G WEBSITE www.uoguelph.ca

Fall2005 27

Alumni association nets dynamic exec FOLLOWING ITS ANNUAL MEETING in June, the University of Guelph Alumni Association announced the following directors for the coming year: • Interim president Shari Dorr, BA '94, is acting judicial officer and co-ordinator of the undergraduate academic information centre at U of G. Interim vice-president Kyle Urech, BA '87, lives in Kitchener and manages a sales and marketing campaign for Canada's largest property restoration company.

• Secretary/treasurer Jennifer Cook, B.Sc. '95, is a financial adviser and retirement planner in Guelph.

• Anna Farago, BA '01, is a media technician and instructor at the University of Toronto.

• David Gilbert, BA '81 and B.Sc. (Agr.) '84, is creator and manager of Expedite Marketing Group in Kingston, Ont. • Wayne Gudbranson, BA '80, is president and CEO of Branham Group Inc., an IT consulting firm in Ottawa.

Nicki Islic, B.A.Sc. '02, is co-ordinator for international health informatics standards at the Canadian institute for Health Information in Toronto.

• Brad Rooney, ADA '93, B.Sc.(Agr.) '97, lives in Ajax, Ont., and works as a sales representative for Sheridan Nurseries Ltd. • Trish Walker, BA '77 and M.Sc. '90, is a consultant with Applied Consumer and Clinical Evaluations in Mississauga, Ont. • Ted Young, ADA '65, is president of Edward Young International Inc., an agriculture consultant and a farmer.

At the UGAA annual meeting, the membership voted to donate $10,000 to the U of G Cornerstone Fund, a new branch of the annual giving program that allows donors to channel their gift directly into the University's operating budget. The UGAA designated its Cornerstone gift for deferred maintenance of physical facilities.

To contact any of the UGAA executive and board members, write to Alumni House, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON NIG 2Wl, or e-mail to ugaa@uoguelph.

ALUMNI PRESERVE OF G HISTORY

u

0 v E R THE PAsT 20 years, volunteers with the Alumni-in-Action group have taped interviews with about 170 people.

These oral history tapes form an important part of the University's historical archives and are one of the major volunteer projects supported by the University of Guelph Alumni Association.

You can listen to the tapes or read transcripts of them by visiting the U of G Library archives. Information on individual interviews can be accessed on the library's TRELLIS catalogue by going to www.lib. uoguelph.ca/search/ and typing in the key words "alumni in action oral history project."

To learn more about the Alumni-inAction group, contact Alumni House.

A NOV. 3:

WEEKEND FOR ALUMNI

NOV. 17 TO 20 :

OCT.

1:

OCT. 13: DEC. 3 AND 4:

OCT. 27:

Get back, give back - Mac '55 celebrated its soth reunion by unveiling a sculpture by Inuit artist William Noah at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre's Donald Forster Sculpture Park.

• We were there • From afar -

1,300 alumni and friends.

Grads came from six provinces,

14 states and three countries outside North

-o

..,6

America.

• Largest event - Over 6oo people at a Perime· ~ ter Institute lecture on superstring theory.

~

• Looking up - Visitors got a peek at the night

iii..,

sky th rough U of G's new telescope.

• Mavin' & Shakin' -

The local band Brothers

Braun played at the Brass Taps.

28 THE PORTICO

~

6S 0

36

CAREERS •

FAMILIES •

U of G medals documented oss Irwin, BSA '51, recently com-

R

pleted a 6s-page illustrated man-

uscript describing 6o University of

LIFE EXPERIENCES •

MEMORIES

Engineering a safer shuttle

Guelph medals dating from 188o to 2004.

They include medals given for

everything from academic achievement to proficiency in livestock judging and sculpture.

Irwin, who is retired from the faculty of the School of Engineering, was previously involved in a project on Canadian

medals and

We breathed a collective sigh of relief

work to come up with a solution to the

offered to provide the research and

academic

when Space Shuttle Discovery landed

problem and recommend changes in both

information related to Guelph.

safely in Texas Aug. 9· It was the first U.S.

ground and launch procedures."

space flight since Columbia was lost on its return to Earth Feb. 1, 2003 .

At Cornell, Phoenix studies the long-term reliability of fibrous composites under high

The 29 months between those shuttle

stresses. Applications include cables, pres-

z

flights were filled with intense investiga-

sure vessels, rocket-motor casings, cen-

Vl

tion, analysis and testing to ensure the

trifuges and flywheels fabricated from com-

'0='

structural strength of the shuttle exterior

posite materials. More recently, he has turned

>-

and improve the safety culture within

his attention to the ballistic impact perform-

NASA. U of G engineering graduate Leigh

ance of fibrous materials in body armour.

0

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;;<

"'~ 1;:; 0 f-0

I

~

I

________

Phoenix, B.Sc.(Eng.) '67 and M.Sc.(Eng.)

Previous awards include recognition

'68, was a key contributor to those inves-

from the Fiber Society and the American Society for Testing and Materials.

_.~~--~~----_.

tigations, and just weeks before Discov-

Adam Pound with the J.B Reynolds

ery's successful flight, he was awarded

In a more personal form of stress test-

Medal in Physics.

the NASA Engineering Excellence Award to

ing, Phoenix is an avid bicycle racer. In

recognize his contributions.

addition to winning several New York

One of the "newer" medals

A professor of theoretical and applied

state titles, he set two U.S. national

described by Irwin is the j.B. Reynolds

mechanics at Cornell University, Phoenix

records in 1978 that stood for 15 years.

Graduation Medal in Physics. Given

is one of the "independent reviewers" cit-

Phoenix now lives in Ithaca, N.Y. He and

every year since 1997, it recognizes

ed by the Columbia investigation board as

his wife, Kim, have two daughters.

the graduating physics major who has

being crucial to NASA's future. The board

the highest cumulative average. The

recommended that the space agency

winner in this International Year of

expand the role of independent technical

Physics was Adam Pound, B.Sc. 'os,

reviewers to improve its safety procedures.

who is now enrolled in a master's program in physics at U of G.

The NASA Engineering Safety Centre (formed after the Columbia disaster)

The Reynolds medal is one of only

appointed a special team to investigate

two in Irwin's listing that bear a por-

the possibility of stress ruptures in pres-

trait of the person for whom the medal

sure vessels on the space shuttle and

is named. If you're a trivia buff, you

come up with both short-term and long-

might like to find out whose picture is

term solutions.

-o

I

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0

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c

"'-1 Vl "' -< z

)>

Vl

on the other one. Irwin's manuscript

NASA officials said: "Phoenix was hon-

is available in the U of G Library or at

oured for his central role in the model-

Leigh Phoenix, right, with NASA astronaut

www.uoguelph.ca/senate/medals.pdf.

ling, data interpretation and investigative

jerry Ross.

)>

Fall2005 29

Donut nurse reveals veterinary antics hen she was a teenager, Linda

z

W

0

donuts for helping her father in his vet-

Knox, B.A.Sc. '70, was paid in

0

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erinary practice. She says she's one of

<!) _J

u.J <(

the few writers to hold a certificate in

u

dog and cat nursing from Doc Mel

>V)

Knox's Owen Sound, Ont., clinic. Knox

:r: ~

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drew on those experiences and her

u

dad's memories for her newly pub-

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~:r:

lished book, Even Cows Go to Heaven, which documents many amusing inci-

Q_

One of Mick Gordon's summer projects saw him 40 feet down in a pit no wider than 18 inches, trying to connect with a four-kilometre passage in a cave in the St. Edmunds

dents from his years of rural practice.

Mel Knox graduated from the

system, south of Tobermory, Ont.

Ontario Veterinary College in 1938 and

High adventure 1n low places

to serving as Grey County's public

operated the farm practice in addition

''EXPLORERS

HAD

TO

dig their way through the mud hoping that it would not resettle and block the exit route. In many places, there was a strong current and explorers were anchored by a half-inch safety rope. To break free of this tether would have meant a cold and terrifying death in the inky blackness beneath the riverbed."

This may sound like a scene written for Indiana Jones in search of ancient treasure, but it's really just the description of what cave divers faced when exploring 10 kilometres of tunnel beneath the Ottawa River. Michael "Mick" Gordon, BA '96, wrote about the exploration in a book published this spring because he wants people to remember those caves as an important piece of geographical history.

Gordon, a Guelph-based geographer and cave explorer, says there are hundreds of little-known caves in

Ontario that even hard-core explorers will find exciting. He described many of them in Rock Watching: Adventures Above and Below Ontario, published by Boston Mills Press. The book is a cross between an academic geological history and an outdoor guidebook.

"I specialize in the discovery of Ontario caves;' he says. "I love the aspect of being the first human ever to see some of these passages- it's quite spiritual."

He gives geological clues to help amateurs locate caves (like rapidly moving water heading toward rocks), but he's careful to protect the exact location of caves in environmentally sensitive areas.

Within its vast limestone undercarriage, southern Ontario is rich in caves and rock formations that make for spectacular hiking trails and interesting places to visit, he says. And that's fodder for another book, which Gordon says will be about rock collecting and prospecting in northern Ontario.

health veterinarian. He also raised cat-

0

Mel and Lind a Knox

tle, goats, pigs, chickens, cats and Norwegian elkhounds on the family farm called Rock Acres. At 93. he still lives on the property with his wife, Marjorie, and Linda, who studied visual arts at Algonquin College and the Ottawa School of Art. Linda also operates Knox Trail Studio in Owen Sound. She will be exhibiting her painting at the International Biennial Contemporary Art Exhibition in Florence, Italy, in December. Guelph friends can contact her through her website at www.knoxtrail studio.ca.

The Wedding Connection ennifer Aitken, BA '03, and Gregory

wedding cake: the bride's father, Wayne

Vallee, B.Sc. '03, set a new record for

Aitken, is a 37-year U of G employee

J

the most Guelph grads and students

30

in Physical Resources.

at their September 2004 wedding.

Greg is HACCP co-ordinator at

Among 34 U of G guests were wedding

Pillers Sausages and Delicatessens in

party members Sarah Gardiner, BA '98,

Waterloo, Ont., and Jenn is completing

Kathleen Duncan, BA 'o2, and Philip

studies in radio and TV broadcasting.

Aitken, class of 2006. The icing on the

They live in Kitchener.

THE PORTICO

"I

s

1930 • Leonard Johnson, BSA '36, is retired from the Ontario Department of Energy and Resource Management and lives in London, Ont. In August, he had the honour of leading the march of delegates when the Soil Conservation Society of America met in Rochester, N.Y.

1950 • Bertram Stewart, ADA '54,

Bertram Stewart

was elected president of the Canadian 4-H Council in May. A resident of Hornby, Ont., he has been a 4-H leader for 40 years and served as the Semex Alliance member representative to the Canadian 4-H Council.

He is a founding member of Canada's largest 4-H all-breeds dairy show, the Scotiabank Classic, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2004. He has coached all 15 winning 4H Ontario judging teams at World Dairy Expo, has won many awards recognizing hi s volunteer activities, and has served two terms with the Canadian4-H Council's board of directors.

• Clay Switzer, BSA '51 and MSA '53, has been appointed to a nine-member advisory council that will advise the Ontario government on the province's new greenbelt. A former dean of the Ontario Agricultural College, he also served as deputy minister of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food from 1983 to 1989, and later did consulting work. Since 1992, he

has chaired a pesticide advisory committee for the provincial Ministry of the Environment.

In separate news, Switzer was inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in June in recognition of his career service to the agricultural community.

1960 • Faye Campbell, Q.C., B.Sc. (Agr.) '68, went on to complete a law degree at the University of Windsor, was called to the Ontario bar in 1974 and was named Queen's Counsel in 1990.

During her career, she practised with the Windsor firm of McTague Clark and the Department ofJustice as general counsel at National Health and Welfare. She then moved to Human Resources Development, where she was involved in major constitutional litigation in the Supreme Court of Canada, particularly Charter of Rights cases involving the Canada Health Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security Act and the Canada Assistance Act. She retired for health reasons in September 200 l and lives in Kanata, Ont. • Eugene McCann, B.Sc.(Agr.) '62, is a consultant with Global Agrologists International and is completing a contract to help Libya become more self-sufficient in food production.

• Kwadwo Dua Opare, M.Sc. '69, has retired as senior agricultural extension and education officer (Southern and Eastern Africa) with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He is now doing constituency work for his wife, Frema, a parliamentarian and deputy minister in Ghana. He also runs Two Niles Forex Ltd., which deals in spot purchase and sale of currencies. Their two children are studying in Philadelphia and at St. George's Medical School in London.

1970 • Jane Eccles, BA '70, is an artist

Jane Eccles

who shares her life in Bowmanville, Ont., with painter Ron Eccles, BA '70, and two sons, Ryan and Bradlwy. She's standing in front of a millennium installation called Celebration of Overlap that symbolized th e founding nations of Canada: vibrant red for the English, ultramarine blue for the French and ochre for native people.

Read more about this installation and other work at www.jane.ecclesart.ca.

• Joel Ehrenzweig, DVM '70, lives in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and runs an international public relations and marketing company, the Write House PR, with resort, hospitality and professional clients in the United States and Mexico.

• Rodney Foulds, BA '75, lives in Owen Sound, Ont., and just finished his 29th year of teaching. He'd like to hear from U of G classmates and friends from South Residences at rfoulds@sympatico.ca.

• Lois Fuller, BA '74, has returned from 30 years of teaching in Nigeria. She has completed her first year of a PhD program in Christian theology at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ont. • Doreen Hewitt, B.A.Sc. '72, runs Cedar Log House Bed and Breakfast on Salt Spring Island, B.C. In April 2005, she was appointed to the board of directors of the B.C. Ferry Authority.

• Margaret (Leyton) Mack, B.Sc. '78, and Cameron Mack,

B.Sc. '77, live in Guelph, where both are employed with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He is director of the fish and wildlife branch, and she is a policy adviser. They have three teenage children, two sons and a daughter.

• Gord Miller, B.Sc. '76 and M.Sc. '78, has been reappointed environmental commissioner of Ontario for a second five-year term. As an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly, the environmental commissioner monitors and reports annually on the compliance of provincial ministries with Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights. His wife, Susan, B.Sc. '76 and M.Sc. '82, is a financial planner in their hometown of North Bay, Ont. • Cynthia Sarthou, BA '78, is executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network (GRN) in New Orleans, La., and leads GRN efforts to reform the Corps of Engineers and address the Dead Zone. After U of G, she earned a law degree from the UniversityofMississippi in 1983 and a master of law in law and marine affairs from the University of Washington in 1992.

From 1992 to 1995, she served as a staff attorney for Heart of America Northwest in Seattle, Wash., a group that monitored the U.S. Department of Energy's cleanup of pollution at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation . Sarthou joined the GRN in 1995.

• Jim Sutherland, BA '70, is a vtsitmg professor at the Catholic University of Korea.

He has been teaching English at universities in South Korea and China since 2000. He'd like to hear from people who knew him as a student at Guelph.

• Alan Tong, PhD '77, is a specialist in animal breeding with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, but his most recent recognition has been for his painting.

One of his watercolours, a Fall2005 31

cityscape of Edmonton's Chinatown, was selected to exhibit at the American Watercolor Society's international exhibit in New York in May. In April, he was featured artist at the annual Lacombe Art Exhibit and Sale in his hometown of Lacombe, Alta.

Tong first picked up a brush and started painting as a teen growing up in Canton, China, and hasn't looked back. He continues to challenge himself artistically, despite dedicating his career to science. He says nothing is more satisfying than making ordinary scenes appear larger than life through painting or drawing.

1980 • John Bowyer, B.Sc. '83, was appointed superintendent of education for Ajax, Ont., schools and school councils for the Durham District School Board in March 2005.

• Patty (Lazarowych) Bretin,

B.Sc.(Agr.) '83, operates her own greenhouse in the countryside near Calgary. She supplies hanging baskets and containers to hotels, restaurants and private homes. (Visit her website at www.bretins.com.) She and her husband, Vern, have two children and a number of horses.

• David Foster, B.Sc. '82, has been a banker for 16 years in eastern and central Ontario. Now working for Scotia bank, he lives with his family in Wasaga Beach, where he is also a municipal politician. He is training for a marathon in Reykjavik, Iceland, next summer with Team Diabetes Canada and can be reached at wasagadave@ rogers. com.

• Dan Gates, B.Sc.(Eng.) '87, began 2005 with a career switch. After working for one consulting firm for 15 years, he moved to the Ottawa office of Halsall Associates, a structural

and facilities service consulting firm with offices across Canada. His wife, Jane, DVM '89, opened Fisher Glen Animal Hospital in December 2003 with partner Margaret Baar, DVM '90. Jane also completed a master's degree in journalism at Carleton University in 1999 and is a freelance editor and writer. Dan and jane have two children, nine-year-old Sarah and five-year-old Robbie, who keep them busy and happy.

• Stewart Gill, PhD '84, is principal of Emmanuel College, University of Queensland, Australia, moving from a position as dean and deputy warden of Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. Emmanuel is the oldest and largest college at Queensland.

See www.emmanuel.uq. edu.au.

• Cynthia Lanteigne, B.Sc. '84, recently earned an MBA from the University of New

Brunswick and is a business development analyst for Service New Brunswick.

• Nancy (MacKinnon) Lucas, B.Comm. '86, rejoined the hospitality industry in 2004 after an eight-year absence. During that time, she worked as a part-time consultant for six companymanaged Ontario Holiday Inn properties on sales and marketing projects while being a busy at-home mom. She re-entered the job market as director of catering at Holiday 1nn Select Toronto Airport last spring, 15 years after working there as a sales manager. She was named director of sales, catering and marketing in October and looks forward to reconnecting with her friends and colleagues at nancy. lucas@ichotelsgroup.com. Lucas lives in Alliston with her husband, Andrew, and two children.

• Jim Maas, ADA '80A,

B.Sc.(Agr.) '83 and PhD '96, recently became a lecturer of integrated biology in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham. The position is in a new centre that's attempting to use data from severa l research areas, including genomics and meta-bolomics, in mathematical models of metabolism for agriculture, animal science and pharmacology.

• Ron MacDonald, B.Sc.(Agr.) '81, president of the Guelph consulting firm Agviro, received the john Turnbull Award for 2005 from the Canadian Society for Bioengineering. He was recognized for his contributions to building systems engineering thro ugh extension and consulting activities. A 24-year member of the Canadian Society for Agricu ltural Engineeri ng, /Soc iete Canadienne de Gen ie Agroalimentaire et de Bioingenierie, he has also served 12 years as trea-

Ron and Mary Ellen MacDonald

surer and was regional director in 1985/86. Throughout his career, he has worked to reduce energy use in agricultural buildings and has instituted anumber of on-farm research projects, including work with Guelph engineering professor Gordon Hayward on PID controllers and hydrogen sulfide sensors for swine barns. MacDonald is married to Mary Ellen (Moffat), B.A.Sc. '80 and M.Sc. '85, a nutritionist and well ness educator.

• Edward Malek, B.Sc. '88, has

Owned and operated by U of G Alumni: Richard Buck 76 A and Barbara Buck 77 BA

moved to Peterborough, Ont., with his partner, Lisa Pollard. He has been promoted to multiprograms specialist inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). He was a meat hygiene inspector for more than 13 years with both CFIA and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in the North Bay area, and says he's exci ted about apply in g the knowledge gained through U of G and its distance education program to his new duties. He's also proud of his daughter, Gracie Simpson-Malek, who received an Ontario junior Citizen of the Year Award in 2004.

He invites friends to contact him at maleke@inspection.gc.ca.

• Lori Lynn (Proietti) McLellan , BA '85, lives in Burlington, Ont., but says she's been thinking about U of G lately: " It's been 20 years. Oh, how time flies. I got the Mrs. degree to a

wonderful man, Alan, and together we created a beautiful princess, AJ iynn.l've been cancer free for four years, enjoying every moment of life and sti ll wearing the U of G sweatshirt when I'm feeling low. The good ol' red and gold makes me feel better. A shout out to all my old pals- well, it's been 20 years and I am ready to forgive and forget. See you this fal l at Homecoming."

• Rosa Nyboer-Peterzon, BA '86, is thrilled to be teaching Frenchimmersion kindergarten and special education in Indian River, Ont. She and her husband, Andy, have three children: Aaron 11; jordan, 8; and Brittani, 5.

• Ivan Steph en, B.Comm. '89, has started a new company called Sips Field Marketing that focuses on the promotion of wine, spirits and beer. He says he's applying many of his hospitality courses to this venture,

reaches 78,000 Guelph graduates

Tours for 2005 - 2006 Australia: November 2005 Argentina/Brazil: January/February 2006 Chile/Peru/Colombia: February/March 2006 Up to 18 days each

Australia AgAdventure or Australia Quilters' Tour Jan. 18- Feb. 2 plus New Zealand , Feb. 2- 14, 2006 Arizona AgVacation Jan . 22-31 , 2006 Brazil/Argentina/Chile AgriFutures Feb . 5- 27, 2006 China Agri-Culture Mar. 17 -Apr. 2, 2006 AgriTours Canada Inc. 311- 150 Research Lane Guelph , Ontario N1G 4T2 Tel: 519-826-4077 Toll Free: 877-683-5742 tours@agritourscanada.com www.agritourscanada.com Contact Richard Buck to sign up.

View details on our web-site.

To place your business ad, contact Scott Anderson 519·827-9169, theandersondifference@ rogers.com www.uoguelph.ca/adguide

You've read about these tours in my Ag Press articles.

With more than IS years of experience and many contacts, I can take you to places most tourists never visit.

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especially the fourth-year beverage management course- a favourite among HAFA/HTM grads. Stephen welcomes calls from anyone who would like to do some occasional beverage work in liquor stores and at trade shows, "and help to build Ontario's best beverage sampling company." E-mail him at istephen@sympatico.ca.

• Kim Taylor, B.Sc. '80 and M.Sc. '85, recently left her position as research technician in U of G's Department of Animal and Poultry Science to launch her own business, an Internet martial arts equipment supply company, SDKsupplies.com.

She also plans to pursue her interest in photography.

• Dave Vanden Bosch, B.Sc. (Agr.) '89, is leading the new Edmonton operations of Dell Inc. His family of seven has relocated from Newfoundland to Alberta and is looking forward to another great adventure!

• Jennifer Willson, B.Sc. '85, is a senior scientist at National Gypsum Company in Charlotte, N.C., and was recognized by the company in February as Researcher of the Year. She was project leader for the development, plant startup and commercialization of Hi-Impact XP

Jennifer Willson

Wallboard, now sold for commercial projects as a replacement for masonry walls. Before joining National Gypsum in 2002, Willson spent 13 years with Owens-Corning. She has

34

THE PORTICO

a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from Ohio University. When not in the lab or field-testing products, she enjoys scuba diving, gardening, cooking and Toastmasters.

• Suzan Wood-Young, BA '85, recently released her first jazz CD, Between Love and Fascination. You can listen to song samples on her website, www.suzan woodyoung.ca. She says she'd love to get back in touch with friends from University days.

She lives in Kelowna, B.C., with her husband, Mike Young, B.Sc. '86, and their children, Adam, 18, and Nicole, 14. In addition to singing jazz, Suzan has two part-time jobs, one as a psychometrician and the other with Mike at Protech Consulting.

1990 • Yaw Asante, MA '92, earned a PhD from the University of Calgary in 2000 and was offered tenure in December 2004 as a professor of English at Mount Royal College in Calgary.

• Todd Austin, B.Sc. '93 and MBA '95, and his wife, Karen, are parents of Laura Simone Austin, born May 11, 2004.

They live in Simcoe, Ont. • Steve Bell, B.Sc. '96, is a computer animator in Los Angeles for Dreamworks SKG and belonged to the team that produced Madagascar, released in May. • Silvia Bendo, BA '95, earned a B.Ed. from the University of Western Ontario in 1998, but left teaching to promote careers in the skilled trades. She currently runs a temporary foreign worker program for construction workers in the greater Toronto area. Away from work, she's training for her first marathon with the Team in Training of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. "I will be running on behalf of my mom, who died

last year from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. One day, we'll find a cure. To keep in touch, I can be reached at sbendo@hotmail. com."

(Johnston) • Kathleen Bouchard, BA '95, was recently married in Chapleau, Ont., to Rene Bouchard. Their outdoor reception in Shoals Provincial Park was attended by many U of G friends, who came from as far away as Nakina, Ont. The couple are living in Chapleau, where she is self-employed as a therapist offering services in massage, reflexology, counselling, yoga, reiki and feng shui.

• Paul Brydges, BLA '94, began his own Guelph-based design and consulting firm in january.

He says after 10 years of designing and building, he is getting back to his favourite aspects of landscape design and helping clients create "the ultimate space:' • Karen Buckle, B.Sc. '96, was a zookeeper and animal trainer at the Toronto Zoo for more than four years before relocating to Woodbridge, Ont., as an educator with Earth Rangers, a non-profit environmental education organization. She recently bought a home with her boyfriend, Ross, and looks forward to hearing from any of the people she's lost touch with over the years at kbuckle@sympatico.ca.

• Sally (Pedersen), B.Sc. '90, and Bret Colman, B.Sc. '89, recently purchased Desert Lake Family Resort in Hartington, Ont., from Sally's parents and will be operating the facility year-round. Bret is the Frontenac County stewardship coordinator for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He and Sally have two children, Cassandra, 12, and Gavin, 8.

Friends can e-mail them at deslake@kingston.net or check out their resort at www.desert-

lakeresort.on.ca.

• John Conrad, B.Sc. '91, recently left his position as dean of students at Woodsworth College, University of Toronto, and moved to Kingston, Ont., where his wife, Liz Leal, BA '94, is director of residence life at Queen's University. He has launched an education company called Talkcampus that works to improve the communication of post-secondary institutions with students and student groups. After leaving Guelph, Conrad earned a certificate in human resource management, an MBA and an MAin educational studies. The couple were married in April 2004 and were glad to have many Guelph alumni attend their wedding.

• Jeremy Debling, B.Sc. '94, was married May 14 to Erin Sexton.

He continues to work as a for-

Jeremy Debling and Erin Sexton

mulation scientist at Novopharm Ltd. in Toronto.

• Jennifer (Ivany) Ewoldt, B.Sc.(Agr.) '94, recently passed the certifying board examinations to become a member of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, specializing in largeanimal surgery. After graduating from Guelph, she earned a DVM from the Atlantic Veterinary College, completed an internship at Iowa State University, and filled a large-animal surgical residency at Ohio State University, where she also obtained an M.Sc. degree. She and her husband, Robert, live in Blue Grass, Iowa,

where she works for a local veterinary clinic. They also operate the family cattle and grain farm together and invite former classmates to visit at any time.

• Scott Fairbairn, BA '94, is senior development officer with the Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation in Toronto. He and his wife, Cathy, bought their first home in 2004.

Friends can contact him at scott.fairbairn@uhn.on.ca.

• Zoltan Hunyady, B.Sc. '99, captured a gold medal in wrestling this summer at the Senior National Championships in Renfrew, Ont. This win in the 74kilogram weight class qualified him for the world championships in his birthplace Budapest, Hungary- at the end of September. He trains with the Guelph Wrestling Club and teaches high school in Fergus.

• Lori Iwanowski, BLA '93, is operations manager of a landscape design firm in London, Ont. She married Karl Iwanowski in September 2003, and they have a son, Malcolm, born in September 2004. She welcomes e-mails at lori@iwanowski.ca.

• Jennifer Locke, BA '99, and her husband, Clayton Jeffrey, moved to Calgary in August 2004. She teaches chi ldren with behavioural needs at the Salvation Army Children's Village.

• Lori MacDonald, B.A.Sc. '94, is an elementary school teacher with the Greater Essex County District School Board. She and her husband, Scott, were married in 2001 and live in Windsor, Ont., with their children, jack David Neill, 3, and Kate Carolyn, 1.

• George Mancini, B.Sc. '91, is a certified financial planner (CFP) in Burlington, Ont. He and his wife, Penny, were married in july 1999 and celebrated the birth of their first child, Alexandra Elizabeth, in November 2004. He earned the CFP

designation in 1998 and now runs Y.I.S. Financial Inc., which provides tax, estate and investment planning to businesses in Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington. Friends can contact him at gmancini@bellnet.ca.

• Karen Pinder, B.Sc. '96, travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, after graduation and stayed to complete a PhD at the University of Cape Town. After defending her thesis in developmental cell/molecular biology, she took up a post-doctoral position in cancer research at johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. In 2004, she returned to Canada to accept a faculty position at the University of British Columbia, where she teaches histology and embryology to first- and second-year UBC medical and dental students. She is also involved in the problem-based learning curricu lum in the medical undergraduate program. She would like to hear from U of G friends at kpinder@interchange.ubc.ca.

• Veeraraghavaiah Ravuri, PhD '92, is head of the Department of Agronomy at Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (Bapatla campus) in India. He and his wife would welcome any U of G grads visiting Bapatla, about 350 kilometres south of Hyderabad.

• Tyrone Sluymers, B.Sc., '94, and his wife, Stephanie Rook, are proud to announce the birth

Tyson Rook Sluymers

of their first child, Tyson Rook Sluymers, April2l, 2005. Tyrone would love to hear from old friends at tyrone_sluymers@hot mail.com.

• Sandra Stewart-Fearnside, B.Comm. '98, recently opened a second Hilton Garden Inn in Ontario. She now manages Hilton facilities in Toronto and Burlington.

• Lisa (Kenyon) Torres, B.Sc. '95, is happy to announce the birth of Karina Mercedes Torres in March 2005. Lisa is a stayat-home mom living in Pensacola, Fla., with her husband of nine years and three children.

Former classmates can contact her at jtorresp@bellsouth.net.

• Marcy Wright, B.Sc. '97, has moved to Switzerland with her husband, Christopher Taylor, and two children. She began a post-doctoral position at the University of Geneva in January.

2000 • Gitte Andersen, DVM '00, says she married the love of her life, Mark Fenger, in a village church in Denmark Aug. 14, 2004. "It was a perfect summer day that we will never forget."

Since returning from their Australian honeymoon, they have been living in Shelburne, Ont., where Andersen is a veterinarian with Park Animal Hospital.

They plan to move to a new home in Milton in spring 2006.

• Christa Carleton, BA '00, has been an account executive at Ad Farm's Guelph office since january. After graduating from U of G, she earned a post-graduate diploma in corporate communications and worked in government with the premier's office and several non-profit associations before joining AdFarm's Eastern Canada team.

• Cheryl Gleig, BA '95, lives in Canmore, Alta., with her husband, Bruce, and daughter, Anna, who was born in April 2004.

When not teaching ESL, Cheryl says she is hiking and biking in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

• Hannan Fleiman, B.Sc. '03, is completing an MBA at McMaster University and is class president of the MBA Association at the Michael G. Degroote School of Business.

• Michelle (Siddique) Harold, B.A.Sc. '00, says she's come a long way since becoming a teenage mother in high school.

After finishing her Guelph degree, she attended the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and graduated in 2001, the same year she married Ren Harold and began teaching at a secondary school in Whitby, Ont. She gave birth to her third child, Zhane, earlier this year and plans to complete a master's degree in family counselling in the near future.

• Treena (Price) Hein, B.Sc. '94, taught high school for nine years before launching a second career in freelance writing. She writes educational resources, magazine articles and other materials; has completed projects for the Canadian Forestry Association; and has nearly 100 articles to her name.

• Cyndie Horner, B.Sc. '01, completed medical school at the University of Alberta in )w1e. She will pursue post-graduate medical training in anesthesia at McMaster University and is excited to be returning to Ontario. Her brother, Andrew, will begin his first year at Guelph in the geography program this fall. She would like to hear from friends at sporty cyndie@hotmail.com.

• Chern or Jalloh, BA '0 I, earned LLB and BCL degrees at McGill University and serves as counsel in trade bureau law for Canada's Department ofJustice.

She recently co-authored (with Alhaji Marong) a chapter titled

Fall2005 35

PASSAGES Janis Acheson, BA '79, Feb. 25, 2005 Herbert Anderson, DVM '41, May 12,2005 Thomas Angus, BSA '49 and MSA '50, june 16, 2005 John Appleton, BSA '35, May 27, 2005 Harold Barrett, BSA '43, May 30,2005 Anthony Boden, DVM '35, Dec. 26, 2004 Margaret Brewer, BA '88, Feb. 15, 2005 Elma (Wood ley) Brooks, DHE '52, April 29, 2005 Brock Cleland, DVM '49, in 2003 Lindsay Coghlin, DVM '41, june 2, 2005 Brian Crosthwait, BSA '36, April 17, 2005 Rex Dark, ODH '82, March 16, 2005 Ellen Downie, DHE '38, june 4, 2005 John Dryden, BSA '35, March 24, 2005 Anne (Daniels) Duck, DHE '41, Feb. 14,2005 Leslie Dunn, B.Sc. '76, june 12, 2005 Thomas Foster, ADA '51, May I, 2005 George Garland, B.Sc. '70, Aug. 12, 2004

"Ending Impunity: The Case for War Crimes Trials in Liberia" that was published in the book

A Tortuous Road to Peace: The Dynamics of Regional, UN and International Humanitarian Interventions in Liberia.

• Liz Lewis, BA '03, owner and operator of Irish Creek Stables riding school in Hespeler, Ont., was profiled in a feature story in the july 2005 issue of Canadian Living magazine. The article, titled "Facing Down Fear," described her pivotal role in helping a Toronto woman overcome her fear of riding. A member of the British Horse Society, Lewis realized that many adults who brought their children for lessons loved horses but were anxious about riding. She helps people focus on their desire to ride rather than on their fear. "If you have the passion to ride and you want to

36

THE

PoRTICO

Bruce Glenn, BSA '51, Feb. 7, 2005 Cheryl Hass, BA '78, Nov. 12, 2003 Clare Holmes, B.Sc.(Agr.) '72 and DVM '76, April 3, 2005 Barbara Kalow, B.Sc. '80, DVM '84 and M.Sc. '90, April 5, 2005 Chambers MacKinnon, BSA '35, june 20, 2004 James MacLaren, H.D.La. '95, june 13, 2005 Dorothy (Jones) Mcilveen, DHE '41, May I, 2005 Gordon McKay, BSA '41, April18, 2005 Lorne Miller, BSA '41, Nov. 28,2004 Robert R. Miller, DVM '48, April 6, 2005 Grant Mitchell, ADA '82, May 2005 Gordon Overend, BSA '37, April17, 2005 Robert Perry, DVM '66, jan. 22, 2005 Bram Perzow, B.Sc. '68, july 7, 2004 Douglas Pole, ADA '33, April 19, 2005 Winifred Reid, DHE '34, Oct. 17,2004 Adele Rigby, DHE '40, April 21,2005

tackle your fear, there's no reason why you can't," she says.

• Murray Rahn, BA '92, is senior account manager with British Telecommunications in England.

After completing his Guelph degree in management economics, he earned a B.Comm. in international business from Concordia University in Montreal and an M.Sc. from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He's been working for British Telecom for more than six years and lives in Reading. "If you recognize my name from past days at U of G, I'd love to hear from you;' says Rahn. "Hello to all at the beautiful University of Guelph- I miss it."

• Kristen Roe, BA '03, says the first time she crossed the Confederation Bridge, she wondered if anyone had ever swum across the Northumberland Strait. On july 28, the former competitive

Paul Roovers, B.Sc. '75, june 11,2005 Bruce Rouse, B.Sc. '66, Feb. 26, 2005 Leslie Shane, DVM '48, April 9, 2005 Andrew Sinclair, BSA '43, Nov. 8, 2004 Ronald Scriver, BA '76, june I 0, 2005 Weston Trenholm, DVM '52, july 2, 2005 Matthew Walsh, B.Sc. '99, in 2005 Don Watterworth, ADA '74, jan. 23, 2005 Wolfgang Sack, DVM '57, june 21, 2005 FACULTY Harry Downie, DVM '48, Biomedical Sciences, june 19, 2005 William Furlong, Economics, April 30, 2005 j. Douglas Cunningham, BSA '48 and MSA '50, Microbiology, April 5, 2005

Send deceased 11otices to Alumni Records at alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca or fax to 5 I 9-822-2670.

swimmer took up the challenge In support of people withHIV/ATDS. Her swim was completed in seven hours and 45 minutes, more than two hours faster than her best hopes. She has raised $15,000. Half of the money will go to people on P.E.I., and the other half to the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Currently employed as residence life coordinator at the University of Prince Edward Island, she says she became passionately involved in social justice and human rights Issues through working 111 Guelph's residence life program and volunteering with campaigns and organizations dedicated to helping those in need. When she heard Lewis speak on campus in 2001, she became even more devoted to fighting the global pandemic of HIV and AIDS. • Stephanie Sparks, B.Comm.

'00, married Shayne Gaffar june

4 in Toronto. They live in Calgary, where she is marketing manager for Sleeman Breweries.

• Corey Wert, B.Comm. '04, recently accepted a management trainee position with Maple Leaf Foods International based in Toronto. His first rotation sees him working in business development creating product development strategy in japan.

• Daniel Wood, MLA '04, started a landscape architecture practice, D.W. Wood and Associates (dwwa.ca) in Toronto.

• Wesley Wright, B.Sc. '00 and BA '00, earned an M.A.Sc. in environmental engineering from the University of Toronto in 2003. He works in project engineering for Stantec Consulting Ltd. in Mississauga, Ont., where he lives with his partner, Wendy Yen, BA '00. Wright invites classmates to contact them at wes_wright@yahoo.com.

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