Guelph The Portico Magazine, Fall 2006

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ADDRESSES TO: THE PORTICO MAGAZINE, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, GUEL.

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THE PORTICO •

FALL 2006

CONTENTS [ president's page - 3

1• [ great [ 8 -

IN AND AROUND THE UNIVERSITY

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web takes the limelight at U of G with a whole Shakespeare festival developing around the University's Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project. U of G has also launched a new web portal, and a database of women's literature is up and running with online search capabilities beyond Google.

H E WEB, WEB,

guelph grad -

28

1• [ grad

news - 30

1

cover story ]

THE BRAINS BEHIND BRAIN RESEARCH AT OF G

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You might be surprised to learn how many Guelph scientists are involved in some aspect of neuroscience research. Psychology professor Elena Choleris is one of them, and she's making waves with her discovery of the genes that enable animals to recognize each other.

ALUMNI MATTERS

A

U OF G English grad also focuses on the web, with the publication of a new genre in fiction: the iNovel. On campus, the U of G Alumni Association has presented its annual awards and elected a new board of directors, while the Gryphons prepare for Homecoming on Sept. 23.

4

[ 15 ] DoN'T FENCE THEM IN Three Guelph science grads show how careers change as new technologies replace the old and open new doors for those who can see the bigger picture of science and its impact.

on the cover

[ 14 ]

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL WATSON

ANOTHER FIRST FoR GuELPH-HuMBER Four years after the University of Guelph-Humber was launched, its first graduates cross the stage to receive their degrees and diplomas.

IN THE MIDDLE TURN TO THE MIDDLE OF THE PORTICO FOR YOUR COLLEGE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER.

,s PQRTICO Fall2006 • VOLUME 38

ISSUE

3

Editor Mary Dickieson

Director Charles Cunningham

Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc.

Contributors jennifer Brett Fraser Barbara Chance, BA '74 Rachelle Cooper Lori Bona Hunt Heather lves, B.A.Sc. '04 Rebecca Kendall, BA '99 SPARK Program Writers Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84

Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 Direct all other correspondence to:

College of Management and Economics Executive Programs Innovative programs combining online learning with residential components.

Canada needs insp ired leaders and managers more t han ever. In times of limited resou rces, conflicting dema nds, and rapid cultural and techno logical change, organizations need skilled leaders and ma nagers to guide them in the achievement of their goals.

Communications and Public Affairs University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada NIG 2W 1 E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/ The Portico magazine is published three times a year by Communications and Public Affairs at the University of Guelph. Its mission is to enhance the relationship between the University and its alumni and friends and promote pride and commitment within the University community. All material is copyright 2006. Ideas and opinions expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of the University or the editors.

Publications Mail Agreement# 40064673

Printed in Canada -ISSN 1714-8731 To update your alumni record, contact: Alumni Affairs and Development Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 519-822-2670 E-mail alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

U NIVERSITY 9/"GUELPH

2 THE PORTICO

-

SYNERGIES PRODUCE KNOWLEDGE THAT CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE +

HE EARTH AS WE KNOW IT has reached a critical point in its history. Almost 6.5 billion people coexist on our planet, and their demands on its natural resources and ecosystems are increasing faster than ever before. Foremost among these are the 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.

These are the realities of our 21st-century life, the challenges that demand our immediate attention.

Here at the University of Guelph, we are addressing those challenges by drawing on our great strengths in applied research and our history of successful teamwork. Guelph scientists and future scientists work in investigative teams across traditional study areas, reflecting an awareness that today's problems do not recognize the boundaries we impose, whether geographic, cultural or disciplinary.

Particularly in the sciences, many new and important discoveries are happening where traditional disciplines intersect. We are building a $144-million science facility that is dedicated to cross-disciplinary education and exploration because we know it will create tremendous synergies between students and scientists. When you work side by side, you talk about things that spark ideas that lead to new experiments that produce knowledge that can make all the difference in solving a problem.

We are also looking outside our institutional boundaries to build partnerships that allow Guelph researchers to work with colleagues around the world and enhance our capacity to make discoveries that will be meaningful for the global society. Our collaborative approach also attracts internationally renowned scientists to Guelph and prepares our graduates to contribute to Canada's technological and economic growth.

You will recognize the value of that approach when you read about the contributions of the faculty and alumni who are profiled in this issue of The Portico. Graduates Tim Bray, Maria Granovsky and Carmen Sferrazza are advancing technologies unheard of when they began their university studies. Their stories reinforce the need for U of G to prepare graduates with the ability to blend scientific capacity with social and environmental needs.

Another story may surprise you with a description of the University's growing expertise in neuroscience, where more than 20 researchers from disciplines as diverse as psychology and biomedical sciences are investigating how the brain functions. Although relatively unknown by the general public, neuroscience and oth-

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er health-related aspects of Guelph research are receiving greater support from both public and private granting agencies. From the Canadian Institutes of Health Research alone, U of G received almost $4 million in grants last year, more than any other Canadian university without a medical school.

Human health is closely tied to Guelph's more traditional areas of expertise: food production, animal health and environmental protection. With more than 350 professors- over half of the University's faculty complement- focused on the biosciences, Guelph has the largest capacity in the life sciences in the country.

We are uniquely poised to tie together the discovery paths needed to solve some of today's most pressing problems: food for a growing population, alternative forms of energy and the transmission of disease.

It is imperative that we prepare University of Guelph graduates and support faculty who face the opportunity for incredible discovery at the crossroads of advancing knowledge- discoveries that will affect our quality of life and the estate we leave for the next generation.

ALASTAIR SuMMERLEE PRESIDENT

Fall 2006 3

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS •

RESEARCH •

CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS

IN &AROUND Shakespeare comes to Guelph

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HERE'S GROWING EVIDENCE that a Canadian man who happens to be a friend and supporter of U of G may own the only portrait ofWilliam Shakespeare painted while he was alive.

That painting is coming to Guelph in January and will be the focus of the region's "Shakespeare - Made in Canada" festival.

Known as the Sanders portrait, the painting is thought to depict the Bard at age 39 and is owned by Ottawa resident Lloyd Sullivan. It's also the signature image of U of G's Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP), which is headed by Prof.

Daniel Fischlin, English and Theatre Studies, and includes the largest and most complete website in the world dedicated to showing the playwright's cultural influence on Canada.

The Sanders portrait was also the subject of the 2001 book Shakespeare's Face and is used by the Stratford Festival of Canada.

The painting is coming to U of G for a special exhibition at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre from January to May. In celebration, the University, the Stratford Festival, the Guelph Arts Council and the City of Guelph

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are teaming up to host a series of regional Shakespeare-related events.

"Shakespeare- Made in Canada" will include theatrical and musical performances, exhibitions, a speakers' series and educational programs. The goal of the festival is to create a regional cultural synergy focusing specifically on Canadian interpretations, adaptations and exhibitions of Shakespeare's work. It will involve local and regional arts and cultural organizations; local businesses; and elementary, secondary and university students and teachers.

"We're delighted that a rare combination of humanities research, community involvement, University initiative and private support exemplified by Lloyd Sullivan's contributions to our project- will culminate in a unique series of events and a unique museum exhibit hosted at the University," says Fischlin.

It's believed that Shakespeare sat for an ancestor of Sullivan's, an unknown actor and painter called John Sanders, in 1603. The portrait was held in the family for 400 years, and at one time was stored under Sullivan's grandmother's bed. The portrait has been confirmed by six years of painstaking

This portrait of Shakespeare may be the only one painted while he was alive. forensic studies to date from around 1600, and it has not been altered since.

Before coming to Guelph, the Sanders portrait will be part of "Searching for Shakespeare," an international exhibit organized by the National Portrait Gallery in London that will tour North America during the summer and fall of 2007.

More details about the exhibition schedule for the Sanders portrait and the "Shakespeare- Made in Canada" festival will appear in the next issue of The Portico. To visit the CASP website, go to www.canadianshakespeares.ca.

Chancellor named 'Greatest Hamiltonian'

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HANcE LLoR Lincoln Alexander was named "Greatest Hamiltonian of All Time" in a contest sponsored by the Hamilton Spectator newspaper.

Based on CBC's Greatest Canadian • proJeCt, the contest was launched to commemorate the l60th birthday of the city and newspaper.

4 THE PORTICO

Alexander was also honoured by U of G this summer as the recipient of a leadership award that will now bea r his name. The new Lincoln Alexander Outstanding Leadership Award will be bestowed each summer by the Centre for Studies in Leadership.

Established in 2003, the centre

undertakes research on leadership issues, develops new educational programs and participates in community outreach and promotional activities. It also brings together Guelph's interdisciplinary research expertise and programming, including a master's degree in leadership studies.

UNIVERSITY • A U of G team has designed a

TRYING TO SELL YOUR HOUSE?

distance education course that uses the Internet to teach begin-

ner music students to sing music they've never heard before. Com· ponents for the course include a virtual interactive keyboard that offers recorded pitches and a virtual practice room that has unlimited access to rhythm sounds and music graphics. There's also an online recording application.

• U of G awarded 2,6oo degrees and diplomas during June convo-

cation ceremonies, including hon· orary degrees to behavioural ecologist Sir John Krebs, Canadian military historian Terry Copp, human rights advocate Mu Sochua, Senator Donald Oliver and agroforestry expert P.K. Nair.

ESTATE MARKET

bread. You have to look at how many

you're in is anything like that of

bedrooms it has, its location, if it has an

• The couple and family therapy

Windsor, Ont., you can expect to wait I 0 weeks before seeing a "Sold" sign on

ugly colour on the wall or if it has termites."

program in the Department of

your front lawn. If you have a one- or

He found that more than 40 per

two-bedroom house, it may sell nine

cent of sellers in his sample had their

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Family Relations and Applied Nutrition marked 25 years of graduating students with a special celebration in June.

per cent faster, but if it's got five or more

listings expire. Some tried again, but

bedrooms, it could take up to 30 per

many did not.

cent longer to sell.

About five per cent of the houses in his study sold for more than list price,

students spending Reading Week helping communities ravaged by

Those are some of the findings of Prof. Paul Anglin, Marketing and Con-

• AU of G initiative that involved

but he says the selling price depends on

hurricane Katrina won a national

sumer Studies, who used four years of data from the Windsor and Essex Real

the bargaining abi liti es of the parties involved. "By raising the list price, you

innovation award from the Student Affairs and Services Association .

Estate Board to evaluate the whole

can increase the selling price, but you

process of pricing and sellin g a house.

have to wait longer for a buyer willing ~

presented its

Few studies have been done of the Canadian real estate market, he says,

to pay that price."

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and this particular research is the first of its kind in Canada. What makes it unique is that his data include all

• The Central Student Association

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Anglin also found that smaller ~ homes sold in less time, and houses that ~ were described in their listings as "beau- ~ z

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Renders, English and Theatre Studies.

• Prof. Wayne Caldwell of the School of Environmental Design

attempted sales rather than just the suc-

at a higher selling price. Those ~

and Rural Development has pub-

cessful ones.

described as a "handyman's special" sold ~

lished a book to help bridge the

"People don't realize that 40 per cent

in 50 per cent less time. In contrast, a ~

urban-rural divide. The Urbanite's

of homes listed for sale don't sell, and

home that was said to be a "rental" took ~

Guide to the Countryside is

that is rarely taken into account."

Anglin notes that searching for a

60 per cent longer to sell. ~ He hopes to conduct a similar study 25

co-authored by Cathie Brown; Gillian Auld, BLA '04; and Sarah

home "is not like searching for a loaf of

in the Toronto market.

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Fall2006 5

IN &AROUND

the

UNIVERSITY

opened Sept. 1 with the launch of the University's new web portal. Appropriately called "MyPortico," the portal begins the relationship with student applicants that will continue throughout their studies at Guelph and transition to The Portico magazine at convocation.

The title "MyPortico" symbolizes the campus connection and the relationship between students and alumni, but it also speaks to the functionality of a web portal as a one-stop online information dest inat ion. Anyone with a U of G e-mail address can log on to MyPortico and then personalize their home page by adding information that is important to them. For a student who plays intramural sports, the intramura l schedules cou ld be front and centre, whereas someone else may want student gov· ernment information on his or her customized page.

MyPortico is based on uPortal, an open-source web portal developed by a consortium of uni· versities and used by more than So around the world.

"Portals are becoming mo re prominent on university campuses because we have a complex infor· mat ion environment and users need to engage all of that, whether it's courses online or something from the library," says chief information officer Michael Ridley. "Without a portal, you have to know which site to go to and wh ich part of the site a particular piece of information is located on. MyPortico is exactly the opposite. It pushes information to you that's relevant to you, rather than you having to go find it."

A virtual door to the University of Guelph

WIN E WITH DINNER? ROF. BoB H A R Rl NGTON, Hospitality and Tourism Ma nagement, is teaching Guelph students how to pair up food and wine so the customers in their future restaurants will have a pleasant gastronomic experience. That means more return visits and more customers willing to order wine with their mea ls, which means more revenue for the restaurant.

Harrington, who joined U of G in 2005, says very few wines will ruin a meal, but know ing how to make better choices can raise your level of sat isfaction, and everyone from academics and students to industry workers and consumers can improve their ski lls.

He'll be uncorking his know-how in a new book call ed Food and Wine Pairing: A Sensory Experience, to be published in early 2007. The book includes a series ~ of exercises loosely based on a grid that ~ wine professionals use to assess food and ~wine pairing. He has turned the grid into ~a more user-friendly too l suitable for a "'~ wide variety of wine drinkers. i;; The book also includes information 2 about how the geography and climate of 0 it a region affect the food that's grown there.

P

6

THE PORTICO

OVC centre to focus on public health emerging animal· related diseases that threaten public health is the key goal of a one·of·a·kind centre to be based at the Ontario Veterinary College.

The Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses (CHPAZ) will bring together scientists to enhance research and more closely link researchers and agencies involved in address· ing new or re-emerging diseases such as bird flu, SARS, E. coli 0157:H7 and West Nile virus.

CPHAZ members hope to further integrate the efforts of numerous University researchers from four colleges and the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety with those of exter· nal agencies. The latter include municipal and regional health organizations; the Public Health Agency of Canada; the Guelph-based Laboratory for Food-Borne Zoonoses; the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre; and the proposed Ontario Health Protection and Promotion Agency.

Research in this area has long occurred at Guelph, but the new body will bring greater co-ordination to those efforts, says retired pathobiology professor Carlton Gyles, who helped organize the group.

Preventi ng and controlling

r • College of Arts - Donald Bruce

began a five-year term as dean Aug. 1. A French scholar whose interests lie in literature, literary theory and cultural studies, he was formerly chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta.

• College of Biological Science -

Michael Emes has completed four years of his first term as dean. He spent more than 20 years as a professor and dean of research at the University of Manchester.

• College of Management and Economics - Chris McKenna heads the University's new business college, which was officially established May 1. He was formerly associate vice-president (research) and is a former chair of the Department of Economics.

Brown goes beyond Google ENGLISH PROFESSOR Susan Brown is helping to transform online humanities research. She and two co-editors at the University of Alberta have created Orlando, a 5.5-million-word history of women's writing in the British Isles that uses an online search and indexing system with capabilities beyond Google.

"Everyo ne loves Google, but it's really not adequate for academics in the humanities because often we need to be able to search more effectively without having a specia li zed search term;' says Brown. "We wanted to push the limits on scholarly research by creating a resource that uses the power of computing in new ways."

Academics have recently begun creating sophisticated digital archives that make existing work available, but what makes Orlando different is that it contains all original material and is the equivalent of more than 40 books, she says.

In creating Orlando, named after tl1e 1928 Virginia Woolf book, Brown and her co-editors designed the content and the means of delivery of their text simultaneously, allowing researchers to locate answers to precise, complex

questions.

"You can find anything from women writers responding to jane Austen to references to cats in women's writing between 1700 and 2000 to the books that use Edinburgh as a setting," says Brown.

The site includes entries on the li ves and careers of about 1,000 writers and allows students or researchers to quickly look at the discussions of a writer's work and li fe side by side on their screen. Users can also create customized chronologies, drawing on more than 30,000 events, or search more than 20,000 bibliographical references.

The co-editors will be writing three volumes to complement the website materials. Alberta English professor !sobe! Grundy is covering the early period to about 1830, Brown is responsible for the material from 1820 to 1890, and Alberta English professor and project director Patricia Clements is working on the 20th-century materials.

The trio recently received the 2006 Society for Digital Humanities Award for Orlando in the category of outstanding achievement for computing in the arts and humanities.

• College of Physical and Engineering Science - Anthony Vanelli, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate dean of research at the University of Waterloo, will become dean in January 2007. Until then, chair Bob Balahura is serving as interim dean.

• College of Social and Applied Human Sciences - Alun Joseph was reappointed in July for a second five-year term. He was first appointed in 2000 after serving as chair of the Department of Geography for eight years.

• Ontario Agricultural College -

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Craig Pearson took over the leadership of OAC in December 2001.

He was formerly an academic and chief scientist with the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Australia.

-

• Ontario Veterinary College -

Elizabeth Stone became the first woman to head a veterinary school in Canada when she came to Guelph in June 2005. She was formerly head of clinical sciences at North Carolina State University.

Fall 2006 7

â&#x20AC;˘

I

know you

When you see a familiar face in the crowd, how do you know it's your mother, child, friend, enemy, lover, boss, neighbour, acquaintance, favourite TV star or just another commuter?

Story by Rachelle Cooper Illustration by Paul Watson Photo by Paula Bialski

With one quick glance, we know whether we've met someone before and how that person fits into our social circle. It's a cognitive process called social recognition and the foundation of relationships and hierarchic systems among all mammals. Yet most people give little thought to how it wo rks.

Prof. Elena Choleris, Psychology, has not only been giving it a lot of thought, but her research is also helping to uncover pathways in the brain that allow us to recognize an individual and relate to others.

Her interest in the area stems from trying to uncover the mystery of how we've become social creatures.

"An anima l recognizing an animal it has met before is the key to all social li fe," she says. "Socia l an im als need to know who's who; they need to establish a hierarchy within the group and learn their role within that hierarchy. Mice do this; humans do this, too.

Also, recognition allows social bonds and pair bonds to develop, such as the bond between a mother and her infant."

AJthough Choleris's research focuses on small rodents, it could have implications for better understanding human disorders affecting sociality. When a person's brain recognition pathways are impaired, that person usually has a disorder based on social behaviour, such as autism, schizophrenia or a social phobia. "lf what we find with mice is confirmed in humans, it will bring us closer to imp roving the quality of life for those living with disabilities related to social behaviour," she says.

Hormones are the transmission signals used by mammals to send messages to different parts of the body, and Choleris is helping to determine which hormones and genes are responsible for social behaviours.

Her research to date has found that both social recognition and social learning are regulated by estrogen. It makes sense, therefore, that autism is a disorder largely affecting males, she says.

Choleris's journey to becoming one of the world's top neuroscience researchers

began at the University of Parma in Italy, her native country. While completing her undergraduate and PhD work in biology, she became increasingly interested in animal behaviour and the mechanisms that regulate that behaviour. After an extensive search, she found a researcher at the University of Western Ontario who was able to guide her post-doctoral research. After complet in g post-doctoral training in biology focusing on pain response in mice, she went on to complete a second post-doctoral program in psychology, focusing on socia l learning in mice. Then she headed off to Rockefeller University in New York City to study social recognition in mice with neuroscientist Donald Pfaff.

Choleris was drawn to Guelph because of the big focus on animal research. "I knew that even if 1 wasn't going to be in a department with a lot of anima ls, I could make contacts with other investigators on campus, which is exactly what 1 ended up doing.

At Gue lph , we have a strong program in neuroscience, but because it's not located

Fall 2006 9

student scientists give and get

Psychology professor Elena Choleris, front right, says her experiments couldn't get done without the help of talented and committed student researchers. With her, from left, are students Miriam Benarroch, Cheryl Cragg, Durene Gray and Eric Tang.

The research results coming out of Prof. Elena Choleris's lab wouldn't be possible without a group of talented students.

"The experiments are demanding in terms of the time commitment and analysis," she says. "They require attention every day for months in my lab, and they couldn't get done without committed individuals."

It's true that the 40 students who have worked in Choleris's lab over the past three years have helped her accomplish a lot, but the students will tell you that they themselves have benefited a tremendous amount from her commitment to them.

"Not only are professors conducting exciting neuroscience research on our campus, but their work is also inspiring undergraduates and allowing them to make huge strides in establishing their own research careers," ~ says Megan Gray, B.Sc. 'o6, now a master's

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student at the University of British Columbia.

When Choleris was invited to present an

~ abstract in Washington, D.C., at the 2005 Soci路

"'::Ji ety for Neuroscience Conference, an internaie tiona! gathering that draws more than 30,000 0 b people, she immediately thought of her under~ graduate students working on honours theses

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or independent study projects.

"I told them I could present the abstract or, since I included them as authors, they could present it themselves, but my funds don't cover expenses of undergraduate students," she says. "They come to me with so much enthusiasm and initiative; the last thing I want to do is kill it. I try to encourage it."

Gray and four other students packed a car and drove down to Washington, where they had the opportunity to share their poster with Nobel Prize laureate Eric Kandel and to be among top neuroscience research presenters, including Karyn Frick of Yale University.

"I think we were the only undergraduate students at the conference," says Gray.

"When people came up to look at our poster presentation and ask questions, I noticed their name tags and recognized the names of leading neuroscientists from journal articles I had read and cited in my coursework.

That's when I realized what a fantastic opportunity we had been given. Not only were we allowed to attend the conference and meet these people, but they were also genuinely interested in what we had to say because we were working with Dr. Choleris."

in one department, it's sort of hidden. In terms of numbers of people, U of G already has a significant neuroscience component."

Since coming to Guelph in 2003, she has continued two main lines of research: social recognition (how the brain recognizes another individual) and social learning (how one individual acquires information from another).

Before Choleris's social recognition study, it was known that mice used two genes to recognize another mouse: the estrogen receptor, alpha, and the gene for neuropeptide oxytocin. She suspected that social recognition is also regulated by the other estrogen receptor, beta, and the gene for oxytocin's receptor. To test this theory, she first studied genetically modified mice, then supplemented female mice with a synthetic hormone that binds only to beta receptors and found their recognition abilities improved.

Her discovery of how genes work together to form the basis of social recognition was featured in Science magazine and published in two prestigious science journals.

She and Pfaff were the first to show that four genes are connected together in what Choleris calls a "micronet."

"As with a net, if you cut it at any one of these four points, you will block social recognition because all the genes have to work together as a mechanism for social recognition to happen," she says.

Choleris uses food preferences in mice to study social learning. A mouse interacting with another mouse that has just eaten a certain type of food will show a preference for that food about 80 per cent of the time when given the choice between two diffe rent foods, she says. " That's because mice associate the familiar food smell with the chemically induced positive feelings experienced during the social interaction."

She's now looking at the role of dopamine in social learning, inducting eating preferences.

"Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter because it gives a feeling of a reward associated with eating, sex, drinking and possibly social interactions;' she says. Choleris is using drugs to block the receptors for dopamine in both rats and mice. So far, she's found that in mice, the neurotransmitter dopamine uses a clifferent receptor for social behaviour than it uses for eating. In rats, her early study results show the receptors have opposite functions:

the receptor that inhibited eating in mice blocked social learning in rats.

"That's why I always use caution when moving from one species to another," she says. "If we find differences between rats and mice, we really need to expand our knowledge on other species before we can begin to understand the way social behaviour works in humans."

Another aspect of social behaviour that Choleris is helping to decode is the use of aggression in establishing a hierarchy.

"Most of the literature focuses on males;' she says. "Males have more aggressive interactions, so it's more obvious when they're demonstrating their superiority."

Her study has recently confirmed that female mice establish their roles within the hierarchy as frequently as males do.

"Females just don't use open attacks;' she says. "They'll establish their hierarchy by using bossy behaviour like pinning the other mouse down and grooming it quite heavily."

None of this research would be possible without committed students, says Choleris.

Although her office is located in the new extension of the MacKinnon Building, she spends at least half of her time working on the other side of campus in her lab in the Central Animal Facility alongside graduate student Amy Clipperton and a handful of undergraduate students from different disciplines. In the past three years, Choleris has supervised close to 40 students from four different departments- Psychology, Biomeclical Sciences, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, and Integrative Biology.

"I like the idea that the more people who work in my lab and develop an interest in social neuroscience, the more the area will expand."

Choleris, her students and her Guelph colleagues are helping to build the future of social neuroscience research.

"I think that, in general, social neuroscience is in its infancy," she says. "There really needs to be a lot more study. To understand the way social behaviour has evolved, we have to understand the genes that change from one generation to another that affect brain development and, in turn, affect behaviour. In the future, I hope to understand how multiple systems interact to control social learning, social recognition and social behaviour." â&#x20AC;˘

the brains behind brain research at guelph Although relatively unknown by the general public, neuroscience research is one area of study that is growing quickly at U of G. across six different departments are doing some aspect of neuroscience research; lO are faculty hired in the last five years. Their areas of study range from protein structure and characterization in multiple sclerosis to epilepsy in dogs and cats to drug addictions and relapses.

"We now have the critical mass of people necessary to have a formal program," says Prof. Neil Maclusky, chair of

the Department of Biomedical Sciences. His own research is focused on the effects of steroid hormones on the brain.

U of G has had a neuroscience minor option through the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences for a number of years; it attracts students in biomedical sciences, biological sciences and psychology. But effective this fall, students will also be able to complete a neuroscience graduate degree within the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

MacLusky says the goal is to extend the neuroscience graduate program across the University to create an interdepartmental program. "We're also moving toward creating a B.Sc. major in neuroscience."

A curriculum committee is currently working to update the neuroscience minor option to make it a more flexible program that can accommodate a wide range of students, from psychology majors to molecular biologists.

in federal funding each year for seven years. Tier l chairs are acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their field.

Her work looks at the psychopharmacology and neurobiology oflearning, emotion, sickness and addiction. She hopes the research will lead to a better understanding of basic neural processes affected by prescribed drugs, with specific applications to controlling nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy.

With Parker and MacLusky, the scientists profiled on the next two pages are contributing to Guelph's reputation in neuroscience. For more in-depth stories about their research, visit www.uoguelph.ca/the portico.

Behavioural neuroscientist Linda Parker, who joined U of G's Department of Psychology in july, will lead the whole behavioural neuroscience component of the program. She is a Tier l Canada Research Chair, supported by $200,000

Fall2006 11

the brains behind brain res ear Prof. Nick Bernier, Integrative Biology, completed formal studies in marine biology and completed post-doctoral research that dealt with the neuroendocrine pathways that regulate appetite and the stress response in fish. Now, he is looking at the way stressors are perceived and processed by fish to further our understanding of how environmental changes affect food intake, growth and embryonic development.

synapse that is involved in temporal lobe epilepsy, the most prevalent form of the disorder. John hopes to learn more about what happens at synapses to trigger seizures.

standing how hormones and genetics control social recognition could lead to diagnosis and treatment of behavioural disorders like autism.

Prof. Roberto Poma, Clinical Studies, is developing a program to compare canine and human epilepsy. "The disease is very similar in both species," he says. "This research will foster innovative collaboration between veterinary and human health-care institutions focusing on similarities of the disease and target important aspects of the disorder, including physiology, diagnosis and treatment."

Prof. Larry Grovum, Biomedical Sciences, is using pigs as a model for people in Profs. Leah Bent, above, and Lori Vallis, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, are looking at posture and bal-

Profs. Carol and john Armstrong, Biomedical Sciences, are a wife-andhusband duo who bring "hers-and-his" views of brain science to their respective research fields. She studies how the brain develops; his interest lies in how the brain works.

Carol studies the development of the visual system, using chick models to look at how wiring is laid down between the developing eye and the brain's visual area. While stressing her basic approach, she still hopes that her work may help clinicians understand visual defects and how to correct them. john uses knockout mice- rodents with a gene whose function is disrupted or "knocked out"- to probe how synapses work in the brain. Connections between individual neurons- or, more precisely, missed connections- may affect behaviour and learning. He brought to Guelph a Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression in the United States. With that funding, he is investigating one particular

12

THE PoRTico

ance and the seemingly simple question of why people fall over. Behind that basic premise lies a research program that sees them manipulating individual nerve fibres and investigating a more important role for the spinal cord than formerly believed.

Bent says receptors in the soles of your feet tell your central nervous system not just about the surface you're walking on but also about where your foot is in relation to the ground and the rest of your body. But those receptors lose their acuity with age, leading to the risk of poor posture or repeated falls.

The two researchers hope to learn more about the choreography of muscles and nerves involved in walking to help prevent falls, particularly among a growing elderly population, and offer ideas for rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries.

research aimed at developing new treatments for human obesity. The neural activity from sensory receptors in the stomach and small intestine is being monitored in the vagus nerve to develop new techniques to hasten satiety and blunt hunger using physiological pathways. Such responses should reduce food intake and lead to desired weight loss.

Prof. Bettina Kalisch, Biomedical Sciences, is looking at how one key molecule interacts with brain cells and what implications it may have for people with Alzheimer's disease. That molecule is nitric oxide, which occurs naturally in the human body and has been implicated in everything from cancer to diabetes to drug addiction.

Kalisch believes there's a link between nitric oxide and Alzheimer's. "The interactions between the brain and nitric oxide change as Alzheimer's disease progresses," she says.

"Understanding these interactions may open new avenues for research."

Prof. Francesco Leri, Psychology, Prof. Elena Choleris, Psychology, says: "An animal recognizing an animal it has met before is the key to all social life."

She and neuroscientist Donald Pfaff at Rockefeller University have uncovered a four-gene micronet that controls social recognition in mice. Their groundbreaking discovery has opened doors for further studies in other animals and humans. Under-

studies the behavioural side of drug abuse and addiction, from heroin and cocaine to amphetamines and prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Rats stand in for people in studies of drug-motivated behaviour, allowing him to examine the neurological processes involved in drug relapse. He says behaviour is as important as biochemical and physi-

at guelph cal triggers when assessing the "abuse potential" of an addictive drug.

Prof. Alastair Summerlee, Biomedical Sciences, has contributed to understand in g of the fundamental physiology underlying the hormonal control of pregnancy, birth and lactation. His work with mammals has concerned the neuronal activity in the maternal brain during birth and suckling. He discovered that the hormone relaxin- produced in the mother's ovary to relax the pelvis and permit birth- also has a direct action on the brain to inhibit release of the hormone oxytocin and thus reduce the contractions of the uterus.

look quite different. By studying brain scans of identical twins, he determines that the pattern of the cortical fo lds in identical twins is by no means identical- although more similar than is the case with fraternal twins. "People are always talking about 'the right brain, the left brain,' but the halves have to get their act together to work, and the main way they do this is through the corpus colostrum," he says. " It allows the two halves of the brain to communicate with each other." This research is helping to answer som e of the questions raised in the debate on heredity versus environment.

which enter muscle cells and tell them to contract or relax. They want to identify the genes behind the disorder in hopes of eliminating the disease through selective breeding. Also collaborating on this project are

Profs. joane Parent, Roberto Poma and Henry Staempfli and graduate student Ronaldo da Costa of the

Department of Biomedical Sciences.

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above, suggests that health-care workers and loved ones could speed up stroke victims' speech recovery by therapy as simple as talking to them. He and colleagues at the University of Rochester found a link between how the brain perceives incoming information from the senses and how it controls the production of bodily movement. "Our study showed that motor learning can occur without motor training,'' he says. "This means stroke patients could be practising motor timing even while they are still unable to move their limbs or muscles. The result might be an accelerated recovery."

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Prof. George Harauz, Molecular and Cellular Biology, has enlisted th e help of physicist Vladimir Ladizhansky to take a closer look at multiple sclerosis (MS), an inheritable disease where nerve cell proteins are distorted. This distortion disturbs proper brain function and causes brain damage, muscle weakness, balance and co-ordination problems, and even death . Harauz believes the key to treating MS lies in understandin g how these proteins become distorted in the first place, and the two are using the powerful superconducting magnets in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to build a complete picture of the protein's structure.

Prof. Michael Peters, Psychology, says even identical twins have brains that

Prof. Brad Hanna and graduate student Dan Finnigan of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Prof.

Andrew Bendall, Molecular and Cellular Biology, are looking at domesticated animals such as cats, dogs and horses to shed more light on myotonia congenita, a genetic disorder that temporarily prevents muscles from relaxing after they contract. During these episodes, which usually last less than a minute, the animal shakes or shivers in place, unable to move.

Although the condition may be disturbing to a pet owner, it doesn't seem to do any damage to the muscle, says Hanna, so it often goes undiagnosed. But the problem is more serious in large animals, where prolonged muscular rigidity can cause the animals to fall over as they try to move.

Hanna and Finnigan are focusing on the passageways in muscle cell membranes that act as conduits for electrical nerve signals,

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Prof. Alison Webb, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, is a visiting professor at U of G. Formerly a behavioural electrophysiologist with the Medical Research Council in England, she later pursued research and anatomy teaching at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. At U of G, she is teaching anatomy courses to human health and fine art students.

Fall 2006 13

AGUIAR has probably been first many times in her life, having a last name that begins with A, and she was first again June 19 at the inaugural University of Guelph-Humber convocation. She walked across the stage at the Pearson Convention Centre in Toronto to be greeted by U of G chancellor Lincoln Alexander and numerous Guelph and Humber administrators, faculty and staff.

It was a momentous day. For Aguiar and the other 151 graduates who received degrees from the University of Guelph and diplomas from the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. For their friends and families. And for post -secondary education in Canada.

The only one of its kind, Guelph-Humber is a joint initiative between the two partnering institutions. It first began offering classes in fall 2002 and now serves about 1,800 students.

Prof. Michael Nightingale, who served as Guelph-Humber's first vice-provost until his retirement last year, received the first honorary degree and the privilege of addressing the graduands.

Among them were individual award winners Melissa Melo, Digira Baidya and Melaya Bogers. Melo, a media studies graduate, received the inaugural Michael Nightingale Student Contribution Award for her contributions to the Guelph-Humber community and her commitment to enriching the student experience. She was a student ambassador pre-orientation program leader, served as president of activities for the University of Guelph-Humber Student Association and organized anumber of campus events. She was also founding co-ordinator of the Goodwill Unit, a club at Guelph-Humber that aims to raise awareness and promote community service.

Baidya and Bogers received Vice-Provost Awards for Academic Excellence, having achieved the highest average in their respective programs- business and media studies. These two programs were the first ones launched by Guelph-Humber in 2002. It now offers programs in computing, early childhood, family and community social services and justice.

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Guelph science grads are living proof that flexibility is one of the most important skills U of G can teach in its state-of-the-art science labs. The experiences of THESE THREE

Tim Bray, Maria Granovsky and Carmen Sferrazza suggest the research labs and businesses of the future will rely on technologies that are unheard of today. To get from here to there, Guelph science students need an open mind and the ability to see the bigger picture of science and its impact.

Fall 2006 15

-

[tim bray]

www. bangeseverything XML DEVELOPER CAN CONNECT DISTANT LIVES WITH ONLY A FEW KEYSTROKES Story by Andrew Vowles â&#x20AC;˘ Photo by Martin Schwalbe

"So, 2 1/2 YEARS AGO . . . . " Seated at a table in the University Centre food court looking out over Branion Plaza one morning this spring, Tim Bray pauses for a halfbeat, as if to ensure he's hooked his listener, then resumes his once-upon-a-time tale. It's the story of a dad he met at a conference somewhere, perhaps one not unlike the gathering of university computing professionals that Bray will address later this morning, here at his alma mater. The man explained that his daughter Elena slept each night with a picture of a yellow rose that Bray had taken and posted on his popular weblog. Bray thought no more about the story until early March of this year.

That's when the man shared his rose story with the rest of the world in a posting on his own blog, called "Dear Elena." That particu lar posting appeared within a week of

16 THE PORTICO

Elena's death, days before what wou ld have been her seventh birthday. In late February, the gi rl had fallen ill with what doctors later d iagnosed as meningitis. Within hours,

she was being rushed in an ambulance to the hospital. "And then she died."

Bray's words are simple, even blunt. But his apparent lack of emotion is belied by the

moisture that rims his eyes as he glances out the window. Having learned of the story, Bray- father of a seven-year-old boy back home in Vancouver- printed a fresh copy of the yellow rose picture, framed it and sent it to Elena's father.

Shift the setting to a Rozanski Hall lecture theatre less than an hour later. It's unlikely that the " Dear Elena" story is on the mind of the U of G delegate charged with introducing Bray to the conference crowd.

But he concludes his introduction with eerily apt words directed to this morning's keynote speaker: "The work you do has touched people in all sorts of different ways."

Indeed.

For many of his listeners this morning at

the Ontario Universities Computing Conference, Bray is known as the co-developer ofXML (extensible markup language), the encoding language that greases information exchange on the web (''I'm a web guy, I keep the web running," he tells a photographer snapping his portrait before his conference talk ). He's an authority on the free online encyclopedia called Wikipedia and on blogging, the topics he plans to discuss during today's keynote address. He's the author of "ongoing," the name of his own popular weblog. And he's the director of web tech nologies at Sun Microsystems Inc.- or, as he puts it, ''I'm deep down in the plumbing where you can't see it."

Maybe you can't see it. But, like that

author of"Dear Elena," you ca n feel it, sure enough . That's a paradox: The same information technology that, in so many ways, can distance and isolate us from each other also allows us to connect in ways that even Bray wouldn't have imagined as a student here in the Ia te 1970s.

Whether he's talking to a single interviewer or a roomful of "computer geeks"he implicitly includes himself under that moniker- his message is the same: the web is set to change the way we share everything from knowledge itself to our own experiences and stories.

Check his Wikipedia entry and you can find the basic story on this software developer, writer and entrepreneur. Born in 1955

Fall 2006 17

in Alberta, he grew up in Beirut before returning to Canada. He graduated from U of Gin 1981 with a double major in math and computing science. He worked for several organizations on projects that led to his involvement in developing the XML web standard.

Over a latte in the University Centre, Bray fills in some of the details, including perhaps the key question for many U of G members: Why did he attend the University of Guelph?

Simple, he says. His father, Donald Bray, had arrived here for a one-year sabbatical in 1973. A native Albertan, Donald had studied agronomy in the United States before becoming an agriculture professor at the American University of Beirut in 1962. The family arrived in Guelph the summer before Tim was due to enter university. He started here in mathematics with plans to become a teacher. After getting a better look at the then-poor job market for math teachers, he decided to pursue that second degree in computing science. A quote in the Wikipedia entry explains his switchover: "In math, I'd worked like a dog for my C's, but in computer science, I worked much less for A's- and learned that you got paid well for doing it."

At U of G, he served as cultural editor of the Ontarian and was a college representative on the Central Student Association during the studentadministration contretemps over control of the then-new University Centre. He also stage-managed numerous concerts, plays and lectures in Guelph and Waterloo, including shows by Billy joel, Rush and john Prine. Today, his artistic outlets include gardening at his Vancouver home, photography and playing the cello ("poorly;' he says) in an occasional string quartet.

It was while studying at Guelph that Bray landed his first-ever programming jobdeveloping an early GIS system for digitizing and displaying a reference map of Ontario. His supervisor was now-retired professor jim Linders, a former chair of the Department of Computing and Information Science, who recalls Bray as an affable and innovative worker. "Tim was one of those guys who caught the spark and did well;' says Linders, pointing out that his former student's work wasn't far removed from the sort of software development he would begin doing soon after graduation.

In the late 1980s, Bray managed the New

18

THE PORTICO

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) project at the University of Waterloo, a stint that led him to co-found Open Text Corp., intended to commercialize the high-performance search engine used in the OED project. That was among the first search engines developed for the World Wide Web (the company eventually pursued other applications, leaving the search engine field to the likes ofGoogle and Yahoo!). In the mid-1990s, he helped invent XML as a way to standardize information shared among various computer systems. ''I'll have XML on my gravestone," he says.

"I'M DEEP DOWN IN THE PLUMBING WHERE

YOU CAN'T SEE IT. "

Bo Wandschneider, associate director, Information Systems Services, with U of G's Computing and Communications Services, refers to XML as "the language of the Internet. Everything we do gets enabled by that code."

Today, Bray tells his conference audience he's got one eye on web technology development and the other on the emerging kinds of applications available on the web.

Key among the latter: Wikipedia and blogs.

Not surprisingly, Bray is a fan of Wikipedia. For all its potential inaccuracies and vulnerability to mischief and vandalism -anyone can edit any of its articles, which by mid- june numbered almost two million -he says self-appointed "editors" watch those entries closely enough to rectify any damage or inaccuracy. Bray himself monitors a handful of topics- T.E. Lawrence,

audiophile, Vancouver, Sun Microsystems - on which he claims some authority.

Authority itself is a key issue in today's wideopen web world, he says. Contrasting the grassroots modus operandi ofWikipedia with the top-down approach of traditional experts- among them encyclopedia publishers, journal editors and university academics- he says: "I see things going sideways."

The question of authority also surfaces in a discussion of weblogs, a topic Bray is even more passionate about. (He visited U of Glast fall to help launch Blogs@Guelph, a pilot project for campus users.) Referring to the online network of blogs as "a fantastically rich interlinking tapestry," he says blogging "is going to change the business of communication." As with Wikipedia, the prospect of millions of readers and writers clicking through web pages rather than, say, turning the leaves of books may dismay any number of bibliophiles. Illustrating the complexity of the issue, Bray readily numbers himself and his wife, Lauren Wood, among the latter. Thousands of books line shelves in their home, including a substantial section devoted to language and linguistics.

"We own all the significant dictionaries -we're students of language," says Bray, who this spring was alternating between reading Ezra Pound to himself and the Narnia chronicles to his son. "If we lose books, we will have lost something important," he continues, even as he labels them as existentially challenged in a world increasingly dominated by online communication.

He, for instance, feels no compulsion to write a book. A self-described speedy writer, he logs about 100,000 words a year on his blog. Among the tens of millions of online journals on the web, "ongoing" attracts up to 250,000 visitors each month.

Mike Ridley, U of G's chief information officer and chief librarian, says he's a "voracious reader" of Bray's blog. "He talks about stuff I didn't know l was interested in."

For his part, Bray says blogging satisfies the storytelling impulse that he believes animates all of us, from himself to that bereaved author of " Dear Elena." " Having a popular blog is gratifying," says Bray, who chooses Gandhi as the historical figure whose blog he'd most want to have read."! can touch people everywhere."

[ Carmen Sferrazza ]

"Water: hat's our b iness.,

ASI PRESIDENT

WORKS IN, UNDER, OVER, AROUND AND THROUGH WATER SOURCES Story by Andrew Vowles â&#x20AC;˘ Photo by Martin Schwalbe

may be into water, but last winter's plunge aboard a snowmobile into a frigid lake was a bit much.

In January, he and another snowmobiler had been zipping across the lake near a friend's Muskoka cottage when the ice gave way, CARMEN SFERRAZZA

leaving him up to his neck in water. More ice splintered under his 225-pound frame as he laboured to haul himself out. Finally rolling to safety, he boarded his companion's machine for the 10- minute ride back to their cabin.

Shaking his head over the incident, Sferrazza says his uncharacteristic lapse of judgment landed him in more cold water back at work. "I never heard the end of it," says the Guelph fisheries and wildlife grad, recalling the pair of ice picks waiting on the desk in his corner office when he returned to AS I Group Inc. in St. Catharines, Ont. At least he hadn't panicked. Adrenal in had told him what to do, not to mention keeping him from noticing the cold during

that return dash to the cottage.

Or perhaps he drew on the same instinct that he says kept him going during the early, sometimes-perilous years of building his company during the late 1980s and early '90s. Today Sferrazza heads a successful $11million enterprise, whose roughly 85 employees provide ecological, engineering and marine services to industrial clients from home base in the Niagara Peninsula and through offices in Sarnia and New York

state. Asked to sum up the company's purpose, AS I's president and general manager pauses before delivering a one-liner. "Water: that's our business."

Dive under the surface and you find that business cons ists of a number of components. Sferrazza says other organizations -including engineering firms, consulting companies and commercial or public laboratories- offer some of the same services. But he believes his company's range

Fall 2006 19

of engineering, technology, biology and marine services makes it unique in Canada, if not in North America. "We have toxicity testing to commercial diving;' he says, explaining that ASI covers everything from data collection and analysis to designing and implementing solutions for clients.

Perhaps the company's most exotic line is remote inspection of pipelines and underwater tunnels. In 1998, ASI set a record for the longest tunnel inspection by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with its work in a collapsed tunnel in Finland that had threatened the drinking-water supply to the capital, Helsinki. The vehicle inspected the entire 120-kilometre tunnel, providing sonar and video data that allowed the client to repair the problem.

The Finland project involved a structural assessment. In others, the company's ROVs and human divers inspect intake and discharge tunnels to prevent silting up or biofouling by organisms and organic materials that may interfere with water flow. That work has taken the company from Ontario Hydro's Bruce nuclear plant to water intake pipes at Hamilton's steel mills. " We've inspected every offshore pipeline in the Golden Horseshoe," he says.

Today, that record-setting long-distance vehicle rests in one ground-floor bay of ASJ's St. Catharines headquarters. About the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, the ROV- named Mantaro after a river in Peru, where the device was first used in 1995 -looks like an anonymous piece of industrial equipment. Pointing out its video cameras and sonar and the 12 thrusters that allow the $1.2-million machine to manoeuvre through tunnels wider than three metres, Sferrazza says: "It's not stealth but massive thrust."

For stealth, look elsewhere on the shop floor. That shin-high vehicle against one wall is the original ASI Pipeliner, built in 1991 for $150,000 and still used for penetrating intake and discharge pipes up to 3,000 m long. Beside the Pipeliner is another device that more closely resembles remote submersibles used for openwater exploration, including the kind of expeditions that have taken footage of the Titanic. In fact, that's precisely the kind of work this craft is made for. Its goggle-eyed headlights and video cameras allow for underwater inspection of bridge piers,

20 THE PORTICO

external pipelines and dams.

Sferrazza is especially excited about the new open-water "toy" being tested in a nearby tank as big as a backyard swimming pool.

A fibre-optic cable snaking up and over the rim of the tank leads to a supremely portable ROV whose size- about as big as a briefcase- makes it a sleek otter next to the lumbering whale of Man taro. The other end of the cable runs back to a joystick console attached to a computer monitor that gives you an ROV's-eye view of the tank's interior as you manipulate the joystick (Sferrazza calls it "flying," albeit underwater).

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OUR WOR K COULD BE IN THE UNITED STATES IN 10 YEARS."

Those remotely operated vehicles allow work in surroundings too dangerous for a human diver. For more straightforward commercial diving for inspections and underwater maintenance and repair, ASI employs eight certified divers.

Besides conducting underwater surveys of bridges, dams, pipelines and tunnels, the company's divers carry out marine construction and maintenance for municipalities, water treatment facilities, power-generating facilities, refineries and pulp and paper mills. It's a hazardous job, allows Sferrazza, who learned to dive as a teenager in an abandoned quarry. (His underwater ventures these days consist of scuba diving in the Caribbean.)

ASI's only lost-time accident happened on land, when a diver dropped a piece of equipment and broke his foot. On a more sobering

note, the company has been called in to help retrieve bodies, including those of a four-yearold boy pulled into an intake pipe near a dam in Cambridge and a police officer who had drowned while trying to rescue him.

The company's primary business lies in building and running water and waste-water treatment systems. About one-third of its reven u e comes from industries- mines, steel mills, refineries - treating their waste water to meet discharge permit requirements. AST also runs drinking-water and sewage facilities for holiday resorts and trailer parks and even for smaller municipalities such as Haliburton County. In a se ries of labs whose glass-sided tanks are stocked with rainbow trout, fathead minnows, water fleas and other organisms, technicians carry out toxicity tests to gauge the quality of effluent in samples sent by client industries.

"Our clients are keen on doing things in an environmentally correct way;' says Sferrazza. "The idea that industry doesn't care is not true at all."

Combining engineering and biology, AS! has pioneered a control program for zebra mussels. The invaders- believed to have hitched a ride in shipping ballast from abroad - first showed up in the Great Lakes in the late 1980s. "Zebra mussels are still a major problem," he says. It may cost companies millions of dollars to prevent the molluscs from encrusting pipelines and reducing water flow. AS! has developed chemical treatments to keep systems clear, along with regular in spections.

Although protection of water resources is a general theme of the company's marine and water management businesses, Sferra zza hardly considers himself a hard-core environmentalist. After completing his B.Sc. in 1982, he worked for several environmental consulting companies. Intrigued by one project to clean up contaminated sediments, he found himself equally fascinated by the underwater technology. In 1987, he started Aquatic Sciences Inc. in about 500 square feet of rented space above a welding shop in downtown Guelph. Two years later, he moved back to his hometown of St. Catharines.

AS! has seen five- to 10-per-cent annual growth during the past few years. Twenty to 30 per cent of its business now comes from the United States through an office

-

opened two years ago in New York. "Most of our work could be in the United States in 10 years," he says. (The Sarnia office opened about eight years ago, largely to serve the petrochemical industry.)

Sferrazza owns 80 per cent of the company. The remainder is split between his younger brother and another longtime employee; the latter is one of about eight U of G grads who work at AS I. "The first six or seven years were extremely hard;' says Sferrazza, recalling living off his wife's income while he poured his own earnings back into the Aedgling company. Fear of failure drove him in those early years, much as it had during his five years at Guelph, both as an honours student in the classroom and on the gridiron, where he

played centre on the Gryphon squad. That's where the 5-foot-10 player learned to stand his ground against larger competitors. "1 played hard;' says Sferrazza, a two-time AllCa nadian. "You just got to be a little mean and aggressive."

Those early lessons still linger: "Wo rry is an amazing motivator." He eschews prestige and money for its own sake, although he allows that he does enjoy his "toys." One garage bay downstairs from his office holds his 25-foot fishing tug and his motorcycle.

He fished his snowmobile out of the lake in the spring- he'd remembered to punch in the location on his wristwatch GPS unit even as he'd scrambled to safety.

Another diversion- albeit one with serious intent- is evident in a corner of

the company's graphics studio. That neongreen image on the radar screen portrays the western end of Lake Ontario. Restin g about six kilometres offshore and I 00 metres down are the Hamilton and the Scourge, two American schooners sunk during the War of 1812. For the past three years, AS! has been contracted by the C ity of Hamilton- the ships' owner- to monitor the site against intruders. So far, only false alarms have been triggered, once by red-faced federal employees working nearby and more recently by a sailboat that had drifted above the wrecks.

"We're the custodians of the ships," says Sferrazza, who's a friend of the amateur archeologist who pinpointed their location in the early 1970s.

Fall2006 21

[ Maria Granovsky ]

Courting science PATENT LAWYER MAKES THE CASE FOR THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SCIENTISTS Story by Andrew Vowles â&#x20AC;˘ Photo by Eric Crossan.com

IF YOU WER E TO THROW

a lawyer and a bio-

chemist into a giant test tube and combine their two skill sets, you'd end up with someone uniquely qualified to walk into a courtroom armed with the technical knowledge to defend and explain a client's exclusive claim to an invention.

Blending a background in science with a long-standing interest in law has made for a promising career in intellectual property litigation for Maria Granovsky, a patent lawyer who graduated from U of G with a B.Sc. in biochemistry and chemistry in 1991.

Granovsky has always been interested in the law, and science was a detour- one that encompassed a master's degree and a PhD. "It was a bit of a long detour, but I was always interested in policy and law, and the way law merges with science is within the realm of intellectual property," says Granovsky, who was born in Russia and lived in Israel before moving to Canada at the age of 14.

She transferred to U of G from the University of Toronto during her th ird year of studies because of Guelph's smaller class sizes and its reputation as a leader in science. ''I've always been happy with that decision," she says, noting that the experience

22 THE PoRTico

she gained by enrolling in Guelph's co-operative education program put her ahead of her academic peers. "I am grateful that I was part of the co-op program. I really felt it gave me a leg up when I started graduate school, and it certainly gave me a broader view of what real life in the sciences is about."

In recent years, real life in the sciences has taken Granovsky from wearing a lab coat to dressing in business attire and carrying a briefcase to her job at Morris, Nicho ls, Arsht & Tunnell, one of the hottest law firms in the United States.

Her initiation into the legal field came in 2000 when she was hired by the Washington, D.C., law firm Sterne Kessler, Goldstein & Fox as a technical specialist. The firm, keen to have associates who could argue the fine points of science, also covered her tuition to study law in the evenings at Georgetown University Law Center.

"It's so hard for firms to find people who understand the technologies in order to get the patents," says Granovsky, "a nd because of that , they 're willing to put people like myself through law school."

Her areas of expertise include protein biochemistry, molecular biology and transgenic animal models of disease, subjects she's studied not only as a lawyer but also as a scientist.

While pursu ing a PhD at the University of Toronto, she created a mouse that was missing MgatS, a gene responsible for regulating T cells in the immune system. The missing gene caused the mouse to develop hyperactive immune systems, which resulted in skin hypersensitivity, kidney autoimmune disease and susceptibility to multiple sclerosis. By studying the mouse, Granovsky and her colleagues were able to shed light on how immune T cells function to com-

bat infectious diseases and cancer, and how genetic defects associated with the system may cause autoimmune diseases.

Their work suggested that new drugs designed to stimulate MgatS could be used to dampen T cells in autoimmune disease, while inhibitors of MgatS might be used to sensitize the immune system in the treatment of cancer and infections. The researchers also reported that mice lacking MgatS showed reduced growth in breast cancer.

"MgatS accelerates cancer growth," says Granovsky, "and we found that both the initiation of the cancer and its progression slowed dramatically in mice that didn't have this regulator factor."

Called to the bar in December 2005, she now works in Wilmington, Del., as an asso-

ciate with Tunnell. The firm's intellectual property practice specializes in patent, copyright and trademark cases encompassing many areas of technology.

Granovsky represents clients who believe another company or individual is infringing on their exclusive right to market a product they've patented. Although it sounds straightforward, the sheer volume of patent applications being filed makes it difficult for the U.S. patent office to properly review each invention . This leads to problems for inventors who obtain patents that aren't valid, she says.

"So metimes patents aren't valid because the invention has already been described by someone in a publication or someone has been selling it for years. Sometimes people

come to us saying they received a letter threatening litigation under a patent that they feel is invalid, so we defend them. Other times, we assert our clients' rights against competitors whose products infringe the clients' patents."

Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, is on that list, and Granovsky has been directly involved with some of its matters as the company develops new products and positions itself for the future.

"One of the most active areas for patents is antibody-based drugs," she says. "These antibodies are engineered in a variety of ways to look like human antibodies, so that when they're given to a patient, the patient's immune system doesn't reject them and there are no adverse allergic reactions."

Fall2006 23

-

,ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS •

u of guelph

EVENTS •

NETWORKING

ALU

He's got a novel idea HEN STEVE Z1o decided to write, illustrate, record and produce a new kind of novel, he did his homework first to make sure his self-titled iNovel really would offer something unique. Published in June, Hot Springs is an "interactive" reading experience that encourages readers to jump into the water with the author and his characters.

Hot Springs is first and foremost a traditional bound book, but it is married to a website where readers can sink deeper into the psyche of the novel's characters, listen to the songs composed by the protagonist, Jason, and see the paintings produced by his love interest, Kiriko.

"Some people read the book, then go to the website," says Zio. "Some check the web references at the end of every chapter. And those who like to read in bed may never get to the website." But it doesn't matter, as long as they enjoy the story, he says.

Zio, a.k.a. Stephen Ziolkowski, BA '79, was looking for a way to combine several of his interests and life experiences when he came up with the idea of writing a novel that provides bonus features via the Internet.

An educator who writes poetry, songs and fiction, Zio hails from Montreal but has lived in several countries.

He has the travelling bug and spent several years in Japan, where he says he enjoyed many of the country's hundreds of hot springs. It was, in fact, those Japanese healing waters that inspired the British Columbia setting for the novel.

0 ~ "I remember standing on a hillside ~ one day looking over the Pacific Ocean, Vl i;; thinking how the water joined us to ~ Canada. In the hot springs behind me § were all these children massaging the ~ shoulders of their parents and grando i5: parents. I thought: 'What an incredible

W

24 THE PORTI CO

connection that is: The title Hot Springs is really a metaphor for our search for warmth and connection to people."

Although Zio says the novel is not autobiographical, his writing reflects many of his passions: the sea, sailing, music, literature and art. And like the fictional characters in Hot Springs, he now lives on Canada's West Coast with his wife, Kimiko, and their son, Ken. Kimiko is an artist, and many of her paintings are featured on the website and on the cover of the book.

The couple first met briefly at a picnic when Zio was teaching English in Tokyo. The next time they met, they were standing next to each other at the same stoplight in downtown Tokyo, a city of 12 million people, and exchanged greetings car to car. They started their married life in Japan but moved to Vancouver Island in 1997.

By living in Canada and working in Japan, "I have the best of both worlds;' says Zio. He runs an Internet-based consulting company called TransPac Education Services, which develops books, teaching guides and other educational materials for the Japanese and Taiwanese markets. TransPac and Oxford

University Press are about to launch in Asia a series of 16 children's readers that employed Canadian artists, technicians and even the kids in his neighbourhood.

Zio has another iNovel in the works with Toronto-based publisher McArthur and Company, but it will be pre-empted by a paper-only mystery.

In the meantime, the Hot Springs dual platform is receiving considerable attention from the media.

"Where novels are black and white," wrote one reviewer, "the Hot Springs website is about music, colour, sounds, sights and contributions from the reading community."

The " interactive" element is perhaps the only area where Zio is somewhat disappointed with response to the iNovel concept. Although the books has only been out three months, readers have been reluctant to add their own stories, poetry and creative work to the website.

"I hope people will eventually embrace the idea that they can enrich the book and continue the story by contributing to the website," he says.

To add your own Hot Springs experience, visit www.hotspringsnovel.com .

MATTERS U OF G ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

THESE GRADS ARE ' GETTING IT DONE '

alumni@uoguelph.ca ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT

Vice-President, Joanne Shoveller jshovell@uoguelph.ca ALUMN I AFFAIRS

Director, Jason Moreton jmoreton@uoguelph.ca College of Arts, Deborah Mas kens dmaskens@uoguelph.ca CBS/CPES, Alesia Tessari atessari@uoguelph .ca CSAHS, Karen Bertrand karenber@uoguelph.ca OAC, Carla Bradshaw cb radsha@uoguel ph .ca OVC, Laurie Malleau lmalleau@uoguelph.ca Events/Communications, Heather lves, ivesh@uoguelph.ca Chapters, Mary Feldskov mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca

From left: Crystal Mackay, Martin Bosch and Peter Hannam.

NOWING HOW toturnideasintO action is the calling card of the University's 2006 alumni award recipients.

Peter Hannam, BSA '62, was named Alumnus of Honour by the University of Guelph Alumni Association (UGAA) during Alumni Weekend. Crystal Mackay, B.Sc.(Agr.) '92, was awarded the Alumni Medal of Achievement, and Martin Bosch, B.Sc. '69 , M.Sc. '7 1 and PhD '04, received the Alumni Volunteer Award.

Hannam is a pivotal figure in Canadian agriculture. He established First Line Seeds in 1982 and grew the company into one of Canada's largest soybean seed suppliers. He has helped propel soybeans to their position as Ontario's largest field crop through initiatives such as Soy 20/20, a program designed to match soybean research with market opportunities; Project SOY, a contest that asks students to develop new uses for soybeans; and a $1-million U ofG research program for soybean products and marketing strategies. Most recently, he built the Ontario AgriCentre in Guelph to encourage co-operation among all Ontario commodity groups.

K

Mackay has been an innovator in agricultural communications since taking her first job with the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC), where she worked to improve understanding of Canada's agricultural sector.

In 1997, she joined Ontario Pork as a communications specialist. She trained pork farmers to be media spokespeople and helped develop a campaign emphasizing their commitment to the environment.

Mackay recently returned to OFAC as executive director.

Bosch is chair of the Guelph Soap Co. Inc., a company he established and developed into a major player in the privately labelled soap-processing industry.

His company established an annual scholarship at U of G in 1987 to recogni ze a top chemistry student. Bosch has served on the UGAA board and was an alumni senator. He played a significant role in the University's recent fundraising campaign and helped a team that submitted a successful application to the Canada Foundation for Innovation for a $3.2-million grant to establish the Electrochemical Technology Centre.

~ 1

('0

DEVELOPMENT

Assistant Vice-President, Pam Healey phealey@uoguelph.ca College of Arts, Deborah Maskens dmaskens@uoguelph .ca CBS/CPES, Richard Manning rmanning@uoguelph.ca CME, Jennifer Barrett je ba rret@u oguel ph .ca CSAHS, Karen Bertrand karen ber@uoguelph.ca OAC, Paulette Samson psamson@uoguelph.ca OVC, Stephen Woeller swoeller@uoguelph.ca Athletics, Susan Lawrenson slawrens@uoguelph.ca Library, Lynn Campbell lynn.campbell@uoguelph.ca -, I

~

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@ ~

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"'~ :'i

SCIENCE COMPLEX CAMPAIGN

Director, Alice Michaud amichaud@uoguelph.ca GRAD NEWS UPDATES

alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca ALUMNI ONLINE COMMUNITY

www.olcnetwork.net/uoguelph U OF G CONTACTS

www.uoguelph.ca 519-824-412o, Ext. 56934 Fall 2006 25

u of

I

gAL_UMNI MATTERS

TO All ALUMNI E ARE ENTERING AN exciting year, and as the new president of the University of Guelph Alumni Association and a passionate U of G grad, I am committed to championing our alumni movement.

It is an honour to represent G u elph alu mni for the next two years. But I can't do it without you.

W

We need to hear from you.

What do you want from your alumni association?

Your communication will ensure we truly serve your needs. Call us or e-mail your thoughts and concerns.

Yo u r stories are important to us.

And if outside communication is not enough for you, there are many opportunities for you to get involved as a vo lunteer.

With your support, we wi ll ensure that we have a strong alumni voice on and off campus.

PATRICIA WALKER, BA'77 AND M.S C. ' 90 UGAA PRESIDENT

UGAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Vice-President, Internal Brad Roo ney, ADA '93 and B.Sc.(Agr.) '97 Vice-President, External Co li n Henry, BA '91 Secretary/Treasurer Debora h Butterwick, B.Sc. '83 Directors Jaso n Child, B.Comm . '03 David Gilb ert, BA '81 and B.Sc.(Agr.) '84 Way ne Gudb ranson, BA '8o Bill Laid law, BA '74 San dy Warley, HDLA '03 Ted You ng, ADA '65

U.K. PLAY SHARPENS GRY PHONS

THE u

OF G women's field hockey team won two of three games played this spring during a I 0-day tour of the United Kingdom. The Gryphons defeated the Dowlais Field Hockey Club team in Cardiff and Cranbrook School in Kent County, Wales, but lost 4-2 to the University of Bath.

Head coach Michelle Turley, BA '87, and assistant coach Shannon Baskin, BA '02, say Bath was the toughest

Gryphon Hall of Fame The Gryphon Club Hall of Fame will

year.Tnthe2005campaign , the women's field hockey team captured its first OUA silver medal. Guelph scored a season high of 40 goals with only six against and featured four of the top five scoring leaders in the country. After the OUA championships, the Gryphons went on to finish fourth in Canada.

To follow the women this year, bookmark www. uoguel ph.ca/a thletics/ Varsity_Sport.

• Jack Raithby, BSA '51 (deceased), football • 1992 OUAA champion men's golf team: Graham Card, Trevor Hunter,

induct four athletes and a champi-

Mark MacDonald, Sean Melander,

onship team Sept. 22 to kick off

Jeff O'Connor, Trevor Scott and

Homecoming weekend at U of G.

Bruce Wilson. Coaching and admin-

E-mail: ugaa@ uoguelph.ca

Honours go to:

istrative staff were Richard Free-

Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 56544 Fax: 519-822-2670

• Ron Bogart, BSA '59, football

man, Doug Percival and Joe Contini.

• Zoltan Hunyady, B.Sc. '99, wrestling

For details and tickets, contact Joe

• Carl Jackson, BSA '61, football/ wrestling/skiing

26

match but by far the most valuable experience. Bath had representation from national teams, including Wales, Scotland and Hong Kong.

Turley says the tour would not have happened if not for Baskin's organizational skills, fundraising by the student-athletes and donations from Gryphon alumni through the Adopt-AGryphon program.

Expectations are high for the team this

THE PORTICO

Varamo at 519·824-4120, Ext. 53354, jvaramo@uoguelph.ca or gryphons.ca.

Queen Marie re1gns over U of G 0

H

E R F R 1 ENos at the Toronto retirement home where she lives have nicknamed Marie Hardacre, DHE '30, the "Queen of Guelph." At 96, she is full of stories about her days as a home economics student at Macdonald Institute, one of the three founding colleges of the University of Guelph.

she studied from I 928 to 1930.

U of G president Alastair Summerlee says he was "bowled over" by her generosity. " It has been 76 years since she was a student here. What changes she has seen in the world and in the campus. And how remarkable that she has maintained her devotion to the value of higher education."

Grads give us high marks

A

CCORD ING TO A NEW SURVEY

Sept. 16 •

Sept. 22 •

Sept. 23 • Sept. 24 •

by

Maclean's magazine, Guelph graduates

Marie Hardacre and Alastair Summerlee

It's obvious that Hardacre has good memories of her student days, but her stories aren't all rosy ones. She graduated into the Great Depression, and her family sacrificed so she could earn her coveted diploma. She says her parents believed that education was of the utmost importance.

Maybe that's why the friendships she made in Guelph were so important to her later in life and why she doesn't want money concerns to deter anyone from getting an education today.

The Queen of Guelph has attended Alumni Weekend numerous times in the past, but she made 2006 a royal event by surprising University staff with a $I 00,000 cheque just a few days before the weekend began. Half of her gift will provide financial assistance for students. The other ha lf will help fund the ongoing restoration of the Macdonald Institute Building, where

continue to give their alma mater high marks when it comes to the quality of the undergraduate experience Guelph was No. 1 among comprehensive universities in seven of the eight categories that make up the magazine's new University Graduate Survey, which was published in June. In the remaining category, U of G placed second.

For the survey, Maclean's randomly selected people from 23 participating universities who received undergraduate degrees in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The Guelph responses include: 83 per cent of survey respondents said they'd recommend U of G to a friend.

76 per cent rated Guelph's overall educational experience as "very good."

82 per cent said their U of G experience was of significant benefit.

Sept. 30 •

Oct.

2 •

Oct. 4 • Dec. 2 and 3 •

Sept. 15 to 17 • •

.. I

•

I

Sept. 16 •

Gryphon champs 1996 Sept. 23 • since the 1996 Gryphon football team defeated the ., I Waterloo Warriors 23 to 13 to win the Yates <::l Cup. To celebrate this championship, the~ -< Friends of Gryphon Football will be hold- ~ ing a reunion for all players, support staff, ~ coaches and parents involved with the 1996 ~ z team. If you haven't registered for the Sept. ~ OJ 23 reunion, go to www. gryphons.ca/fgf for ~ more information. =:i

I

T HAS BEEN 10 YEARS

Fall 2006 27

CAREERS •

FAMILIES •

LIFE EXPERIENCES •

MEMORIES

university of guelph --+----

A stroke of genius EN YEARS AGO, Dr. Don McKenzie took a standard research study involving breast cancer patients and made a very public splash. With both oars in the water, the U of G graduate took a leap of faith and, in doing so, improved the health and quality of life of breast cancer patients. He encouraged women to test their physical boundaries and invigorate their inner spirits- all while seated in a dragon boat.

McKenzie set out to debunk the medical myth that any sort of upperbody activity would result in lymphedema in breast cancer patients.

Lymphedema is a condition that results from the removal or radiation of lymph nodes or vessels and causes swelling of the soft tissues of the arm or hand.

Often accompanied by numbness, discomfort and decreased mobility, it affects 25 per cent of women with breast cancer.

"Women were terrified to do any sort of exercise for fear of developing lymphedema," says McKenzie, who graduated from Guelph in 1970 with a B.Sc. in physical education. "That was really cutting down on their enjoyment of life and the control they had over their lifestyle."

But no one had ever studied the connection. That all changed in 1996 when he recruited a group of 24 breast cancer patients who put their health and trust in his work as a scientist.

Their first meeting was held at the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre, which McKenzie co-founded at the University of British Columbia.

He is still a professor of medicine there.

To test his theory, he got the women involved in paddling as a way to perform strenuous and repetitive upper-body movement.

T

28 THE PORTICO

When McKenzie went looking for a sport that would couple exercise and health, paddling was the natural choice. He was already an expert paddler himself, having been a member of the Canadian National Canoe Team while he attended Guelph. Since then, he has been the team's coach and physician at five Olympic Games.

0_ NEWS Dr. Don McKenzie's "Abreast in a Boat" drew 1,500 cancer sur路 vivors and sponsors to Vancouver in 2005 to celebrate the 1oth anniversary of what is now a worldwide movement-breast cancer survivor dragon boat racing.

"Dragon boat paddling is the entry level into the sport of canoeing," he says. "It's safe, it's easy to do and it doesn't tip over. There are lots of positive things about it."

Using dragon boating as a case study, he confirmed what he had believed to be true all along: exercise doesn't cause or increase the risk of lymphedema. In fact, his research showed

that repetitive upper-body exercise discourages the condition.

"The dragon boat was a vehicle to spread the word about breast cancer- it was sort of a floating support group," says McKenzie, who lost his mother to breast cancer when he was 10. "The women who volunteered to be part of my study were very special people. We were looking in the eye of lymphedema and saying: 'We don't believe all the stuff we were told to do.' It was a big risk for them to take, and they were the most courageous women I've ever met."

The team of women, named "Abreast in a Boat;' became the first dragon boat crew made up solely of women living with breast cancer. Today, there are 113 similar dragon boat crews around the globe, including the women who make up "Breaststrokes;' a team supported by U of G. This fall, Singapore will be the site of the first Breast Cancer Dragon Boat World Championships Sept. 29 to Oct. l. Organized by the International Pink Dragon Boat Council, a newly formed world governing body for breast cancer dragon boat teams, the event will draw competitors from 10 countries.

McKenzie says he first became interested in exercise and physiology while studying at U of G and credits Guelph faculty- particularly anatomy professor Bill Boyd and the director of the then School of Physical Education, John Powell- with inspiring him to pursue a career in medicine.

"Powell was instrumental in introducing all of us to exercise and its benefits;' says McKenzie.

"He also ran a fitness program for staff and faculty. Every day at lunch, he'd be at the gym putting them through an aerobics program.''

McKenzie continues to conduct research related to the science of exercise in patients with chronic illnesses such as cancer. At UBC, he's developed a gym to monitor the exercise programs of cancer patients and recently completed a study that shows physical activity is beneficial to those undergoing chemotherapy. One of his next studies will examine the effects of standardized exercise on the hearts of patients taking a newly developed cancer drug. ((Ifs taken 20 years to convince the 1nedical profession that exercise is really valuable intervention and more valuable than a lot of the drugs we give people," he says. "The benefit of a properly prescribed health regimen is crucial, and we're starting to be able to prove that."

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Fall2006 29

u of g WALK THIS WAY INTO U OF G HISTORY

W

HEN YOU THINK BACK

to your student days at

Guelph, you can probably remember the good times you had lounging on the grass in front of Johnston Hall, the meals you ate in Creelman Hall or the day yo u moved into Mills. But do you know who Johnston, Creelman and Mills were? If you don't, you're not alone.

"The individuals whose names adorn buildings on campus have done remarkable things;' says three-time U of G chemistry grad Martin Bosch, "but many of the people who've been connected to the University over the years don't know who those individuals were.

I decided that needed to change."

For the past eight years, Bosch has been working with Alumni Affairs and Development to develop the U of G Historical Plaque Project, a 27-stop selfguided campus tour that explains the significance of those individuals and their contributions to the Uni versity. T h e tour also includes a handful of buildings that don't bear anyone's name but are notable campus landmarks.

"U of G is a proud embodiment of its heritage," says Joanne Shoveller, vice-president (alumni affairs and development). "The University's commitment to community, to the individual and to innovation is due to the foundation that was set through the building of the campus and its academic leadership."

There's also a web-based version of the historical tour, so you can reminisce no matter where you live: www.uoguelph .ca/ historicaltour.

30

THE PORTICO

From left: Rebecca Stran berg, education abroad adviser at U of G; Lynne Mitchell, director of the Centre for International Programs; and Dzidzo Yirenya-Tawiah of the University of Ghana.

U

G

OF

U

OF

G

SUPPORTS AIDS RESEARCH

HOSTED

PhD student Dzidzo Yirenya- Tawiah of the University of Ghana as part of a Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs pilot project to bring HIV/AIDS researchers to Canada to conduct part of their work.

The government program recognizes that students from developing countries would benefit

from greater access to literature and scientists in Canada, and it wants to encourage Canadian universities to expand their graduate-level exchange programs.

Geography professsor Alice Hovorka and staff in the Centre for International Programs made it possible for Yirenya-Tawiah to use U of G resources and to link with

Students fly with alumni U of G's inaugural participation in the Aeroplan charitable pooling program generated don atio ns of more than 2oo,ooo Aeroplan miles in support of in ternational education at the University.

Aeroplan miles transferred to U of G last fall provided airline tickets for two st ud ents: an undergraduate participating in the London se me ste r and a graduate st udent trave lling to present

AIDS researchers at neighbouring w1iversities.

Yirenya-Tawiah left her husband and four children in Ghana to spend time here developing a model to improve a voluntary screening program that is essential to her research in the Volta basin.

Guelph is currently hosting a student from South Africa under the same pilot project.

research at a conference.

Through the 2006 Aeroplan program, members of the University community, alumni and friends can donate their Aeroplan miles until the end of September.

Aeroplan wi ll de liver 100 per cent of your donated miles to the University whether collected through travel or conducting business with Aerop lan partners.

To participate in the program, visit www. alumni.uo guelph.ca/aeroplan.htm. For more information, contact Grace Correia at 519-824-4120, Ext. 53901.

1930 • Helen Quinn, BSA '35, of London, Ont., was recognized at Alumni Weekend as the graduate who registered for the most events. She enrolled at OAC when she was only 17, married another BSA '35 graduate, the late Ronald Quinn, and raised six children with him.

1950 • Elgin Brown, BSA '51, is retired deputy director of the Toronto Centre for Forensic Science, but he was back on the job this summer as a witness in the Steven Truscott hearing in the Ontario Court of Appeal. When Truscott was arrested and convicted of the 1959 murder of Lynne Harper, Brown was a biologist working at the Ontario attorney general's crime lab.

Truscott launched the appeal in hopes of overturning the conviction based partly on the evidence provided by maggots and blowfly eggs found on the girl's body and later identified by Brown, who testified that he had consulted with several professors at the Ontario Agricultural College and a government scientist who had written a textbook on the subject.

1960 • Carlton Gyles, DVM '64, was recently named OVC Distinguished Alumnus for 2006 by the OVC Alumni Association. A professor emeritus in Guelph's

Carlton Gyles, right with OVC assistant dean Robert jacobs.

Department of Pathobiology, he is widely recognized for his research on E. coli and his contributions to public health. Last summer, he received the Roche Diagnostics/CSM Award, considered the most prestigious prize of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists. He is co-editor of a textbook on bacterial pathogenesis and has been a major contributor to scholarly literature on E. coli. In September 2005, the college held a special symposium to salute his career.

In retirement, Gyles is focusing on the creation of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, and planning for a new building at OVC to house the Animal Health Laboratory and the Department of Pathobiology.

1970 • Patricia Barr, BA '76, of Godfrey, Ont., has retired from farming and was married for the first time in July 2006.

• Geoff Carpentier, B.Sc. '73, has retired as district manager with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment after more than 33 years in public service. But he's starting a· new career that will take him far afield. He'll be working as a naturalist/biologist for two international ecotour expedition companies- Peregrine Adventures (Australia) and Worldwide Quest (Canada). Planned destinations include the High Arctic out of Norway, Cuba, the Antarctic, Falkland Islands and South Georgia. He'll also be writing more nature articles for various magazines and pursuing his other hobbies of birdwatching, gardening and woodworking.

• Pamela Cross, BA '75, received the Toronto YMCAYWCNs 2006 Women of Distinction Award for Legal Reform. She is the legal director at METRAC, a Toronto community agency committed

GUELPH GRADS

SOAR

TAMMY, BA 'o3, AND JASON CH ILD, B.CoMM. 'o3, scarfed down the insects June 18 during the third annual Southern Ontario Amazing Race (SOAR). In the process, they raised $720 for the Children's Foundation of Guelph and Wellington and won a $3,000 travel voucher for their first-place win.

In total, 20 teams of two people raised $44,000.

The Child team and another U of G alumni team- Jeff Knechtel, BA '97, and Greg Morton, B.Sc.(Eng.) '99- were sponsored by Alumni Affairs and Development as a community initiative and raised more than $900. The 2005 SOAR defending champions, Albert Klein, B.Sc. 'O J, and Melissa Tonniso, finished in eighth place but raised $2,755.

The idea for SOAR took shape one evening in 2004 when friends Matt Steffler, B.Sc. '99; Glenna, B.Sc.(Env.) '01, and Paul Pengelly, BA '99, were watching an episode of the Amazing Race on TV. They thought it would be neat to work on the show and eventually progressed to organizing SOAR as a charity event. Fourteen teams took part in the first race in September 2004.

You can read a full profile of the race organizers at www.uoguelph.ca/alumni. to ending violence against women and children. She is known to policy-makers and community activists alike for her legal reform work in the areas of custody and access, restraining orders, dual charging, the Divorce Act and, most recently, religious arbitration in family law matters. While at Guelph, she was a founding member and first chair of the board of directors of the Campus Child Care Co-operative.

• Charles Elliott, B.Sc.(Agr.) '78, is Ontario sales manager for Masterfeeds Inc. of London, Ont. He and his family recently moved to a new home in Mount Brydges.

• T.J. Grant, B.Sc. '77, was promoted to brigadier general in

June 2005 and commands Canada's army in the western area, from Thunder Bay, Ont., to Victoria, B.C. • Datuk Ng Poh Tip, MA '71, was recently honoured in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when she received the Anugerah Citra Budi for her career contributions to journalism and society.

The event coincided with the 35th anniversary of the Women Journalists' Association of Malaysia. Ng came to Guelph after earning an undergraduate degree from University Malaysia. She began her career with the then Straits Times as a reporter. She was appointed The Star's group chief editor in 1993 and held the position until 2003. She is currently The Star's

Fall 2006 31

-

group editorial and education adviser and executive director of the Asian Centre for Media Studies.

• Christiaan Vander Kooij, B.Sc. '73, is retiring this year after 31 years of teaching high school biology in Simcoe County, Ontario. "It has been a hectic, rich and rewarding career;' he says. "Hats off to the new generation of teachers who are routinely faced with unique, demanding challenges."

1980 • Sayyed H.A.M. 'Abd ALMahdhi, BA '88, earned a double major at U of G in political science and international development. He is now a teacher at A1iman School in Jamaica, N.Y., and was recently honoured as a Class Nobel Educator of Distinction by the National Society of High School Scholars. The award recognizes excellence in teaching and dedication to the

academic success of students.

• Robert Chapkin, B.Sc. '81 and M.Sc. '83, has received the 2006 Distinguished Scientist Award from the Texas A&M University chapter of Sigma Xi. The nonprofit society promotes scientific research and achievement in more than 500 chapters worldwide. Chapkin joined Texas A&M in 1988 and is a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science. He is also director of the Genomics Facility Core at the university's Center for Environmental and Rural Health and is a member of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Scott and White Hospital/Clinic at the Texas A&M Health Science Center. Most of his research has been in the field of colon cancer prevention and chronic inflammation. Findings from his studies show how omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils can lower the risk of colon

cancer. In an extension of this work, his research team developed non-invasive methodology for monitoring global changes in intestinal gene expression, generating two patents and a National Institutes of Health-initiated and -sponsored clinical intervention trial.

• Scott Gardiner, B.Sc. '98 and DVM '03, and Sarah Aitken, BA '98, were married in August 1998. In 2003, they moved to Leduc, Alta., where Scott joined a mixed animal practice. Sarah worked as a marketing and communications manager before taking time off to raise their new baby daughter, Julia, who was born in January. The Gardiners spend their free time curling, playing hockey, hiking in the mountains, geocaching, golfing and taking photos of the baby. Friends can contact them at gardiners_west@yahoo.ca.

• }ackee, B.Sc.(Agr.) '87 and

Paul Groenewegen, B.Sc.(Agr.) '87, and M.Sc. '89, recently relocated to Aundre, Alta., with their children, Brock (14), Troy (11) and Shannon (8) . Paul is a technical manager with Alltech Canada, Inc. • Ken Lee, B.Comm. '86, lives in Philadelphia and is an advertising account director in the Philadelphia and New York offices of Saatchi & Saatchi.

• Heather McEwen, B.A.Sc. '82, recently completed a bachelor of education degree at Nipissing University and is teaching in Renfrew County, Ont. • Jim, ADA '87, and Janet Nauta, BA '89, are living near Blenheim, Ont., with their three daughters. He completed a millwright apprenticeship in 2005 and is enjoying his work at Inergy Automotive in Blenheim. She is the alumni services co-ordinator at the University of Guelph- Ridgetown Campus.

HOMECOMING 2006 U of G's AU-Family, All-Fan Event Saturday, Sept. 23 11:30

a.m.

BBQ at the Stadium: Licensed Area, Vendors Kids' Zone: Face Painting, Slides, Kiddie Ferris Wheel Gryphon Stuff: Giveaways, Contests, Door Prizes 2

p.m.

Football: Gryphons vs. Toronto Blues 0 Canada: Live by Amy Nodwe/1 Fun: U of G Cheerleaders, Fan Freebies, Music Halftime: Marching Band, Gryphon Dance Pak

Post Game:

Concert and more

• Check out the NEW family ticket packages!

• Enter to win a trip for two to Europe, courtesy of Travel CUTS • Buy an advance ticket and get a free ride to the game, courtesy of Guelph Transit • Get special Homecoming room rates at Holiday Inn Guelph • Cheer on the Gryphons - Wear Red and Gold!!

• Order Tickets at 519-824-4120, Ext. 58683, or online at www.gryphons.ca

32 THE PoRTICO

• Sue Smith, BA '83, of Guelph released her first solo album in May. Called I'm So, it's a collection of 11 new songs written by Smith that take inspiration from northern landscapes, blue whale acoustics, singing lessons and dance. She previously spent 10 years as part of the acclaimed vocal trio The Bird Sisters, recording and touring original music across North America. A Toronto CD release concert for I'm So is slated for Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. at the Drake Hotel in the Underground, 1150 Queen St. W. For more information, visit www.sue smith.ca/home/intro.

• Ken Tamminga, BLA '83, was recently promoted to full professor in the Depa rtment of Landscape Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. "''d like to extend my thanks to my landscape architecture mentors at U of G," he says, "and cheers to classmates circa 1983:' • Mari-Jayne Woodyatt, BA '88, is president ofWCS Financial Services Inc., which was formed through a consolidation of Joseph B. Woodyatt Insurance Agencies Limited in Toronto and Cinaber Insurance Age ncies Ltd in London. The former was founded by MariJayne's father in 1975. She was a founding member and is currently president of the Canadian Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies.

1990 • Alison Allan, B.Sc. '97 and PhD '02, was appointed to a new faculty position at the University of Western Ontario in London July 1. She is an oncology scientist in the London Regional Cancer Program, London Health Sciences Centre, and an assistant professor in the departments of Oncology and Anatomy and Cell Biology in the Schulich School ofMedi-

cine and Dentistry.

• Daniel Ball, M.Sc. '9 1, is director of finance and development for Forest Fruits, a company based in Zambia that employs local people in the production of honey. His home is the capital city of Lukasa.

Originally from Waterloo, Ont., he has three siblings who are also Guelph graduates: AnnaMarie, MA '89; Jennifer, M.Sc. '89, who is now completing a PhD at U of G; and Jonathan, B.Sc.(Agr.) '96.

• Beth Bowman, B.A.Sc:94, is patient co-ordinator for the Markham Fertility Centre and writes that she is moving back to her hometown of Stouffville, Ont., with her husband and daughter, Emma, born May 26.

• Heather (Taylor), B.Sc. '02, and Neil Buchmann, B.Sc. '00, were married in Kitchener, Ont., May 6. U of G was well-

Taylor·Buchmann

represented with 37 alumni guests, including the bride's parents, Anne (Jennings), B.H.Sc. '70, and Wayne Taylor, who earned a recreation and leisure diploma in 1966.

• Stacey Burke, BA '92, com pleted a political science degree at Guelph, then graduated from Logan Chiropractic College in the United States in 1996. She practised for 10 years and is now working full time as a currency trader in Floreat, West Australia.

• Julie Cook, B.Sc. '99, and Kirk Kahu, BA '02, plan to work at

Ruamrudee International School in Bangkok for two or more years. He teaches ethics and world religions, and she teaches science to high school students.

• Natalie Cutler-Welsh, BA '96, writes: "I absolutely loved my time at Guelph. I still keep in touch with heaps of friends even though I now live in New Zealand! " She earned her Guelph degree in international development and has since obtained a master's degree in environmental education. After working as an instructor at O utward Bound, she stood in the 2005 New Zealand national election as a Green Party candidate. She is currently the projects manager for Energy Mad, a small Kiwi company that does energy-efficiency projects in New Zealand and Australia. An ex-Gryphon track and crosscountry athlete, Cutler-Welsh enjoys multi-sport and adventure racing, competing in the famous "Coast to Coast" and five -day non-stop "Southern Traverse:' She and her husband, Matthew, live in Christchurch and are expecting their first baby in November. She would love to hear from other Gryphons who venture "down under" at natalie@energymad. co.nz.

• Adam Harrington, B.Sc. '91 and M.Sc. '94, is one of the stars of the new CTV series Whistler.

First aired this summer but already booked for a second season, the show provides one of the biggest roles of his career.

He previously appeared in the cult horror comedy Valentine and the snowboarding comedy Out Cold. His other television credits include Show Me Yours, Out of Order, Flight 93, Smallville, Da Vinci's Inquest, Queer as Folk and The Chris Isaak Show. His Guelph degrees in

marine biology may not contribute to his new TV role on one of Canada's highest mountains, but they did take him to Vancouver Island, where he was working at an aquarium when he decided to try acting. U of G friends can follow the series and Harrington's career through the CTV website.

• Patty (Story) Hoy, B.Sc.(Agr.) '92, is a senior environmental policy analyst for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She married Clancey Hoy in September 2004, and their first child, Abigail Joanne, was born in June 2005.

Patty would love to hear from OAC '92 classmates, especially resource management majors, at storyp@em.agr.ca.

• Tracy (Cooper) Jackman, ADA '96, is an accountant with Ledco Limited in Kitchener, Ont. She and her husband, Michael, live in Baden with their five-year-old son, Tyler.

• Erika Lopes, B.A.Sc. '93, was married in 2001 and says she and her husband, Jaime, just finished building their dream home in Corunna, Ont. They have a four-year-old son and a nine-month-old daughter.

Lopes has been teaching kindergarten for 10 years. She writes: · "I would love to hear from my U of G friends - Marianne, Cheryl and Aileen, to name a few. Please e-mail me at lopese @sympatico.ca and let me know how you are doing."

• Marnie MacGregor, B.Sc. (Env.) '97, works as a purchaser with Motion Concepts in Concord, Ont. She is engaged to Rodney Mooy, and they are planning a fall 2007 wedding.

• Christie Rohr, B.A.Sc. '96, married John Wynn Aug. 6, 2005. They spent their honeymoon in Hawaii and make their home in Guelph, where RohrWynn is an early chi ldhood educator.

Fall 2006 33

-

UNIVERSITY gtGUELPH

Co-operative Education & Career Services Tel: 519-824-4120 Ext. 52323

www.coop.uoguelph.ca www.careerservices.uoguelph.ca

• Deborah Rumble, BA '95, used The Portico's online update form to let us know that she's studying in London, England, and plans to visit family in British Columbia at Christmas.

"I really miss my times and friends at the University of Guelph," she says.

• Lesia (Zacerkowny) Truppe, B.Sc. '93, is a social worker and lives in Windsor, Ont. She writes: "UKIES, UKIES, UKIES! Anyone attending the Ukrainian club between 1988 and 1993 who is interested in a reunion, please e-mail us at truppecl@ sympatico.ca. Bob, Karen and Lesia are very interested in seeing you once again to catch up on news and events."

• Maggie, B.Sc.(Agr.) '91, and Brian Van Camp, B.Sc.(Agr.) '90, have bought another farm near Blackstock, Ont., and have moved for the last time (or so they say). Their children are ll, nine and five, and Maggie and Brian are wondering how the 15 years since graduation have gone by so fast.

2000 • Matt Coughlin, B.Sc.(Agr.) '04, plays defence with the Central Hockey League (CHL) Wichita Thunder in Wichita, Kan. A second-year pro out of Napanee, Ont., he was acquired by the Thunder from the Fort Worth Brahmas Jan. 9. In 30 games with the Thunder, he recorded four points and 65 penalty minutes and was an impressive+ 7. Prior to turning pro, he played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, followed by three seasons at St. Mary's University. The Thunder, the CHL's Most Improved Franchise of the Year for 2006, will begin its 15th season Oct. 20: www.wichitathunder.com.

• Heather Ferris, BA '01, writes that she is returning to school to pursue a master's degree in

public health after five years of travelling and working abroad.

After earning her French degree at Guelph, she completed a bachelor of education at OISE/University of Toronto.

She has enjoyed a number of volunteer experiences with a Canadian medical team in Latin America and a teaching internship in Mexico, followed by teaching medical English to doctors in Haiphong, Vietnam, and spending six months in Nepal. In September 2005, she headed to Lusaka, Zambia, where she and her husband are posted with MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders). Ferris has been working on the MSF cholera emergency team, with a focus on hygiene education. She says she wants to study public health so she'll have more opportunities to apply her interest and experiences in health and education.

• Tyler Hickey, B.Sc. '02, is a PhD student at the University of British Columbia, working with Speert and Stokes' Laboratories and the Child and Family Research Institute in Vancouver.

• Julia Hodgins, DVM '05, works at the Ostrander Veterinary Clinic in Tillson burg, Ont. She was married Sept. 3, 2005, to Jason Routley, BA '03.

• Jessica Pitt, B.Comm. '06, writes that less than a month after her convocation, she was hired as the marketing co-ordinator (junior executive) at the Marmot Basin ski resort in Jasper, Alta. "Thanks to the University of Guelph," she says, ''I'm now working my ideal job that applies my interest and my education from university:' • Matthew Wheeler, BA '04, is working in Jamaica for the Canadian International Development Agency. "Most agricul-

HE CAN HELP Jason Moreton, BA '00, has been appointed interim director of alumni affairs for the next two years.

He joined the department in 2005 to work specifically with young Guelph graduates and created the Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) program, the Gryph 2 Grad program for graduating students and enhanced internal relationships within the University community.

Before returning to his alma mater, Moreton worked with St. Joseph's Heathcare Foundation in Hamilton, was campaign manager for a Toronto municipal campaign and did research for the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. His Guelph degree is in political science, and he has an MA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

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ture here is done by the small independent farmer who typically farms on less than an acre of land," he says. "I am in the process of constructing a tissue culture laboratory to allow for the production of high -quality and virus-free planting material. My place of employment is a farmer's co-operative that works towards ensuring the small farmer is able to remain farming in the midst of free trade."

• Jay Wolting, BA '06, shared a lot with his older sisters growing up in Salem, Ont. Now he's sharing their university alma mater. He earned a philosophy degree from Guelph this spring; Cheryl graduated in microbiology in 1997, and Alisa earned a general B.Sc. in 2004. This fall, Jay will enrol in the BFA pro-

gram in film studies at York University. Alisa is studying at the Michener Institute for Respiratory Therapy in Toronto, and Cheryl is a doctoral student in medical biophysics at the

Cheryl, left, Jay and Alisa Wolting

University of Toronto. Their proud parents are Jean Wolting, a staff member in Guelph's Department of Plant Agriculture, and her husband, George.

Fall 2006 35

PASSAGES Keith Andrews, BA '76, January 2006 Cecil Ball, BSA '37, April 8, 2006 Hugh Black, BSA '49, March 12, 2006 Margaret (Clarke) Black, DHE '35, Nov. 18,2005 Wendy (Paul) Blanchard, B.Sc.(H.K.) '75, Feb. 19, 2006 Martin Brown, BSA '55, March 29, 2006 Dawn Bryden, DVM '63, Feb. 26, 2006 Alexandra Cameron, DVM '80, April 13, 2006 Forbes Colgate, DVM '41, April 11, 2006 Robin Coombs, H.D.Sc. '81, in 2006 Michele Couroux, B.Sc. '83, Feb. 24, 2006 Richard Ellis, BSA '46, March 11, 2006 Sylva Gelber, H.D.La. '77, Dec. 9, 2003 Phyllis (Denison) Gerow, DHE '40, in 2004 Peter Grassau, B.Sc. '65, March 12, 2006

William Guinn, ADA '48, Feb. 8, 2005 Don C. Hamilton, BSA '49, May 16, 2006 Michael Held, BSA '56, May 13, 2006 Glen Hendry, DVM '51, July 13, 2005 Eleanor (Irwin) Hess, DHE '47, May 4, 2005 Thelma (Fraser) Kitto, DHE '37, Sept. 18, 2005 Jean (McTaggart) Kneale, DHE '36, June 21, 2006 Anna (Akkermans) Maloney, B.Sc.(Agr.) '89, in 2006 Ernest Mann, H .D.La. '86, July 30, 2005 James Maw, ADA '49, Feb. 8, 2006 Catherine (Walker) Maynard, DHE '32, Feb. 9,2006 Jeffrey McRuer, B.Sc. '72, Dec. 18, 2005 William Medway, DVM '54, March 19, 2006 Peter Musting, BA '69, in 2005

Cyril Padfield, DVM '40, Feb. 21, 2006 Franz Reinelt, ODH '71, Jan. 11, 2006 Robena (Merriam) Ritchie, DHE '38, AprillO, 2006 Jessie (McGregor) Rumney, DHE '25, Feb. 1,2006 Martina Schnetz, BA '88, Dec. 6, 2005 Hardo Schulwitz, B.Sc.(P.E.) '70, Feb. 12,2006 Erva Scott, DHE '34, in 2006 Charles Small, BSA '42, May 24, 2006 Kathleen Whateley, DHE '36, Sept. 17,2005 Geoff Widdis, MA '90, Feb. 28, 2006 BOARD OF GOVERNORS Bernard Ostry, May 24, 2006

Send deceased notices to Alumni Records at alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca or fax to 519-822-2670.

ALUMNI WEEKEND SNAPSHOTS

Leslie Montgomery, B.Sc.(H .K.) '85, and her husband, Robert, came from Ancaster, Ont., to attend the alumni dinner.

36

THE

PoRTico

Lee Master, BSA '56, of Don Mills, Ont., chats with Joanne Shoveller, vice-president (alumni affairs and development), at the OAC '56 Arboretum gazebo dedication.

Katherine Ware, BA 'oo, and her guest at the President's Luncheon.

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