The Portico, Fall 2014

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PLUS Meet U of G’s new president Guelph scientists fight disease

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the

Fall 2014 • Volume 46 Issue 3

Editor Mary Dickieson Assistant Vice-President Charles Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc. Contributors Susan Bubak Lori Bona Hunt Kevin Gonsalves Wendy Jespersen Teresa Pitman Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. ’84 Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 Direct all other correspondence to: Communications and Public Affairs University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/

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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 2014. 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

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2 The Portico

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REDEFINE DISABILITY AND DIFFERENCE Prof. Carla Rice uses digital storytelling to help health-care professionals improve care for patients with disabilities.

of G’s new Gryphon statue will be a rallying point for students and alumni. A research team documents the monarch’s need for milkweed; another produces a bio-composite flowerpot – now available at a store near you.

4

PRESIDENTIAL PROFILE

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he GuelphGhana Project is remembered through the launch of a home science history. More than 1,500 celebrated the University’s 50th anniversary at Alumni Weekend, and the alumni association welcomes a new board of directors.

—8— President Franco Vaccarino looks ahead to his new role at U of G and to the University’s next 50 years of success.

on the cover

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EAT WELL: STAY HEALTHY Prof. David Ma says good nutrition, exercise and a healthy body weight can help us prevent chronic disease.

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WHY GERMS ARE ONE STEP AHEAD OF US Pathobiologist Scott Weese offers advice on how to fight infection outbreaks in animals and humans. Fall 2014 3

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U of G’s Gryphon Statue Anchors the Campus

At the Gryphon unveiling, from left: Dustin Wilson, Nicole Vogelzang, Kim Kozzi, Alastair Summerlee and Dai Skuse.Jacqueline Murray

of G ’ s G ry ph on statue was unveiled June 21 with great fanfare and picture-taking. It’s the centrepiece of the newly landscaped front entrance to the campus at the corner of Gordon Street and Stone Road. Or, as one Guelph grad put it: “The Gryphon statue is like the hood ornament on a Rolls Royce. You’ve got the Rolls Royce of universities; now you’ve got an eye-catching hood ornament.â€? Those words are from Myros Trutiak, a 1980 biology grad who owns the art foundry where the bronze statue was cast. “I’ve always thought the University should have some kind of monument,â€? he says. He was quick to jump on board when artists Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse, a.k.a. FASTWĂœRMS, approached him about casting a sculpture for U of G. And the artists, both fine art faculty at Guelph, were equally enthused when former president Alastair Summerlee asked them to design a statue for the campus entrance. Guelph grads Nicole Vogelzang, MFA ’08, and Dustin Wilson, MFA ’13, were hired to help with the project.

4 The Portico

The $300,000 Gryphon was funded entirely by donations, primarily from alumni and student groups. In antiquity, the mythical gryphon (griffin) was depicted as a creature with strength, power and wisdom. The Guelph Gryphon designed by FASTWĂœRMS rests on a book and is lit at night to represent the illumination of knowledge. The pose was inspired by artist John Tenniel’s illustration of a sleeping Gryphon in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “It provided a good pragmatic direction for us,â€? says Skuse, “but we also like the surprising connection to multidisciplinary creativity in academia. “Lewis Carroll himself confounds the typical image of professors as ivory tower intellectuals.Very few people know of his lifelong work as a mathematician and teacher.â€? “I like that it’s a little bit whimsical,â€? adds Trutiak. “It’s friendly. It personalizes the university. Visitors will take pictures, and Alumni will bring their kids over to see the big Gryphon. A university needs something monumental to rally around. Sculpture is that important.â€?

“Our motivation was to make a significant and exceptional work of art that would be both commemorative and enduring,â€? say the FASTWĂœRMS. U of G’s big Gryphon took six months of research and development work, followed by a full year of daily production and creative work in the FASTWĂœRMS studio and the MST Bronze foundry in Toronto. Weighing in at 1,800 kg, it’s one of the larger projects that Trutiak has manufactured. About U of G, Trutiak says: “The University of Guelph was fabulous. It opened my mind to many different things and I figured out how to really think.â€? He studied biology, chemistry, physics, welding and metal fabrication and says he still uses all of that knowledge in his business. Trutiak has worked with FASTWĂœRMS for 20 years; they describe him as a “master craftsman.â€? Two of their joint projects are the “Snomun,â€? which sits outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and “Monocerosâ€? in the city’s Liberty Village. “I’m really lucky to be in this business,â€? says Trutiak, “working with great artists, helping them produce fabulous works of art.â€?

the

< .68$9458:) Monarchs need milkweed

BLACK SUN RISES

have been driven by breeding events. Milkweed is the only group of plants eaten by monarch caterpillars before they develop into butterflies. Industrial farming contributed to a 21-per-cent decline in milkweed plants between 1995 and 2013, and much of this loss occurred in the central breeding region, the study said. More than 70 per cent of milkweed in this region is located in farmland where genetically modified crops are increasing, as opposed to 16 per cent in conservation lands and 10 per cent in public areas such as roadways, the study said. Changes in milkweed abundance can affect everything from larval competition for food to egg-laying in adults. “The rapid loss of milkweed projected for this region, attributable to land cover changes and shifts in agricultural practices, is a very large concern,� said Flockhart. Left unchecked, milkweed loss will cause the monarch population to decline by at least another 14 per cent, the study said.

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ab itat lo s s on breeding grounds in the United States – not on wintering grounds in Mexico – is the main cause of recent and projected population declines of migratory monarch butterflies in eastern North America, according to new research from the University of Guelph. The groundbreaking study was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. The insects are most sensitive to availability of milkweed on breeding grounds particularly in the Corn Belt region of the United States, said Ryan Norris, a professor in Guelph’s Department of Integrative Biology. He conducted the study with lead author and current Guelph post-doc Tyler Flockhart, as well as scientists from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. These results contradict the longheld belief that monarch butterflies are most vulnerable to disturbances on wintering grounds in Mexico. They also confirm suspicions that recent declines

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Fall 2014 5

in around 3*5 university ECO-FRIENDLY FLOWERPOTS BLOSSOM

Canada’s Dairy and Poultry Industries Support OAC Professorships

ey playe rs in Canada’s dairy and poultry industries have helped the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) create two full-time professorships in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science.

Jill Selby (left) and Amy Thatcher, both of the Department of Plant Agriculture, pictured with a biocomposite flowerpot made with U of G technology.

6 The Portico

Dairy genomics

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a new p rof e s s or sh i p in dairy genomics will help Canada maintain its world-leading position in dairy cattle genetics. The faculty position is being supported by a $750,000 gift from three key players in that industry: Semex Alliance, Canadian Dairy Network (CDN) and Holstein Canada. “We have a substantive need for genomic and genetics research, both at Guelph and within the network of dairy research across Canada,� says animal and poultry science chair Jim Squires. “The person who holds this position will benefit from a close collaboration with the dairy industry and with researchers at other Canadian universities.� Recruitment is already underway for the professorship, which will also contribute to the University’s Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock (CGIL). The new faculty position will serve Canada’s dairy sector through research, participation in key conferences and events, and the training of genetics professionals. Squires says that dairy cattle genetic improvement research has evolved in the last several years from the traditionally quantitative approach to a broader genomics-based approach, and that CGIL must move forward and encompass molecular genetics to a greater extent. “It’s important for our industry to have leadership in this area,� says Semex CEO Paul Larmer, who led the funding initiative.The past successes in CGIL and OAC’s animal science programs have been due in large part to some really exceptional leaders within that group.We need to ensure that we are still bringing the best and the brightest researchers into OAC and the University.� “For Semex and our funding partners, sponsoring a faculty position is also an opportunity to influence young people looking to do graduate work,� he says.“All three organizations will be potential landing spots for students who pursue

an interest in genetics.This is putting dollars into something that can impact people, academic programs and research in a very direct way.�

Poultry welfare prof. alexandra harlander has been named to a new professorship that will focus on animal welfare and behaviour in all poultry species. The Burnbrae Farms Professorship in Poultry Welfare recognizes the largest gift to the position: $500,000 from Burnbrae Farms, one of Canada’s premier egg producers. “Burnbrae Farms’ commitment to the industry, animal welfare and consumers is evident in its support of this innovative position,� says OAC dean Rob Gordon. The professorship is also partially funded by Alexandra Harlander

the Poultry Industry Council, the Canadian Poultry Research Council and Egg Farmers of Canada. Harlander is an associated faculty member with U of G’s Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, and her research has received support from government and other industry partners. One current study looks at housing and the behaviour of laying hens, with the goal of solving problems associated with non-cage systems. Harlander says Canada, like Europe, is moving towards less-restrictive aviaries instead of housing birds in cages. “This professorship is timely. With pressing demands from the public and food industry, Canada needs research based on sound data to help the poultry sector establish new, high-care standards.�

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Art Donation Reflects Family Ties

GUELPH-HUMBER PROPOSES EXPANSION

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Claude Lorrain, Le DĂŠpart pour les champs [Departure for the Fields], circa 163841 (etching on laid paper, state 3C, 12.6 cm x 17.8 cm)

“You can’t se e the e nd. She’s talking about an artwork, but Helen Brink is also thinking about her late husband and print-collecting partner, Andrew. He died in late 2011 but was uppermost in her mind last fall as U of G’s Macdonald Stewart Art Centre (MSAC) prepared an exhibition of black and white prints from the collection they built during 50 years of married life. Donated in batches to MSAC over the last 10 years, the Brink collection contains more than 1,000 black and white works by printmakers from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, especially European masterworks. The collection is valued at $1 million. Andrew’s father, Alexander Brink, graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1919. His mother, Edith Margaret Whitelaw, completed a domestic science degree at Macdonald Institute in 1922. “When Andrew, who understood their affinity and relationship to Guelph, was deciding to place his collection in a museum, he turned to the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre in memory specifically of his parents,� says MSAC curator Dawn Owen.

Andrew and Helen Brink collected mostly individual prints, including works by French artist Claude Lorrain, England’s William Blake and Flemish printmaker Antoni Waterloo. Andrew wrote a book about Lorrain called Ink and Light that was published posthumously and launched during MSAC’s Lorrain exhibition earlier this year. Also in the collection is an oversized book of landscapes by Waterloo. That’s a rarity, says Owen. Few complete books of prints from the period remain today, as dealers and collectors often disassembled the volumes to frame individual pieces. For Helen Brink, the volume stands out for another reason. In a print called The Trimmed Grove, two peasant women move through a pastoral landscape. The road bends out of sight beyond them and is lost amid trees, hills and skyline. “You can’t see the end,� said Helen. “And that was very meaningful, and particularly meaningful to me since Andrew died, because that was what it really signified — that you don’t know what’s around the corner.�

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Fall 2014 7

THE PAST INSPIRES THE FUTURE

t didn’ t take long for Franco Vaccarino to feel connected to the University of Guelph. Shortly after being named as the school’s eighth president and vice-chancellor, he heard former president Bill Winegard explain why the adage “to know where you are going, you must understand where you have been� has deep roots at U of G.The saying has resonated throughout Vaccarino’s own life as well. “My parents were immigrants and big believers in the power of education in terms of making you a better person; that was always the message they gave my brother and me growing up in Toronto,� he says. “The belief was that things like a job, a career, would fall into place if you focused on being a better person, on understanding the complexities of life and of people. That is what education provides: understanding, perspective and respect for differences.� A graduate of both the University of Toronto (U of T) and McGill University,Vaccarino has spent 30 years as a teacher, researcher, policy adviser and administrator. Most recently, he was principal of the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) and vice-president at the University of Toronto. He has been recognized internationally for his research accomplishments in psychology and neuroscience. He led the development of the World Health Organization’s first-ever authoritative report on the neuroscience of addiction. He also led the integration of four separate research centres as part of the creation of what is now Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the largest mental health and addictions research centre in the country. In addition,Vaccarino was recently named a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest honours for members of the Canadian health sciences community. Now beginning at a new university, he says respect for and appreciation of history is what distinguishes Guelph. “The founding colleges – that combination of tradition and strong history – together with the new energy of emerging areas give this place energy, a buzz, and make it special in both breadth and depth.That is critical.� During his observations of the post-secondary landscape, U of G often caught his attention. “There was something unique about this place. The research done here was a part of it, but another difference was the culture, the attitude, the real sense of community, and pride in that sense of community.� He particularly likes Guelph’s emphasis on the student

8 The Portico

experience and the you-can-do-it-all philosophy that avoids pigeonholing and lets people go beyond the classroom and even beyond borders to learn. It makes Guelph different and gives the University an edge, he says. “Today, the pace of change – the volume of information and the speed at which we turn information into knowledge – is happening at an unprecedented rate, and we are seeing it in all fields. How we adapt to that pace of change is more important than ever.� Across the university system, there is increased focus on student engagement, experiential learning, international collaborations and partnerships, and innovations with diverse and broad applications. These are all areas in which Guelph already excels,Vaccarino says. “Universities need to be primary sources of knowledge, but they also need to be incubators of new ideas and fresh innovations; they need to be places that bring together different groups with a sense of community and purpose.� It’s this notion that drew Vaccarino to academia. His field of psychology and neuroscience is all about new ideas and complex interactions. “It’s a gateway discipline, connecting with so many different areas and fields,� he says. Vaccarino ran an active research lab at U of T for decades, conducting a broad spectrum of basic and clinical neuroscience research. He focused on what motivates human behaviour, specifically the neuroscience of substance abuse, addiction, and anxiety and mood disorders. “As far back as I can remember in my adolescence, I was drawn to the behaviour of people, the reasons why we do what we do.� He says understanding people – how they process information and make decisions – is key when working with large groups with diverse backgrounds, such as heading a university. “It provides perspective and helps you understand situations where you might otherwise be scratching your head.� Vaccarino remains active within the neuroscience community. “Now I am using my scientific background and experience to have impact in a broader way, serving on boards and advising organizations, and working more at a systems level.� This includes working with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, serving as a board member of Brain Canada – a $100-million national research alliance – and being a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. “It’s extremely rewarding to know that you can influence programs and policies on a national and international level.� Vaccarino started his teaching and research career at

UTSC after completing his master’s and PhD at McGill. In his late 30s, he led a major national research initiative backed by the Medical Research Council. His work and leadership effectiveness were noticed: “Soon I found myself heading a major research institution.� He served as vice-president and director of research at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto and later as vice-president of research and then executive vicepresident of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. During this period, he was also appointed to the interim governing council that created the framework for today’s Canadian Institutes of Health Research. “I enjoyed the energy of large organizations, the bringing together diverse groups of people to solve common problems. It was extremely rewarding.� But the lure of the classroom remained strong. “The university is where my heart lies,� he says. “I have always loved teaching, enjoyed being around students and sharing ideas; it was a natural environment for me.� Back at U of T, he served as chair of the Department of Psychology, graduate chair of the tri-campus Graduate Department of Psychology and head of the Department of Psychiatry’s neuroscience program. He became vice-president at U of T and principal at UTSC in 2007, helping it grow in size and stature. He also led a strategic planning process that helped to

position UTSC as a key intellectual and cultural hub. His leadership philosophy is simple: plan, set goals, apply yourself and do everything that you do well.“Then things will happen organically, opportunities will come along.� That’s how he views the chance to head U of G, for which Vaccarino has the enthusiastic support of his whole family. His wife, Cosmina, is a psychotherapist. Their daughters are Oriana, 24, who just started a PhD in applied social psychology at Guelph, and Elysia, 22, who is pursuing a master’s degree in the field at York University. “It seems psychology is the family business,�Vaccarino says, adding that his brother is also a psychologist. The family also shares a love of music and sports, especially skiing. “I’m a high-energy person, so I find it extremely relaxing to play sports,� says Vaccarino, who is also an avid hockey, golf and tennis player. Now settled into his Guelph home near campus, he is ready to begin a new challenge. “It’s very important as you start the process of going forward that you remember where you are coming from; where you end up depends a lot on where you started,� he says. That also holds true for U of G, he says. “As we celebrate 50 years as a university, we’re standing at a threshold. In the next 50 years, the successes that we create will be guided by the successes of the last 50 years.�

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Left to right: Kim Wilson, Ingrid Mundel and Andrea LaMarre are having fun with Portico photographer Dean Palmer, but the story behind the photo is their joint effort to change our perception of what it means to be disabled or different in today’s society.

let’s disability and Digital storytelling helps

It’s difficult to get past stereotypes,

even for some doctors and other health-care practitioners. Just ask Eliza Chandler in Toronto.The 31-year-old has cerebral palsy, although that’s not always what takes her to the doctor’s office. “I experience this when I go to the doctor for earaches. They assume I’m there for my disability,” says Chandler, who this year completed a PhD at the University of Toronto and has begun a post-doc in Ryerson University’s School of Disability Studies. “That’s a barrier to health care. It would be a benefit to have doctors with a more nuanced understanding of disability.” Hoping to highlight those nuances for health professionals and for everyone else, she has turned to the arts – and specifically to a novel arts-based research initiative called Project Re-Vision at the University of Guelph. That project uses digital storytelling to amplify often-unheard voices and to afford a look through an artistic lens at difference and disability, not just for health experts but also for wider audiences. The project is led by Carla Rice, a professor in U of G’s Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition (FRAN), and involves other investigators at Laurentian, Trent, York and the University of Toronto. Rice has used funding from her Canada Research Chair in care,

Story by Andrew Vowles

redefine difference to change perceptions gender and relationships and from other public and private sources – notably the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) – to outfit a multimedia lab. Telling powerful stories Opened in 2013, REDLAB (ReVisioning Differences Media Arts Laboratory) occupies a refurbished wing of Blackwood Hall. Using video and audio equipment, Rice and her team run workshops lasting two or three days to help participants tell their stories of difference and disability to each other, and enable them to turn those stories into two- to threeminute video scripts. So far, they’ve made more than 100 short films. Some are actual videos, while others combine photos, illustrations and print, all braided together by a voice-over and often a musical soundtrack. Those voices are often the first-person accounts of participants themselves. From bullying and blindness to dyslexia and schizophrenia, depression and eating disorders, says Rice, “They talk from a first-person perspective about their experiences and insights around disability.The purpose is not to replace old representations with new ones but to open audiences to multiple and nuanced ways of understanding difference.”

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12 The Portico

Project Re-Vision aims to help participants share their experiences with health-care providers and policy-makers in hopes of eliminating stereotypes, increasing understanding and improving health care and policy. Says Rice: “There’s a lot of evidence that people with disabilities are invalidated, and their health care is poorer than those without disabilities. People often stop going to their health-care provider because of negative interactions. “If we can bring a disability studies lens to health care and begin to get health-care providers from doctors onward to see disability as another identity category – as opposed to a biomedical or individual problem – that’s going to go a long way to improve health-care interactions.” Interviewed after viewing the videos, doctors and other practitioners report a change in how they view and work with people with differences and disabilities, she says. “It’s been profound. Even health-care providers who thought they were equityminded start to confront misconceptions; they start to see disability for what it is. It’s part of the human condition.” So is aging, arguably a gradually disabling process that will affect everyone who lives long enough. “We think of disability as something we can eliminate from the population,” adds Rice, “but it’s actually something that’s central to the human condition. It behooves us to understand disability and embody difference better.” Used for training in institutions and schools, the videos can help those fledgling practitioners understand patients better. More broadly, they can also help students get a different view. Pamela Cushing teaches in the disability studies program begun three years ago at King’s University College of Western University. After hearing Chandler talk last year, Cushing asked her to discuss Project Re-Vision with her class on media and representations of disability. “There’s a dearth of diverse stories out there about disabilities,” Cushing says, and often those narratives are one-dimensional tales of tragedy or inspiration. She describes the Re-Vision videos as “tight little insights into someone’s life, how they live with that difference.” Some are direct; others are more oblique, even what she calls “thought experiments.” Rather than try to control the viewer’s response, the videos leave “a lot of

Prof. Carla Rice says it’s important for us to connect with difference and disability: “It’s through the encounter and relationship that we come to understand difference. That means moving away from norms and normalization, and seeing how pressures to aspire to normal and failure to embody normative standards can function to harm people.”

room for the audience’s own imagination.” That resonance between storyteller and audience is a powerful part of the project, says Rice. Understanding and imagining, seeing things anew, being asked to think and question issues: that’s what makes Project Re-Vision an arts initiative. For participants and audience members alike, that can involve catharsis – what she calls art as therapy. But the project aims to go deeper than that. “I feel the arts and disabled artists who self-identify in their work are challenging people to reimagine disability and bodily difference.That’s why it’s so integral to bring in artists. I would love to see disability arts on the map as a legitimate genre, like feminist art or aboriginal art.” The videos have been shown at film and arts festivals; last year’s official opening of REDLAB took place alongside the Abilities Arts Festival in Toronto to coincide with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Rice stresses that she’s a social scientist rather than an artist but says she’s intrigued

by the possibilities afforded by art for helping people tell their stories and reflect their experiences. “I’m interested in what the artist does and how it affects people on a different register than other knowledge systems such as science or philosophy.” Other groups carry out similar work. Tangled Art + Disability is a not-for-profit organization in Toronto that helps artists with disabilities share and promote their work with the wider public. But Rice says Project Re-Vision is unique. “There are no other projects trying to use video and artsbased methods to change health-care providers’ perceptions of disability and difference.” Project Re-Vision is widening its scope to include new voices and to explore other ways of telling stories. Rice has helped aboriginal students, parents and teachers in Toronto to create digital stories about urban aboriginal identity and education. Her effort was part of a larger aboriginal arts project in 2013 called “inVISIBILITY: Indigenous in the City.” Now she’s looking northward for a digital storytelling project with Inuit youth to begin next year in REDLAB North. “At REDLAB, we are interested in working with groups that have been alienated from any positive notion of communal life through historical forces such as residential schooling of aboriginal children or the institutional warehousing of people with disabilities,” she says. Expanding disability research Developing digital storytelling among seniors with mental illness and dementia is the next project for Kim Wilson, a former research project manager with REDLAB and a PhD candidate in FRAN. She completed a Guelph undergraduate degree in 2004 and has served as executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health and as a member of the seniors advisory committee of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Using new fellowship funding through the Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network – part of the National Centres of Excellence program – she plans to engage older adults in storytelling and hopes to highlight the growing need for trained geriatric specialists. Wilson says Project Re-Vision is about “disrupting narrative and opening meaning for people whose voices and stories are not always

Artist and academic Eliza Chandler identifies with Project Re-Vision’s goal to use disability arts to inform wider audiences. “It goes beyond merely swapping a single positive image for a negative one,� she says. “When we create disability art, we’re not only creating new representations of disability, we’re also creating many new representations of disability.�

Also in the works is a theatre production involving Toronto playwright Jan Derbyshire to be mounted in health-care facilities and university classrooms. Says McKenna: “This is what art has been doing since the beginning of time. People want to hear stories.� Imagining a new perspective In her own video, called The Elephant in the Room, Rice tells her story of growing up as a “fat girl.� “I have experienced bodily difference. I understand what that feels like.� She grew up on rural Cape Breton Island and attended a former all-girls high school before heading to Harvard University for her undergrad. Working as a therapist, she saw how difference and disability played out in clinical settings. Eventually, she decided that she wanted to focus not on treating problems but on finding solutions. That led her to grad studies in psychology and women’s studies, and then to a faculty position at Trent University where she began looking into dig-

ital storytelling before coming to Guelph. Rice says short-form storytelling gives people tools to distill and interpret their experience, and to find an audience for their work. “Digital stories can’t be created outside of community.� Referring to the story circle and workshop screening for participant videos, including her own, she says, “I wouldn’t have told that story as a lone person. I needed a community to hear me and to receive that story. For some people, including me, it’s the first time they have told their story. They talk about the experience as a transformation.� One workshop participant made a video about losing her sight in adulthood and needing to figure out how to sustain her love of reading now that many books were unavailable to her. “Through the workshop there was space for her to go into a tangle of emotion. She discovered that she was not angry at her blindness but at the lack of books available in accessible formats.� This year, Rice published a new book called Becoming Women:The Embodied Self in Image Culture. She says it’s a passion for social justice and a desire for inclusion that drive her work. “Cultural justification for ‘othering’ often occurs through people’s bodies, through falsely labelling aspects of others’ embodiments as faulty and lacking, at least in the recent history of western culture since the rise of science. “I’m interested in how we can interrupt those processes and how we can begin to imagine a world or a society where difference is welcomed in.�

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SHIFT

heard, helping people to see that there are multiple voices and stories.� Andrea LaMarre studied eating disorders with Rice for her master’s degree and will use a Vanier scholarship through CIHR for her PhD on the topic beginning this fall. She completed a BA in sociology in 2012. Besides helping Project Re-Vision participants to create short films, LaMarre has made two videos of her own. “I have a personal experience of an eating disorder, so it’s a way for me to feel like I’m making some difference in some small way.� She says her films are short and to the point. “You can share a couple of stories in 15 minutes and focus on a moment that was illustrative of your struggles and experience. I think the process of running a workshop was one of the best experiences of my life.� Ingrid Mundel is REDLAB’s new research manager but was previously co-ordinator of the student-focused Research Shop in U of G’s Institute for Community Engaged Scholarship. She has a Guelph master’s degree and is working on a PhD in English. Project Re-Vision is now designing an interactive website intended to bring the project to more health-care providers and to the general public. They’re working with Toronto consulting company Working Knowledge. Producer Katie McKenna hopes to go beyond the “tired old tropes� of tragedy and inspirational narratives. Referring to the honesty captured in REDLAB project videos, she says, “It reaches out and grabs you. You can tell you’re watching something very special and very real.�

utrition and omega-3 fatty acids have to play a role in fighting breast cancer.� With that thought in his mind, nutritional scientist David Ma began to study the impact of diet and omega-3 fatty acids on mice. He became interested in the topic when he learned of research saying there was no scientific evidence that nutrition – and omega-3s – had any impact on breast cancer and human health. “I was convinced, based on my own research, of the benefits of eating foods with omega-3s to fight colon cancer. Saying it had no impact on breast cancer didn’t sound right to me, so I decided to conduct some research,� says Ma, a faculty member in Guelph’s Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences. In 2013, he published a research report that validated his hypothesis. Now Ma is starting a comprehensive lifestyle study that will look at what we eat, how we live and how those factors can impact our long-term health. Along with other U of G researchers, he hopes to transform health through education and early adoption of healthy habits. So how did a high school student from Alberta, who was unsure about what he wanted to do, make his way deep into the heart of Texas before zigzagging back to Toronto and eventually landing in Guelph? How did he realize that dietary fats could have an impact on breast and colon cancer? To find the answers, you have to go back to the days before he enrolled at the University of Alberta. Ma began his academic career with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry; like many undergraduates, he had aspirations to pursue medicine or a career in health care. “I don’t have a big motivational story of a relative with breast cancer that made me think that I should study nutrition and health,� he says. “My mother influenced me and encouraged me to work hard and get an education that would open doors.� In 1995, an undergraduate summer position in Alberta’s Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Sciences led him to consider a career researching the impact of nutrition on health and well-

14 The Portico

being. Ma started graduate studies in the medical sciences program in 1996, examining the role of dietary fat in breast cancer, and completed his PhD in 2001. As a post-doctoral researcher at Texas A&M University, he investigated the role of omega-3 fatty acids and folate in colon cancer. That was where he met his wife, Soo Min Toh. She moved to the University of Toronto to become a professor in management in 2003, and he followed a year later, joining Toronto’s department of nutritional sciences. In 2007 he saw an opening at Guelph and the University of Guelph-Humber. U of G offered opportunities to expand his research program and work with colleagues with complementary interests, as well as access to research facilities in a new science complex, including the Advanced Analysis Centre. “I really like the community here; it’s a humble institution with good people working together doing great research. U of G has opened doors for me with infrastructure, but more so with people,� he says. Ma divides his time between research in Guelph and teaching at GuelphHumber. Among his service responsibilities, he is vice-president of the Canadian Nutrition Society. Ma and Toh live in Mississauga with their three children: Noah, 8, Mattea, 6, and Anika, 2. He says he appreciates the chance to work with a team of dedicated researchers and students at U of G. “I really enjoy teaching; in research, I have some excellent, independent students who want to be challenged and stimulated. “Any research successes I have are theirs, and vice versa. I feel very proud when my students publish articles or get awards. It’s a privilege to guide them.� Ma’s research has focused mostly on mice, but it has human health implications. It was at Toronto in 2004 that he first examined the role of omega-3s in breast cancer. Omega-3 fatty acids found in seafood and novel foods such as omega-3 enriched eggs have been shown to inhibit other types of cancer. Like other mammals, humans can’t make omega-3s and need to obtain it in their diet.

Upon arriving at U of G, Ma worked with graduate students Breanne Anderson and Mira MacLennan to study the effects of omega-3s. The team exposed female mice prone to developing a human form of breast cancer to omega-3s in the diet, as well as mice genetically modified with the ability to make omega-3s. “What we found showed a clear link between nutrition and preventing breast cancer. Of all my research, that’s what gives me the most pride,� he says. “It was definitely a relief and exciting to show the hypothesis actually worked.� According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one-third of all cancers can be prevented by eating well, staying active and maintaining a healthy body weight. Research by Ma and others suggests early nutrition is critical to later development of cancer. By studying mice, he hopes to trace life-cycle connections between food and disease. He is also developing fatty-acid reference values to help researchers determine what people should be consuming. Ma is both a research contributor and director of the new Guelph Family Health Study. Prof. Jess Haines, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, is associate director. They work with a dozen U of G researchers and several community health organizations who have teamed up to look at ways to prevent chronic disease. The study will follow up to 3,000 families for decades to examine the effects of tailored health interventions. College of Biological Science dean Mike Emes says the project could have a major impact on the long-term health of individuals and families. “Currently, 40 to 50 per cent of health-care costs go to treat chronic diseases, and we believe many illnesses could be addressed through a healthier lifestyle.� For Ma, the study is an opportunity to directly interact with people and see his research make a difference. “This study will move knowledge into the hands of people and policy-makers, which is something that excites me. It’s finding ways to be innovative, creative, impactful and helpful to people. For me, that’s extremely rewarding.�

RESEARCH VALIDATES THE IMPORTANCE OF HEALTHY EATING BY KEVIN GONSALVES

Fall 2014 15

Worms and germs like to travel Infection control key to stopping a disease outbreak

16 The Portico

By Susan Bubak Photos by Martin Schwalbe

ath ob i olog y p rof e s s o r Scott Weese has three simple tips for avoiding infection: “Don’t eat poop, don’t stick things up your nose and wash your hands.” If only it were that easy. Germs have always been – and always will be – one step ahead of us, thanks to their millions of years of evolution, he says. But understanding the evolutionary origins of these bugs and how we’ve evolved with them can help researchers understand how they spread between animals and humans – and how to stop them. “No, I don’t think we’re ever going to win; our goal is to avoid losing,” says Weese of the war on bugs. “Bacteria were learning how to become antibiotic resistant before we evolved. Antibiotic-resistance genes were around before antibiotics were around. Bacteria were using them to fight off natural antibiotics.” Most people try to avoid germs, but Weese is drawn to them as an infectious disease researcher. “I always liked studying infectious diseases as a vet student,” he says. “It’s something that keeps throwing new challenges at us.” Communication is a vital part of managing infectious diseases and outbreaks, he says. Dealing with the psychological aspects of an outbreak can be more challenging than dealing with the disease itself, because containing the infection often depends on people following his advice – even if they don’t want to. Weese says keeping an outbreak under control involves time, which is often in short supply; money, which the animal’s owner may not want to spend; and inconvenience, which no one likes. There’s no single strategy for managing an outbreak, he adds, but there are some common approaches. If an infectious disease occurs on a farm, Weese would usually recommend that all animals be prevented from entering or leaving the farm, even for shows or races, and that could have financial implications. “A farm that depends on racing for its livelihood could be devastated if its horses are unable to race, either because they are sick or quarantined. Animals travel a lot more than people recognize,” he adds, pointing to horses that travel internationally for competitions and trade. Australia’s horse industry, for example, was ravaged by equine influenza when it first

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arrived on the continent in 2007, causing almost $1 billion in losses. Weese says it isn’t always necessary to identify the cause of a disease outbreak; it’s more important to keep it from spreading using well-established infection control measures. “Early intervention is always the key,” he says, “and while we always want to know exactly what is going on, we can formulate a good outbreak response even before we know the cause.” As outbreaks among livestock and other domesticated animals grab headlines, the public may believe infectious diseases are becoming more prevalent, but Weese says that’s not necessarily the case. He points to increased awareness and better reporting. The sooner an outbreak is reported, the sooner steps can be taken to contain it. “We’re seeing a more proactive approach, especially with some diseases,” he says.“I don’t think we’re seeing more outbreaks; I think we’re seeing more outbreak responses.While it may seem like we have more problems these days, we’re probably preventing bigger problems by acting early and often rather than sitting back and hoping for the best.” A relatively new cause for concern is climate change: warmer weather is allowing some types of diseases to migrate to areas where they previously didn’t exist. Tickborne infections such as Lyme disease are being reported in more parts of Ontario, says Weese, because climate change has expanded the range of disease-carrying ticks. The warmer North America becomes, the more hospitable it becomes to tropical diseases such as West Nile virus. Milder winters won’t be able to kill these pathogens and their insect carriers, adds Weese. “Any time a new disease comes in, it brings a lot of angst with it.” He says Ontario’s disease climate will change over the next 20 years, just as it has changed from 20 years ago, when West Nile virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) corona virus weren’t on the public’s radar. “Most of these multi-drugresistant bacteria that we’re seeing weren’t as much of an issue back then,” he says. The next disease crisis could be just one flight away, as planes move animals and people from one part of the globe to another in a matter of hours. People with an infectious disease they contracted in a remote

18 The Portico

part of the world could be on the next flight to a major urban centre. It sounds like the plot of a sci-fi thriller, but it happened earlier this year when a passenger infected with the MERS corona virus travelled from Saudi Arabia to the United States. And by midJuly, many airlines had cancelled flights into the West African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak.

As a high school student,Weese spent his summers working with horses at a local racetrack. Becoming a veterinarian was a natural fit for his interest in animals, science and medicine. He completed his DVM degree in 1996 and his D.V.Sc. in 2000 at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC). A lot of his current work as an OVC professor is collaborative, involving other departments and colleges on campus as well as other institutions. Sometimes the detective work begins close to home. Weese’s lab was one of the first to study the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, when some horses at OVC became infected.

He has also studied Clostridium difficile in a wide range of species, including pets, farm animals, rats and polar bears. He is integrating those studies with his research on humans to better understand how the bacteria infect people in hospitals and long-term care facilities. “We focus on infectious diseases, not veterinary infectious diseases,” says Weese. “A bug is a bug. It doesn’t matter if C. difficile is coming from a horse or a person or a dog – it’s the same bug.” Although his research initially focused on specific micro-organisms, he is now looking more closely at microbiota – massive populations of microbes that live in and on people and animals. The human body contains 10 times more bacterial cells than all other types of cells combined. “We need these vast microbial populations to survive, so we don’t want to get rid of them,” he says. “What we want to do is support the good components of the populations and get rid of the bad parts.” Maintaining a healthy bacterial ecology is key to preventing certain types of infection, he adds. When a person’s gut bacteria have been disrupted by antibiotics, for example, they’re more susceptible to a C. difficile infection. According to research by Prof. Emma Allen-Vercoe in U of G’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, repopulating the gut with fecal transplants from healthy patients is one approach that has proven effective against C. difficile. Weese is studying a similar approach to treating intestinal diseases in dogs and cats. He started his Worms & Germs Blog – www.wormsandgermsblog.com – and diseasemapping site of the same name – www.wormsandgermsmap.com – to help raise awareness of zoonoses among vets, health-care providers and the public. Weese discusses current cases that are making headlines to inform people of the risks and prevention strategies. His goal is to provide balanced and unbiased information on subjects as diverse as how to deworm your dog, the dangers of taking animals into hospitals, and why monkeys bite more than the average pet. Some of the topics come from questions Weese receives from readers, such as the risks of contracting rabies from running over roadkill with a car. “Even the bizarre questions make me think,” he says.

SCIENTIST OR ASTRONAUT: HE WILL GROW FOOD IN SPACE

e sti ll hope s to reach outer space one day. For now, while nurturing that larger dream, Guelph grad Matt Bamsey is tending a kind of space garden. Since last fall, he has applied lessons learned from his U of G studies – and from a few “extraterrestrial” stints – to grow plants as life support systems for long-duration space missions. He’s helping German researchers develop indoor growing systems for testing in Antarctica in a few years. The southern continent is not quite the moon or Mars. But it’s one of the places on Earth that throw up the kinds of challenges that tomorrow’s space explorers – perhaps including Bamsey – might face on other worlds. Whether it’s a months-long space flight or a longterm stay in a space colony, humans will need to grow their food during the mission, he says. Beyond serving as a homegrown food source, those plants will help maintain air quality and recycle water and wastes in that self-contained environment. Think of all of the benefits provided by your indoor plants. In space, those advantages will become necessities, Bamsey says. “We’re using plants to keep people alive.” Last fall, he began a post-doc at the German Aerospace Centre’s Institute of Space Systems in Bremen. The institute develops life support systems for space travel – also one of the goals of U of G’s Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility. That’s where Bamsey completed his PhD with Prof. Mike Dixon in the School of Environmental Sciences. Using growth chambers that allow researchers to maintain precise control over environmental factors that include temperature, light and pressure, Bamsey was part of a team learning to grow plants for space applications and for uses here on Earth. Dixon has longstanding research collaborations with space agencies worldwide to develop life support technologies for space travel. Besides dealing with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), he works with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States, the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency. That’s a testament to the technology developed here on campus, says Dixon. “We’re more famous 1,000 miles away than 50 miles away.” Dixon has worked with the Bremen group for a number of years. Within the next four years, the German centre plans to send an indoor growing system to Antarctica. U of G is a partner in the proposal and Bamsey is helping to develop the system, which will be located at the Neumayer III base on Antarctica’s Ekstrom ice shelf, closest to South Africa.

20 The Portico

Inside two yoked shipping containers – normally used to transport goods by rail and boat – plants will be grown in modules under conditions meant to mimic those on the International Space Station. The stacked growth system will use controlled lighting and aeroponics and hydroponics to deliver nutrients and water. Bamsey also continues to nurture his childhood dream of reaching space, maybe in a mission to the moon or even to Mars. He was a finalist among some 5,000 applicants for the CSA’s most recent recruitment campaign for Canada’s next astronauts. By 2009, only 16 candidates were left, including Bamsey and Ryan Hunter, a U of G microbiology grad then doing a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. By then, Bamsey had spent almost a decade between school and the CSA. He began his PhD in 2006 cosupervised by Dixon and the CSA’s Alain Berinstain, and spent most of his time at the agency’s Montreal headquarters in its space science planetary exploration division. Bamsey finished his doctorate in 2012. Besides working on life support systems, he had a chance to experience a mock Mars trip in 2007. He and six other researchers conducted a four-month simulated space expedition in the Canadian high Arctic. Living at a research station run by the Colorado-based Mars Society on Devon Island, the team studied water use, habitat systems and crew psychology. Bamsey was the only crew member with previous experience on Devon Island, having visited four times since 2003 to build and maintain a greenhouse for plant growth studies. “It’s a great place to learn about field biology and geology and how people are going to fare when locked away for periods of time,” he says. “I learned a lot about myself. The psychologists reported that I was the emotional stability point of the group. I’m not overly excited.” As crew executive officer, he learned about working with the commander to resolve issues between team members in the station. One lesson learned: “You need a place to have a private conversation.”The team also had to navigate disagreements with the science crew feeding instructions from back “on Earth,” although that shared adversity brought the Mars researchers closer together. Today, he says, all seven crew members are still friends. That trip and his work with controlled environments were “operationally relevant experience” lines on his resumé for the Canadian astronaut program. Along with other shortlisted candidates vying for two openings in 2009, he faced months’ worth of challenges – physical, mental and emotional.

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Tests ranged from fighting fires and floods on a boat to constructing puzzles at the bottom of a water tank. Bamsey learned that he needs to become more comfortable in water, a key part of astronaut training. He did better with robotics and simulated pilot testing. That year, David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen were chosen for the Canadian astronaut program. Now 33, Bamsey hopes for another CSA call – maybe for a mission to the space station, whose operations have been extended to 2024. So far, the closest he’s come to space was during a post-doc at the University of Florida in 2012-13, when he flew aboard aircraft undergoing parabolic flights to simulate microgravity. Those rollercoaster rides lasting two hours in the upper atmosphere allowed researchers to look at the effects of microgravity on plants.

“You’re floating around and trying to press buttons to make things happen,� Bamsey says. “That’s easy, but you go from zero gravity to more than two G’s on the downswing. That’s where you need to keep your head steady.� (Motion sickness drugs are de rigueur.) Bamsey grew up in Guelph reading books about space and astronomy, following space shuttle flights and sketching spacecraft designs. He was a teenager when his parents bought him “claims� to chunks of the moon and the red planet as birthday gifts. He studied aerospace engineering at Carleton University and the University of Colorado before returning to Guelph for his doctorate. Getting to the moon or another planet is a long shot, he says, but “it would be incredible to be on Mars.� ) )

Fall 2014 21

Above: Charlotte Anokwa with a copy of her new book. Top right: Profs. Bruce Ryan, psychology, on the left, and James Snell, history. Bottom right: Prof. Jim Shute, left, Charlotte Anokwa and former U of G president Bill Winegard.

History Book a Labour of Love harlotte anokwa, M.Sc. ’77, says she is only the messenger for the story of development and growth in Ghana’s first university degree program in home science. In fact, she is an important contributor to that story as both an alumna and a former professor of the department she writes about in Remembering the Journey: The History of the Home Science Programme at the University of Ghana. The book covers the department’s history from its beginnings in the late 1960s to 2010 in the larger context of women’s education in the West African country. In the closing chapter, she writes: “The vision of earlier leaders was investing in individual students in the classroom and outside it so that

22 The Portico

communities could be reached and families educated in ways that move the country’s development forward.� Anokwa’s book documents those “earlier� leaders, including many University of Guelph faculty, staff and alumni who were part of the GhanaGuelph Project from 1970 to 1979. The Department of Home Science was one of five University of Ghana departments assisted by the project, which also benefited Ghana’s ministry of agriculture extension service. U of G’s participation was funded by the Canadian government and co-ordinated by Prof. Jim Shute, rural extension studies and the Centre for International Programs. Anokwa was one of 43 Ghanaians who studied at Guelph; 24 completed graduate degrees, and many returned to academic positions at the University of Ghana.The home science

department has grown to more than 300 students and offers undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs. Anokwa says Guelph provided resources not available in Ghana at the time, enabling the home science department to grow through research and curriculum development based on the needs of families and communities. The program created new opportunities primarily for young women: they gained valuable skills, some became teachers, others advanced to higher levels of university education, all contributed to Ghana’s economic and social development. A book launch held on the U of G campus July 18 brought together many people who have contributed to the historical and ongoing relationship between the two institutions. Anokwa recalled her 2008 visit with retired Guelph and

The next 50 years

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Above: Lila Engberg, front; standing left to right, Marie Tyler, B.A.Sc. ’78; Sharon Channer, B.H.Sc. ’69; Marie Dunn, DHE ’42; and Charlotte Anokwa.

Ghana professor Lila Engberg, who suggested a home science history should be written and who produced boxes of documents and photos along with the names of other people who would eventually contribute to the book. “I didn’t know Lila had accumulated so much information on the program,� says Anokwa. “I felt a documented history would be valuable for Ghanaian students and professors, and I wanted to write the book for Lila. I lived with Lila when I was a master’s student at Guelph and later writing my doctoral thesis. My work on Remembering the Journey was a way of giving back to her and all the others who paved the way.� Anokwa went on to earn a doctorate at the University of Toronto and taught at the University of Ghana for 17 years. She specialized in rural and urban extension education, women’s educa-

tional programming, and training for rural women educators in agriculture, health and community improvement. She was one of the founders of the Home Economics Association for Africa and helped to refocus the profession on local concerns and networking for international support. She has lived in the United States for the last 20 years, where she supervises a healthy families program in Indianapolis that provides home visits to help first-time mothers and young couples learn to care for their new babies. Her husband, Kwadwo Anokwa, is a journalism professor at Butler University. Their three adult children also live in the United States. Remembering the Journey can be purchased through Amazon for $35 CAD, plus shipping. ' & ' # #$" %

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Fall 2014 23

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U OG G FUNDRAISING INITIATIVES

Master’s student Enaam Chleilat and department chair Lawrence Spriet.

Human anatomy expands

he Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences has launched a $4-million fundraising drive to build a new learning centre for the human anatomy program. A “social skeleton� announced via Twitter – Dr.J_@UofGGiving4Life – offers donors of $1,000 or more the opportunity to name one of 69 bones on the skeleton for official recognition. For more information, email giving4life@uoguelph.ca or visit www.givingforlife.ca.

MAC HALL TRANSFORMS

of G announced in January that Macdonald Hall will become the new home of the College of Business and Economics. Built in the early 1900s, Macdonald Hall is a campus landmark. Dean Julia Christensen Hughes says renovations to the building will honour the heritage and historical significance of the former residence hall. Fundraising initiatives for the $10-million renovation include naming opportunities for the business school itself as well as spaces within the building, starting at $5,000. To learn more about the Macdonald Hall renovation, contact Christina Couture at couturec@uoguelph.ca or Mary Walsh at mwalsh06@uoguelph.ca.

COMING EVENTS • #/-+.*"1+0#1(/&."-(+-.,01 ,(1-!/"/1+*)%0.1/ /0-" 1 $+*)%0.$),&)/* !$ + Sept. 18 '1 Gryphons on Bay Street Social. B.Comm., 1 /+#/("!. 1+0#1 &(+#"1+(/1.0 .-/#1-,1+1 .("-C-.%/10/- ,(A.0& / /0-1+-1 ,(,0-,>"1 *. /(1 ,0+ .0.$= Sept. 18 '1 OAC 140th Celebration. //,01<,!0"-,01 (//01 (,%1 1-,1 1 $%$1 7 -,1+*)%0. ),&)/* !$ +$ Sept. 20 '1 Homecoming 2014. !/ (E !,0"1!,"-19)//0>"1 ,*#/01 +/*"1+-1D $%$1 /#%/06 (E !,01 /)0.,0 1 +**1DCBBBC @ C D B1-,1(/&."-/($1 Sept. 20 '1 College of Business and Economics Flapjack Brunch. //-1+-1-!/1 (+"" + "12 0. /(".-E1 /0-(/31 ,(1 +0 +A/"1+-1DD +$%$1 /+01<)*.+1 !(."-/0"/01 )&!/"1 .** "!+(/1 )".0/""1" !,,*10/ "$ Sept. 20 '1 School of Languages and Literatures Reunion. (+#"1+(/1.0 .-/#1-,1%//.01-!/1 0. /(".-E1 *) 1 0. /(".-E1 /0-(/ 1 -!

24 The Portico

?*,,( 1 (,%1 1-,1;1 $%$ Sept. 21 '1 HK 5K. ?,(1-!/1+00)+*1 :1 : ()01-!(,)&!1-!/1 ( ,(/-)% 1 (/C(/&."-(+-.,0 ."1 D 1 /(1()00/( 1 @ 1+-1-!/1&+-/$= Sept. 27 '1 U of G at TFC. *)%0.1+0# +0"1 .**1%//-1.01 ,(,0-,1+-1 1?./*#1 ,( -!/1 ? 1&+%/51"/+-.0&1.01 / -.,01@@D$= Sept. 27 • Gryphon Men’s Soccer Reunion. !/1(/)0.,01"-+(-"1 .-!1+1 . A) %+- !1+-1D 1+$%$1 +%/1-.%/1 D 1 $%$ , A-+.*"1+0#1#.00/(1+-1 1+0#1;1 $%$ Sept. 29 • + .#1 +**/--1 /%,(.+*1 ,* ,)(0+%/0-1+-1 . /(>"1 /+*-!1 ,* 1 *) D1 (+ +*&+(1 #$ 1 .*-,0 1 0-$1 Oct. 2 • Marketing and Consumer Studies Alumni Mixer. <,.01,-!/(1&(+#"1 ,(1+ (/)0.,01+0#1", .+*1/ /0-1+-1 +1 , ./-/ 1D D *,,(1 -$1 $ 1 ,(,0-, 1 (,%1 1-,181 $%$ ,% *.%/0-+(E1 , A-+.*"1+0#1!,("1#>,/) (/"$1

Oct. 30 • Reunion Leaders Meeting. E,)1+(/1 *+00.0&1+1(/)0.,01 ,(10/4-1E/+( 1 1, 1"-+ 1 +01!/* 1%+A/1E,)(1/ /0-1+1") /""$ --/0#1-!."1 *+00.0&1%//-.0&1-,1*/+(01 !+(/",)( /"1+(/1+ +.*+ */1-,1+""."-1E,) 1D 1+$%$ .01 *)%0.1 ,)"/$1 /&."-/(1 E1 +**.0&1DCBBBC @ C D B 1,(1/%+.*1/ /0-(" ),&)/* !$ +$ Nov. 6 • School of Engineering Honours and Awards. / / -.,01+0#1#.00/(1/ /0-,1!,0,)(1,)-"-+0#.0&1/0&.0//(.0&1+*)%0. 1 $%$1.01-!/1 !,(0 (,)&!1 ).*#.0& 1 ," $ 1 /(1 /(",0$1 ,0-+ - 1 .+0/1 .*/" +-1# .*/" ),&)/* !$ +$ Nov. 8 • !. +&,1 *)%0.1 /0-$1 )/* ! +*)%0.1+0#1 (./0#"1 .**1%//-1+-1 +- !1 !.(-EC ?. / 1 1 + A/(1 ($1.01 !. +&,$1= Nov. 15 '1 Hockey Day in Gryphonville. !."1+00)+*1/ /0-1 /*/ (+-/"1 (E !,01!, AC /E1+0#1 +(".-E1 *+E/("$

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etired engineering professor William Stammers, BSA ’54 and MSA ’56, and Elizabeth-Anne Stammers, BA ’80, head one of the University’s many multi-generational alumni families. They have three daughters who graduated from Guelph and all married fellow alumni; now the third generation is attending U of G. The Stammers family attended the Alumni Weekend family picnic on June 22 to help celebrate their U of G tradition. Standing, left to right: Kristin (Stammers), B.A.Sc. ’89, and Leo Mirotta, BA ’91; Emily Davies; Betty-Anne and Bill Stammers; Karyn (Stammers), BA ’78, and Brent Davies, BA ’85; Kelly (Stammers) Farfaras, BA ’87; Adam Davies; and Tom Farfaras, BA ’87. Kneeling: U of G student Julia Mirotta, Elizabeth Mirotta, and U of G student Erika Farfaras.

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NEW MEMBERS JOIN UGAA BOARD The University of Guelph Alumni Association welcomed four new directors at its June 20 annual general meeting and installed incoming president Brandon Gorman, previously secretary/treasurer. Current board members are, front row, left to right: Chris Moulton, B.Comm. ’05; Kelly McCarten, B.A.Sc. ’87; and recording secretary Vikki Tremblay. Second row: Brandon Gorman, B.Comm. ’06; Michael Lockhart, BAA ’10; and Christina Crowley-Arklie, B.Comm. ’09. Third row: vice-president, internal, Robert Naraj, ADA ’91 and B.Comm. ’95; Richard Horne, BA ’11; and Alexander Burlatschenko, B.Comm. ’07. Back row: past-president Brad Rooney, ADA ’93 and B.Sc.(Agr.) ’97; Heather Inch, BA ’03; and Elizabeth Thomson, BA ’97.

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Fall 2014 25

ALUMNI WEEKEND

More than 1,500 alumni and friends attended Alumni Weekend in June. It was a special celebration of U of G’s 50th anniversary and 37 class and group reunions. The weekend kicked off with the unveiling of the Gryphon Statue at the corner of Stone Road and Gordon Street. The Conversat Ball was a highlight for alumni, guests and the 100 volunteers who designed and staffed six themed venues. The celebration continued into Sunday with the Alumni Family Picnic. To view more photos of the weekend, visit www. alumni.uoguelph.ca.

26 The Portico

Clockwise from top left, all photos identified left to right: Gryph and U of G student Sam Lam at the alumni family picnic. Tony Bernard, DVM ’67, and his wife, Sharon. Kimberly Pascos and Kristina Szabo, both DVM ’99. U of G students Natalie Chow, Sophia Watts, Charley Carriero and Sarah Kay, with friend Alisaha Forstinger. Student Desiree Pat. Sitting: Scott Lamb; David Halls; Robin-Lee Norris, BA ’80; Scott Robinson, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’82; Barb Deter, B.Sc. and DVM ’91; and Ian Smith; standing: Tom and Ashley Manes, Jennifer Lamb, and Wendy Smith.

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Clockwise from top left: Irene and John Thompson, Marva Wisdom, MA ’07, and Stephen, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’83, and Anne Marie Sims. Rachel Moraghan, B.Comm. ’13, and Megan Gooding, BA 13. Kevin Stinson and Sarah Schorno, both B.Sc ’13. Fireworks at midnight. One of several classic cars displayed on campus. Ron, BA ’75, and Trish Walker, BA ’77 and M.Sc. ’90. Diana Hillier-Stoltz and Drew Stoltz, B .Sc.(Eng.) ’91; Kara, BA ’96, and Jeff McFarlane, ADA ’96; sociology professor Mavis Morton and geography lecturer John Ferguson; Kate and Daryl Holmes, B.Sc. ’88.

Fall 2014 27

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CANADIAN DESIGNS A FLAG FOR THE SCOTS

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heila Collins, ADA ’87, knows the feeling of going back to visit your hometown.You might have lived elsewhere for many years, but the place you grew up still feels like yours. “It’s a place that you can go back to and say, ‘This is where I’m from.’� That was her experience when she and her siblings took a drive last Christmas to Aurora, Ont., where they grew up. Collins knows her Scottishborn father felt the same way about the city of Edinburgh — the home left behind when he emigrated to Canada and her own adopted home for the last dozen years. Collins studied horticulture at U of G, worked in the industry for a while,

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28 The Portico

and then went back to school at York University, where she completed a degree in geography. It was her dad’s roots that drew her to Edinburgh, where she works for the Dunedin Canmore Housing Association. Just chatting with her, you can tell she loves the history and the festive atmosphere of Edinburgh. “It’s just wonderful to walk into the city and discover something that you thought was new but has been going on for years.� One of her discoveries was the annual Riding of the Marches. This Scottish tradition dates back to the 16th century, when people gathered to ride on horseback around the perimeter of the “common land,� or municipal

boundary. The Edinburgh riding fell out of favour in the 18th century, but a re-enactment was launched in 2009 as an annual September event through the creation of the Edinburgh March Riding Association. Collins first enjoyed the ceremonial ride as a spectator but added to the event last year when the exiles’ flag she designed was presented for the first time. She was inspired by a similar flag belonging to the Scottish town of Selkirk that was created by a group of Scottish emigrants living in Hespeler, Ont. Collins designed her flag to allow all expatriate Scots to be part of this historical event in Edinburgh and to commemorate her late father, Mel Collins. The Edinburgh exiles’ flag uses the city’s black, red and silver colours, and its design hints at the saltire cross from the flag of Scotland. Stitched in Toronto and gifted by Collins to the City of Edinburgh during the 2013 Riding of the Marches, the flag is now on permanent display at the Edinburgh city chambers. “I can’t say enough about how proud I am of the City of Edinburgh to accept the exiles’ flag and to make it part of a tradition that dates back to the late 1500s,� she says. Collins is not just a volunteer but also an active participant in the Edinburgh riding association. She also plans to one day ride on horseback and go up the Royal Mile, the last mile for all riders who participate. As the exiles’ flag is presented to the riders, “it’s a great moment to share, a great way to celebrate the city. This goes beyond what people might call ancestral tourism. It is something quite real, something people can walk into and realize – a living history.� + +

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1960 Dave Cartledge, DVM ’69, works for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in Red Deer, Alta. He has received a “Hero of the Flood� award from the Alberta government for helping many victims of the 2013 floods. Much of his volunteer effort involved cleaning mud and water out of numerous homes in High River and Calgary. In

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Terry Daynard, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’65, M.Sc. ’66 and PhD ’68, received the 2014 “champion� award from Farm and Food Care Ontario for his career contributions to agriculture.A former crop science professor and assistant dean of the Ontario Agricultural College, he farms with his wife, Dorothy, outside Guelph and served previously as executive director of the Ontario Corn Producers’ Association. He was instrumental in developing the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan and, more recently, has embraced social media to communicate the value of science and innovation in agriculture. Follow him on Twitter @TerryDaynard. Reuben Lachmansingh, BSA ’64, graduated in the year U of G was established, making him one of the last Ontario Agricultural College graduates to receive their degrees from the University of Toronto. He has worked as a civil servant, science teacher, motel owner and entrepreneur. In his free time, he has

It’s all about football

Left to right: Randy Dimitroff, BA ’86, president of Friends of Gryphon Football; Pat Tracey; Mike O’Shea; Guelph Gryphons head coach Stu Lang; and Kyle Walters.

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travelled the world, practised tae kwon do, and earned several trophies and medals in league and “oldies� international cricket tournaments. His recently pub-

lished novel, A Dip at the Sangam, tells the story of a man kidnapped in Calcutta, India, in 1869 and sent to work as a slave on a sugar plantation in British Guiana. Jill Varnell, B.H.Sc. ’61, of Raleigh, N.C., writes: “My first memory of Conversat was not the first time I attended in the winter of 1958 but was a story my mother, Isabel Young, DHE ’38, shared with me. My father, Bert Young, BSA ’37, really wanted to take Mom to Conversat but didn’t have the money.With a dare from his classmates and best friends Reg Stuart, Gord

Fall 2014 29

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Richard Philp, DVM ‘57, is a retired professor who taught in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University. He has published several textbooks on toxicology and environmental issues, and has recently written historical fiction. His first novel was Loyalist Rifleman, a saga of the War of 1812; Acceptable Casualties, the story of two Canadian soldiers in the First World War, was published by Friesen Press in June. Philp and his wife, Joan, live in a 130-year-old heritage home in London, Ont.They have several grown children and grandchildren living across North America.

less stressful times, he enjoys membership in Toastmasters International. 1$1? 1 %$ ?1"?"'% ?' #?"11#? '% ?1 $'% 1

Alex Rattray, DVM ’42, and his wife, Marion, made national headlines in April when they renewed their marriage vows in the same church where they were wed in 1944. The couple told a CBC video team that the secret to their seven-decade marriage centred on family. Both aged 94, the Rattrays have two sons, Don and Doug, and a large extended family.

Hall of Fame Inducts Three Aggies

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30 The Portico

Nixon and Joe Mooney, Dad raised the money. The dare was to run around Mac Hall stark naked, playing his trumpet. Every time I hear the word ‘Conversat,’ it elicits a smile. Thanks for the memories.�

1970 Marguerite Adams, B.A.Sc. ’74, lives in Georgetown, Ont., and works as a sales consultant for Pampered Chef. She says she is proud to have three generations of Guelph grads in her family: her mother, Opal Sharpe, DHE ’38, herself and her three children. They are Adams’s daughters Melissa Jansen, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’01, and Jennifer Ross, B.Sc. ’07, and her son, Robin Adams, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’04. Adams congratulates Jennifer on her May 31 marriage to Trevor Ross. Timothy Adlington, B.Sc. ’76 and M.Sc. ’78, is CEO of

Parwan Valley Muchrooms near Melbourne, Australia. He moved there from British Columbia in 2011 with his wife, Jeanette. “We are loving the lifestyle and beauty of the country, and we’re fortunate to have both daughters and a grandson in Australia as well.� Adlington has been in the mushroom business almost exclusively since graduation with Campbell Soup and Moneys Mushrooms. He also completed an executive MBA at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. Richard “Dick� BourgeoisDoyle, BA ’73, was appointed secretary general of the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada April 1. In this role, he acts as secretary to the NRC council and as NRC’s senior officer for values and ethics. Previously, he was NRC director of corporate governance. Before

Your Career. Your Way. Business at Guelph.

joining NRC in 1987, he was chief of staff to the minister of science and technology and the minister of fisheries and oceans. Earlier he helped found two public relations firms in Ottawa and a resource inventory company in British Columbia. A former broadcaster and journalist, he has written a number of books and contributed to many discussions on the history of science and innovation in Canada. He also holds a master’s degree from Athabasca University and a certificate in business administration from the University of Ottawa. Ninkey Dalton, BA ’73, sells real estate for The Agency in Beverley Hills. She says, “When you’re looking for great real estate opportunities in California, call me.� Michael Field, BA ’79 and MA ’80, has published a sus-

penseful debut novel called Incarceration. He is currently a guidance counsellor at a federal penitentiary and lives in Bracebridge, Ont. His daughter, Madeleine, is enrolled in U of G’s arts and science program. The novel revolves around a man who teaches English at a penitentiary and gets too involved with an inmate and the prisoner’s wife. Juri Peepre, BLA ’76, was featured in the Summer 2014 Portico, but the notice inadvertently placed him in the wrong degree program. He earned his degree in landscape architecture and has spent much of his career protecting Canada’s wilderness, particularly in northern British Columbia and Yukon. Peepre received the Order of Canada in 2013. Peter Taylor, BA ’76, is director of development and com-

Guelph grads are Calgary co-workers

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Make your legacy at the University of Guelph For information on bequests and planned giving, please contact Ross Butler at 519-824-4120, ext. 56196, rbutler@uoguelph.ca, or visit www.alumni.uoguelph.ca

Fall 2014 31

munications at Rooftops Canada/Abri International, the international development program of co-operative and social housing organizations in Canada. He is also the principal of WatchWord Communications and a board member of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association – York Region. His literary writing has been published in Canada and internationally.

The Ontarion updates its look

Emily Jones

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1980 Helena Champion, M.Sc. ’80, is a consultant with Drug Quality Assurance LLC in Winchester, Maine. She provides quality assurance and quality operations support for drug and medical device development and commercialization to help clients comply with Food and Drug Administration, European and global regulations in good manufacturing practice, good

Spread Your Wings

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32 The Portico

clinical practice and good laboratory practice. She has more than 25 years of experience in drug and device development with large biotech pharmaceutical companies. She has offices in Boston and Palm Beach. In her spare time, she enjoys choral singing, golf and sailing. George Charbonneau, DVM ’81, is a partner in South West Ontario Veterinary Services based in Stratford, Ont. He has served as president of the Canadian Association of Swine Veterinarians, the Ontario Association of Swine Veterinarians and the Ontario Pork Congress. He helped to found the Ontario Pork Industry Council and was its inaugural chair. He is a district representative to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians and currently serves as its vice-president. He received the association’s Swine Practitioner

of the Year award in 2012. Birte Kersting-Wilson, B.Sc. ’86, is an environmental consultant with AMEC Environment and Infrastructure in Honolulu. She writes: “My unplanned career path led me to paradise.” Jennifer La Chapelle, BA ’81 and MA ’83, is the proud mother of Madelaine Donnelly, a 2014 honours graduate of Guelph’s program in theatre studies. Donnelly is now starting a post-graduate program in documentary and non-fiction media production at Seneca College. Lisa Valoppi-Carter, B.A.Sc. ’89, says she didn’t realize when she started her degree in family and social relations that it would give her such a solid foundation to become an entrepreneur, “partnering with my husband in life and business

40-year friends fish the Fraser

Left to right: Phil Burden, Alan Spergel and Dave Risk, all B.Comm. ’76, jump-started their 40th anniversary by spending three days in July fishing in British Columbia. Burden and Spergel are chartered accountants, the former a retired international tax specialist living in Surrey, B.C. Spergel heads a large insolvency practice based in the Toronto area. Risk founded an international brokerage business in fresh and frozen seafood products based in Toronto. When Risk hauled this five-foot-long sturgeon from the Fraser River, his U of G friends ensured that he didn’t try to sell it. “It must go back to fight again.”

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Winegard medalist drawn into food engineering

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34 The Portico

and being able to balance work, motherhood, and volunteering.� She is chief financial officer at UnyPOS Manufacturing in Michigan. “Thank you University of Guelph for offering learning outside the traditional setting as well.� Hayo van der Werf, M.Sc. ’89, obtained a PhD in agronomic and environmental sciences at Wageningen University, Netherlands, in 1994. He is a senior scientist at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research. He focuses on methodological development of life-cycle assessment for studying the environmental sustainability of agri-food systems. Jan Vorstermans, M.Sc. ’82, lives in the Netherlands and works in business development for Fresh Park Venlo BV, including fresh supply chain development, metropolitan food clusters, crossover and high-tech agros.

1990 Michael Barnycz, M.Sc. ’99, has completed a one-year assignment in Thunder Bay, Ont., for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. He says he was finally able to apply the “rural� part of his degree in rural planning and development.“It was a great opportunity to work with municipalities in northwestern Ontario and to take in the sights around Thunder Bay.� He has since returned to his home position with the ministry in Toronto. Darryl North, B.Sc. ’92, writes that he and his “wonderful, loving wife, Brenda,� were married in 2012 and have three children, Hunter, Brooklyne and Carissa. The family resides in Guelph, and North invites U of G friends to contact him at darryl_north@mccormick.com. Steven Rowland, ’90, is a part-time professor in the envi-

ronmental program at St. Lawrence College in Cornwall, Ont., and spends the rest of his time working in the field and lab for St. Lawrence Testing and Inspection.

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Jessica Young, BA ’92, is a children’s book author living with her family in Nashville, Tenn., where she teaches art in elementary and middle school. Her most recent picture book, My Blue is Happy, was illustrated by Catia Chien and published by Candlewick Press. It follows a young girl through her neighbourhood as she explores what colours mean to different people. Among her numerous awards, Young was listed on the Ontario Library Association’s Best Bets 2013. Read more about her books at www.jessicayoungbooks.com.

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Vikram Shrivastava, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’96, has earned the highest post-licence certification available in the water resources engineering profession. He received a Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer, this

summer from the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers, a subsidiary of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The award recognizes strong professional ethics, a commitment to lifelong learning and continuing professional development. Shrivastava is a department manager in the Fairfax,Va., office of Dewberry, a professional services firm providing architectural, engineering, and management and consulting services to public- and private-sector clients.

2000 Grazyna Adamska Jarecka, BA ’02, also holds a master’s degree in fine art from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She had her first solo show in the Toronto region in April 2014 and showed her work at Guelph’s Boarding House Gallery this summer.View her work at www.adamskapaint ing.com. Joseph Clement, BLA ’05, combines his interest in design and landscape with moving images and storytelling. He completed a master’s degree at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2011, and has produced and directed several music videos, short documentaries and experimental films. His current project is a feature-length documentary, The Integral Man, about Canadian mathematician Jim Stewart, professor emeritus at McMaster University and a concert violinist. Stewart’s Toronto home – named “Integral House� for its curved walls – features a concert hall that seats 150 and serves as the focal point for his contributions to arts and culture in Canada. Clement expects to release the film in spring 2015. Brandon Gorman, B.Comm ’06, is the newly elected president of the University of

Guelph Alumni Association. He specialized in marketing at U of G and was an active student volunteer, including serving as president of the commerce association and as a member of the steering committee for the formation of the College of Management of Economics. He has recently completed an MBA. Gorman’s career began and continues with the Royal Bank; he is currently a senior commercial account manager focusing on clients in the manufacturing industry. He lives in Whitby with his wife, Lindsay, B.Comm. ’06, and their son, Anderson. Andrew Kaszowski, BAA ’06, has started a new role as alumni communications specialist at Western University in London, Ont. Stephanie Yue Cottee, M.Sc. ’02 and PhD ’07, was recently hired by Maple Leaf Foods to head a new animal wellness program. She leaves the job of policy programs adviser at Ontario Pork, where she managed the Canadian quality assurance and animal care assessment program. As a research writer, she helped develop two codes of practice for the National Farm Animal Care Council.

2010 Marena Brinkhurst, B.Sc.(Env.) ’10, has relocated to California for a new position with Namati, an international legal empowerment non-profit that works in community land rights protection. In April, she married Andrew Milne, a grad of McMaster and Simon Fraser universities. Meghan Harris, B.Sc.(H.K.) ’12, will graduate in November with a master’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of Alberta. Richard Valenzona, MLA ’13, won Toronto’s 2014 NXT

Forster medalist takes barcoding technology to market

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

Fall 2014 35

City Prize for a design that would transform a stretch ofYonge Street into a pedestrian-friendly public space, featuring a curbless, two-

lane shared street, expanded sidewalk space, and more trees and benches to encourage passive activities.The competition chal-

lenges people under the age of 30 to re-imagine city-owned public spaces.Valenzona received $5,000 in prize money and a chance to

work with a team of industry mentors to help him get his YONGE REDUX project off the ground.

PAS S AGES Gordon Alexander, ADA ’52, May 3, 2012 James Roy “Jay” Anderson, B.Sc. ’13, May 29, 2014 John Aylesworth, BSA ’42, June 29, 2013 Hedley Barlow, DVM ’54, May 15, 2014 Krishna Basrur, MSA ’59, Sept. 2, 2013 Roy Berg, H.D.Sc. ’91, May 8, 2012 Lennox Blizzard, M.Sc. ’69, June 20, 2014 Adam Boyd, BA ’87, April 12, 2013 Ernest Carter, BSA ’55, May 12, 2014 Mary Chadwick, DVM ’81, Nov. 9, 2013 Beverly Craft, B.H.Sc. ’60, July 27, 2014 Ernest Crossland, BSA ’44, Jan. 9, 2013 Jean-Paul Cucuel, DVM ’57, Feb. 25, 2014 Susan Currie, BA ’71, Oct. 22, 2011 Donald Dance, ADA ’58, July 31, 2014 Andrew Alfred Dashner, BSA ’51, March 3, 2014 Robert Duff, R.Dip. ’89, March 4, 2009 Doris Eickmeier, DHE ’41, Jan. 4, 2014 Skye Faris, B.H.Sc. ’63, May 6, 2014 Julie Fields, BA ’00, April 10, 2014 Clement Fisher, BSA ’51, July 23, 2014 Gunther Gohlich, DVM ’61, July 11, 2014 Bryan Goutouski, BA ’94, June 14, 2014 Ralph Gregg, BSA ’49, July 21, 2014 Mario Gubbels, R.Dip. ’81, July 13, 2014 Susan Gubbels, R.Dip. ’81, July 13, 2014

Rugh Humphreys, DHE ’53, Aug. 3, 2013 Roland Humphries, K.Dip. ’49, Sept. 20, 2010 Ronald G. Hunter, ODH ’99, May 29, 2014 Martin Huzevka, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’84, Feb. 17, 2014 Nathan Incledon, B.Sc. ’92, Sept. 23, 2012 Frederick Kan, B.Comm. ’00, Nov. 14, 2012 Peggy Knapp, H.D.Sc. ’01, Aug. 13, 2014 Charles Lawrence, B.Sc.(H.K.) ’81, Dec. 9, 2013 Gail Lehrbass-Hunt, B.H.Sc. ’60, Aug. 23, 2013 Randal Little, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’94, Dec. 28, 2011 Alan Lowe, BSA ’40, May 2, 2014 Robert Marshall, BSA ’55, June 20, 2014 Agnes McGimsie, DHE ’36, Oct. 20, 2012 Gordon McKeown, DVM ’49, May 1, 2014 Clinton McLean, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’81, April 27, 2014 Donald McLean, BSA ’50, June 15, 2014 Alexis McLeod, B.Comm. ’10, Feb. 4, 2013 Murray McMullen, DVM ’61, July 31, 2014 Bonus Nutor, DVM ’64, Jan. 14, 2014 William Oliver, DVM ’49, April 19, 2013 Robert Rawlings, ADA ’55, June 25, 2014 Lloyd Roadhouse, BSA ’42, March 24, 2013

Alexander Romansky, ADA ’49, May 28, 2014 Warren Ross, ADA ’54, May 19, 2014 Isobel Russell, DHE ’47, Aug. 3, 2014 Martin Schoeley, MBA ’03, July 18, 2014 Roland Shoemaker, ODH ’78, March 25, 2014 Robert Skafte, K.Dip. ’54, April 26, 2014 Myles Smith, DVM ’48, July 28, 2014 Mark Spiegle, DVM ’76, May 4, 2014 Ivan Steven, R.Dip. ’60, March 1, 2013 Sarah Truong, B.Sc. ’09, March 28, 2014 Ruth Vincent, DHE ’50, May 9, 2014 Glenn Watson, BSA ’49, July 27, 2014 Daniel A. Webster, BSA ’61, Feb. 13, 2014 James Wilkins, R.Dip. ’54, May 31, 2014 FACULTY AND STAFF

John Cairns, retired director of the Centre for International Programs, May 14, 2014 Peter Chisholm, retired from the School of Engineering, May 29, 2014 Patrick Holland, former professor in the Department of English, June 23, 2014 Tom Mooney, former Gryphon football coach, June 20, 2014 Koushik Seetharaman, former professor in the Department of Food Science, June 3, 2014 To honour alumni who have passed away, the University of Guelph Alumni Association makes an annual donation to the Alumni Legacy Scholarship.

Read The Portico Online for Letters to the Editor and alumni memories of Guelph’s first years as a university: www.uoguelph.ca/theportico.

36 The Portico

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