Guelph The Portico Magazine, Summer 2007

SUMMER

2007

Congratulations to our award recipients!

Co-op Employer of the Year - Oliver Bonacini Restaurants Co-op Student of the Year (sponsored by Wired Effects) - Jenea Bin Co-op Student Involvement - Lindsay Baker & Iris Lam Guelph Trillium Rotary Award- Bryan Potter, Kam Rattan, & Zack Snider CIBC Co-op Work Term Report Excellence Award- Brian Lamont, Sabrina Koh, Ken McDonald, & David Heppenstall Kenneth James Berg Memorial Scholarship - Andrea Portt

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UNIVERSITY grGUELPH

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

cecs@uoguelph.ca www.cecs.uoguelph.ca

THE PORTICO •

SUMMER 2007

[ president's page - 3 ] • [ letters - 4 ] • [ grad news -

[ 16 IN AND AROUND THE UNIVERSITY

cover story ]

PHILANTHROPY WITH PURPOSE For many Guelph grads, charitable giving is both a strategic decision to support excellence and a heartfelt desire to improve the lives of others.

C

journalist and diplomat Pamela Wallin is U of G's next chancellor, and former federal environment minister David Anderson heads a new Guelph Institute for the Environment. In research news, food science professor Alejandro Marangoni finds a substitute for ANADIAN

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ALUMNI MATTERS

C

HAPTER EVENTS

around the world draw Guelph grads together during the winter semester. On campus, the Department of Athletics receives one of the University's largest donations from assistant volleyball coach Larry Pearson.

His $1.1-million gift will modernize facilities and support a scholarship.

fut>.

[ 20 ] THE TREE OF LIFE

on the cover Ken and Marilyn Robinson

AU of G graduate and writer muses about a four-storey steel structure in the science complex and the potential discoveries that could surround it in research labs and classrooms.

Murray, Guelph grads 1950 and 1955

[ 10 ]

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROSS DAVIDSON-PILON

pASSIONATE PEOPLE Five Guelph grads talk about themselves and the worthy causes they champion.

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HOMECOMING 2007 • Football Game vs.

Western @ 2pm

£PORTICO Summer 2007 • VoLUME 39 lssuE 2

Editor Mary Dickieson Director Charl es Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enn eson Design Inc.

UNIVERSITY 9/GUELPH A

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Contributors Barbara Chance, BA '74 Rachelle Cooper David DiCenzo Deirdre Healey, BA 'Ol Lori Bona Hunt Heather Ives, B.A.Sc. '04 Rebecca Kendall, BA '99 SPARK Program Writers Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84

gryphons.ca

For more information contact: Joe Varamo, 519.824.4120 X: 53354

1

jvaramo@uoguelph.ca

Make another educated choice ...

Bring your colleagues home

Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 Direct all other correspondence to: Communications and Public Affa irs University of Guelph Guelph, O ntari o, Ca nada N 1G 2W1 E-mail m.dicki eson@exec.uoguelph. ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/ The Portico m agazin e is published three times a year by Communications and Publi c Affairs at the University of Guelph . Its mi ssio n is to enh a nce th e relatio nship between the University and its a.l umni and friends and promote pride and com mitment within the University community. All material is copyright 2007. Ideas and opin ions expressed in th e articles do not necessar il y reflect the id eas or o pinion s of th e University or the ed itors.

Publications Mai l Agreement # 40064673

Printed in Canada- ISSN 171 4-8731 To update your alumni reco rd, contact: Alumni Affa irs and Developm ent Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 519-822-2670 E-mail alumnireco rds@uoguelph. ca

2 THE PORTICO

WE ARE ONE WORLD AND MUST WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

T IS MY PLEASURE to be serving as chair ofWorld University Service of Canada (WUSC), a leading international development agency that partners with students, faculty and institutions to internationalize Canada's universities.

In late April, I traveled to Africa with other postsecondary leaders in Canada. We were building a figurative bridge to Botswana through the Botswana Tertiary Education Council, which is looking to increase education opportunities in Canada.

And vice versa. We expect to see greater student mobility and more internships and exchanges for Canadian university and college students.

Perhaps our bridge will also lead to faculty exchange and research opportunities, joint education programming with WUSC, and joint research opportunities.

Such programs would be good for Botswana and Canada and good for the University of Guelph.

More than 800 Batswana students have already studied in Canada through WUSC's scholarship program, and more than 95 per cent of them returned home. We hope our spring mission will also have a profound influence on the people of Botswana, which echoes WUSC's notion that we are one world and must work together to make a difference.

This is a philosophy that fits well with the University of Guelph vision of a society that understands and appreciates the diversity and interconnectedness of global living. Our institutional role in that vision is to provide provocative leadership in exploring and applying knowledge that will improve quality of life for all of us, whether we rest under a Baobab tree in Botswana or a steel tree at the University of Guelph.

Fifty tons of steel, to be exact. With hollow steel branches that extend upward 60 feet and support 12,000 square feet of roof and skylights, this tree serves as both a functional and symbolic element in the atrium of our new science complex.

It was designed by Robbie I Young+ Wright Architects and has already been dubbed the Tree of Life, as you will read later in this issue of The Portico. Beneath its branches is a meeting place for Guelph students and faculty, an inspiring view from a lab window, and a path that shortens the distance from here to there.

These practical and esthetic uses make the Tree of Life a symbol for the science complex itself, which is already promoting collaboration among researchers and will surely stimulate new discoveries in the life sciences. One of the donors who is contributing to the science complex project has declared the building a

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We need and appreciate the support of alumni and friends who share our vision for cross-disciplinary research and teaching. Those who support the University of Guelph support excellence in the education of future scientists, as well as artists and philosophers and economists and teachers, and career paths still unknown.

The Guelph graduates featured in this magazine share their own visions of what education can accomplish.

Many talk about the value their Guelph education has had in both their professional and personal lives.

University, it seems, is the place where students become true citizens of our society.

These alumni stories demonstrate that when we provide the best in academic programs and unlimited opportunities, we encourage the best from our students.

And when we show them how to build bridges between disciplines of study or between nations- they respond in kind by building their own bridges with fellow pioneers and global neighbours.

ALASTAIR SuMMERLEE PRESIDENT

Summer 2007 3

GRYPHONS â&#x20AC;˘

SHAKESPEARE â&#x20AC;˘

THE ARCTIC

Gryphon glory

IT WAS WITH GREAT PLEASURE that I received the latest issue of The Portico. My spouse, Denise (Leavey) Tracey, BA '88, and I always enjoy reading the U of G news.

In the "Grad News" section , you mention the outstanding CFL achievements of Michael O'Shea (a future Hall of Fame candidate ). I helped recruit him to Guelph from Widdifield High School in North Bay, Ont. And in the "Alumni Matters" section, what a thrill to see the Glory Bowl and 15 of the former players I recruited to Guelph when I was assistant coach there. The Glory Bowl was founded in 1987 by me, Rick Kohler, ADA '86, and Brian Cluff.

Denise and I now live in Kingston, Ont., with our daughters, Devon and Darby. I am the assistant head coach of the Queen's Golden Gaels football team, and Denise is the senior travel consultant for Cleland Travel.

PAT TRACEY, ADA '83 AND BA '87 VANIER CuP CHAMPIO N 1984 KINGSTON, ONT. Setting the story straight on Stratford

I READ WITH INTEREST BUT some annoyance the article on the founding of the Stratford Festival featuring Dan Mathieson, mayor of Stratford. I lived in Stratford at the time of the festival's founding, and my recollection is quite different.

The idea for a Shakespearean festival certainly came from Tom Patterson, but the real credit belongs to a small group of dedicated citizens who took the idea and brought it to fruition. My father, Judge H.D. Lang, was one of those people. I remember them meeting in our home and the homes of others- Ken Crone, Douglas Showalter and Mac Gilmore, to name but three.

To claim that Patterson "took his love of William Shakespeare's work and a mere $125 and turned it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise" is pure fiction.

The small group of people who

4 THE PoRTICO

Glory Bowl 2006

became the "founding fathers" of the festival were the ones who put up their personal security for the bank loans to establish the festival. Furthermore, the article makes no mention of the Gaffi1ey Construction Co. of Stratford, which took on the job of pouring the foundation and preparing th e site for the tent without any guarantee of payment.

Patterson went to New York to meet Sir Tyrone Guthrie, but the founders also brought Guthrie to Stratford for a meeting, and Guthrie became their adviser. His first piece of advice was to invite a world-renowned actor. When they weren't able to find such an actor and time was getting short- the bank was asking for repayment on the loan -the founders sent Patterson to England to seek Guthrie's help. They first approached Sir Laurence Olivier, whose response was (as related to me by my father): "I am not going to some backwater in the colonies to do Shakespeare:' They next approached Sir Alec Guinness, who said he'd be honoured to come. He played Richard III in Stratford's first production. It was one of the finest I have had the privilege of witnessing.

The "founding fathers" became the first board of governors of the festival, and their philosophy was that Shakespeare should be available to all, regardless of status or income. Sadly, this

belief was lost as the festival slowly but surely came under the control of outside interests.

A few years ago, the fe stival founders were honoured when a stone walkway called the Founders' Steps was built. Some of the funds for the walkway were donat ed by the surviving children of the founders.

Very briefly, this is the story of how the festival began. My advice to you and the mayor of Stratford would be to give due recognition to those who, through their hard work, dedication and financial backing, brought the fes tival to life instead of perpetuating the myth that it was a one-man show!

R . W. LANG, ADA '52 ARNPRIOR, 0 NT. 0.). Stevenson and the Bard

THE WINTER 2007 ISSUE OF The Portico is a thrilling one with news of the great Shakespearean events at Guelph and the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. As far as I can tell, however, a Guelph connection from decades ago has been missed.

Many generations of Ontario public and high school students (and from other provinces as well) received their introduction to the Bard with the aid of OAC's professor of English, O.J. Stevenson. I'm sure there have been stories of his contributions. I have two

William Hutt greets reporters at the "Shakespeare - Made in Canada" launch. of his books- one printed in 1917, the other in 1922. Certainly I was well exposed to Stevenson's notes in high school from 1940 to 1945. So OAC can do a bit of bragging.

DAVE ADAMS, BSA , 49 MISSISSAUGA, ONT .

I am certain it will receive innumerable awards and accolades. It makes me so proud to be part of a community that produces a magazine of such quality and originality.

PRoF. JACQUELINE MuRRAY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Applauding Shakespeare THE WINTER 2007 PoRTICO

I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR including me in your Shakespeare edition of The Portico. I sent my parents the magazine, and my dad promptly reported- after reading the piece that he finally understands what I do with my microprobe!

Congratulations on the whole magazine - it's a fascinating read. I enjoyed learning more about the origins of the Sanders portrait and about all the various contributions of William Hutt and others to the "Shakespeare- Made in Canada" festival.

PRoF. DrANE NALINI DE KERCKHOVE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

issue is simply outstanding. What a wonderful preparation for our plan to be in Guelph for Alwnni Weekend in June and to go on from there to Stratford. My wife, Catherine, and I went to see Richard III in the tent during the first year of the Stratford Festival in 1953. That was also our very special wedding year.

BRUCE FOUND, BSA '47 LONDON, ONT. ENJOYED YOUR WINTER ISSUE, which adds much to the excellent issues of previous years. The design and text of the pages devoted to "Willy Shake Revealed" are particularly pleasing and apt.

ROBERT MuRRAY. H.D.Sc. '88 LONDON, 0NT. I'vE JUST FINISHED DEVOURING every word of the Shakespeare Portico. It is truly wonderful. The articles are lively and informative, and the layout and presentation are breathtaking.

Arctic memories REGINA MACEACHERN, BA '75, wrote to give us her new address in Burk's Falls, Ont., and included a colourful summary of her experiences growing up in the Arctic and as a U of G student and graduate. We invite you to read the entire letter on the Portico website at www.uoguelph.ca/news/

portico. The following is an excerpt: "When I started at U of G in the fall of 1968, having completed Grade 13 at Dunbarton High School in Pickering, Ont., I rarely talked about having spent h alf of my life to that point growing up in the Arctic. The mere mention usually brought blank stares and awkward pauses in conversation -or jokes about living in an igloo and eating raw meat.

"It was a guidance counsellor at Dunbarton who suggested going to the small 'new' University of Guelph (with a student population under 5,000) and that majoring in fine art would give me a broader base than going to Ryerson and taking interior design.

"I sometimes speculate about where I'd be now if I'd chosen Ryerson. I failed intra psychology, and at the end of my fi fth straight semester in the winter of 1970, thanks to two roommates who kept me up arguing over a trivial matter until three in the morning the night before my criminology final, I failed it as well.

"I went back to Frobisher Bay to join my father, who had gone back as acting town manager.

"Sometime during 1973, I requested a calendar from U of G. I decided to go back to Guelph for my final three semesters. With my discovery of textile and design courses offered on the Mac side of campus, my last three semesters were my favourites! Convocation was Feb. 7, 1975.

"Thanks for allowing me to set the record st raight about being the first student who grew up/lived in the Arctic to attend Guelph. Over the years, I have noted articles on U of G students and grads doing research and/or working in the Arctic, but I'm pretty sure I predate th em, having first set foot in Frobisher Bayllqualuit Aug. 18, 1959.

I would be interested in knowing if that assumption is incorrect."

REGINA MACEACHERN, BA '75 BuRK ' s FALLS, 0NT.

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Summer 2007 5

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS â&#x20AC;˘

RESEARCH â&#x20AC;˘

CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS

& U of G speaks for the environment enviro nment mm1ster David Anderso n h as join ed the University community as directo r of the new Guelph Institute for th e Enviro nment. H e will spend one week each m onth at U of G, helping th e University take on a stronger role in environmental policy- making.

Referrin g to m o re than a deca de he spent in the federal cabinet, including seven years as minister of th e sciencebased departm ents of Fisher ies and Ocea ns and Enviro nment, Anderson says: "We weren' t always wo rking as effectively as we co uld have with science people from the unive rsity com munity."

His job, he says, will be not so much to serve as a U of G spokesperso n but "to m ake contact with poli cy- makers to ensure that th e research do ne here

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Hon . David Anderson

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receives appropriate co nsideratio n in th e policy process."

Prof. Stew Hil ts, ch air of th e Department of Land Resource Science and acting assoc iate dea n of the Faculty of Environmen ta l Scien ces, says the institute m ay wo rk locally to help U of G researchers explore ideas for joint environmenta l research with City of Guelph officials o r a rea co nserva tion authorities on such topics as landuse pla nnin g, wate r reso urces managem ent, waste m ana ge ment and community de ve lo pment. T he new body is also intended to establish ties with no n-governmental organi zations, to spark public disc ussion abo ut enviro nmen tal iss ues, a nd to feed U of G e nviro nm ental resea rch into policy development at th e provincial, national and internati o nal levels.

She's a real sport!

G

RYPH ON

B A SKE TBAL L ST A R

Stephanie Yallin graduates this summer with a new U of G record. The biological sciences maj o r from Po rt Colborne is th e first-ever Guelph athlete to win the CIS (Canadi an Interuniversity Sport) Sylvia Sweeney Award, recognizing achievement in academics, athletics and community involvement. " I think I was in shock at first," Yallin says. ''I'm very pro ud to repre~ sent the University and th e communi"'~ ty. I've had just a great time in my fo ur ~ yea rs here." ~ Described as a natural leader on the ""i;; co urt, Yallin helped the women's tea m 20 win th e provin cial ch ampionship in 6: her second yea r. Sh e says th e trip to

6

TH E PORTI CO

natio nals was a sport highlight. "It's a huge deal to be able to get th at far. I'm glad we had th e opportunity to play in th e CIS finals in St. John's."

Off the basketball court, Yallin has been involved with U of G's "Believe to Achieve" program, speakin g with local schoolchildren abo ut the importance of excelling in th e class room , bein g confident in their abilities a nd setting goals. She is also th e University ambassado r with local media, is a university liaison with potential stud ents and has volunteered at num erous community basketb all clinics.

Yallin pla ns a care er in speec h path ology, and also voluntee red her tim e at two local speech clinics.

Step hani e Yaltin leads on and off the court.

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u OF G CHANCELLOR

HOLD THE TRANS FATS

A

heart-healthy recipe for making trans fat-free processed foods may

resu lt from work by an international research team headed by Guelph food scientist Alejandro Marangoni.

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oils and change them into a so lid fatlike material, the researchers have developed an alternative to arteryclogging trans fats that may also help fend off obesity and diabetes.

Trans fats from part ially hydrogenated oils are used to lengthen the

F

ORMER CANADIAN JOURNALIST

and diplomat Pamela Wallin has been named to succeed the Honourable Lincoln Alexander as chancellor of the University of Guelph. She will be installed as Guelph's sixth chancellor June 13 during convocation week.

Alexander, who has been chancellor for an unprecedented 15 years, has been named University chancellor emeritus and wi ll continue to serve in ceremonial ro les, including participating in some public events and convocations.

Wallin, who received an honorary degree from Guelph in 2006, is senior adviser to the president of the Americas Society and the Council of the Alnericas in New York. Her career spans more than 30 years and several continents. She worked for CBC Radio and at the Ottawa bureau of the Toronto Star

before being recruited by CTV. She hosted Canada AM, went on to become Ottawa bureau chief and anchored the CTV weekend news. In 1992, she moved to CBC-TV to become co-host of Prime Time News with Peter Mansbridge and later host of The National Magazine.

Wallin founded an independent television company in 1995, hosted the Canad ian edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and travelled to New York to host the "Canada Loves New York" rally in 2001. She served as Canada's consul general in New York from 2002 to 2006.

Wallin holds 13 honorary doctorates, is a member of the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame, received a national Visionary Award in Canada and was twice recognized by Queen Elizabeth II for her public service and achievements.

shelf life of processed foods, but by altering the mix of so-called good and bad cholesterol in the blood, they may increase the risk of heart disease.

Marangoni's group has found a way to mix oil, water, monoglycerides and fatty acids to provide the same functiona l benefits as trans fats.

More t han that, he says their formula has been found to release fats in a more controlled way. By regulating the amount of insulin produced by the body after a meal, controlled release of lipids in the blood may help lower the risk of obesity and Type

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diabetes.

He's workin g with investigators at the University of Waterloo and in France, where he recently spent a nearly yea rlong research leave. Their research is supported by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Summer 2007 7

I

How much metal can a mussel take?

When Ottawa begins updating environmental guidelin es to better control levels of toxic metals in lakes and rivers, regulators will probably draw on fatmucket research now being done at U of G. Post-doc researcher Patricia Gillis has been testing freshwater clams co llected from lakes and streams in southern Ontario. She expects her work will tell us more about how polluting metals affect fresh water mussels and clams, which are among the most endangered organisms in North America.

That toxicology information is needed as policy-makers begin rolling out improved environmental regulations to protect not just mollu sks but also other creatures alo ng the food chain, including humans, says Gillis, who holds a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in zoology from Guelph.

Existing environmental guidelines are based mostly on limiting the concentration of metals being discharged into a water body. Currently, that magic number is more or less the same whether you're standing on the Canadian Shield or alongside the Speed River. But Gillis says that approach is faulty because it fails to account for critical differences in the receiving waters.

For a fish or clam, it's not just how much copper that matters but also what else is already in the water that might make that organism more or less sensitive to the metal. That kind of detailed scie nce hasn't been done before with any freshwater mollusk species in Canada, says Gillis.

Students support energy efficiency

with former graduate student Amy Pender and

AWARD BOOSTS

current doctoral student Melissa Rossiter.

RESEARCH

The study also found that students eat,

U of G undergraduates support the Universi-

on average, more than three daily servings

ty's energy conservation efforts and are will-

of foods from the "other" food group - such

ing to help pay for them.

as soft drinks, french fries and snack foods

In a referendum held during Central Student Association elections in March, U of G

-

and dedicate almost four hours a day to

watching television and playing video games.

stude nts voted in favour of paying a $10 fee

The Guelph researchers analyzed surveys

each semester over the next 12 years to help

completed by the same group of 681 students

improve energy efficiency on campus. That rep-

in Grade 6 and then in Grade 9 about their eat-

resents a commitment of more than $4.3 mil-

ing behaviours and activity patterns. The study

lion, to be matched by the University.

participants are taking part in the provincially fund ed Better Beginnings, Better Futures ini-

Teen nutrition dropping

tiative in communities across southern Ontario.

long suspected: adolescents are filling up on

Convocation honours

junk food and watching TV instead of giving

At winter convocation in February, U of G

their bodies the nutrition and activity levels

awarded honorary degrees to James Lockyer,

necessary for long-term health.

founding director of the Association in

A new Guelph study confirms what has been

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Defence of the Wrongly Convicted; Andrew

~ breakfa st every day, less than a quarter eat

Pipe, a medical doctor instrumental in found-

~ enough fruits and vegetables, and more than

ing the Canadian Centre for Ethics; Christo-

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35 per cent are above normal weight. Those

pher Somerville, a groundbreaking plant sci-

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are the findings in one of the first long-term

entist; and Canadian business leader Gabriel

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of young people's diets and activity

Tsampa lieros, owner of Second Cup and for-

It was conducted by Prof. Susan Evers,

mer president an d CEO of Cara Operations

Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, along

8

THE PORTICO

Limited .

G CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR Jacek Lipkowski is among 10 Canadians who received prestigious Killam Research Fellowships in February.

The $140,000 award will advance research on proteins and pep tides that is co-ordinated by Lipkowski through the Gue lph-based Advanced Foods and Materials Network. The project invo lves 13 scientists from across Canada.

He is also leading a research team that received $2.7 million from the Canada FOLmdation for Innovation in 2006 to conduct leading-edge life science and soft materials research. This project involves 24 investigators at U of G and more than 100 post-doctoral researchers and students.

Lipkowski was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2004 and was named one of Gue lph's first Canada Research Cha irs in 2001.

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WHO'S TALKING o

U.S. anti-violence activist jackson Katz

delivered a public lecture March 26 his firs t on a Canadian campus. He is co-founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention and director of the first domestic violence prevention program in the U.S. Marine Corps. o

Free the Children founder Craig Kiel-

burger spoke at U of G Feb. 2 during the Positive Social Action Conference.

The three-day conference was organized

by Student Volunteer Connections and the Central Student Association.

Lee Maracle, one of Canada's most

Two students from William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute set up their winning

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entry inside the U of G wind tunnel with help from volunteer Tony Arroyas, right, a pro-

prolific aboriginal authors, was the

fessor in the School of Languages and Literatures.

University's writer-in-residence for the w inter semester. In the early 1970s,

STUDENTS HARNESS THE WIND

she was one of the first abor iginal people to be published. o

T

H E SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

organized and hosted the University's first-ever wind energy design competition during College Royal weekend.

High school competitors design ed energy-generating wind turbines that were tested in a wind tunnel on campus during the open-house weekend.

The first-place windmill was designed by a team from William Lyon Mackenzie Co ll egiate Institute in Toronto.

Their entry produced the highest average power output and ranked high with the judges on design functionality, weight, stability and presentation .

The winners received cash and merchandise prizes worth $2,000. A second team from the same school finished in second place. Also in the top five were teams from Markham, Orangevi lle and Listowel.

"Harnessing wind energy is an exciting prospect for providin g solu tions to our province's energy needs," says Prof. Warren Stiver, who holds the NSERC Chair in Environmental Design Engineering at U of G. "The objective of this competition was to promote interest in environmentally so und alternative energy solutions and foster engineering design skills."

Organic farmers from across North

America gathered at U of G Jan. 25 to 28 for t he 26th annual Guelph Organic

Conference. This year's theme was "Next Generation Organics," focusing on youth, local organics and the survival of a movement started by pioneers. o

Margaret Catley-Carlson , former

president of the Canadian International Development Agency and

former

deputy executive director of UNICEF, spoke Jan. 17 as Winegard Visiting Lecturer for International Development. o

Green Party leader Elizabeth May and

Greenpeace Canada executive director Bruce Cox spoke at the Environmental Science Symposium held at U of G in January. The annual event is organized

For the record o

When the books were closed for 2oo6,

by environmental science students.

Music, the Guelph Jazz Festi va l and

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NUMUS, one of Canada's most active new

himself with the likes of classical actor

Shakespeare didn't have to speak for

William Hutt and Stratford Festival gen-

U of G's United Way campaign posted a

music societies.

total of $392,901 contributed by the Uni-

o

More than 350 of Ontario's top male

eral director Antoni Cimolino on hand

versity community. The campus goal was

and female swimmers attended the

to discuss the Bard's work and influ-

$370,000.

Ontario University Athletics (OUA) swim-

ence on the English language. Hutt

From Jan . 12 to 17, the University host-

ming championships held at U of G in

hosted the Jan. 11 opening of the

ed two of the world's most renowned

February. The Gryphons received a total

"Shakespeare - Made in Canada" exhi-

o

improvising musicians -

Pauline Oliveros

of 21 medals and snagged the bronze

bition at the Macdonald Stewart Art

and William Parker -

for the Creative

medal in the women's team champi-

Centre, and Cimolino spoke Jan. 25, giv-

Improvisation Festival. The festival was

onship. Scott Van Doormaal captured four

ing the inaugural talk in a Leadership

born out of a unique partnership involv-

gold medals and earned the title of OUA

Speaker Series hosted by the Unive rsi-

ing the University's School of Fine Art and

men's swimmer of the meet.

ty's Centre for Studies in Leadership.

Summer 2007 9

GUELPH GRADS WHO KNOW THAT TO MAKE A DIFFERENC

There's a hanging file on my desk literally stuffed with great ideas for stories about University of Guelph alumni. Our grads do some pretty amazing things, and their lives are full of interesting experiences. â&#x20AC;˘ On a recent trip through the file, I found several letters, notes and e-mail messages about Guelph grads who have real passion in their lives. It's not the romantic kind of passion I'm thinking about, although I hope they have that too, but the kind of passion that grows from a personal interest and feeds off your conscience. â&#x20AC;˘ It takes

THERAPIST HAS DUAL MISSION

F

OR FOUR WEEKS LAST SUMMER,

Sheri Oz, M .Sc. '86, held her breath every time she heard an air-raid siren. Then th e cluster bombs fired into Israel by Hezbollah paramilitary forces would start to explode. Were they closer this time to her hom e in Haifa or her clinic in Kiryat Motzkin?

Oz says she was traum at ized by the bombing, but allows that the experience of regaining her own balance has given her a lot of respect for the psychological process her clients must go through to recover from a different kind of trauma: sexual abuse.

She runs a private clinic called Machon Eitan that specializes in therapy for victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse and their families. The clinic was closed during the Israel-Lebanon conflict, and Oz left home for two towns closer to the border to help

10 THE

PoRTrco

city officials deal with the compound emotional stresses involved in taking care of the local population, worrying about their own families and being in personal danger moving abou t the town. During this time, she continued to stay in contact with her clients, whose emotional pain was not dulled by the sounds of war.

Oz says her expertise in treating sexual abuse victims grew from necessity in the 1990s as she was building a private practice in family therapy in Israel. "Gradually more and more clients came with sexual abuse issues:' It's not th at the country has an especially high incidence of sexual ab use, she says, but people have become more willing to seek help, and there just weren't enough therapists with appropriate training.

Oz was educating herself by reading, attending conferences and networking, but she saw a real need to prepare more therapists to deal with issues around sexual abuse.

Motivation to open her own clinic came in the person of a man who sought counselling when his wife discovered he was abusing their daughter.

"I didn't want to work with just him,"

she says, "but I didn't have anyone to send the wife and daughter to. I needed a way to co-ordinate therapy for the families I worked with."

In 1999, she established Machon Eitan, the first clinic in Israel to offer therapy to a victim's entire family. She found staff by offering supervised training for therapists in exchange for them volunteering at the clinic for two years. Her plan worked so well that no one wanted to leave the team, so the first volunteers became permanent staff in 200 I. The clinic now has five therapists and offers lectures, workshops and courses for professionals. Fifty-six therapists have taken courses at the clinic, and at least 300 have taken part in one of the many external training sessions she's been invited to participate in.

Now Oz sees a need to develop better assessment tools for working with fam ilies where sexual abuse is suspected, and that requires money for research. She has applied to convert her private clinic into a non-profit organ ization, which will make it eligible to receive donations and research grants.

She even visited her hometown of Toronto last fall to develop contacts that may help

..J THE WORLD, YOU HAVE TO BE THE DIFFERENCE

that kind of passion to turn good intentions into good deeds- again and again and again -

until you can look back and see that what you've done really has made someone

else's life a little easier, healthier, more secure. â&#x20AC;˘ In the next few pages, we salute some of those Guelph alumni who are passionate about their personal beliefs, a worthy cause, a question that begs for an answer. I hope their stories will encourage others to make a difference by being the difference.

MARY D I C K IE S 0 N EDIT 0 R, THE P 0 R TIC 0

bring those research plans to fruition.

Oz (nee Burns) grew up in Toronto, then completed university studies in agriculture in Ottawa, Winnipeg, England and Israel, where she married and eventually raised two daughters. When her husband came to the University of Guelph for PhD studies in agriculture, Oz found the Department of Family Studies by "happy coincidence." She completed a master's program at Guelph and began working as a private therapis t when she moved back to Israel.

As a complement to her dual treatment/training mandate, she recently published her first book, Overcoming Childhood Sexual Trauma: Breaking Through the Wall of Fear for Practitioners and Survivors. lt was co-written with one of her clients, SarahJane Ogiers.

"We look at childhood sexual abuse from both sides- client and therapist- and share with the reader what it feels like to be in both roles:' says Oz. "We hope this book will be helpful for professionals and survivors as well as for survivors' partners and other family members."

by Mary Dickieson

Summer 2007 11

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"I WORRY ABOUT THE WORLD MY KIDS WILL LIVE IN." AVING TWO CHILDREN has made Guelph graduate Rick Smith's drive to protect the environment even stronger.

Smith, who is executive director of Toronto-based Environmental Defence, says he feels compelled to do whatever he can to ensure a healthy world for his two sons: Zack, 3; and Owain, five months.

"I worry a lot about the world my kids will live in;' says the 38-year-old. "They definitely drive me to do what I'm doing."

But the environmentalist's long list of accomplishments date back a decade before he was a father, to when he was an undergraduate at U of G. For Smith, university was a chance to fulfil his two passions -

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biology and politics.

"The first day I started at Guelph, I walked into OPIRG to volunteer," he says.

"I knew right away I wanted to get involved and make a difference:' Smith completed a B.Sc. in biology in 1991 and continued on to earn a PhD in zoology in 1999. During his studies, he served as president of the Graduate Students' Association and was the first president of the University's teaching assistants' union.

For his PhD thesis, he spent three years studying an endangered subspecies of harbour seals living in Arctic Quebec- the world's only known landlocked population of freshwater seals. He worked with local Cree hunters to gather information on the seals, and his final report led to the federal government placing the seals on the endangered species list.

"These seals are unique animals found nowhere else in the world;' says Smith. "No one even knew about them, and they were being threatened. This project really illustrates how weak environmental protection is in Canada and how we take our incredible wildlife for granted."

His passion for protecting the environ-

ment was sparked at a young age. In the blurb under his high school yearbook picture, he talks about working for Green peace one day and says his favourite TV show as a child was CBC's Forest Rangers.

"I can remember wanting to be a forest ranger, living in the bush with the animals and fighting for nature," he says. "What I'm doing now is actually a pretty straight line from my childhood passions. The only difference is that I don't live in the forest."

His wife, Jennifer Story, BA '99, shares his passion for the environment and is currently working for federal NDP leader Jack Layton. The couple live with their two sons in Toronto.

Smith has been executive director of Environmental Defence since June 2003. He played a key role in establishing legislation to protect the 1.8 million acres of the Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt and in enacting new species-at-risk legislation at the federal level.

"I get tremendous joy out of waking up in the morning and making a difference," he says. "There's nothing that turns my crank more than knowing we led the charge to get a law to protect the environment or to better people's health . It's a privilege to do this every day."

Smith predicts his biggest achievements are yet to come. The public's current empathy for the environment means there's a huge opportunity for the environmental movement to spur further protective legislation, he says.

"The next two years are critical for environmental protection in Canada. People are concerned about the environment, but that mood won't last forever, and we have to strike while the iron is hot. Now is the time to make huge historic gains."

By Deirdre Healey

SHE GOT LOST AND FOUND HER CALLING

M

AYBE IT WAS SERENDIPITY or even fate that led Marva Wisdom, MA (Leadership) '07, to

discover her passion for community volunteerism. Whatever it was, it makes for a good story: Wisdom found her calling while lost one day on the streets of Guelph.

She had recently moved from Toronto with her husband, Len, and stepdaughter, Marcelle, and was searching for Paisley Road Elementary School. She kept driving up and down the street, but couldn't see the school.

Wisdom finally pulled off the road and called the school board from a pay telephone. She was told the school was directly across the street from St. Joseph's Church. "! found the church, but when I looked across the street, I saw a decrepit army-barrack-type kind of place that looked really run down. I thought: 'Holy smokes, this is a school?'"

Wisdom, who had worked in Toronto's fashion industry before moving to Guelph, ended up volunteering at the school. One day after a rainstorm, she found herself moving garbage pails around in the gymnasium that doubled as a lunchroom. "We had to catch all the water that was coming through the roof' That was the day she decided something had to be done. Wisdom and seven other parents began a movement to have the school rebuilt. Within a few months, Paisley Road School moved up from not even being on the school board's "priority needs" list to being in the top spot. The renovated school now has a permanent plaque that carries Wisdom's name, along with the other key volunteers who made the transformation possible.

"That was my first real taste of realizing that I can do things as a volunteer that can make a difference," she says.

It was also the beginning ofWisdom's new life. Her "career" as a community volunteer, activist and public servant snowballed from there and has yet to lose momentum.

The mother of three has volunteered or currently serves on the board of just about every non-profit organization in Guelph, including the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, the Rotary Club of Guelph, the United Way, the Ontario Winter Games and the YMCNYWCA. She also serves on the board of the Canadian Centre for Diversity, a national organization whose aim is to raise awareness and work toward the elimination of all forms of discrimination. "!find the more I do, the easier it is to

keep on going;' says Wisdom, whose tireless efforts have been recognized through numerous community awards over the years, including the YMCA/YWC/\s Women of Distinction Award for community service.

"I just learn so much from people;' she says. I have never had a negative volunteer experience; it has just been tremendous."

Wisdom's passion for public service through politics is just as strong. She has become a permanent fixture in the local and federal Liberal Party, both as a volunteer and as a staff member, culminating most recently with her effort to secure a spot as Guelph's federal Liberal candidate.

She is a former president of the local federal Liberal riding association, is a former national Liberal party policy/platform chair and served as the party's renewal commission co-chair. She was named an honorary senator by the Ontario Young Liberals and received the Liberal party's Volunteer of the Year Award. She has also worked as constituency manager for local MPP Liz Sandals and served for seven years as MP Brenda Chamberlain's office manager.

Interestingly, Wisdom's entry into the world of politics was as happenstance as her entry into community service, and her rise was just as meteoric.

In the early 1990s, she used to take the bus to her job at The Co-operators, and it passed right by the Liberal party's campaign office. "I used to look through the window as we drove by. One day, 1 decided to walk to work and instead of looking through the window, I went through the front door.

Everyone was just so friendly."

Before she knew it, Wisdom was volunteering to come in one night a week and "work the phones."

"It was one of those things: I saw something, I was curious, I looked into it a little more, then found it was something I just had to do," she says.

"It's really interesting to look back on everything now and see the number of people my life has intersected with, how they all have impacted me and how every encounter has in some way led to where 1 am now. It's been a long, interesting road."

by Lori Bona Hunt

Summer 2007 13

BEE DECLINE CREATES ABUZZ WORLDWIDE VER THE LAST DECADE, the declining global population of pollinating insects has been on the radar of many scientists. A number of organizations have been set up to address the problem, and numerous researchers are studying it, including U of G graduate Jim Dyer, M.Sc. '75.

Using his background in agricultural sciences and environmental policy development, Dyer created a program called Pollination Canada to track the population of pollinators. He was recognized for his work

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with a 2006 Pollinator Advocate Award from the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.

There are four distinct orders of pollinators- bees, flies, butterflies and moths, and beetles- representing more than 1,000 species. "The community is incredibly complex," says Dyer. "There are a lot of players."

Pollination Canada relies on volunteers to mark down details each time they see an insect pollinating a plant. The "citizen scientists" record the time, date and place and the types and numbers of insects they see.

They then submit their findings to program leaders, who use the information to track the health of the insect communities and determine if further detailed studies are needed.

"We can't expect people who aren't specialists to recognize species, but what we can do is ask them to document the diversity they see;' says Dyer. "We can ask them what

insect orders are present and how many they're seeing. It's more of an order count rather than specific identification."

Observations form an invaluable indication of the habitats and population trends of the important pollinators, especially when observations are repeated several times at the same site, he says. In addition, participants develop a greater appreciation of pollination and the insects agriculture depends on.

More than $1.2 billion worth of Canadian horticultural produce depends on insects for pollination, says Dyer, who lives in Cambridge, Ont., and is retired after more than 20 years with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Without pollinators, there would be no apples, pears, cucumbers or melons. In addition, sunflowers and safflowers would be impossible to grow, and strawberries would be extremely expensive.

Domesticated honeybees are currently suffering from an epidemic of parasitic mites that threaten not only the honey industry but also the fruit and vegetable produce that depends on this important pollinator, he says.

A number of bumblebee species are also declining, and many are extinct in certain areas, says Dyer. Of the 15 to 20 bumblebee species that exist, half are in trouble. They're used as commercial pollinators and are transported to areas where they interact with the native species and transmit disease.

Funded by Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network and in partnership with Seeds of Diversity Canada, Pollination Canada has been running since 2004 as a pilot project limited to the Cambridge-Waterloo-Guelph area. For the first time, the program is open to anyone with Internet access, says Dyer. Training materials and other program documents and information are available at www.pollinationcanada.ca.

"Wild pollinators are 'keystone species,' and most other species in their ecosystems depend on them, either directly or indirectly;' he says. "Plants depend on pollinators to help them make seeds for reproduction, and birds and other animals depend on those seeds for food. Without wild insects pollinating flowers, the whole food chain suffers."

by Rebecca Kendall

TO REACH YOUR GOAL, DON ' T STOP TRYING !STANCE SWIMMING has always come naturally to Kristin Roe, BA '03. Since childhood, the Hamilton, Ont., native has loved the open water, refusing to stop in the midst of a lengthy swim, be it in competition at summer camp or in a casual dip with her brother kayaking beside her.

"I think I was always a fish;' says Roe, a philosophy graduate. "My parents couldn't keep me out of the water:' But when she hopped into Eastern Canada's Northumberland Strait July 28, 2005, in a fundraising swim for AIDS awareness, Roe wasn't feeling her best. Friends and strangers shouted words of encouragement to her, and about seven hours into the gruelling IS-kilometre crossing, she saw red - a welcome sight.

"The most exciting feeling was when I saw the red clay floor," she recalls. It meant she was approaching Prince Edward Island.

By the time she exited the water, Roe had surpassed the goals she had set for herself.

She did the swim in about eight hours, two hours less than she had anticipated, for the fastest recorded crossing ever. She also raised more than $23,000 for AIDS P.E.I. and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Most important, she brought awareness of a global issue to the tiny Maritime province.

"I felt like the whole province knew about the swim," she says. "People actually started talking about HIV, which is rare in a small community!'

Roe traces her commitment to the AIDS cause to a speech Lewis gave at U of G during her undergraduate years. He spoke of the need to participate both on a local leveland as a global citizen to combat the AIDS pandemic. When she met him after the talk, she fell into his arms with tears in her eyes.

"I had always been interested in the notion of civic engagement;' she says, "but he put it in perspective in a broader global sense."

D

Roe's life is now devoted to helping others. Last year, she travelled to South Africa on a five-month research contract through the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women's Health to work on gender and HIV/AIDS issues in the African nation.

Once there, the swimmer in her resurfaced and, on Dec. 6, 2006, she became the first Canadian to complete the eight-kilometre swim to Robben Island, site of the prison where former president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 20 years.

The water was about ll째C, compared with the 16 to l7째C of the Northumberland Strait, but despite the "incredibly cold" conditions, Roe battled stiffness and fatigue to raise money for an AIDS treatment action campaign linked to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

"It's so mental," she says of distance swimming. "But when you're determined and have a strong healthy mind, you can do anything."

This February, she began a new job as the patient- and family-centred care coordinator at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, an innovative institution that provides health care to women, children and families in the Maritimes. She's also been accepted into a master's program at the Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University, where she will specialize in global community development.

And although she's taking a break from swimming, she plans an unprecedented double crossing of the Northumberland Strait in the future.

Reflecting on her achievements, Roe draws a direct line back to her years at U of G. "It was such a welcoming, progressive environment. It was perfect for me because I didn't want to keep the status quo. There were so many amazing leaders on campus who were willing to facilitate your dreams.

You were part of a family there."

by David DiCenzo

Summer 2007 15

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[alumni profile ]

When I grow up, I want to be a philanthropist These U of G grads eschew the word, but live the definition

By Mary Dickieson

There was an unexpected knock on the door. When she answered it, Marilyn Murray was greeted by a woman and her two children. "I wrote you a thank- you letter, but then decided we should deliver it in person," said the woman, who explained that her children had received awards at the local Kiwanis Music Festival. It was Marilyn's donation that funded the two piano awards.

"I asked them if they would play their competition pieces;' recalls Marilyn, "and th ey played solo pieces and a duet for us. It was a wonderful little impromptu concert."

Smiles all around from Marilyn and her husband, Ken Murray, as they remember the unusual "thank you" notes.

T heir reaction says it all about the importance of saying thank you to those who help support charitable organizations like the Kiwanis Music Festival and, of course, the University of Guelph.

U of G is saying thank you in the Donor Report that you unwrapped along with this issue of The Portico- thank you to Marilyn and Ken and 16,711 other people who donated to the University of Guelph last year.

The University's donors are part of a bigger picture of giving in Canada, where about 85 per cent of us (about 22 million people) make charitable donations.

According to the most recent Statistics Canada* survey, we Canadians give away almost $9 billion a year. Some of us- 45

per cent- also give our time as volunteers.

The government survey suggests that Canadians vo lunteer almost two billion hours a year to benefit non-profit organizations and charities.

And not surprisingly, those who are the busiest vo lunteers are often the most generous donors.

What motivates these philanthropists? Why do some prefer anonymity while others like the Murrays feel they have a duty to encourage more widespread charitable giving?

Summer 2007 17

I

Philanthropy: The effort to promote the happiness and well-being Ken Murray refers to his 61-year relationship with his alma mater as "m utual backscratching."

He says the time he has devoted to U of G and the donations he has made have given him two important things: a continuing connection to young people and a way to affect the future.

Philanthropy: The Next Generation Bill Teesdale, B.Sc. '87, has two stars beside his

name in the U of G Donor Report to signify 10 years of consecutive giving. He says he has been impressed by the campus culture since coming to U of G as an undergraduate in 1981. Since graduation, he has been providing IT support in the Department of Physics.

"What's so great about U of G? The shar-

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"When I go to a scholarship presentation , l sit beside the student who received the money. It's amazing to hear about that young person's goals and how the University is helping to reach them ." Ken also enjoys following the careers of students who receive his named scholarships. "You never know how far the ripple will travel;' he says.

Thinking of her own involvement with U of G, Marilyn Murray adds: "Being involved stimulates your mind . When yo u work with vital, active people, your thinking stays that way. It keeps you plugged into the current world."

"We want to be able to look forward rather than back," says Ken. "What will the pioneers be doing in 2010?"

Those questions refer to his recent donation to outfit a teaching laboratory in U of G's science complex. He wants to support the students and scientists who will be using the lab. "Our future lies with them. Their future starts here," he says.

Ken is a 1950 graduate of OAC. Marilyn completed her Macdonald Institute degree in 1955. They've both lived in the Kitchener-Waterloo/Guelph area ever since and are two of the most active volunteers in the community. Since marrying in 1996, they have become a dynamic husband-and-wife

team with complimentary skills.

Ken says that, as a fundraising expert, Marilyn is superb at drawing personal connections between donor prospects and a variety of charitable causes, including the Gra nd River Co nservation Authority, the Homewood Foundation, Guelph United Way and the Guelph Youth Music Centre.

In turn, Marilyn points to the business connections that Ken forged during his 37-year career with Schneider Foods; he retired as president in 1987. The former chair ofU of G's Board of Governors has served on the boards of several companies, is a past chair of the Kitchener- Waterloo Symphony Orchestra Association and was founding president of the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.

For both, the longest entry on their respect ive li sts of community ac tiviti es involves their alma mater.

Since the late 1960s, Marilyn has been actively involved as a volunteer fundraiser, an alumni member of Senate, 75th-anniversary co-chair for Macdonald Institute and a member of Board of Governors.

In memory of her first husband, Doug Robinson, OAC '53, she spearheaded the launch of the Douglas M. Robinson Award for Excellence in Communications.

ing of ideas, respect for others. The department where I work is like a family place, and I want to keep it that way if we can."

Teesdale's annual gift reflects his appreciation for "going to school here and seeing positive things happening around campus."

He supports a scholarship established to honour the retirement of Prof. Jim Hunt, who Teesdale says is "still giving all his time to the University as a volunteer. He puts in nearly a full work week every week, driven by wanting to help students."

Hunt is just one of the many inspirational people he's met on campus. "I've worked for Prof. lain Campbell my whole time here, and he's the most influential person in my career and campus life. When you see so many people doing so much, you think of them and then tell yourself: 'Hey, you're really not doing much."'

Elizabeth Bardon, BA '94 and MA '97, is a strategic donor who says charitable giving is an important part of her life. "I make an annual investment at the University, the hospital where I work and the United Wayinvestments in my community."

The paybacks are pretty obvious, she adds: "I know I'm making a difference."

Bardon is director of patient and community relations at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston, Ont. At U of G, she supports a graduate scholarship established to honour retired history professor Jamie Snell. He was her master's supervisor.

Bardon recalls that she received a small scholarship when she was a graduate student. "I was struck then by the difference between the amount of funds available to arts students and the scholarships available to my friends in the sciences.

f other people Along with family and friends, she also established one of the conservatory gardens on campus in memory of Robinson, who headed the Stewardship Information Bureau at U of G and died in 1994.

Marilyn worked in communications and then spent 10 years in U of G's development office before retiring in 1996 as director of donor relations.

Ken has been a member of advisory committees for OAC and for the University capital campaign, as well as co-chair of the regional corporate capital campaign committee and chair of the Heritage Fnnd enhancement committee. He has belonged to the Chancellor's Circle and the OAC centenary fundraising committee, and was vice-chair of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario.

He provided funding for the sitting wall at Alumni House and furnished a room in the Bovey Building. In 1994, Ken began and provided initial funding for a U of G program called Science and Society. This program incorporates ethical and societal implications of new technologies into the University curriculum and is supported in perpetuity by a graduate scholarship for food safety research.

At the University of Waterloo, he founded and supports the Murray Alzhe imer Research and Education Program, which he

began after the death of his first wife, Helen.

Ken was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2000. Marilyn received a YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and the next year, they were both recogni zed for their role as honorary co-chairs of Leave-aLegacy ofWaterloo-Wellington, a program that encourages people to make gifts from their estates to non-profit groups.

Despite the honours, Ken and Marilyn don't think of themselves as philanthropists.

They are drawn into volunteer work because they enjoy it. And charitable giving is simply part of their lives; a lesson learned as children.

Marilyn's mother ran the local Red Cross sewing group and blood donor clinics during the Second World War, and her father served in professional engineering groups. Ken's father was a Presbyterian minister who taught his son to help others and to tithe a portion of his annual income. "It's something I've always done," says Ken.

"I want to know that the next generation of students who come into the history program and feel really passionate about what they're doing will have the support to keep that passion alive while they're there. "''m really very proud of U of G. It's one of the finest universities in Canada- student-centred with rigorous academic programs that produce well-rounded students, engaged and interested faculty, reasonable class sizes, well-funded research. It's an all-around package. Guelph as a lot to be proud of."

Caswell, who served as president of the Graduate Students' Association and was student cochair of the campus United Way campaign, says she chose volunteer roles that would allow her "to be a student voice at the University and an example for those coming behind me that giving back to the community, both the University of Guelph and the wider community, is an important part of a university experience and life in general:'

PhD student Barbara Caswel~ B.Sc.'o4 and M.Sc.

'07, says the opportunities for civic engagement at U of G are larger than life compared with the rural Ontario community she grew up in. "There is also active seeking of student involvement at U of G, which brings many out of the shell that may be holding them back."

"We we re taught to be role models for other p eopl e. I believe that if I can give, I should. And if I can be a mentor for other people, I should do that, too." â&#x20AC;˘

[ reflections ]

the

of life An essay about life and death and how everything is connected to everything else

by Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84 THERE'S NO OTHER TREE LIKE IT ON CAMPUS.

Not among the who-knows-how-many real-life specimens growing on the University of Guelph grounds. Not among the thousands of trees and shrubs planted since the progenitors of today's Wall-Custance Memorial Forest took root almost two decades ago in the U of G Arboretum.

Ashes to ashes, or maples.

The new tree stands dead centre within a triangular indoor atrium formed by the three sides of Guelph's 400,000-square-foot science complex. The tree's smooth white trunk and limbs climb four storeys high, as though reaching for the light. But rather than consisting of wood and leaves, it's made of strong steel, strong enough for those stylized white arms to hold up the atrium roof high above our heads. No matter. Steel or no steel, someone -predictably- has already dubbed it the Tree of Life.

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One afternoon in early April, a varied audience has gathered together to listen to words and music used to christen this newly opened space. For the occasion, they've arranged for a visit to Guelph by the Six String Nation guitar, built from som e 60 icons of Can adiana: a piece of Lucy Maud Montgomery's house, a bit of Paul Henderson's Summit Series hockey stick, a part of the Haida-Gwaii Golden Spruce.

At the microphone, a speaker encourages his listeners to think of connections, of how this space and its soaring steel tree will bring people together for research and study, for work and play.

I wonder who proposed the idea to plant this Tree of Life here. It's an apt symbol for a building whose residents and neighboursfrom the physicist to the chemist to the biologist- will spend their days probing the mysteries oflife, including the origins oflife itself.

Life- and death, which we're reminded is just a part of life.

Someone steps forward to play that guitar. How appropriate that his brief medley of tunes should include Dust in the Wind.

It is April, after all, "breeding lilacs out of the dead land."* The way the stars have lined up this year, tomorrow- Friday, April 6 will mark a key date in the Christian calendar: a day of death, another stylized tree holding up the weight of the world.

Tomorrow will also mark another sort of death anniversary for me and perhaps for other silent listeners in this place.

"In the beginning there was hydrogen and helium."

That's U of G physicist Carl Svensson discussing his work in probing the origins of the universe. He and others in the Guelph Nuclear Physics Group run the TIGRESS spectrometer at TRIUMF, Canada's nationallaboratory for nuclear and particle physics research at the University of British Columbia . There, they hope to learn how stars cook up all the elements that make up the universe, including you and me.

"We are stardust," says Svensson's colleague Prof. Paul Garrett in discussing his own fascination with the connections between the basic forces that hold together all that stuff- what he calls the "science question for the century."

I think of a poem I wrote for our elder

22 THE PORTICO

son's first birthday, with words that might equally apply to his younger brother and sister: "One silent night we'll go together I To climb a hill outside the city, I And I'll watch you count each unlikely, precious star. .. " Those lines come to mind as I write this essay and hear him, now nearing his 16th birthday, playing the piano in another room.

He's practising Debussy's Claire de Lune.

Moonlight. Starlight. We are golden.

To get from stardust to the stuff of life, cross the atrium at the centre of Guelph's science complex. Ask a chemist how those spewed-out elements go from mere entries arrayed on the neat grid of the periodic table toward something that animates you and me . The search takes us to a strange world: a dee p-sea vent, where material escapes the Earth's innards at incredible pressures and temperatures that somehow sustain life without daylight or oxygen .

Chemistry professor Peter Tremaine mimics those conditions in his laboratory, adding chemicals, minerals and organic molecules to see what might issue forth . "One of the big questions is, what came before the DNA world;' he says. Did life originate there, far beneath the ocean's surface? Or perhaps it happened deep inside solid rock- a seam split, just the right materials and conditions to form the first living things, long before anything showed up on the light-bathed, watery surface of Test Tube Earth.

Call them extremophiles, the first forms oflife whose descendants still live down there, in the hot water, the sulphur and the rock.

Back across the atrium, Prof. Terry Beveridge says some microbes appear to use physics and chemistry to free life-sustaining minerals from rock itself.

"They are literally breathing the solid rock;' says Beveridge, a faculty member in Guelph's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology whose expertise has been recognized nationally through a Canada Research Chair in the Structure, Physical Nature and Geobiology of Prokaryotes. He's interested in these creatures not only for what they may tell us about the origin of life some 3.6 billion years ago, but also for possible use in cleaning up environmental waste from mines and mills.

Beyond the science complex, some of these kinds of single-celled organisms come under the microscope of other Guelph

researchers. Environmental biology professor jack Trevors, for example, has studied them for possible uses in waste remediation.

He belongs to the Origins of Life Foundation, a Maryland-based group of international scientists that runs the Gene Emergence Project. The foundation is offering a $1-million prize to the first person or group to explain how genetic code arose spontaneously in that early hothouse.

"The origin of genetic instructions in the DNA is the most pressing question in science," says Trevors, a fellow of the World Innovation Foundation, an international think tank that includes numerous Nobel laureates. "Genetic instructions don't write themselves, any more than a software program writes itself."

Perhaps it all began not with DNA but with a genetic precursor like RNA, a forerunner that figured out both how to fold itself like a protein and how to copy itself like genetic material, thus providing fodder for natural selection to work on. Call it not Tremaine's DNA world but the "RNA World;' a term coined by researchers elsewhere.

In a way, that makes the search for origins an expedition along two parallel paths.

We're looking not just for how life began but also for how heredity began- the early end of the 3.6-billion-year-old thread that has spooled itself out today in you, in me and in the trees.

With its simple branching structure, that stylized steel tree in the science complex atrium reminds me of something else. "Tree of life" is how Richard Dawkins labels a branching diagram with three main limb clusters printed in his 2004 book, The Ancestor's Tale. His branches consist of Eubacteria, including some of the "kingdoms" of bacteria; Archaea, including those firebreathing microbes; and everything elseslime moulds, ciliates, fungi, plants and animals - stuffed into Eukarya.

A similar diagram was sketched out two years ago by an international group of biologists led by Prof. Denis Lynn of Guelph's Department of Integrative Biology. Using information gleaned over the past 25 years through biochemistry, electron microscopy and gene sequencing, the group proposed a new way of classifying eukaryotes (basically everything on Earth except bacteria).

Whichever diagram you use, humans

barely register on the pertinent cluster of twigs. Small wonder that modern-day Linnaeuses constructing the Barcode of Life with a method developed by Lynn's colleague Prof.

Paul Hebert (using telltale bits of DNA to classify and identify living things in U of G's recently christened Biodiversity Institute of Ontario) are so busy cataloguing numerous species of insects and other organisms. There are just so many more of them than us, although the Tree of Life icon is a reminder that "them/us" is an artificial distinction.

All of which can make the human species seem rather insignificant, itself a rather trite observation. What's one life or one death in the flood of life that has peopled the Earth for all those billions of years?

Nothing- or everything.

This spring, in the same week that brought the christening of the new atrium, another stylized tree arose on a front lawn about 10 minutes' walk west of the campus. Erected to mark Holy Week on the Christian calendar, this seasonal tree consisted of a long wooden upright and short wooden crossbar. Hung at the junction like a quoit was a twig wreath, with a length of purple material interwoven between the wreath and the crossed struts.

It bore a message specific to one faith, of course. But its theme- life, death and regeneration- may be read and understood by those of any faith and by those professing none.

Lilacs out of a dead land. Something unseen but stirring in the seemingly lifeless trees in the U of G memorial forest in April -or in Woodland Cemetery near my home in Hamilton, Ont., where they buried my 24-year-old mother on a spring day beneath a gravestone marked April6, 1965. • *From The Waste Land by TS. Eliot, 1922 Andrew Vowles studied wildlife biology at the University of Guelph in the early 1980s when his courses took him back and forth between BG&Z (Botany, Genetics and Zoology Building) and Chem·Micro (Chemistry and Microbiology Building) . He has written for U of G's Depart· ment of Communications and Public Affairs since 1998 and has witnessed the construction of the science complex with his own eyes and through the research of the many Guelph sci· entists he has interviewed. Vowles lives with his family in Hamilton.

Summer 2007 23

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS â&#x20AC;˘

EVENTS â&#x20AC;˘

NETWORKING

u of guelph Sports are essential to life

H

OMETOWN

ATHLETE

Larry Pearson, B.Sc. '72, played volleyball for the Gryphons when he attended U of G. Just over a year ago, he joined the Gryphons again as an assistant coach of the men's varsity team. At the University's intercollegiate athletic banquet March 30, he announced a $1.1million gift to the University that will enhance athletic facilities and fund scholarships for volleyball players.

"Athletics has always been a big part of my life," says Pearson, a retired auto executive who is now president of the Frozen Ropes Baseball Training Centre in Guelph. "I strongly believe that sports are essential to rounding out a person's character in preparation for the working world."

Several years ago, he also helped build a sports complex in Guelph to support minor baseball.

Pearson earned a mathematics degree from U of G. During his business career, he served on numerous boards, including a term on the University's Board of Governors.

His gift is the largest single donation ever made to Guelph's Department of Athletics and among the largest individual donations received by the University. It is also one of the largest gifts made to a Canadian university athletics facility.

"I am very pleased to be able to help the University upgrade and improve its facilities and varsity programs," says Pearson.

Of the $1.1-million gift, $1 million has been earmarked for facility enhancement, and $100,000 will be used to establish an endowment fund to provide scholarships for students playing men's varsity volleyball.

Facility upgrades and scholarships are priorities for the Department of Ath-

24

THE PoRTICO

letics. Ten to 15 years ago, U of G was known for having some of the best athletic facilities in the province. That was around the time the twin-pad arena and Olympic-sized swimming pool first opened. But since then, other schools have caught up or surpassed Guelph.

Pearson's gift will benefit the University's enlarged student population and help recruit top scholar/athletes.

"Larry has made a lifelong commitment to athletics and has been a good friend to the University of Guelph," says athletics director Tom Kendall. "His gifts to the University and the Gryphon program illustrate his

continuing support for the development of young people and a confidence in the Department of Athletics' vision for the future. We are very grateful for and excited about this wonderful gift:' Over the years, Pearson has made numerous donations to the University, including funding several pieces of equipment at the Health and Performance Centre.

Joanne Shoveller, vice-president (alumni affairs and development), says he "represents University of Guelph alumni well by showing his leadership through his time, commitment and financial support."

U OF G ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

COMING EVENTS

REUNIONS

•

Alumni@uoguelph .ca

ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT joanne Shoveller, Vice-President I jsh ovell@ uogue lp h .ca Pamela Healey, Assistant Vice President (Development) I phealey@uoguelph .ca Jason Moreton, Director, Alumni Affairs I jmoreton@uoguelph.ca Heather lves, Events and Commu nications I ivesh@uoguelph.ca Mary Feldskov, Alumni Chapters I mfeldsko@uoguelph .ca Mary-Anne Moroz, Students and Young Alumni I memoroz@uoguelph .ca

ARTS Chuck Ferguson cferguso@u o guelph . ca

I CPES

CBS

jeba rret@ uogue l P. h. ca

CHAPTER EVENTS

Sam Kosakowski , Alumni Affairs (CBS, HKIHB and Economics Alumni Associations I skosakow@uoguelph .ca Richard Manning, Development I rmanning@uoguelph .ca

CME Jennifer Barrett, Advancement (HAFAIHTM Alumni Association) I jebarret@uoguelph .ca

CSAHS Karen Bertrand, Advancement (MAC-FACS-FRAN Alumni Association) I karenber@uoguelph .ca

OAC Carla Bradshaw, Alumni Affairs (OAC AA) I cbradsha@uoguelph .ca Paulette Samson, Development I psamson@uoguelph .ca

ovc

GIVE STUDENTS A WORLD VIEW THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH participates in the Aeroplan charitable pooling program to support international travel for students.

Aeroplan miles have helped undergraduates study abroad and made it possible for graduate students to attend research conferences.

Alumni and members of the University community can donate Aero plan miles any time during September as part of the 2007 program.

To participate in the program, visit

www.alumni.uoguelph.ca/aeroplan. htm . For more information, call Grace Correia at 519-824-4120, Ext. 53901.

FEELING OUT OF THE LOOP? ALL IRON-RINGED AND nowhere to go? If you'd like to get involved with other Guelph engineering alumni and be informed about upcoming events, send e-mail to Engineering Alumni Association president Nicole Detlor at eaa@ uoguelph.ca.

Jason Moreton, Alumni Affairs (OVC AA) I jmoreton@uoguelph .ca Stephen Woeller, Development I swoeller@uoguelph.ca

ATHLETICS Sam Kosakowski I skosakow@uoguelph.ca

LIBRARY Lynn Campbell, Development I lynn .campbell@uoguelph.ca

SCIENCE COMPLEX CAMPAIGN Alice Michaud, Director I amichaud@uoguelph .ca

GRAD NEWS UPDATES alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

ALUMNI ONLINE COMMUNITY www.olcnetwork.netluoguelph

U OF G CONTACTS www.uoguelph.ca

519·824·4120

Summer 2007 25

u of g LOOK WHAT OUR GRADS ARE DOING!

These curlers took to the ice at the Engineering Alumni Association curling bonspie\.

Jodi Richards, MBA '02, left, and Glenda

Front row, from left: Michael Krait, Emily Kettel and Jeannine Guindon, both B.Sc.(Eng.)

Reid, B.A.Sc. '75, were among the Guelph

'os . Back row: event organizer Mike Thompson, B.Sc.(Eng.) '90; Tim Hyde, B.Sc.(Eng.)

grads who met in Vancouver for a wine路

'o6; Craig McDonald, B.Sc.(Eng.) 'o6, and Andrew Chan, B.Sc.(Eng.) '04.

tasting evening.

From left are student Jamie Fairweather; Jose Martinez, B.Sc.(Env.) '03; students Dan Price-Owen and Chike Agbasi; Mike MacKinnon, B.Comm. 'o4; Hamid Haghighi, M.Sc. '04; student Jonathan Kilmartin; Ryan Carroll, B.Sc. '03; student Kojo Men路 At the fall 2oo6 "Taste of Winnipeg, Taste of Guelph" alumni reception in Winnipeg,

sah; and Marion Canales, B.Comm. '04. At

local artist Rodrigo Pradel, left, presented U of G president Alastair Summerlee, right,

centre front is Manuel Hernandez, B.Comm.

with a painting to remember the event. The painting depicts Johnston Hall in a prairie

'04. "We finished in fifth place out of 12

field. With them are Helen Halliday, B.Comm. '82, manager of the Delta Winnipeg, where

and had lots of fun," says Martinez. "We'll

the reception was held, and Michael Ridley, BA '75, U of G's chief information officer

win the University of Guelph indoor soc-

and chief librarian.

cer tournament next year!"

The new College of Management and Eco路 nornics (CME) held launch parties in sev路 era\ cities during the winter semester. In Hong Kong, partygoers included forensic scientist Kam-yin Henry Cheung, B.Sc. '86, left; Albert Lo, BA '86, vice-president of BNP Paribas Private Bank; and Kitty Wong, BA '85, account director with Alvin Chan Associates Ltd. To see more photos from U of G alumni events, check out the photo gallery in the "News and Events" section of the alumni website: www.alumni.uoguelph.ca.

26

THE PORTI CO

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2007 This year, Alumni Weekend celebrates the impact U of G has had on the lives of its graduates, and the impact Guelph graduates have had in their communities- loca lly, nationally and globally. Few can speak to that topic more readily than Gordon Nixon, BSA '37, who remains active as an alumni volunteer 70 years after his graduation from the Ontario Agricultural College. He will serve as honorary chair of Alumni Weekend June 22 and 23.

Nixon was founding president of the Univer-

sity of Guelph Alumni Association when it was established in 1966. He received the Alumni Volunteer Award in 1994, was named Alumnus of Honour in 1999 and was the inaugural winner of the University's Lincoln Alexander Medal of Dist inguished Service in 2000.

And U of G student initiatives receive funding through the Gordon Nixon Leadership Awards, which were established by the Annual Fund to encourage community spirit and volunteerism.

U of G president Alastair Summerlee, left, and Alumni Weekend honorary chair Gordon Nixon, BSA '37.

COME BACK TO CAMPUS .June 22 and 23 FRIDAY EVENING: Alumni-in -Action Hospitality Room • OAC AA AGM Alumni Weekend Kickoff • Panel Discussion on the Environment Co-op 25th-Anniversary Reception- Alumni Trivia Night Star Party in the Physics Observatory SATURDAY MORNING: OVC M AGM and Breakfast Presentation of the OVC Distinguished Alumnus Award Breakfast at the President's House • Campus Walking Tour • HKJHB AA Breakfast and AGM CBS AA Breakfast and AGM • Macdonald Institute Restoration Donor Ceremony Mac-FACS-FRAN AA AGM Macdonald Institute 129 CBS/CPES Student Council Office/Lounge Dedication SATURDAY NOON: Pres ident's Lunch - Includes Golden Anniversary Celebration for 1957 classes and presentation of the University of Guelph Alumni Association awards.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Engineering Alumni Association Three-Pitch Tournament Faculty of Environmental Sciences Open House Un ive rsity of Guelph Alumni Association AGM • Campus Tours- Walk or Bus Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Sculpture Garden Tour • Hagen Aqualab Tour Science Complex Reception- Meet the Deans • President's House Tours Agricultural Economics 1DOth Anniversary • Anne of Green Gables Library Collection Facu lty of Environmental Sciences 1Oth-Anniversary Reception SATURDAY EVENING: Alumni Reception at the Bullring • Alumni Dinner • Pub Party Reunite with old friends, network with other alumni and see what's changed on campus!

Drop by for a few hours or come for the whole weekend.

For a complete schedule of times, locations and registration information, visit: www.alumni.uoguelph.ca.

CAREERS •

FAMILIES •

LIFE EXPERIENCES •

MEMORIES

university of guelph Watch this woman

A

LEXANDRIA

FAVRET,

B.Comm. '98, is a "Woman to Watch," so named at the 2006 international conference of eWomen-

Network, an organization of female business owners and professionals who are committed to transacting business with women.

Favret started a chapter of eWomen Network in Edmonton and is founder of an annual professional development conference in the city called the Women's Business Blaster.™ Those activities earned her a recent nomination for Edmonton's Women of Vision Award.

Favret says women are creating three times as many businesses as men, and there are more than 821,000 female entrepreneurs in Canada, contributing over $18 billion to the economy.

She says women are competing in a male-dominated society, but their decision-making processes are different, as is their business style. "We're not interested in pretending to be

Poetry for parliamentarians UST

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BEFORE

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FINAL

exams at U of G, the 2007 graduating class was invited to hear John

;Q Steffler, Canada's parliamentary poet

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laureate. He spoke at the April 4 "Last Lecture" about his role as poet laureate and his love of writing.

Steffler is a Toronto native who earned an MAin English from Guelph in 1974. He moved to Corner Brook, N.L., right after graduation and began a teaching career at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (a campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland).

He has also published five books of poetry, including The Grey Islands (1985) and That Night We Were Rav-

THE PORTICO

enous (1998), which won the 1999 Atlantic Poetry Prize.

Steffler published a novel in 1992, The Afterlife of George Cartwright, which won the 1993 Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Thomas Head Raddall Award . It was also shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book.

Named Canada's poet laureate in

men," she adds.

The Women's Business BlasterTM encourages women "to be who you are rather than what you are." Men are often defined by their jobs; women, not so much. Psychologists and Favret agree this is a good thing.

"I think most networks follow a traditional male model: He who collects the most business cards at an event wins. We don't do that. Unless you actually have something you can do for someone, then we strongly suggest you don't give out your business card. It is not about 'what these people can do for me,' but about what you can do for someone else."

Favret says subscribing to this philosophy has led to new business opportunities. She recently stepped down as managing director of eWomenNetwork to become a partner in the print brokerage firm Modern Press.

December, he will spend the next two years encouraging and promoting the importance of literature, culture and language. He is the third poet laureate since the post was established in 2002.

Steffler was nominated for the honour by the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador because of his body of work and his long-standing reputation as a teacher and literary mentor.

"His writings about this province reflect a most Canadian occupation with discovery and exploration;' said his nominators. "In a profound way, John Steffler's poetry is concerned with cultural identity and memory, and provides a touchstone for Canadians seeking a way to move forward as a nation."

Bookends a symbolic gift

Taking matters into his own hands

M

ary Peleschak is the daughter of

the late professor Fred W. Hamil-

ton, who taught dairy science at the Ontario Agricultural College for 38 years. She recently donated to the Department of Food Science a pair of bookends that belonged to her father.

These bookends were a memoir of

WENTY YEARS AGO, John Scott, B.Sc.(Agr.) '70, got sick and then sicker and didn't know why. "It was basically flu-like symptoms;' he says, "Fatigue, joint ache and pain, muscle ache and pain. I started getting brain fog. I was not thinking clearly."

Four years and a dozen physicians later, his search ended with a diagnosis of Lyme disease- a bacterial infection often carried by ticks that produces symptoms such as rashes, joint pain, sore throat, dizziness and insomnia.

Severe cases can lead to dementia, blindness and death.

Some patients experience a reddish bull's-eye rash at the site of the tick bite, says Scott, but less than 30 per cent of people suffering from Lyme disease can even remember a tick bite.

Former president of and now research consultant to the Lyme Disease Association of Ontario, he has spent 17 years learning how he contracted the disease. Although he worked as an environmental consultant, he had never travelled to the "hot spots" where the disease was most commonly transmitted- mainly in the United States and locales along the Canadian border

T

from Manitoba to Nova Scotia.

Along with a microbiologist from the University of British Columbia, Scott collected 591 black-legged ticks from across Ontario and found nearly 13 per cent tested positive for Lyme disease bacteria. The ticks were collected as far north as the 50th parallel. Today, he can identify 10 "hot spots" in central and eastern Canada.

The reason, he says, is that blacklegged ticks attach themselves to songbirds such as robins and song sparrows to feed on their blood. "Birds that forage along the ground might pick up the ticks in those southern Ontario hot spots, but when they migrate and land somewhere else, the ticks can drop off and find new hosts to feast on."

Scott's study was published in the Journal of Medical Entomology in July 2006, and he is hopeful that physicians will take notice of the research as an aid in diagnosis. Many people with symptoms of Lyme disease go undiagnosed for years because doctors don't know how widespread tick infestations really are in Canada, he says.

More information is available at www.canlyme.org.

the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) annual meeting held on campus in 1947. The doors of johnston Hall are their main feature.

Prof. Doug Goff B.Sc.(Agr.) '82, accepted them on behalf of the department. He is a 25-year member of the ADSA and a recipient of the ADSA Teaching Award. The professional organization also held annual meetings at Guelph in 1973 and 1997 and celebrated its tooth anniversary in 2oo6.

Hamilton retired from the Department of Dairy Science in 1962. His grandfather and father had dairy

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farms on Stone Road and College Avenue, which are now part of University lands. Hamilton served in the

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First World War, returned to OAC in

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collegiate championship in 1938.

Summer 2007 29

19405 • Tom Hawke, DVM '45, says several members of his class held a mini reunion in Abbotsford and Delta, B.C., where they renewed acquaintances and talked about mutual health concerns. Among the group were: Trevor Clarkson, Gordon Davis, Julius Frank and Stu Magwood, DVM '42 . Hawke, Frank and Magwood also enjoyed a visit with former OVC dean Trevor Lloyd Jones.

• Robert Burrell, B.Sc. '76 and M.Sc. '80, was recently awarded BioAlberta's top honour for scientific achievement and innovation. Burrell, a professor at the University of Alberta who holds a Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Biomaterials, has helped design more than 15 medical processes and products and is named as inventor on more than 30 patents.

19505 • Barbara Kingscote, DVM '55, is the author of Ride With the Wind: One Woman's journey Across Canada. Released in 2006, the book is a memoir of Kingscote's travels across Canada on her horse Zazy in 1949.

"With only $100, a map and a handful of supplies, the intrepid duo made their trek across the country counting on luck, determination and the generosity of strangers to see them through," writes publisher NeWest Press. Kingscote now lives in Red Deer, Alta.

19605 • Ross Wein, B.Sc. '65 and M.Sc. '66, retired from the faculty of the University of Alberta in June 2006. His research and teaching focused on natural resources and conservation. In 2006, he edited Coyotes Still Sing in My Valley: Conserving Biodiversity in a Northern City, a book on Canadian urban conservation.

19705

Robert Burrell

30 THE PoRTico

Mary Coy le

• Mary Coyle, BA '78 and OAC '85, director of the Coady International Institute and vice-president of St. Frances Xavier University, travelled with Governor General Michaelle Jean on a state trip to Africa in November. The trip included stops in Algeria, Mali, Ghana, Morocco and South Africa, where the delegation met with renowned anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu.

• David Hutton, BA '75, is a high school principal with the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. He's also been a Canadian Football League onfield official for 21 years and has officiated at six Grey Cups.

• Jeff Lozon, BA '76, is president and CEO of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and was recently named chair of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, a new $260-million federal agency formed to develop a strategy for cancer control.

Lozon is also a member of U of G's Board of Governors.

Jeff Lozon

• Don Nunns, B.Sc.(P.E.) '73, is a teacher and artist in Brantford, Ont. He and his wife, Rita, own and operate Crazy Chameleon Artistic Productions Inc., an airbrushing business where they "paint anything on everything."

• Sandra (Currie) Richards, B.A.Sc. '79, teaches at Port Hope High School, in Port Hope, Ont., with another Guelph graduate, Deb (Nodwell) Thomas, BA '79.

They team-teach a family studies program . Thomas and her husband, Rob, have two daughters, Meighan and Kelsey.

Richards and her husband, Norm, have a son, Clark, and a daughter, Christina.

• Charles Ross, B.Sc. '76, is a partner in a new venture to stimulate sport fishing in Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching. Lures and Tours is a combination guidebook and website directory that connects visiting fishers with the resources and services available year-round in the area, he says. Visit www.luresand tours.com for more information.

• Leonardo (Leo) Sanchez, B.Sc. '78, is proudly celebrating the lOth anniversary of his business, Sanchez Engineering Inc. "We're a growing firm specializing in water resources, environmental, structural and municipal engineering," says Sanchez, who lives in Coburg, Ont., with his wife and partner, Ligia. They have two grown children, Julian and Claudia.

• Janet Schlenker, B.A.Sc.'74,

retired in 2006 after working for 30 years in clinical dietetics, mostly as a pediatric dietitian in British Columbia. She says her work at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children was challenging and rewarding, especially with the ongoing interaction with families. "Even after retirement, I have continued to be active on the executive of the pediatric network for Dietitians of Canada;' she says. "Now most of our time is taken up with travelling and exploring all over North America in our RV." • Peter Wells, PhD '76, retired after 34 years at Environment Canada working on water pollution, ecotoxicology and marine research. During his career, he also worked at Dalhousie University, the Bermuda Biological Station and the United Nations (IMO in London). "My primary interest is tl1e health of the oceans and what we should be doing to reverse the disturbing trends of degradation and biodiversity and habitat loss. Though 'retired,' I still teach and work on many issues and plan to do so for a few more decades (with luck!) ."

• Lee Whittington, B.Sc. '79, was honoured in the agriculture awareness and education category at the sixth annual Canadian Agri-Food Awards of Excellence hosted by Agriculture and

Lee Whittington

Agri- Food Canada and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

• Don Ziraldo, B.Sc. '71, cofounder of Inniskillin Wines,

retired in November. He's currently heading a committee that is studying the Vineland Research Station. The Vineland Renaissance Advisory Panel has received $200,000 from the province to study the future of the site.

19805 • Tracy Bock, BA '83, graduated from law school at the University of Western Ontario in 2005 and is now practising in New Brunswick.

• Jim Brown, ADA '85, B.Sc. (Agr.) '89, and M.Sc. '94, recently published a bestselling business management book called

The Imperfect Board Member.

For a review, visit his company website at www.strive.com.

• Jerry Claessens, B.Sc.(Agr.) '80, is general manager of Lely Canada, a Guelph company that markets and supports the Lely robotic milking system. On weekends, he heads to his home in Michigan. He and his wife, Valerie, have two children: Tayler, 16; and Jaelene, 21.

• Frank Encarnacao, BA '87, has made a lot of changes since graduation. "I've recently become an American citizen and legally changed my name to Frank Cameron. If you watch NBC's Scrubs, you can find me as the recurring character Dr. Mickhead."

• Wayne Joseph, B.Sc.(Eng.) '85, was elected chair of chairs of all the regional water partnerships of the world at a Global Water Partnership (GWP)

Wayne joseph

meeting in Athens, Greece, in February. He will serve a twoyear term and be responsible for chairing meetings involving 60 nations . joseph also chairs the GWP (Caribbean) and is general manager of operations with the Water and Sewage Authority in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

• B. Olaniyi (Niyi) Kehinde, BLA '86, is head of parks and recreation for the Satellite Towns Development Agency in Abuja, Nigeria. He's also president of the Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria and is working with U of G professor Jim Taylor to institute landscape education and practices in Africa.

• Alison Paine, B.Sc.(Agr.) '80 and M.Sc. '83, is teaching environmental science at Lansing Community College in Michigan. She lives with her husband and two children, plus their horses, dogs and cats. "I pretend to be an aggie on my five acres!"

• George Satory, BA '80, lives in Guelph with his wife, Anne, and their three children. They own the Minuteman Press franchise in Fergus. Classmates can contact him at minuteman_press@ bellnet.ca.

• Marc Van Ameringen, BA '81, is executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The organization has received $50 million from the Gates Foundation to facilitate fortification of foods for poor, malnourished children around the world. In addition, GAIN has launched a sustainable business project in Bangladesh in partnership with Grameen Danone Foods Limited.

• Nancy (Howlett), B.Sc.(Agr.) '86, and Peter Wedel, B.Sc.(Agr.) '87, live in Guelph with their three children, aged 12, 10 and seven. Both work at U of GNancy at the Arkell Swine

Lorraine Hiscox, DVM '87, submitted this photo of classmates at an alumni reception at the 2007 Ontario Veterinary Medical Association meeting.

Research Centre and Peter as a counsellor in Counselling SerVlCes.

• Annette Westgarth, ADA '82, is the mother of three teenagers and says she is "living the life" in Newcastle, Ont.

19905 • Margot (Verduijn) Bai, BA '96, graduated in psychology and has put that background to good work as an author. Her first published book was released in November: Spend

Smarter, Save Bigger: Finding

Margot Bai

BIG Savings in Your Home, Mortgage, Vehicles, Insurance and Investments. Since then, she's been busy with television and radio interviews. She is married to James Bai, B.Sc. '94 and B.Sc.(Eng.) '98, who works for a major international computer company in Markham, Ont. For more information on Margot's plan to retire young, visit www.spendsmarter.ca.

• Sara (Pinnell) Berry, BA '98, and her husband built a house in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., last year and welcomed the birth of their son.

• Jacki Hollywood Brown, B.Sc. '90 and M.Sc. '93, is director of internal communications for the Professional Organizers in Canada. She lives in Montreal with her husband, Lt. Col. Kevin Brown, and their children, Marc and Olivia.

• Victoria (Hill) Dixon, B.Sc. '97, moved to Australia in 2000 and completed a master of health science in genetic counselling. After working as a genetic counsellor for four years, she is now an early support worker with families who have a young child with a disability or developmental delay.

She and her husband live in Carrum Downs, Victoria, and just had their first child in April.

• Mollie Cummings, B.A.Sc. '95, and Bob Loughran, B.Sc. (Eng.) '92, were married Oct.15, 2005, in Clifford, Ont. After the ceremony, they rode off on a bicycle built for two. They now live on a farm in Arthur Township, where Bob is an electrician and Mollie is a supervisor at a farm retail store. On Nov. 3, 2006, they welcomed the arrival of a "bundle of joy" called Graham Charles Gordon.

Summer 2007 31

WE TAKE THESE GRADS

Jackie Fraser, B.Sc.(Agr.) '94 and M.Sc. '96, married Derek Roberts July 29, 2006, at their small farm, Fraberts Farm, near Fergus, Ont. More than So Guelph grads we re in attendance -

the father and

brother of the bride, the sister of the groom, aunts, uncles and cousins, the piper, the caterers, the photographer, the soloist, the bartenders and winemaker and many friends. Jackie is executive director of AGCare in Guelph, and Derek is a chef at the Breadal· bane Inn in Fergus.

Blake Laramie, B.Sc.(Agr.) '01, and Suzanne Vogels, B.Sc.(Agr.) '01 and R.Dip. '03, were married in June 2006 in St. Marys, Ont. They met in Johnston Hall during their first year as aggies at U of G and have many good friends and fond memories from their time at Guelph, including Blake's proposal on Johnston Green. Many alumni from Guelph and the Ridgetown Campus helped celebrate their marriage -

84 in total. The newlyweds live on their farm

outside Amherstburg, Ont., Blake is a cash·crop farmer and Suzanne works as a veterinary technician.

• Tom Deligiannis, BA '91, is an assistant professor at the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica.

He lives in San Jose with his wife, Kelly, and two children, Eva and John.

• Basse! Durzi, B.Comm. '94, and his wife, Tiffany (Glover), DVM '00, have been living in the Cayman Islands for over five years. They have two children born there and say they hope to introduce them to snow one

32 THE PORTICO

day. Basse! works at the First Caribbean International Bank.

"We sometimes miss Guelphin the summer, anyway;' he says.

"We enjoy visiting Canada and seeing our old friends from Guelph. For those alumni visiting Grand Cayman, look up the Durzi family. We would be hapPY to meet you."

• Timothy Ferrier, BA '97, has completed his studies at Presbyterian College in Montreal and was inducted into his first

charge at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Chesley, Ont., in March. He and his wife, Deidre Sullivan, have two children: Devan, 6; and Patrick, 2.

• Jared Goodman, BA '93, has been married "to a Western grad, of all people" for five years, and they have two children, Zack and Alicia. He is a senior operations ana lyst at Globa lstar Inc. and says, after 12 years in the business, he still loves the challenge of Datacom.

• Craig Hennigar, MA '95, works in real estate and financial consulting in North Vancouver. In November, he and his wife, Susan Webb, had their four th child, Brooke Abigail. She joins her siblings: Brittany, 16; Spencer, 15; and Lauren, 6.

• Darren Long, BA '98, and Megan Griffiths, BA '98, were married in July 2002. They live in Bradford, Ont., with their three-year-old son, Rhys, and 14-month-old daughter, Emma.

Darren is a bullion investor with an investment firm in Markham and says Megan is "the most incredible stay-at-home mom:' They can be reached at dvlong @hotmail.com.

• David MacNeil, B.Comm. '96, and Candace Barry, B.Sc. '96, met at U of G and have been married since 2002. She is director of operations for ASI Technologies Inc. in Brampton, Ont., where she supports the development of software and database management tools for mw1icipal organizations throughout Ontario and Canada. He started a new job in December as business manager of the Space Station MSS logistics and sustained engineering program (Canadarm II) at MDA Space Missions (formerly SPAR Aerospace Program). Previously, he worked in the contracts department of the regional aircraft division of Bombardier Aerospace for six years. They live in Mississauga.

• Humera Mahmood, M.Sc. '97, has been a counsellor in the chemical dependency field for the past eight years and just started a private practice in March. Sh~ has three children ranging in age from a university student to a youngster just finishing Grade 1.

• Daniel Mainville, B.Sc.(Eng.) '94, and M.Sc. '97, was recently selected for the Australian Rural Leadership Program. He works for the Victorian government's Department of Sustainability and Environment as a project co-ord inator. Recent projects have included construction of the longest undersea electrical interconnectorbetween Tasmania and Victoria -environmental planning in conjunction with a major coalmining operation and preparation for scuttling a former navy frigate to create a dive attraction.

• Laura-May (Culver), BA '96, and Jim Mason, BA '95, live in Fergus, Ont., with their sons, Lucas, 4, and Atticus, 1. They both work for the Upper Grand District School Board- she as a social worker and he as a high school English teacher.

• Andrea Murphy Mcintosh, B.Sc.(Agr.) '95 and M.Sc. '99, wrote to announce the birth of her son, Nicholas Daniel Murphy Mcintosh, on Dec. 9 in Alexandra, New Zealand.

• John Opsteen, B.Sc.(Agr.) '95, was recognized for his volunteerism at the sixth ann ual Canadian Agri-Food Awards of Excellence hosted by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

• Tammy Robinson-Simmons, B.A.Sc. '95, has been married for 11 years and has two daughters aged seven and five. She lives in Waterloo, Ont., and is a manager with a local insurance company. She also provides a coach-

ing service for small businesses.

• Donald Russell, B.Sc.(Agr.) '91, and his wife, Joanne, were named Outstanding Young Farmers in Canada in 2006.

They own a dairy farm in Cobden, Ont., where they milk 22 cows and raise four children: Shannon, Meghan, Sydney and Quinn. Donald is also co-owner of a hoof-trimming business that services about 20,000 cows per year.

• Dagmar Schouten, B.Sc. '95 and DVM '00, and her husband, Graham Keys, spent four years in the United States while he completed a veterinary surgical internship at Virginia Tech.

They had a daughter, Femke, in March 2006. Says Schouten: "We're happy to be back in Canada and certainly missed it while in the U.S.A." • Katy Shufelt, B.Sc. '96, recently moved back to her hometown of Peterborough, Ont., to practise medicine. She attended medical school at the University of Ottawa and completed a six-year residency in cardiology at the University of Toronto. She is married with a young daughter, trains as a marathon runner and plays pickup hockey with other local doctors.

• John Siembida, BA '98, started his career in the financial services industry as treasurer for an offshore investment management company while still completing his undergraduate degree.

He has more than 18 years of experience in the insurance and financial services industries and is currently vice-president and general manager of Daystar Financial Services Inc. He recently completed an executive MBA at the Richard lvey School of Business. Siembida lives in Etobicoke, Ont., and is a member of the advisory board of the YMCA and a volunteer with the Salvation Army. He is also active in the

He gave as good as he got n a coaching career that's

I

spanned more than 30 years,

Jim Atkinson has been a part of many spirited rugby matches.

The wins have piled up, but none resonated more with the U of G professor and coach than when his varsity women's side registered a seven-to-five victory in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship in London last fall.

Already having suffered two losses to the Western Mustangs, Atkinson's Gryphons scored in the dying moments of the match to dethrone the threetime defending OUA champions

through the system over the

for Guelph's first gold medal in

years,

Canadian

focused on what was being

four seasons.

national team members such as

said - hungry to learn. I found

Maria

that very easy to get used to."

"There was far more pleasure

including Gallo

and

Collette

their butts off, but they were

in coming back to beat Western

McAuley, now a coach with the

Atkinson has seen himself

after being in the wilderness to

Gryphs. But he has also intro-

as a facilitator for the rugby

them for a couple of years,"

duced

many

program. Rather than focus on

Atkinson says of avenging an

whose high schools didn't offer

winning with brute power, he

the

game

to

emotional 2005 title game loss

the sport. The Gryphon program

emphasizes developing skills,

to the Mustangs in his final

has always been about inclu-

which many of his players have

match coaching in the OUA.

sion -

"I have never been happier

and the results speak

for themselves.

gone on to use at the provincial and national levels.

on the side of a rugby field in

Growing up in Leeds, Eng-

A professor in the Depart-

my entire life. It was so sweet."

land, Atkinson was a hard-

ment of Animal and Poultry Sci-

Atkinson, who officially hung

nosed player who "led with the

ence, Atkinson has a similar

up the whistle after Guelph took

elbows" and "gave as good as

style in the classroom. He has

silver at the 2006 national cham-

I got." He started playing on

been recognized for contribu-

pionship, knows something of

the Gryphon men's side in 1970

tions to student life at U of G

dynasties. The Gryphon Hall of

while doing a PhD in nutrition

and received the University's

Fame member has been an

and took the reins of the team

first Excellence in Undergradu-

instrumental figure in building

in 1974. Twenty-two years later,

ate Academic Advising Medal-

he changed his focus to the

lion in 2004.

the women's rugby program.

Since their inaugural season in 1994, the female Gryphons

women's side.

"We used to share the field

Above all, Atkinson teaches trust and respect for each oth-

have never had a season with-

for practices, women at one

er. He says what he'll miss most

out a medal. Atkinson took over

end and guys at the other," he

about coaching is seeing the

the team in 1996, and a high-

says. "One miserable cold night,

enthusiasm the players share.

light of his coaching career was

foggy, damp, I looked at the

"I want them to feel happy

winning provincial and nation-

men's team, and all the guys

and feel that they contributed

al gold in 1998, the same year

were lollygagging while the

regardless of what level they got

the Gryphon men won their last

coaches were trying to explain

to," he says. "They have tremen-

OUA banner.

something. I looked at the

dous camaraderie on the team.

he's had

women, and they were totally

It's fabulous to watch."

some exceptional talent come

focused. They were freezing

Atkinson

says

-By David DiCenzo

Summer 2007 33

martial arts and holds a black belt in jiu-jitsu.

• Charmaine (Chung) Strickland, B.Sc. '94, earned an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and married Joseph Strickland in 2003. Their daughter, Madeline, was born Sept. 19, 2006.

• Craig Steven, B.Sc. '91, works at Gourmet Cuisine, an off-site company that catered the Canadian Open and the Rogers Cup in Toronto in 2006. "It was a busy summer," he says.

• Stephen and Lee-Ann (Thorne) Turley, both ADA '92, will celebrate their 13th anniversary in October. They live in Drayton, Ont., with their children: Eric, 10; Joshua, 8; and

Grace, l. Stephen works for the City of Kitchener's cemeteries division and is a volunteer firefighter in Drayton. They invite old friends to contact them at stephenrturley@hotmail.com.

• Kim (Kamphuis) Vis, BA '97, has four daughters, teaches Grade 7/8 part time and lives in Grand Valley, Ont.

20005 • Mike Avoledo, ADA '00, and Sara Brenneman, B.Comm. '03, are engaged to be married. The wedding will be in Embro, Ont., on July 7.

• Catherine Blevins, BA '01, is teaching at Canadian College Italy in Lanciano, Italy. Last summer she introduced "Ecology in Italy;' a Grade 12 course

she developed to teach students about the environment.

• Jane (Reid), BA '00, and Ian Crawford, B.Sc. '01, had their second son, Calum David, in December. They invite friends to contact them at jane@craw4d.ca or ian@craw4d.ca.

• Andrew Emmott, B.Comm.

'03, is recovering from the loss of his wife, Shelly, on Dec. 12,2006, when she was killed in a car accident. At the time, he was three months into a master of divinity program at McMaster University. He wrote to say thank you to U of G and )r. Farmer friends who have given their support.

• Cara Emms, B.Sc. 'OS, is a teacher living in Barrie, Ont.,

and will marry Colin Ross, B.Sc.(Env.) '02, in June.

• Gabriela Flores, BA '02, recently finished a four-year contract with the United Nations World Food Program .

• Heather Prize, BA '02, has a signature jewelry line called Ecstatic. Her work has been featured in Toronto Life, Style and Highrise Magazine. In addition, singer Olivia Newton-John dons a selection of Prize's bracelets on the cover of her Grace and Gratitude album. For more information, visit www.ecstatic.ca.

• Chad Harvey, B.Sc. '00, completed a PhD in zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is now doing a postdoctoral stint at the Great Lakes

PASSAGES Robert Abernethy, DVM '67, March 31, 2006 Donald Adams, DVM '50, Jan. 28, 2007 William Adams, ADA '69, April 24, 2006 Peter Arnold, M.Sc. '73, March 7, 2006 Randolph Baker, ADA '68, July 5, 2006 Michael Baker-Pearce, BA '85, April 24, 2006 Charles Belchamber, BSA '40, Feb. 14,2007 Arthur Bell, BSA '34, Jan. 4, 2001 Robert Bell, BSA '49, March 6, 2007 David Berry, BSA '59, july 5, 2006 Robert Brooks, BSA '51, Feb. 24, 2007 Gordon Brown, DVM '45, Jan. 10, 2007 Jeffrey Brown, BLA '03, Dec. 13, 2006 Rosemary Brown O.C., HDLA '90, April2003 Duncan Buchanan, R.Dip. '53, Dec. 7, 2005 Annie Calder, DHE '54, Jan. 16, 2006 Elizabeth (Scrace) Chamberlain, B.Sc.(Agr.) '65, March 13, 2006 Russell Chard, BSA '50, June 22, 2006 Wayne Cook, BA '71, 2005 Joseph Corner, ADA' 48, Oct. 23, 2006 Ellen (Jefferies) Courtney, DHE '40, Dec. 11, 2006 Thomas Cross, ADA '56, April 29, 2006

34

THE PORTICO

Edward Curtis, BSA '62, May 31,2006 Helen (McLeod) Demare, DHE '37, Dec. 31,2006 Chad Derry, R.Dip. '94, Sept. 25,2001 Leigh Donald, DVM '58, Sept. 27, 2006 Russell Dorland, DVM '49, May ll, 2006 Ajudhia Duggal, M.Sc. '61, June 21,2005 Kenneth Easton, DVM '58, Sept 18, 2006 Arnold Edinburgh, HDLA '68, June 2, 2006 Julie Eros-Ackroyd, DVM '58, July 16, 2006 Yvonne (Salsbury) Everson, DHE '41, Nov. I, 2006 Charles Fawcett, DVM '54, April23, 2006 Elizabeth (Pink) Forbes-Roberts, DHE '41, Sept. 7, 2006 William Forrest, DVM '55, June 2, 2006 Donald Fowler, DVM '54, June 28, 2006 Glen Francis, BSA '43, Nov. 19,2006 Suzanne (Morrow) Francis, DVM '57, June 11, 2006 Kenneth Gilpin, ADA '52, March l, 2006 Robert Girvan, ADA '56, June 17, 2005 Ross Godfrey, ADA '58, Aug. 30, 2006 Theodore Golob, BSA '52, April 20, 2005 Katherine (O'Neill) Graber, DHE '40, May 18,2006

Robert Grant, BSA '50, Feb. 24, 2007 Philip Green, BSA '57, June 22, 2006 Andrew Greig, DVM '50, Dec. 3, 2006 Arthur Hartwick, BSA '48, March 7, 2007 Anne Hebert, H.D.Let. '76, )an.22,2000 Elizabeth (Seward) Herold, DHE '49, March 23, 2006 Ormi (Young) Hill, DHE '37, 2006 France (Raynor) Huff, DHE '41, Dec. 14, 2006 Corrine Hutchings, B.A.Sc. '92, Dec. 31,2005 William Inniss, BSA '58, May 16, 2006 Marilyn Jacobs, B.A.Sc. '75, Oct. 6, 2006 Dorothy James, DHE '34, Nov. 15, 2006 Edna Jarrell, DHE '36, Aug. 4, 2005 Victor Jensen, BSA '50, March 22, 2006 Joseph Jibb, ADA '34, March 17, 2006 Kathleen (Kraft) Kennedy, DHE '39, April 8, 2006 Alan Klevorick, DVM '66, Dec. 17, 2006 Jean (McTaggart) Kneale, DHE '36, June 21,2006 David Krick, ADA '67, Feb. 22,2005 John Leatherdale, DVM '42, March 15, 2006

Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor. He and his wife, Heather (Webert), B.Sc. '00, say they're happy to be back in Canada.

• Heather Lynch, BA '02, and Nathan Lundrigan, B.Sc.(Env.) '01, are engaged to be married this fall. They met on their first day at U of G while moving into Maritime Hall, but it took five years before they finally got together. They now live in London, Ont., where she operates Heather Lynch Photography and Digital Media. He is an account representative with Wolseley Mechanical Inc. Friends can reach them through www.heatherlynch.ca.

Heather Lynch and Nathan Lundrigan

• Sue MacKay, BA '00 and MA '0 1, lives in Fort McMurray, Alta., and is a clinical counsellor.

• Joel McDonell, B.Comm. '02, is happy to report that his company, the Bermuda Jam Factory, won a 2007 Scovie Award in the "Sweet Heat- Jams and

Jellies" category, capturing second place with Storm Surge.

The Scovie Awards are one of the world's most competitive gourmet food competitions.

• Heather Sanderse, B.Sc. '05, is currently enrolled in a master's program in biotechnology at the University of Toronto and is to marry Ian Repetski of Toronto this summer.

• Mike Salisbury, BLA '03, is with Earthartist Landscape Architecture in Guelph and was elected to city council last fall.

• Thomas Scott, BA '03 and MA '04, has a life full of drama. He has lived and worked in theatres in New York and Toronto and is currently program director with Edmonton's Fringe Theatre

Adventures. ''I'm grateful for the professors who believed in my talent and taught me the skills necessary to work in this field;' he says. "I stand on the shoulders of giants. I write with conviction that the University of Guelph's drama department is one of the best in Canada!'

• Victoria Sheppard, B.Sc. '02, created her own charitable organization to help educate children living in one of the largest slums in Nairobi, Kenya, and in the world. After graduating from Guelph, she completed a master's degree in environmental studies at Dalhousie University, then went to Kenya on a CIDA-funded internship at the United Nations Environ-

PASSAGES Alma (Adamson) Lindsay, DHE '36, Aug. 21,2006 Andrew Lindsay, B.Sc. '90, June 28, 2006 Leonard Lobsinger, DVM '38, April 1, 2006 Thomas A. Martin, ADA '81, Feb. 6, 2006 Thomas Martin, ADA '55, Nov. 29,2006 Ronald Maynard, ADA '57, Sept.11, 2006 Ernst Mayr, H.D.Sc. '82, Feb. 3, 2005 Denton McCarl, ADA '61, Nov. 10, 2006 Paul McKee, B.Sc. '76, 2006 Ross Lipsit, BSA 'SO, March 9, 2005 Constance McKibbin, DHE '34, Jan. 17, 2007 Ian McMorland, DVM '58, Sept. 12, 2006 William Medway, DVM '54, March 19, 2006 Alexander Mitchell, BSA '47, Jan. 24, 2007 Eleanor Gilchrist Mitchell, DHE '36, March 8, 2007 Elizabeth (Trott) Mooney, DHE '37, June 13, 2006 Grant Morrow, BSA '47, Sept. 21, 2006 Sheila (Brown) Murphy, B.Sc. '77, June 8, 2006 Ronald Neily, BSA '51, Oct. 18,2006 John Nichols, BSA '47, Jan. 4, 2007

Sten-Erik Olsson, H.D.Sc. '77, March 14, 2000 Judith Orlik, DHE '52, Jan. 22, 2007 Alfred Oven, R.Dip. '65, April 2006 Robert Parsons, BSA '49, Aug. 22,2005 Maureen Peden, B.A.Sc. '72, Jan. 22, 2007 Andrea Rapitta, B.Sc.(Agr.) '82, Jan. 2, 2007 Otto Radostits, DVM '59, Dec. 15, 2006 Edward Renusz, BA '75, May 5, 2006 Vivienne (Arlett) Robinson, DHE '38, July 29, 2006 Donald Ross, BSA '44, Jan. 9, 2006 William Sage, BSA '49, March 3, 2007 Frank Sauer, DVM '51, April19, 2006 John Schildroth, M.Sc. '79, Feb. 27, 2006 William Shanks, ADA '48, Jan. 21,2007 Kenneth Shaw, BSA '39, Feb. 12, 2007 Sheery-Lynne (Logan) Sheff, BA '86, March 20, 2005 John Sinclair, BSA '34, Oct. 26, 2006 Ross Sloan, BSA '39, April 24, 2006 Ellen (Allen) Smith, DHE '32, May 15,2006 Louis Sponder, M.Sc. '82, Aug. 12, 2006 Kim StJohn, DVM '79, Jan. 11, 2007 Lloyd Stephens, BSA '36, May 28, 2006 David Stone, ADA '47, Jan. 23,2007 Olive Thompson, DHE '35, Feb. 12,2007

Louis-Albert Vachon, H.D.Let. '66, Sept.29,2006 Mary (Whyte) Vander Molen, DHE '56, May 30,2006 Gilbert Wallis, BSA '34, Dec. 22, 2005 Kathleen (Robinson) Ward, DHE '29, Oct. 30,2006 Eric Watson, BSA '49, Dec. 3, 2006 Michael Webb, B.Sc. '03, Dec. 21, 2006 Frederick Whitehead, BSA '55, Apri l1 8, 2006 Thomas Wittig, DVM '49, April1 9, 2006 Harold "Hal" Wright, BSA '51, March 3, 2007 Helen (Hulet) Yule, DHE '36, April 11, 2006 BOARD OF GOVERNORS Kenneth Hammond, March 26, 2007 Correction: We apo logize to Ross A. Beardall, DVM '55, his family and classmates for incorrectly listing his name in the "Passages" section of the winter 2007 Portico.

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

Summer 2007 35

Bob loves life ou know where to find him.

Y

Follow the sounds of Bogdana (Bob) lzdebskiego singing Polish tunes and strumming his guitar and you'll find the best

"dogs" on campus.

Victoria Sheppard

Bob's Dogs has been grilling

-o

up hot dogs, veggie dogs and

<:.1

I

0

sausages for the U of G commu·

"'-<

ment Program headquarters.

nity since 1999. He's a fixture on

During the 10 months she was

campus, but his talents span far

in Nairobi, Sheppard volun-

beyond the confines of his bar·

teered at a primary school in

becue stand outside the Bullring.

In fact, the hard-working and

hat that bears a striking resem-

"'~ --~-z 1992 after a family friend sug-

personable vendor was once a

blance to the one he wears now.

gested they come here to see

Polish cinema star, appearing in

lzdebskiego married in his

more than 20 films and nearly

20s and opened a small grocery business to supplement his

if they liked it. lzdebskiego was a line worker at Magna International for six

income as an actor. On the side,

years before opening his first hot

he was building a house where he planned to raise his growing

dog stand in Erin in 1998. A year later, he made the U of G cam-

Mathare Valley Slum, where 600,000 to 800,000 people live.

She helped raise money to pay for uniforms and food, so that a few children in the slum could attend elementary school.

Now back in Canada, she works as a policy analyst for Natural Resources Canada in Ottawa, but has found a way to continue helping. Her charity, the Canada-Mathare Education Trust (CMETrust), raises money to provide secondary school scholarships to students from Mathare. For more information, visit www.cmetrust.org.

• Mary Elizabeth "Beth" Snow, M.Sc. '00, went from Guelph to the University of British Columbia, where she completed a PhD in human nutrition in 2006 . Her dissertation focused on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the developing fetal skeleton and won the outstanding student/ post-doc award from the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Study Group of the Research Society of Alcoholism. She also won teaching awards from UBC and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Society.

• Shaun Taylor, B.Comm. '04, lives in Barrie, Ont., and says he is interested in "careers for students who have spent their post-

36

THE PORTICO

a dozen television serials.

"It was a beautiful time," he says. "I worked with many interesting people."

"'In )>

"'0

lzdebskiego was born in

family. His son, Jack, was born

pus his new set and the campus

Warsaw in 1957 and was just three years old when his moth·

in 1984, and his daughter, Katherine, arrived in 1986.

"I did everything from ham-

community his new audience.

er, Feliska, took him and his old· er brother, Wiesiek, to their first

"I really love it here," says lzdebskiego, who has been

mering boards, painting and

divorced for several years. He

casting call. A production studio

installing plumbing to building

was looking for young boys for

all our furniture," he says.

shares an apartment in Guelph with his girlfriend, Magda Gen-

a TV program it was producing.

Bob was hired, and this marked

But triumph quickly turned to tragedy. He drove his wife to

the start of what would turn out

work one morning and returned

ing career. He mailed a resume

to be an 18-year career.

A number of production stills

home to find the house in

to ACTRA, the Alliance of Cana-

flames.

"Everything was gone. It

dian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.

burned right to the ground. I still

"There's a good chance nothing will happen," he says, "but

from his days on set can be found on the Internet, and lzdebskiego keeps hard-copy photos.

don't know what happened."

da, who encouraged his recent decision to try to revive his act-

Some of the shots show him in

After the fire, he gave up

it's better to try to do the things

fight scenes, water-skiing and in

acting, and the family moved to

a striped prisoner's uniform. A few even show him sporting a

Greece. They stayed for five years, then moved to Canada in

you love rather than just sit around thinking about them."

-

by Rebecca Kendall

grad travelling and who are now

department of the Ontario

wherever I am."

back in Canada seeking work

Ministry of Natural Resources

with minimal experience and

in Peterborough.

• Dileeni Weerasinghe, MBA '06, is a training manager for Com-

gaps in their resume."

• Mark Webb, Dip.(Turf) '05, is an assistant golf course super-

contract catering company in the

• Emma Valliant, M .Sc. '00, uses her background in aquaculture in her role as an Environmental Bill of Rights registry planner in the land-use and environmental planning

intendent in New York. He has high praise for the training and education he received at Guelph. "I will proudly display my credentials from U of G

pass Group Canada, the largest world. Her responsibilities include training and development for more than 20,000 associates across the country.

An Alumni Success Story

Emily and Rob know they can't predict their future. But they know how to protect it.

Emily and Rob know there are no guarantees in life. They make the best financial decisions they can for their future and accept that some things are out of their control. The future security of their family isn't one of those things. That's why Emily and Rob invested in their Alumni Insurance Plans - the ones that support their alma mater. They benefit from the low rates and the security of knowing that help will be there, just in case it's ever needed. After all, the future is too important to be left to chance.

Term Life Insurance

Major Accident Insurance

Income Protection Insurance

To find out more about these Alumni Insurance Plans that support the University of Guelph, visit the Web site designed exclusively for University of Guelph alunmi at:

www.manulife.com/affinityuoguelphTS ... Or call Manulife Financial toll-free, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, at:

1 888 913-6333 . .. Or e-mail am_service@manulife.com any time.

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