Guelph The Portico Magazine, Winter 2007

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THE WORLD'S A STAGE, AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN MERELY PLAYERS.'' AS YOU LIKE IT,

ACT II, SCENE VI

FAMED ACTOR IS FESTIVAL PATRON

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AFTER SPENDING MONTHS onstageduringaproduction, William Hutt, H.D.Litt. '73, says the closing of a play often finds him "in my own house wondering who the hell I am."

"The stage has become my home;' he told an audience at U of G in September, when he was introduced as honorary patron of the "Shakespeare- Made in Canada" festival. The festival runs until June 10 and is a joint project of the University, the City of Guelph, the Guelph Arts Council and the Stratford Festival, where Hutt has been a company member since 1953.

"An actor's life is not so easily left behind;' he said.

"An actor does not inhabit but is inhabited by a character." With a smile, he added: "It takes time after a play closes to recognize that you are a completely different person. So you try to develop a character that you can live with at home."

In his 57-year theatrical career, Hutt has lived on the stage with more of William Shakespeare's characters than any other leading actor in the world. He has performed in all but three of Shakespeare's plays-

some of them several times and most in lead roles. His 2005 performance in The Tempest was his fourth portrayal of the wizard ruler Prospero.

"It's an extraordinary world- Shakespeare- to be involved in all that time," said Hutt. "Each time you portray a character, yo u understand more about the playwright. You are older, wiser, and can bring your own life experiences to it:' As Canada's foremost classical actor, he may well know Shakespeare better than anyone else in the country does .

"The essential genius of William Shakespeare is his use of language itself;' said Hutt, who is revered for his own "Canadian" style of interpreting the Bard's words.

"Shakespeare also explored many eras of time, different mores and folkways, different civilizations."

His plays remain popular because they lend themselves to ongoing interpretation and adaptation, added Hutt. "The 'Made in Canada' festival is evidence of that:' "All different eras and costumes have been loaded into Shakespeare's plays over the centuries;' said Hutt.

"Shakespeare lends himself to that, and he doesn't mind:'

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PHOTOS FROM THE WILLIAM HUTT COLLECTION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH LIBRARY

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THE PORTICO •

WINTER 2007

[ president's page - 3 ] • www.shakespearemadeincanada.ca • [ grad news - 32 ]

[ 6 IN AND AROUND THE UNIVERSITY

cover story ]

MEET WILLY SHAKE After 400 years, what more can we learn about Shakespeare? U of G friend Lloyd Sullivan says we now know what William actually looked like.

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the key to success, says U of G chancellor Lincoln Alexander in his new memoir. And Guelph is a great place to get an education, says Maclean's magazine, which ranks us the No. 1 comprehensive university in Canada.

Our research gets top DUCATION IS

ALUMNI MATTERS

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TRATFORD, 0NT.,

mayor and Guelph grad Dan Mathieson tells how a $125 investment turned a tent into a multimillion-dollar theatrical extravaganza. In Florida, snowbirds come in for a landing. On campus, Homecoming draws a crowd, College Royal gears up and a Ghana grad stops by.

[ 14 ] BARDOLATRY AT ITS BEST A regional "Shakespeare - Made in Canada" festival centres around an extensive exhibition at Guelph's Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. So much to see, so much to learn.

[ 20 ] WHAT's So GREAT ABouT SHAKESPEARE?

on the cover William Shakespeare takes over the life of Canadian Lloyd Sullivan.

He pulled new words out of thin air, took liberties with history, and made fun of commoners and royalty alike.

U of G English professor Daniel Fischlin talks about Shakespeare's influence in his time and ours.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DEAN PALMER

[ 24 ] SINGER OF SONNETS A Guelph physics professor who moonlights as a jazz singer and artist says Shakespeare was as much a songwriter as a playwright.

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MUSIC •

KISMET •

Competing choirs I READ WITH INTEREST about the Guelph choirs earning national recognition in the 2006 CBC competition. The article said this was the first time Guelph choirs had entered, but I think that is incorrect. If I recall, Gerald Neufeld entered the University choir in the competition back in 1982, although I can't remember what the prize was. I was a very happy member of that choir and really enjoyed the experience.

ANN SANDERS SAUBLE BEACH, 0NT. Editor's Note: Thank you for the cor-

rection. The University of Guelph Choir did win a $500 second prize in the 1982 CBC National Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs.

The entry was a tape recording of a live performance given in Halmstadt, Germany, when the choir toured Europe in 1981. In the same competition, the Guelph Chamber Singers won first place in their category, earning $1 ,000. Prof. Gerald Neufeld directed both groups.

Friendly homeowner MY HUSBAND AND I are Guelph graduates- I'm FACS '77, and he's BA '74. We met living in residence on the sixth floor of Addington in fall 1973. I was in my first year; he was in his last. I moved into a single room on the sixth floor for my second year, and Ed went to teachers' college. We were married in the summer of 1976 and lived in married-student residence while I finished my fourth year and Ed commuted to a teaching job in Toronto.

To make a long story shorter, we have three sons, and our youngest just started at Guelph in the fall.

When choosing a residence, he asked for an academic cluster and was assigned to Room 605 in Addington.

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NOSTALGIA

What a coincidence, we thought, that he was on our old floor.

Move-in day came, and when Matthew and his dad started carrying in luggage, I stayed with the car. Coming back for the second load, Ed had a big grin on his face.

Not only was Matthew on our old floor, but he was also in his dad's old room! How unusual is that?

There must be thousands of residence rooms on campus, and our son is in his dad's old room.

On another note, I'd like to offer my thanks for someone's thoughtfulness on move-in day. We had to line up on University Avenue for more than an hour, and after a large cup of coffee, I needed to use a washroom. As our car inched ahead, we parked in front of a beautiful two-storey red-brick house.

Out front was a sign saying: "Please feel free to use our bathroom:' On the front door was another sign saying: "Please walk in, you don't need to knock, the bathroom is around the corner." So I did.

It was a beautiful home, and no one seemed to be around. I whispered "thank you" on my way out.

If anyone knows who owns that house, I'd like to thank them. It was a very generous offer, much appreciated by this Guelph alumna.

ANNE OTTEN, B.A.Sc. '77 ETOBICOKE, 0NT.

Guelph photos I AM NOW PURSUING a PhD in chemistry at the University of Toronto, but I have published a number of photos taken in Guelph when I was a student at the University. The Guelph album is part of a larger Canada-Ontario Photo Gallery. If anyone is interested in looking at my photos for nostalgic reasons, the link is www.hanif world.com/canadaphoto.htm.

HANIF BAYAT MovAHED, M.Sc. 'os, ToRONTO, ONT.

£PORTICO Winter 2007 • VOLUM E 39 IssuE 1

Editor Mary Dickieson Director Charles Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc. Contributors Barbara Chance, BA '74 Rachelle Cooper David DiCenzo Lori Bona Hunt Heather Ives, B.A.Sc. '04 Rebecca Kendall, BA '99 SPARK Program Writers Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84 Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 Direct all other correspondence to: Communications and Public Affairs University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/ The Portico magazine is published three times a year by Communications and Public Affairs at the University of Guelph. Its mission is to enhance the relationship between the University and its alumni and friends and promote pride and commitment within the University community. All material is copyright 2007. Ideas and opinions expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of the University or the editors.

Publications Mail Agreement# 40064673 Printed in Canada- ISSN 1714-8731 To update your alumni record, contact: Alumni Affairs and Development Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 519-822-2670 E-mail alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

UNIVERSITY 9/'GUELPH

TO GLAD YOUR EARS AND PLEASE YOUR EYES, IT HATH BEEN SUNG AT FESTIVALS*

OR THE NEXT FIVE MONTHS,wewilJbewelCOming thousands of visitors to the University of Guelph's main campus and to our city as they attend some of the events planned during the "Shakespeare Made in Canada" festival.

We are privileged to have renowned actor William Hutt serve as honorary patron. He is a longtime member of the University family, having received an honorary degree in 1973, and recently donated a collection of papers and memorabilia to the U of G Library that documents his long career in the theatre.

Another William is, of course, the special focus of this regional festival. Many of our visitors will come to Guelph just to see what Shakespeare really looked like.

Others will attend a concert or a play or view the elaborate exhibitions that have just opened in the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. Up to 9,000 schoolchildren will come to take part in English, drama, visual arts, history and science projects.

Everyone who visits will leave with a better understanding of how the most produced playwright in history has influenced Canada's artists, writers, actors and scholars and, in the process, this country's evolving sense of itself as a nation.

The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project provided the impetus for the festival through its extensive research on Canadian interpretations of Shakespeare's work.

At the centre of the Shakespeare festival is the Sanders portrait, widely thought to be the only image of the Bard painted while he was alive. We are grateful to Lloyd Sullivan for allowing us to show the portrait, which has been owned by his family since it was painted in 1603.

This magnificent painting is matched in drama only by the tale of its discovery, and we want to share that with you in this issue of The Portico. How it came to be connected to the University of Guelph is a wonderful example of the important role of universities and scholarly research in uncovering national treasures. In fact, the art centre's entire exhibition is illustrative of the many ways Canadian scholarship helps provide the necessary social, historical, economic, religious and archival contexts for better understanding the past and exploring our future.

Beyond the University campus, festival visitors can attend presentations by local and regional art galleries, museums, theatres, orchestras and vocal artists. The large participation factor in this festival showcases our city and region's cultural excellence and highlights the importance of the relationship we share with our community.

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What pleases me most about the Shakespeare festival is the underlying collaboration that makes it possible. This is a joint effort of the University, the City of Guelph, the Guelph Arts Council, the Stratford Festival of Canada and all the groups and organizations they have inspired to participate. By working with our neighbours and cultural and educational partners, we are achieving one of our institution's most basic goals while demonstrating the relevance of universities as corporate citizens. We anticipate the festival will bring more than 50,000 people to the region.

"Shakespeare- Made in Canada" combines learning with fun and the enjoyment of Canadian culture.

Please join us for this extraordinary event.

ALASTAIR SuMMERLEE PRESIDENT www.shakespearemadeincanada.ca *Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act I, Prologue

Winter 2007 3

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS •

RESEARCH •

CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS

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& He went to school HE TITLE oF chancellor Lincoln Alexander's newly published memoir is a direct quote from his mother: Go to School, You're a Little Black Boy. His mother often said those words to him during his childhood. "My mother was the one who encouraged me to go to school," he says. "She was right, of course. My education has always been my empowerment."

Alexander's life is often described as one of exemplary firsts. Among them, he was the first person in his family to attend university, Canada's first black member of Parliament, the

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CFI

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GRANTS COVERED

ESEARCH GRANTS from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) are among the country's most coveted because they bring with them recognition of scientific expertise that has international impact.

In a recent CFI announcement, three U of G investigators received more than $14.5 million to advance research that will position the University and Canada at the forefront of X-ray diffraction, nuclear physics, life sciences and bioelectrochemistry. "' Physics professor Stefan Kycia ~ ~ received more than $11 million to 0.. ~ establish an X-ray diffraction and 0 ~ scattering team at Canada's nation=< 1 a! synchrotron research facility at the @University of Saskatchewan. It will ~ support a wide spectrum of materials research and has applications 0 i5: such as advanced alloys and poly-

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mers, novel batteries, food and petroleum products.

Prof. Paul Garrett, also of the Department of Physics, is heading a neutron detector array that involves 11 researchers from across Canada. They plan to construct a "world-unique" device that allows scientists to detect and measure neutrons much more directly. The equipment will be built at TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics in Vancouver.

Chemistry professor Jacek Lipkowski will use a $2.7-million infrastructure grant in Guelph laboratories that conduct soft materials research involving biomolecules, cells and bacteria. The project includes 24 investigators at U of G and more than 100 post -doctoral researchers and students.

first black chair of the Workers' Compensation Board, the first visible minority to hold the post of lieutenant-governor and the first person to serve five terms as U of G's chancellor.

The 85-year-old Alexander worked with Guelph writer Herb Shoveller to write the book, which was published

by The Dundurn Group.

The chancellor says the book is aimed at people who think they can't do something or think they'll never make it. ''I'd like to think I'm helping convince others to never give up."

CME long overdue The new College of Management and Eco· nomics (CME) held a launch party Oct. 25 that was attended by more than 350 people, including alumni and business leaders.

"The University is well-established as a leader in management and businessrelated programs," said president Alastair Summerlee. "With the creation of this new college, our students are benefiting even more from expanded course offerings and continued innovation in teaching, research and outreach."

CME includes the Department of Economics, the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies and the new Department of Business. It is also home to the Centre for Studies in Leadership.

"We believe this business school is long overdue," said CME dean Chris McKenna. "Guelph's bachelor of commerce program is now one of the largest business programs in the country."

NO. 1 IN NATIONAL SURVEYS

• Psychology professor Serge Desmarais will serve as the first associate dean of the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, spearheading the development of a strategic research plan for the college.

• Patrick Case, director of human rights and equity at U of G, has been appointed commissioner to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

• President Alastair Summerlee will serve as chair of the board of directors of World University Service of Canada for the next two years.

• Prof. Al Lauzon, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, will head a panel of

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experts to advise the provincial government on protecting sources

Nov. 2 when it reclaimed the No. l spot in the annual Maclean's rankings of universities. It was the third national sur-

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OF G SCORED A HAT TRICK

vey in less than a month to name Guelph the top comprehensive university in Canada.

On Oct. 31, Guelph was ranked at the top of its class for overall educational quality, reputation and atmosphere in the 2006 University Report Card published by the Globe and Mail, which represents the opinions of some 32,700 undergraduate students across Canada.

On Oct. 24, U of G was named Canada's top comprehensive research institution in the annual Top 50 Research Universities ranking. The survey by Research Infosource Inc. ranks Canada's universities based on sponsored research income. U of G was first in its category and placed 13th overall with research income of nearly $126 million in 2005.

In the Maclean's overall survey,

Guelph was named the top comprehensive university in Canada, followed by the University of Waterloo and the University of Victoria.

Guelph was ranked first in five of the key areas that determine the placements -quality of students, graduation rates, classes taught by tenured faculty, quality of faculty and student services. In an accompanying reputational survey in the magazine, Guelph was ranked second overall and second in each of three categories used to determine reputation: highest quality, most innovative, leaders of tomorrow.

Maclean's also published the results of its graduate survey, in which participants were asked to rate their alma mater. In that survey, Guelph was No. l among comprehensive universities in seven of the eight categories for educational excellence.

U of G was also named the top comprehensive university by Maclean's in 2003,2002 and 1999.

of drinking water. The appoint-

ment follows the Oct. 18 approval of Ontario's Clean Water Act, which allocated $7 million in the first year.

• A new annual lecture focused on

contemporary art has been creat-

ed at U of G through an endowment provided by Dasha Shenkman, a Canadian art collector who has lived in the United Kingdom for 40 years. The inaugural lectu re will be delivered by co nceptual artist Michael CraigMa rtin March 13 at 5 p.m. in War Memorial Hall.

• U of G ranked seventh among universities worldwide for its impact on agricultural sciences during the past decade (based on cited research), according to a study published last summer by Thompson Scientific's Science Watch.

Winter 2007 5

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SHAKESPEARE SEES AND UNDERSTANDS US

WHEN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE put pen to paper in the late 1500s, he ensured his place in history and unknowingly made his name a household word around the world - forever, it seems.

He is said to have introduced more than 3,000 English words, most uttered first by an actor on stage at London's Globe Theatre.

Not all of Shakespeare's new words stuck, but so many did that most of us would be hard-pressed to talk our way through the day without using some of them- words like bedroom, unhurried, obscene, skim milk, gossip, excitement, generous, torture, undress, worthless, laughable and advertising.

Our everyday speech would be - using Shakespeare's word- lacklustre without th ese oft-used phrases from the Bard: caught red-handed, sweets for the sweet, as white as the driven snow, neither a borrower nor a lender be, full of sound and fury, one fell swoop, blinking idiot and apple of one's eye.

Just read around the edges of the next few pages, and you'll understand why school kids building 21stcentury vocabularies still need to wade through all the "doths" and "tho us" of Elizabethan English.

Shakespeare's image, on the other hand, has been something of a mystery. Until now.

Canadian engineer Lloyd Sullivan says his family has held the secret of Shakespeare's true image for 400 years.

That's long enough, says Sullivan, who wants the world to see and accept the portrait painted by his ancestor John Sanders as the true likeness of William Shakespeare.

If the art wo rld accepts Sullivan's evidence, the Sanders portrait will be the only known picture of

Shakespeare painted during the playwright's lifetime.

His words. His fa ce. These are just the beginning of Shakespeare's influence in Canadian life.

Even more important are the way we interpret his words, how we meet his characters incarnate almost every day and why we continue to retell his stories to help us make sense of our own lives.

Shakespeare was a student of human nature. His characters were not invented but observed in the people around him. And because we already know a Hamlet, a Juliet, a Julius Caesar and a Puck, we often let Shakespeare give us a leg up in telling our own stories.

In fact, a team of Guelph researchers headed by English professor Daniel Fischlin has found more than 500 Canadian adaptations of Shakespeare's works since Confederation, and their database is still growing.

A Shakespeare enthusiast could spend hours on the website of the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP), and even those who think the Bard is overdone will find its trivia pages worth a look. No doubt CASP will attract a whole new audience when "garners" discover its new 'Speare video game. When CASP developers tested the game's Flash technology with Grade 6 students, the students had to be dragged away from the computer consoles after three hours of battling with the Montagues and Capulets.

When Shakespeare brought Fischlin and Sullivan together, he laid the foundation for a unique partnership that has allowed U of G to showcase his words, his face and his influence in this issue of The Portico and on campus during the "Shakespeare - Made in Canada" festival, which opened Jan. ll and runs until June 10.

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GUELPH STUDENT SOROU)A MOLL IS WRITING AN ADAPTATION OF SHAKESPEARE'S

ROMEO AND JULIET. AN EXCERPT FROM HER PLAY, GIRLSWORK, IS FEATURED IN THE EXHIBITION CATALOGUE PUBLISHED BY THE MACDONALD STEWART ART CENTRE IN SUPPORT OF THE "sHAKESPEARE- MADE IN CANADA" FESTIVAL.

Winter 2007 7

''COMPARE OUR FACES AND BE JUDGE YOURSELF.'' KING JOHN, ACT I, SCEN E I

LLOYD SULLIVAN TELLS A FAMILY TALE OF HISTORY AND CONTROVERSY

FOR AS LONG AS HE CAN REMEMBER,LloydSul-

livan has been mesmerized and mystified by the face of William Shakespeare. His fascination with a portrait of Shakespeare has grown into near obsession over the past 20 years, to the point that much of his waking hours are now spent researching the painting.

It's not because Sullivan is an artist or even an avid fan of the Bard's work. The allure is 400 years of ancestral history. The tangled roots of Sullivan's family tree tie this quiet and unassuming Ottawa man to the most celebrated playwright in the world.

In 1972, Sullivan inherited a family heirloom- a portrait that may be the only image of Shakespeare painted while the playwright was alive. Its public "outing" in 2001 and subsequent authentication have ignited controversy around the world.

But this is nothing new to Sullivan. For him, the name "Shakespeare" is synonymous with controversy.

While he was growing up, the mere mention of the Bard was often enough to evoke heated discussions at family gatherings, with his uncles and aunts, mother and grandmother at loggerheads about what to do with the portrait- to sell or not to sell.

"I was quite young at the time, and I didn't know who Shakespeare really was;' says Sullivan. "To me, he was just this man that people were always arguing about, a man whose portrait hung on the wall in our dining room:' An only child, Sullivan used to sit in the hallway and listen to the grown-ups. "They'd argue about things like whether they should sell it or if Shakespeare's name was spelled wrong on the label on the back of the por-

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The arguing only added to the portrait's allure. "I was captivated by it," he says.

The painting, which belonged to Sullivan's maternal grandmother, Agnes Hales Sanders, was only 161/2 inches high and about 13 inches wide, but to a child, it seemed larger than life. He used to think the Bard's eyes were looking at him during meals or following him around the dining room.

When Sullivan was eight or nine, his grandmother, who lived with him and his parents, became bedridden and the portrait disappeared from the wall. He went searching for it one day and found it under his grandmother's bed.

"When she became ill, she wanted all of her things around her, so the painting was put in a suitcase, and she kept it close to her."

Sullivan loved his grandmother, but she could be cantankerous at times. He soon learned that if he brought her tea, she would let him pull out the suitcase and look at the portrait, which she kept wrapped in an accordion-type cardboard and tied up in brown paper.

She also let him examine the other Shakespearean relics she owned, including some 200-year-old leather-bound books of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets that were also passed down through the family.

"I was captivated by the mysterious character in the suitcase," says Sullivan. "I just didn't know the fascination would remain my entire life."

Everyone in his family, as far back as anyone can remember, always said the portrait was of Shakespeare.

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Sullivan says it was painted in 1603- as indicated on the portrait itself- by one of his ancestors, John Sanders, an aspiring painter who was thought to be a bit actor in an early theatre company called Lord Chamberlain's Men, which Shakespeare belonged to.

The family lore is that the two were friends.

The painting depicts the playwright at age 39 and shows him with receding reddish hair, blue-green eyes and slightly smiling lips.

Growing up, Sullivan never questioned the family's stories or the portrait's history, and he still doesn't. "I have no doubt, no doubt, that this is the true image of Shakespeare."

Numerous artists and scholars alike have agreed, and mounting evidence supports the claim. Every aspect of the portrait has been tested and scrutinized over the past 15 years, with much of the scientific work done by the Canadian Conservation Institute. They've looked at the oak the portrait was painted on (it was tree-ring dated back to an oak that was felled in 1585) and the paint (the content and colours are consistent with the time period). They did acid tests on the paper label on the back of the portrait (linen fibres, dated 1640 at the latest) and the glue used to affix it (starch from rice and potatoes). There was even an analysis of the clothing worn by the man depicted in the portrait.

The Globe Theatre in London, England, determined

that the style and material were consistent with the rank and status of Shakespeare in 1603.

"They had their own dress code back in those days," says Sullivan. "When the portrait was painted, Shakespeare was just starting his social climb, and it was about the time that he would have first been allowed to wear such an elaborate outfit."

The conclusion following all these tests? The painting was done in 1603 and has not been altered since.

"I think this must be the most thoroughly researched and tested portrait in existence;' says Sullivan.

Officially known as the Sanders portrait, the painting is on display in Guelph at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, the centrepiece of"Shakespeare- Made in Canada;' a regional festival that will run for the duration of the exhibit from January through May. Events will include theatrical and musical performances, exhibitions, speakers' series and educational programs.

The Sanders portrait is also the signature image of U of G's Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP), which is headed by English professor Daniel Fischlin and features the largest and most complete website in the world dedicated to showing the playwright's cultural influence on Canada. Fischlin met Sullivan while researching images of Shakespeare, and their subsequent friendship is what brought Sullivan into the U of G family.

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The festival will mark the first time the portrait has been on display in Canada since being part of the international "Searching for Shakespeare" exhibit organized by the National Portrait Gallery in London, England.

The Sanders portrait joined the London gallery's famous Chandos painting (the image that depicts a balding Shakespeare wearing a big white collar and a gold earring) on a North American tour last summer and fall. The exhibit also included four other "contender" portraits of Shakespeare that were purported to have been painted while he was alive. Recent scientific testing has shown all but two - the Chandos and the Sanders portraits- to be fakes.

Remember, says Sullivan, that no one knows for sure what Shakespeare looked like. The only two images of him that are universally accepted as authentic- a copper engraving and a stone memorial bust housed at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avonwere both completed after his death.

In addition, there are few written documents that allude to what Shakespeare looked like. "Those that we have found mention auburn hair and blue-green eyes;' says Sullivan. And even fewer documents carry the playwright's signature.

Over the centuries, the lack of information has led to speculation that Shakespeare never really existed.

Sullivan has his own theory about that and about the authenticity of the Chandos painting. Although it's from the correct time period, "no documents have been found linking it to Shakespeare," he says.

In fact, some experts say the Chandos is painted in the baroque style of painting, which did not come into vogue until the 1630s, well after Shakespeare's death.

The Canadian art world has welcomed the Sanders portrait and supports the evidence of its authenticity, says Sullivan, but the reception from the English has been less than enthusiastic. He remains undaunted, however, noting that the Sanders family coat of arms includes a motto that translates into: "He conquers who endures:' How a 400-year-old English painting made its way to Canada and into the hands of an Ottawa resident is a long, involved story. But it's a good one. Had certain events not unfolded as they did, it would be England, not Canada, in possession of what may well prove to be the true likeness of Shakespeare.

Remember Agnes Hales Sanders, Sullivan's cantankerous grandmother? It is thanks to her tenacity and courage that the painting is in Canada. She helped

fight the British government for possession of the portrait, then travelled to England to collect it when she was in her early 50s.

Agnes was originally from England, where she married Aloysius Hales Sanders. The couple immigrated to Canada in 1894 with their five children (they went on to have 13 children in all, and Sullivan's mother, Kathleen Hales Sanders, was the youngest daughter). They settled in Montreal, where Aloysius became a popular educator and principal. He was also an artist who liked to paint landscapes of the Montreal countryside.

Sullivan's mother, Kathleen, was an artist, too. "For generations, the Sanders family members have possessed a talent for art;' he says.

Aloysius's father, Thomas Hales Sanders, was a banker by trade but loved to paint. His works, mostly watercolours and oils, were often exhibited in England.

Thomas's father, Thomas Sanders, was an artist as well, and his work was also shown regularly.

Asked if he inherited the family talent for art and painting, Sullivan smiles. "It skipped a generation;' he says, noting that his younger daughter, Shannon, has a talent for drawing.

Along with artistic talent, the Sanders portrait was handed down through the family for 14 generations.

Thomas Sanders left it to his son, Thomas Hales Sanders, who died in England in 1915. He left the Shakespeare portrait to his only surviving son, Aloysius, along with an old family Bible that recorded the births and deaths of all members of the Sanders family.

But the painting got held up in probate in England.

Sullivan says the government was reluctant to let the portrait leave the country because of its historical significance as a reputed portrait of Shakespeare.

Aloysius battled the English courts for four years before they ruled in 1919 that the painting was indeed his. But he died before he could collect it. Determined to bring back to Canada the painting her husband had fought so hard for, Agnes sailed across the Atlantic to get it. When she became ill in 1940, she moved in with Sullivan's family, which is when the portrait went up on the dining room wall.

"My mother was the only one in the family who could get along with my grandmother," he says. "My mother was the peacemaker in the family. She was so magnanimous and kind that our home was always the family meeting place."

After Agnes died, the portrait came out from under

Winter 2007

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11

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the bed and went into a cupboard, where it stayed for years. Once, in 1964, the family came close to selling it. Sullivan's uncle Frederick had an offer from an art dealer in Montreal who wanted to buy it for $100,000.

"That was a lot of money back then;' says Sullivan.

A family meeting was called, and things got quite heated. "It was my mother who cast the deciding vote.

She persuaded the others by arguing that the painting had to be worth more than $1 00,000; all that was needed was more research."

After that, the family became less and less interested in the portrait, says Sullivan, and it went back into the cupboard. When Frederick died in 1971, the painting went to Kathleen, who made it clear that she wanted her son to inherit it, along with the Shakespeare books and the family Bible. For once, the family was in agreement, says Sullivan.

"But they also agreed that the painting had to be authenticated and that it was going to be a long, timeconsuming process;' he says. "The consensus was that I would be the most likely person in the family to get the work done."

Before his mother died in 1972, she kept reminding him not to forget the portrait. "She'd say: 'Do some research, find some history."'

When he took possession of the portrait, Sullivan, like many family members before him, wanted it kept private. He, too, hung it on the dining room wall, where it was often a topic of conversation .

"People would come for dinner and say: 'Is that your great-grandfather?' I'd say: 'No, that's William Shakespeare.' Then they'd say: 'Sure, sure, have another drink.' I don't think anyone ever believed me."

Eventually, he took the portrait down, wrapped it in the same cardboard and brown paper his grandmother had used and put it back in a cupboard. "I decided it would one day be my retirement project."

Sullivan, who worked for Bell Canada as an engineer for 35 years, took early retirement at age 58. He spent some time playing golf and volunteering at his church, but it wasn't long before he started doing research on the portrait. "I wasn't an expert- I'm just a guy who inherited a painting," he says. "But I've learned a lot in the past 20 years."

He focused first on his family history and finding out as much as he could about John Sanders. The family Bible he'd inherited proved to be a great help. "That saved me years in the genealogy library."

One problem Sullivan faced was that much of his family history was oral because many important family documents about the portrait had been lost in a fire and floods in the 1800s. Despite his years of research, there are still a few generations in the genealogy that he hasn't yet been able to completely authenticate.

He was able to trace both his family roots and the portrait back to a William Sanders, who was born in 1712. William passed the portrait on to his son Richard, who left it to his oldest son, John, who in turn gave it to his younger half-brother Thomas.

But the years between 1603, when the portrait was painted, and 1712, when William Sanders was born, are unaccounted for. It's been noted that this was a volatile period in British history, a time when the country was engaged in a violent civil war and many baptismal and marriage records were lost or destroyed.

Sullivan was eventually able to document the existence ofJohn Sanders, who was born in 1576, and even find evidence that a ''J. Sanders" was indeed a member of Shakespeare's early company of actors.

He's also learned more than he ever imagined about the Bard himself. The mysterious portrait of the man whose eyes Sullivan used to think were following him started to take on a personality and life of its own. He even took to calling the portrait "Willy Shake."

One of the new things Sullivan learned may partially explain, even if only to him, the paucity of documents containing Shakespeare's signature. He discovered that many members of Shakespeare's mother's family and some of their friends had been arrested and executed after one of the family members threatened the life of Queen Elizabeth I during a drunken night at a pub.

"Shakespeare was only 19 at the time, and it must have had a tremendous effect on him;' says Sullivan.

Worried about his own family and their safety, Shakespeare may have gone to great lengths to hide what he was doing in his private life, who his associates were and where he was going, so family members and friends wouldn't be implicated if he was ever arrested and charged with sedition as many other playwrights had been. Sullivan says there's evidence that, because of what happened to his mother's family and their friends, Shakespeare became involved in the recusant underground and even used his plays to disburse coded messages.

"That's my theory as to why the painting isn't signed;' he says. "I think Shakespeare asked John Sanders, who was his friend, not to sign it." Sullivan also speculates

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that that's why the label affixed to the back of the painting was added only after Shakespeare's death.

It identifies the sitter as "Shakspere" (a spelling, it has been determined, that Shakespeare himself used in his hometown of Stratford) and says he was born April23, 1564, and died April23, 1616, at age 52. The label also says: "This likeness taken 1603, age at that time 39 ys." Luckily, that information was documented during an art critic's examination in England in 1908, because much of the ink has since rubbed off.

The ink was the last thing to be tested because Sullivan actually had to wait for technology to catch up with his research. In 1999, he was told that a large portion of the label would have to be removed for the ink to be dated. With much of the ink already gone, he didn't want to disturb the label further.

"I figured I'd wait, and they'd come up with something better. I mean, they split the atom and put a man on the moon, so surely a test would be developed that wouldn't require taking off most of the label."

Indeed there was, and this fall, a snippet of the ink was all that was needed to conduct the forensic ink tests.

The results of the test are imminent and are expected to date the ink to about the 17th century. "These are the final tests;' he says. "There's nothing left to prove."

Fischlin, who's been working closely with Sullivan on the Canadian side of the portrait's history, says "the fact that the ink dates to the same period means the person who wrote Shakespeare's birth and death dates on the back of the portrait knew intimate details of Shakespeare's life that weren't published until the 18th century. What are the chances of that? All those details about Shakespeare, including his date of birth, which nobody knew in his own period except for a small group of intimates, are included."

Sullivan had originally planned to wait until all the tests were done before he went public with his story.

But his plans changed in 2001 when he got a call from Globe and Mail reporter Stephanie Nolen. Nolen's parents are neighbours of Sullivan's, and they knew about his quest. One thing led to another, and Nolen ended up publishing a series of articles about the Sanders portrait. A year later, she published a book called Shakespeare's Face, which became a bestseller in Canada and was translated into several languages.

The subsequent attention and publicity were both rewarding and exhausting, says Sullivan. "I wasn't really ready to go public; I had more tests and research to do:'

•

All the years of testing and research have taken a huge toll in both time and money, he adds. "If I told you how much I've spen t on all this, you wouldn't believe me. But I really do love doing this; I spend time working on it every day."

Sullivan has never had the Sanders portrait appraised. The only value that's been placed on it was by the Montreal art dealer who wanted to buy it in 1964 and by another dealer who was looking at it as an old painting rather than a portrait of Shakespeare. ''I'm not sure of the real value because I've never talked about the money; I don't have my head around that. My goal has always been to answer the mystery, to reveal the truth, and we are doing that. Now we can write about what Shakespeare looked like because my ancestors preserved him through this painting."

Sullivan's current objective is to have as many people as possible see the portrait, learn about its history and understand the effort that went into authenticating it.

"I want it to be a source of pride and joy for Canadians, to be a crowning jewel for the art community. I hope it can stay in Canada, to be preserved for its educational and historical value."

After all, Shakespeare is one of the most famous writers in history, so "Willy Shake" really belongs to Canada and the world, he says. "The family has kept him under wraps for 400 years- that's long enough." •

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Winter 2007 13

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THE MACDONALD STEWART Art Centre (MSAC) has devoted more than 80 per cent of its exhibition space to showcase the influence William Shakespeare has had on contemporary Canadian theatre, pop-media and visual arts.

"Shakespeare- Made in Canada" is the largest exhibition MSAC has ever mounted, says art centre director Judith Nasby, who is cocurator of the exhibition with Prof.

Daniel Fischl in, School of English and Theatre Studies. They have put

together an extensive display of art and cultural materials, much of it borrowed from more than 100 individual and corporate collections.

Because of the size and scope of this museum-style exhibition, it will remain at the art centre until June 10.

"We anticipate a number of repeat visits," says Nasby. "Many people will be attracted by the exhibition's centrepiece, the Sanders portrait, but I think they'll be amazed by the depth and diversity of accompanying installations."

The content of the exhibition ranges from theatrical set designs to 17th-century mathematics to contemporary native and francophone adaptations of Shakespeare. One gallery showcases changes in portraiture from Shakespeare's time to the present, and there is an audio intervention in the Donald Forster Sculpture Park. Other displays draw on the collections of the Stratford Festival of Canada and the National Theatre Archives from the University of Guelph Library.

both a photograph and a painting; a self-portrait and a parody on what

we think of as a drunken, dishonest braggart. He challenges viewers to decide who is more real, the Falstaff they know from Henry N- whose words, "Sit on my knee, doll;' provide a title for the portarit- or the man posing with these bored teenage girls?

As curator of the exhibition, Nasby chose works that reveal Shakespeare's influence on contemporary notions of character. "These Canadian artists also extend our ideas of what constitutes a portrait, explore characterization and human nature, and comment on social and environmental issues!'

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MORE THAN SKIN DEEP ON THE FACING PAGE, MSAC director Judith Nasby poses for a photographic portrait while Guelph artist Verne Harrison works in the background on a portrait of Shakespeare's Falstaff.

Portraiture has changed dramatically since the 17th century when the artist's goal was to make an accurate visual depiction of a person, says Nasby. "Many of today's portraits are idiosyncratic, evocative and open to interpretation by the artist and the viewer alike!'

Harrison's work, for example, is

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Winter 2007 15

HIS WORDS COME TO LIFE A SURPRISE AWAITS those who enter the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre through its sculpture garden. Voices reading the words of Shakespeare accost you among the trees and open spaces when you least expect them.

But stop a moment to listen to the actors, who are not actors at all, but people who discovered Shakespeare while still learning to read the daily newspaper.

"Tongues in Trees" is a sound installation that will take true listeners to a deeper understanding of today's society and Shakespeare's ability to capture timeless human emotions. The voices in the trees are adult learners who face literacy challenges due to learning disabilities and/or limited access to education because of troubled or low-income histories.

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COULD JULIUS CAESAR BE A WOMAN? FoR PLAYWRIGHT Yvette Nolan, the question begs another: Why not?

As a precursor to the "Shakespeare- Made in Canada" festival, Nolan ran a workshop at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre in October, challenging actors from Native Earth Performing Arts to enact a scene from Julius Caesar, with Caesar and Brutus as women.

"It meant rethinking the dynamics of the scene;' she says. Feminine sensibilities make a difference in the relationship between the two Romans.

Challenging actors, trying new interpretations- that's the purpose of a play workshop, adds Nolan, who is artistic director of Native

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This King Henry speaks from his own experience of fighting impossible odds.

Multimedia artist Dawn Matheson says the people she met at Guelph's Action Read did not know Shakespeare's words, but they knew his characters.

"To be or not to be"- should I commit suicide or not? brought nods from those who had been there themselves or knew friends who struggled with emo-

Veteran actress Monique Mojica por· trays Julius Caesar in a native adap· tation of Shakespeare's play about power, greatness and remorse.

Earth. She is adapting and directing the play, Death of a Chief, with Kennedy Cathy MacKinnon.

Festival visitors will view a sixminute video of their adaptation-

tions similar to Hamlet's.

"One Hamlet had suffered more 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' than anyone I've ever met," says Matheson. Another knew the feeling of King Henry V's uphill battle against impossible odds, and yet another had suffered Romeo's feeling of lost love.

Even Macbeth's despairing speech: "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow .. ." seemed to be written for the year in the life of one man who felt that he, too, had lost everything.

Again and again, as they studied Shakespeare's monologues, these adult learners would react with expressions of"been there, got through that," says Matheson.

Gradually, each person chose a speech that resonated within their own lives and began to speak the words in their own voices.

in-progress. Produced by Marion Gruner, BA '96, and Sorouja Moll, the film shows how Nolan and her actors use Shakespeare as the source text to explore dysfunction in native governments and their community's role in it.

As Nolan says: "We've lost our land, we've lost our language . .. I don't know what the answer is. And I guess that's one of the things we're pushing against with Death of a Chief With such flawed systems and such pitiful tools, how do we create a new way of going forward?"

Adds Gruner: "From Native Earth Performing Arts' perspective, they aren't merely reviving a play by a dead white male. Instead, they're grappling with the story of their people as it's being played out now:'

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THE STAGE MADE STRATFORD INTIMATE, FLEXIBLE, exciting, revealing, dangerous, terrifying.

These adjectives have been used by some of the world's great Shakespearean actors to describe the experience of performing on the distinctive thrust stage at the Stratford Festival Theatre.

Surrounded by audience on three sides, with no curtain to draw and no elaborate background scenery to protect them, the actors must perform with extraordinary concentration and skill. When mastered, Stratford's thrust stage allows a cast to pull the audience deeply into the experience of the play.

Calm Feore, a Stratford star who has gone on to international renown in films and on Broadway, once said: "There is nothing quite like standing at the centre of that stage with Shakespeare's words and nothing else."

For directors, too, the challenges of the thrust stage are sig-

nificant. Arranging actors on a stage with no vanishing point or pictorial perspective can be difficult, requiring directors to think in terms of diagonal movement rather than what Stratford artistic director Richard Monette calls the "windshield wiper" movement of the proscenium stage.

On a proscenium stage, much of the atmosphere and sense of spectacle is created through elab-

orate sets. Stratford sets are relatively simple, but costumes and props must stand up to scrutiny from inches away. No wonder the Stratford Festival is known for the rich fabrics, vibrant colours and exquisite detailing of its costumes.

As envisioned by British director Tyrone Guthrie, the thrust stage has shaped every aspect of the Stratford Festival, giving it a unique place in world theatre.

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LE GRAND WILL THE CANADIAN ADAPTATIONS of Shakespeare Project has documented more than 500 adaptations of Shakespeare since pre-Confederation, with about one-quarter of them from French Canada.

Those figures add weight to the work of Lean ore Lieblein, a retired professor of English at McGill University and a member of McGill's Shakespeare and performance research team. She has prepared a video production for Guelph's Shakespeare festival to highlight historical and contemporary francophone adaptations.

In an essay for the exhibition catalogue, she says: "The protec-

The 2005 · 2006 theatre season in Mon· treal included a production of l'His· toire lamentable de Titus (The Lam· entable Story of Titus)] by Omnibus at l'Espace Libre.

tion of one's own freedom in the face of Shakespeare's apparent hugeness has been a persistent feature of French Canada's encounter with the Bard.

"The francophone relationship to Shakespeare is perhaps best expressed in the phrase frequently used to refer to him . Shakespeare is 'le grand Will: He is great but cut down to size. He is an object of admiration, yet an intimate to whom one can refer by his first name. He is someone with whom one can do battle and still remain friends. He is a stranger who has taken up residence in French Canada and has changed his hosts as they have changed him."

Winter 2007 17

PV SHAKESPEARE RE-MADE IN CANADA

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THEATRE DESIGNER Pat Flood has prepared an extensive install ation focused on Canada's history in theatre design, including costume renderings, set designs and set models. She says this sketch of Herbert Whittaker's 1961 design for the Canadian Players production of King Lear is historically important in its attempt to forge a distinctly Canadian adaptation through the use of images that we recognize as part of our world, far removed from Shakespeare's Britain- yet still relevant.

Her Shakespeare - Made in Canada exhibition attempts to illustrate the high level of imagination

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example. Flood shows sketches and photographs of costumes and set designs for this play by several different designers in a time span from the 1920s to the present.

reviews, house programs, posters, set designs and sketches - which now

belong to the library's L.W. Conolly Collection, the largest Canadian theatre collection in the country.

Alas, the poor Phoenix never rose from the ashes. But Yorick has been resurrected for the Shakespeare exhibition by Lome Bruce, head of the Library's Archival and Special Collections. Also on display are play posters, technical drawings, costume designs, production photographs and scale set models (also known as maquettes).

ALAS, POOR YORICK! AT ITs FIRsT curtain call, the skull accentuated its entrance with an ad lib act- numerous teeth fell out and clattered across the stage floor. As if a production of Hamlet needed more drama.

The skull made its only stage appearance in a production at Toronto's short-lived Phoenix Theatre, which operated between 1975 and 1983. It came to Guelph with other Phoenix items - scripts, photos,

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""d TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING These pages provide only a taste of the extensive exhibition awaiting visitors at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre (MSAC). There is much more to see, hear and learn about the role Shakespeare has had - and continues to have - in Canadian life.

Hundreds of hands have worked to prepare the "Shakespeare - Made

in Canada" exhibition, says curator Judith Nasby. A 16o-page, illustrated publication offering an analysis of Shakespeare's influence was co-edited by Nasby and English professor Daniel Fischlin and is available from the art centre.

The curatorial team also includes: Lorne Bruce, University of Guelph Library; Jane Edmonds, Stratford Fes-

tival of Canada; Prof. Pat Flood, School of English and Theatre Studies; Prof. Jim Hunt, Department of Physics; and Leanore Lieblein, McGill University.

The art centre is open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m . Call 519-837-0010, e-mail info@msac.ca, or visit www.msac.uoguelph .ca for more information .

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CSAHS Bulletin www.csahs.uoguelph.ca

Winter 2007

DISPELLING MYTHS

A

SIANS REPRESENT one of the fastest-growing ethnic

populations in North America, yet little is known about how they parent, says Prof. Susan Chuang, who joined the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition in September, and is currently conducting a study to learn more about the level of involvement immigrant Chinese fathers play in the lives of their children.

The results have been eye-opening, she says. "My research is find-

Newly appointed associate dean of CSAHS, Serge Desmara is.

ing that immigrant Chinese fathers are highly involved. It breaks away from the 'strict fath er' image."

Chuang, who is also interested in the mental health of adolescent

CSAHS NAMES ASSOCIATE DEAN

S

ERGE DESMA RA 1 s HAS BEEN named associate dean of the College of Social

and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS). Desmarais, who joined U of G in 1995,

Chinese immigrants, is curren tly

is a professor of psychology and the recipient of a Canada Research Chair in applied

organizing an international con-

social psycho logy.

ference on immigrant children, to be held at U of G in October.

The restructuring process that culmi nated in the creation of the College of Management and Eco nom ics ( CME) on May I, 2006, and the migration of three of our college's departments to CME, created an opportunity for a repositioning of CSAHS, said Alun joseph, dean of CSAHS. In his new role, Desmarais will facilitate the development and implementation of a strategic research plan for the college and explore opportunities for new research centres and proposals for new and expanded graduate programs, said joseph.

For the past decade, Desmarais has been researching issues of relevance in the everyday lives of Canadians, including interpersonal relations, gender issues, social justice in the workplace, and income distribution and income entitlement.

This year, Desmarais and colleague Chris Aksinis will examine how the desire to parent affects the careers of gay and lesbian employees, who for the first time in Canadian history, th rough the legalization of same-sex marriage, have become eligible to qualify for parental leave.

"No one has addressed this extremely important topic, and it's an obvious gap in the literature;' he says. "This study is ground-breaking and essential in our quest to recognize same-sex famil ies and that the issues they face in the workplace. I believe

UNIVERSITY :9rGUELPH

our findings wi ll give Canadians a more complete and representative understanding and appreciation for th e fabric of families across this country and the attitudes and situations that affect this growing population."

CSA HS Bulletin 1 Winter 2007

WHAT'S NEW FACS ALUMNI GEAR Are you interested in purchasing FACS attire? If so we need to know! Please

tact Sean Enright at bookstor@ uoguelph.ca .

your Aeroplan miles expire; donate them instead to help U of G students travel internationally for exchanges,

contact Jackie Smylie (Pickels), FACS

FACS'87

semesters abroad, research or study.

by e-mail at either Jackie_Smylie@hot-

For information about your 20th

Full details are available at www.aJum-

mail.com or JSmylie@rohcg.on.ca to

anniversary, contact Betty (McCan-

ni.uoguelph.ca/aeroplan.

express your interest. Alternatively,

nel) Vanni at betty.mccannel.vanni @hotmail.com.

you can reach Jackie by phone at work, 613-345-1461, Ext. 2120, or at home, 613-925-5815.

SPA Day 2007 The Mac-FACS-FRAN Alumni Associ-

ELECTRONIC NEWSLETIERS

ation welcomes everyone to Spa Day

If you are not receiving U of G's regular Alumni E-News, it's time to

on April21, 2007. For details, contact Karen Bertrand at karenber@uo

update your e-mail address. Notify us

guelph.ca or 519-824-4120, Ext. 52102.

at alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca, or use the online update form at www.alum-

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2007

ni. uoguel ph.ca/ aboutus_ address.

Mark your calendar and join us for Alumni Weekend, June 22 to 24,2007.

REUNION SOUVENIRS

Byron Sheldrick formerly of the University of Winnipeg, is the

The U of G bookstore can co-ordinate

HELP US FLY

the selection and purchase of FACS

Aeroplan recently placed an expiry

alumni items for your reunion. Con-

date on accumulated miles. Don't let

new chair of U of G's Department of Po litical Science.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

M

AK lNG

A

D IF FERE N C E

in

the lives of others is something

Dr. Nicholas Leyland, B.A.Sc. '79, has spent his career doing as a medical

their children, ages four to 24. Their youngest child- a little girl - was adopted by Leyland and his wife, while

professional and pioneer of minimal-

he was teaching minimally invasive surgical techniques in China.

ly invasive surgery. Leyland is an asso-

Leyland is currently involved in an

ciate professor at the University of Toronto and medical director of the

Ethiopia and his middle son, Andrew,

initiative to establish an orphanage in

women's, children's and family health

is taking a year away from school to

program and chief of the Department

wo rk at a hospital in India. Andrew plans to follow his father's footsteps and

of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto.

pursue a career in medicine. Daughter

His efforts to improve access to

Whitney has followed the example of

appropriate health and surgical ser-

both her parents by coming to U of G.

vices for Canadian women are just a

She is majoring in psychology, as her mother did 30 years ago.

part of what sets Leyland apart.

He and his wife, Carol, BA '75, have also made a strong commitment to

To learn more about Leyland and

Leyland poses with his daughter

helping people outside Canadian bor-

other College grads, visit www.csahs .uoguelph.ca, click on alumni and then

Whitney, a 4th-year U of G student.

ders and are passing their values on to

go to alumni profiles.

CSAHS Bulletin 2 Winter 2007

HARSHMAN WINNERS REMEMBER

From left: Prof. Kerry Daly, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition; Grace Harshman, Harshman Foundation; Dr. Karl Tomm, who delivered the 2006 Harshman Lecture; and Alun Joseph, dean of CSAHS. Right: Misty Rossiter, 2006 H. H. Harshman Foundation doctoral scholarship recipient.

H

UBERT HARSHMAN WAS A

ed by her Harshman scholarship.

received the award in 2000 and is now

Canadian businessman who

"Whenever I give lectures about nutri-

a registered dietician at St. Paul's Hos-

prospered as the post-depression own-

tion in developing countries, one or two

pital in Vancouver. "The rising costs

er of Carleton Cards Ltd . He believed

students inevitably ask how to pursue

of education were very stressful. It was

in the importance of university edu-

a career that involves such work;' says

so va lidating to receive financial help

cation and was concerned about the

Ferguson, now a senior lecturer at New

to continue my education, and to

well-being of the family.

Zealand's University of Otago. She

receive a message that my academic

earned a B.Sc. from Guelph in 1984 and

success and leadership act ivities were recognized and worthwhi le."

He combined those two interests in the H.H. Harshman Foundation.

received a graduate- level award in 1985

Established in 1962, the charity con-

to complete her PhD. "I usually say it

Feedback from past Harshman

tinues to help individual students

takes some initiative and a lot of luck

Foundation Scholarship recipients

reach their potential while studying

because gaining the experience is a dif-

reflects gratitude for the financial sup-

for careers that ultimately support

ficult first step. I have the Harshman

port, but they stress that the awards

Canadian families.

scholarship to gratefully thank for that

have a value well beyond a dollar fig-

Harshman's 45-year legacy at U of

first step."

G conti nu es with the guidance of his

Receiving the award made Leslie

ure. The Harshman awards also serve as a source of moral support and

descendants, who have continued to

Gi ll espie, B.A.Sc. '80 and M.Sc. '91,

motivation at a time when students

expa nd their sup port of undergradu-

feel that she made the right choi ce by

are on the cusp of beginning their

ate and graduate students studying in

leaving her legal career to pursue a

careers.

the Department of Family Relations

new avenue. ''I'm a divorce lawyer who

In October, the latest round of

and Applied Nutrition. Their support

became a marriage counselor," she

recipients were named, including Misty

has grown to seven annual scholar-

says, adding that she felt strong pangs

Rossiter, who is working toward a PhD

ships, valued at more than $40,000

of trepidation in doing so in the

in applied nutrition. "I feel fortunate to

each year. Harshman scholarship

beginning. She now operates a private

have been selected as the winner of the

practice in the Mississauga area.

H.H. Harshman Foundation Doctoral

recipients can be found working

Scholarship. It's an honour to be rec-

across Canada and around the world,

The support continues to benefit

and are making a difference in the

recipients in the same way. "Receiving

ognized for my research and I feel

lives of many.

the Harshman Foundation Scholar-

encouraged to continue my career in

Elaine Ferguson is an example. Her

ship definitely had an impact on me,"

academics and to further promote

first research trip to Malawi was fund-

says Angela Birnie, B.A.Sc. '0 1, who

healthy lifestyles and healthy families."

CSAHS Bulletin 3 Winter 2007

MARKETING CULTURE so much in the way of cultural symbols and traditions, but it's critical that we recogn ize th at these cultures are bound to the history of different peoples. When we decide to adopt some aspect, we should consider why we wish to do so and how does this impact the history of others. It's really a fine line, but it's one we have to practice walking;' she says.

Today, Osutei uses her knowledge as a project officer for the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a not-for-profit, non-partisan coalition of civic leaders formed to address challenges to th e Naki Osutei, two-time U of G grad and founder of Toronto's NOX Group.

Toronto region's social and economic future. She is also running NOX

I

N CANADA'S EVER-GROW I NG

15 years. Osutei was born in Toronto

multicultural landscape, consumers

to Ghanaian parents and grew up in a

Group, a Toronto-based firm that she founded to provide solutions to com-

are thinking more critically about cul-

neighbourhood that was represented

panies seeking to expand their cultur-

ture, says U of G grad uate Naki Osutei, BA '02 and MA '06, who is

by a wide mix of nationalities and eth-

al markets and move beyond conven-

making a difference in the everyday

nicities. In her early teens, her work with the Metro Toronto Housing

tionalnotions of diversity.

"We live in a multicultural coun-

lives of Canad ians by challenging

Authority kindled a growing fascina-

try comprised of multicultural peo-

advertisers to dig deeper when pre-

tion with social dynamics which was

senting culture in their campaigns.

eventua lly nourished at the U of G,

ple, and the popular understanding of diversity doesn't consider this impor-

C ultural issues ha ve been at the

where she studied socio logy and

tant distinction. People of my gener-

core of Osutei's extracurricular, acad-

worked with the CSA Human Rights

ation are growing up with multiple

emic and professional life for the past

Office and the C.J. Munford Centre, and co-ordinated a series of confer-

identities and the ethnicity a person

ences which brought in popular

was born into may not necessarily exclusively define him or her. Where

CSAHS ALUMNI BULLETIN

recording artists, music executives and

they grow up and who they grow up

Winter 2007

academics to meet with local urban

with also influence their sense of self."

Contact :

lenge traditional views of the genre.

musicians, deliver workshops and chalKaren Bertrand,

The work of NOX Group, whose growing roster of clients include the

Osutei's master's thesis, which she

University of Guelph Human Rights

Senior Manager of

completed in the fall, examined two

and Equity Office, Wilbo Entertain-

Advancement

distinct examples of culture being

ment and the Reel World Film Festival,

Tel: 519-824-4120, Ext. 52102

used to engage an audience and questioned why one failed while the other

uses this knowledge to produce change.

"I've always been concerned that

E-mail: karenber@uoguelph.ca

flourished. It also raised questions

th e academic work I'd do was going to

about whether culture can truly be

sit on a shelf somewhere," says Osutei.

and Rebecca Kendall

shared, enhanced and preserved, as stated in Canada's Multicultural Act,

"NOX Group brings together all of my past experience with a major emp ha-

Editing by Rebecca Kendall

without being abused.

sis on the academic research. My work,

www.csa hs.uoguelph.ca Writing by David DiCenzo

Photography by Rebecca Kendall, Justin Morris, Martin Schwalbe, and Jean Turner

"I believe intention is very important when we speak about sharing culture. The Canadian landscape offers CSAHS Bulletin 4 Winter 2007

in its totality, is aimed at contributing to a change in the way we relate to one another in a multicultural society."

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Assemble one of Jim Hunt's most recent anamorphs by cutting out the pattern/'lbove,

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ing the base into position to form a four-sided pyramid. Then sit it on a table and look down on it.

IT'S All IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT THINK oF the impossibly thin, elongated reflection that might confront you in a funhouse mirror, and you have some idea of the anamorphic images that first intrigued retired physics professor Jim Hunt years ago. He has blended his research interest in light and optics with his affinity for art to produce an eye-catching exhibit for "Shakespeare- Made in Canada" that

showcases the math and physics wizardry of a once-fashionable art form.

Anamorphic artists play with perspective to create a distorted image that appears normal only when viewed from the correct angle or with the aid of curved mirrors.

The technique was discovered by Renaissance-era artists who were exploring the new horiwns of visual perspective and the borders between reality and perception, says Hunt. The earliest known anamor-

phosis is a child's face drawn by Leonardo da Vinci.

Hunt's contributions to the MSAC exhibition include a full-sized replica of an anonymous painting called St. Anthony ofPadua that dates to 1535. Visit the Guelph exhibition to see how a number of disconnected items in the painting morph into two figures. You'll also learn why Hunt says the unknown artist was both a poor painter and an inaccurate mathematician.

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'' S 0 ME ARE B 0 R N G REA T, SOME ACHIEVE GREATNESS AND SOME HAVE GREATNESS THRUST UPON THEM.'' TWELFTH NIGHT,

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SCENE IV

l==i THE GREATEST WORDSMITH OF ALL TIME

WHAT's so GREAT about Shakespeare, anyway? The Bard died almost 400 years ago, yet it's impossible to go about your life without having a reference to one of his plays smack you in the face.

It seems like Willy's popularity is growing with age.

In the last few years, he's been cleaning up at the box office and the Oscars, with stars like Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love), Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes (Romeo and juliet), Michelle Pfeiffer (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Ethan Hawke (Hamlet) lining up to be in recent film adaptations of his work.

And now an Ottawa man has pulled a portrait of Shakespeare out from under his grandmother's bed.

When U of G English professor Daniel Fischlin was just starting his career, he thought the last thing the literary world needed was another book on Shakespeare's work.

"I swore that I would never do Shakespeare research because it was such a saturated field and I couldn't bear the thought of having to add to that," he says.

But when Fischlin, whose specialty is early modern Renaissance studies, was assigned large Shakespeare classes as a young professor, he found himself trying to figure out how to get hundreds of students interested in the work. He decided that looking at adaptations of the Bard's work was a good way to get students hooked.

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dealing with Shakespeare, and it often provided a nice platform for transitioning back to his original texts."

When Fischl in went looking for a resource on world adaptations of Shakespeare to use in his classes, he couldn't find one, so he ended up writing Adaptations of Shakespeare: A Critical Anthology in 2000 with colleague Mark Fortier, who recently came to Guelph as director of the School of English and Theatre Studies (SETS).

Fischlin's research and interest in Shakespearean adaptations grew despite his early self-admonitions as he found Canadian plays, comic books, cartoons, movies, songs and jazz improvisations all dedicated to giving a Canadian perspective on Shakespeare's work.

After close to four years of research completed by 30 undergraduate and graduate students and post-docs, he launched the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project ( CASP) website ( www.canadianshakespeares.ca) in 2002. It is the largest and most complete website in the world dedicated to showing Shakespeare's cultural influence on a nation and was funded in part by a provincial Premier's Research Excellence Award and a federal Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant. CASP contains more than 10,000 pages of information on some 500 plays that have been transformed and adapted in Canada, and it's accessible from anywhere in the world for free.

Fischl in admits that every time he publishes some-

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thing on Shakespeare, "I shudder because I swore I'd never do this. It's more than a little ironic."

It just goes to show that the power of Shakespeare's cultural presence can't be avoided.

Filmmakers and playwrights continue to produce his plays and make their own adaptations of his work because "it provides a powerful, recognizable iconic source of cultural capital that you can rely on to draw in an audience;' says Fischl in. "There's a sphere of ideas that are part of our environment, and Shakespeare is a crucial part of that sphere because he generated so many of the words, phrases and ideas that are now in use in our language:' So how could one man create so many plays, 37 to be exact, that have had such an impact on our world?

The number of words Shakespeare invented is in the thousands, and his vocabulary included some 29,000 words. This may be due, in part, to the fact that he spent about 2,000 more hours a year in school than kids do today.

"He was extremely educated as a youth by anybody's standards;' says Fischlin, adding that Shakespeare lived at a time when English was defining itself as a valid European language. It's estimated that, between 1500 and 1659,30,000 new words were added to the English language. Some scholars suggest that as many as 10 per cent came from Shakespeare's pen.

Although it may seem hard to get young people today to relate to a guy who was growing up in the late 1500s, the rate at which technology was changing people's lives back then was similar to what's occurring now, says Fischlin.

"Today we may have computers and fancy gadgets and iPods, but in Shakespeare's moment, you had the ianguage as a technology that was being deployed in enormously successful ways. Kids who are dependent on gadgetry still require language, and I think pointing that out maybe makes Shakespeare seem not so foreign and alien:' In addition to being a playwright, poet and actor,

Shakespeare was a clever businessman. When the Globe Theatre was incorporated in 1599, it was one of the first corporations, if not the first, says Fischlin. The theatre was owned by a consortium of actors, including Shakespeare, who were all shareholders with complex investment agreements. "It was the world's first entertainment business, and it did very well, pulling in thousands of people a night for certain shows."

Shakespeare also dabbled in property development.

In 1597, he bought one of the most prestigious properties in all of Stratford, the New Place. Later, he bought even more land in Stratford, doubling his investment.

So whether you're an artist or a business person, Shakespeare the man offers something anyone can relate to, says Fischlin, and whether you like him or not, you can't deny there's "a power there- a great artist at work -like a Bach or a Michelangelo."

But the power of the Bard goes well beyond the man in his time. A greater source of Shakespeare-mania is what Fisch lin calls "the Shakespeare effect."

"It's the globalization of how Shakespeare gets used across multiple cultures. You empower yourself by piggybacking your vision onto the cultural capital that's already invested in Shakespeare."

This is done all over the world in dozens of ianguages. Shakespeare's plays are extremely adaptable thematically because love, death, tragedy, comedy and political corruption occur regardless of where you live or what your values are, says Fischlin.

"Your culture doesn't protect you from tragedy, and that's one of the things that transposes beautifully and why Shakespeare gets adapted:' Aboriginal adaptations of Shakespeare are especially interesting, he says. "Very often these adaptations are framed as a healing instrument for dealing with colonial history and what it has done to aboriginal people in this country:' The CASP website includes a spotlight on aboriginal adaptations "to memorialize

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the gesture of taking on this icon of colonial culture and then using it to remember and try to heal some of the effects when Canada became a country."

Just because a play happens to use the same theme as one of Shakespeare's plays, does that really mean it was influenced by the Bard's work? Fischlin recalls a conversation he had with renowned Canadian actor William Hutt, who argued that many works simply "hijack" or "bastardize" Shakespeare's work. There's no question there's a lot of anxiety around identifying adaptations.

Fischlin says CASP met with resistance from some of the authors whose works were classified as adaptations.

"Our decision was to be inclusive because adaptation is the basic descriptor to how we are in the world;' he says. ''Adaptation can range across a huge spectrum from the most orthodox slavish doing-duty to the sanctity of the Shakespearean text to the most creative, wild, barely connected anarchic kind of work. We've seen examples from across that whole spectrum in the research we've done:' Based on that definition, Shakespeare may be closer to influencing our lives than we thought. Anyone can probably name a handful of adaptations without thinking too hard. There have been 300 film adaptations of Shakespearean plays since the 1930s. The musical West Side Story is based on Romeo and Juliet. The film Strange Brew is a takeoff on Hamlet. The band Dire Straits sings a song called Romeo and Juliet. The list goes on and on.

But it isn't the well-known Canadian adaptations -like Harlem Duets, the Djanet Sears adaptation of Othello, or the hundreds of plays performed at the Stratford Festival- that come to mind when Fischlin thinks of the research that's been compiled by CASP. It was the unknown local adaptations that he found most interesting. He was particularly intrigued by a play he stumbled across that had been written in 1915 by a nun at an all-girls' school in Winnipeg.

"Sister Mary Agnes wrote a play that had different girls in the school, at their moment of graduation, play

female characters in Shakespeare. The play, A Shakespeare Pageant, made comments on contemporary Canada and the war, which was a radical thing for this nun to do in her own cultural moment:' Fischlin wrote a piece about the play and had the play script published in the Canadian Theatre Review. "I sent it proudly to my mom, and she phoned me back and said: 'Did you know that your grandmother and your great-aunt went to that school?"' It turned out that several women in Fischlin's family had been taught by Sister Mary Agnes and had possibly performed in her play.

"It drove home to me how tightly-knit connections are in Canada and how the formation of so many young people involves making a journey through Shakespeare, making Shakespeare their own and reflecting on what it means to be Canadian via what they were doing with Shakespeare."

When members of the CASP team began their work, they were struck by the number of local people who had been involved in adaptations. Theatre studies professor Judith Thompson wrote a highly successful loose adaptation of Hamlet called Lion in the Streets. Lewis Melville, a longtime research associate in the College of Biological Science, started a band called The Williams. All the musicians jokingly changed their names to William and performed songs about Shakespeare's plays. In 2004, two U of G students wrote and acted in a hip-hop version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Steven Bush, a sessional instructor in drama, was involved in a film version of Hamlet.

"Because CASP is here, we're a place that ferments this sort of activity;' says Fischlin. ''And now the 'Shakespeare: Made in Canada' festival is ramping up the activity in a whole other way."

CASP definitely served as a catalyst for the festival, he says. "It came out of the fact that we were collecting all these artifacts and the research was generating so much activity." •

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''MUSIC AND POESY USE TO QUICKEN YOU; THE MATHE MATICS AND THE META PHYSICS, FALL TO THEM AS YOU FIND YOUR STOMACH SERVES YOU.'' TAMING OF THE SHREW, ACT I, SCENE 1

SINGER OF SONNETS ... AND SCIENTIST

Prof. Diane Nalini de Kerckhove is torn. As a physicist studying the atom-sized nature of things at the University of Guelph, she understands the compulsion to use science in attempts to tease out the secrets of a painting said to portray no less a character than William Shakespeare. But there's another side, the one that the singer-songwriter, sometime artist and selfconfessed Shakespeare fan has also used to explore what might be revealed of the celebrated writer through his songs and sonnets.

Glancing at a sheet of paper on which she's listed the numerous analytical techniques used during the past 14 years to examine the Sanders portrait, she says: "On the one hand, it's fascinating. But as a creative artist myself, I feel bad for the painter, who may not have wanted the world to know his technical secrets. The artist in me says: When do we leave the mystery alone?"

In the case of the Sanders portrait, the mystery had been left mostly alone for much of the painting's existence. It was only in 1993 that Ottawa engineer Lloyd Sullivan began the arduous task of authenticating his family heirloom. De Kerckhove hasn't examined the Sanders portrait as a physicist, but she's had plenty of opportunities to see how science can be used for test-

ing the provenance of other cultural and historical artifacts. Following her B.Sc. in physics at McGill University, the Montreal native received a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a doctorate in materials science at the University of Oxford. During her PhD studies- completed in 1999- and post-docs at Oxford from 1999 to 2002, she saw how an instrument called a proton microprobe could be used to measure trace elements such as arsenic in Napoleon Bonaparte's hair. She herself analyzed hair samples from the Neolithic/Copper Age "Iceman" uncovered in 1991 in a glacier of the Otztal Alps. (Visit her U of G website for images from that project and for an informative layperson's guide to the nuclear microprobe at www.physics.uoguelph.ca/-diane.) Other tools and methods used at Oxford and in the research labs of the Louvre in Paris allowed scientists to analyze paintings, sculpture, writings and other artifacts.

That marriage of science and culture proved irresistible to a student who had pursued both tracks for as long as she could remember. At home in Canada, she had studied ballet, jazz and modern dance and had sung in school choirs for years. She had dreamt of a career in dance, but found herself drawn to physics by her mid-teens, figuring that "it's easier to study science

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and dance for pleasure than it is to become a dancer and try to do science on the side."

De Kerckhove had arrived in England intending to study astrophysics until she got a look at the possibilities through the microprobe. "It awakened some deep passion," she says. "Much as I love astronomy, I was lured toward the proton microprobe because I liked the fact that it was being used to study art."

That physics-art crossover in her Oxford supervisor's lab involved an analytical technique called PIXE, one that would turn out to have connections to Guelph. PIXE, or proton-induced X-ray emission, is used worldwide for analyzing a vast range of materials. To read and interpret the characteristic X- ray spectra generated when a sample is bombarded with nuclear particles called protons, scientists need fancy software. One software package called GUPIX was developed here at Guelph by physics professor Iain Campbell and local software consultant John Maxwell.

Normally scientists use GUPIX to analyze such things as trace elements in rocks or soil. But the same techniques also work on microprobes used in museums and art galleries to study everything from paint recipes used by Paleolithic cave artists to metal-point drawings of Renaissance artists like Diirer.

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Guelph Scanning Proton Microprobe. It's the only facility in Canada that operates both PIXE and micro-PIXE beam lines. She has received a total of almost $300,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council to build the country's first one-micron nuclear microprobe to study semiconductors and microscopic lightemitting devices. The instrument will use protons and ions to study samples, providing a more detailed look than permitted by electron microscopes.

The samples might include anything from semiconductors and rocks to forensic samples to, well, cultural items. Not the Sanders portrait: de Kerckhove allows that she would have to build an external microprobe to examine a painting with this device. That's not likely, given all the testing the Sanders portrait has already undergone.

What she has added to the picture comes from a rather different side than her scientist persona. De Kerckhove pursues a second professional career as a singer-songwriter. Her latest recording- Songs of Sweet Fire, released in spring 2006 under her Earthglow Records label- is a collection of Shakespeare's songs and sonnets set to her own jazz, blues and funk melodies.

It's her third album since she started recording in 2001.

You can hear excerpts at www.dianenalini.com. (For her recording and performing life, she drops her surname and goes by Diane Nalini. "I didn't want to be that singer with the unpronounceable name;' she laughs.)

Nalini has been singing jazz professionally since age 17. Her first gig was in a coffeehouse at Montreal's Dawson College while she was a student there. She has performed for former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Sir Paul McCartney, has appeared in jazz festivals in London and Malta, and has been interviewed extensively in print and on radio, notably on CBC and Radio-Canada.

Nalini began writing Shakespeare songs in 2001.

Her second album, Tales . . . My Mama Told Me, which was released in 2002, included a version of Shakespeare's Come Away composed with British jazz pianist Martin Pickett. In words reminiscent of the scienceart crossover she'd encountered in her Oxford lab, she says she found the idea of bringing a modern twist to the Bard's centuries-old lines "fascinating."

Riding a bus around London that might have been taking her to a scientific meeting or to her latest performance at a London club, she would thumb through

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her Dover Thrift Edition of Shakespeare's songs and sonnets, looking for inspiration. "It's an interesting challenge;' she says.

Nalini recalls seeing performances of Shakespeare's plays in Montreal and Stratford as a student- and as the daughter of a Shakespeare enthusiast. Preparing for a visit to the theatre, she and her mother would often read passages aloud to each other. Years later on that London bus, "I found myself rediscovering the plays. I became enthralled with Shakespeare, I could not believe how modern his lyrics sounded."

That turned out to be the key for her latest album, which had its debut in May 2006 at her launch concert to promote the "Shakespeare- Made in Canada" festival. Recorded in Montreal, the CD contains two sonnets and 13 songs from various plays, all pieces that met her litmus test of singable and timeless lyrics.

(The disc's liner notes contain her own watercolour illustrations; she studied Chinese watercolour painting and calligraphy for 10 years.)

Nalini is thrilled when listeners are surprised to learn that she's singing lyrics composed in Elizabethan England, from Mistress Mine (Twelfth Night) and Be Merry (Henry IV, Part 2) to The Lover and His Lass (As You Like It). That timelessness doesn't surprise the singer-songwriter herself. Ticking off the recurrent topics of young love, springtime joy and the inconstancy-eternallove dichotomy threaded through the Bard's works, she says: "These are all universal themes.

To me, that's the genius of Shakespeare. I can enjoy it on so many levels - his political wit, his sarcasm, his humour, his passion, his insight into human natureall coupled with beautiful language that has stood the test of time so elegantly and beautifully."

Away from the microscopes and spectrometers, what has her CD project revealed to her about Shakespeare? "I think he was a good lyricist- he understood song form;' she says, referring to the playwright's use of repetition, metre and simplified phrasing in songs such as Under the Blossom from The Tempest ("Where the bee sucks, there suck I"). Not all poetry lends itself readily to music, she says, but Shakespeare's words made composing almost effortless for her.

"He knew that what was required for a song was different than what was required for dramatic language.

Setting his songs to music made me more enamoured than ever. I feel much closer to his words now. My collaborator is Shakespeare."

•

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She believes her collaborator had uncommon insight into human nature, coupled with an egalitarian spirit. Witness how both men and women receive equal skewering under his pen- and equal enthusiasm in Nalini's renditions- in songs from Henry IV ("For women are shrews, both short and tall") and Much Ado About Nothing ("Men were deceivers ever").

At the same time, she's reluctant to read too much into his words. Recalling a course she took on Chaucer's work at Dawson College, she underlines the futility of trying to pin down an author amid the myriad voices speaking through characters, storytellers, travellers and spectators. Perhaps that sensibility explains her somewhat surprising take on the provenance of a portrait that has engrossed scholars, scientists and artists around the world for much of the past five years.

"I find the portrait absolutely charming. It's almost beside the point whether it's real or not. The fact that it has been a focal point and is eliciting so much interest, inspiring people - to me, that's much more important." •

Winter 2007 27

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ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS â&#x20AC;˘

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u of guelph My Hometown plays on BA '93, tells a great story about a man who took his love of William Shakespeare's work and a mere $125 and turned it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

The story is set in Stratford, Ont., where Mathieson is starting his second term as mayor. Stratford is a farming community established by the Canada Company in 1829 and tied to Shakespeare from its earliest days. In fact, the first building erected there was the Shakespeare Tavern, which prominently displayed a portrait of the Bard, a gift to the tavern's owner from the director of the Canada Company.

Momentum for the Shakespeare theme grew as the creek in Stratford, initially called the Little Thames, was renamed the Avon River.

Mathieson grew up in Stratford's Avon ward, where he attended Avon Public School and King Lear Senior Public School. He says the city's interest in Shakespeare really came to life when local businessman Tom Patterson approached council in 1952 and requested a grant for $125 . He wanted to travel to New York City to meet with noted British director Tyrone Guthrie to pitch the idea of a six-week Shakespearean festival that would be staged under tents.

"Guthrie was intrigued by the existence of a town wrapped in so many Shakespearean references but that had no connection to Shakespeare himself;' says Mathieson. "He thought it was rather serendipitous and agreed to help!'

The Stratford Festival opened in July 1953 and was instantly deemed a success. As the festival expanded, the small community became known outside its county borders and was soon on the lips of theatre lovers across the continent and around the globe.

"The people of Stratford have always loved the international spotlight;' says Mathieson. "There's a lot of civic pride in this community."

The mayor has fond memories of attending the festival's season opening each year with his parents and many of his eight siblings.

"We'd sit on the horseshoe driveway and stargaze," he says. "We'd wait for the dignitaries and stars to show up in 5 their fancy cars and walk into the theatre. I remember that ~ 'i: the Perth County pipe band would always play." ~ The family of 11 didn't attend performances, but Math~ ieson's parents strongly believed in supporting their comtD munity and exposing their young family to all the cultural f~ events they could. u Other communities are striving for the same thing, he ~ il: says. While on a premier's trade mission to China in 2006,

D

28

THE PORTICO

AN MATHIESON ,

Dan Mathieson, BA '93, and his wife, Carolyn, B.A.Sc. '94, at the 2007 opening of the Stratford Festival.

he was delighted when delegates from Suzhou, a city in Jiangsu Province, began to share their vision of making their city a tourist destination for Shakespeare lovers by having a yearround Shakespearean festival.

"They're using Stratford as a model," says Mathieson, who has invited representatives from Suzhou to come to Stratford to see how it's don e.

Even so, the Stratford Festival will be tough to re-create.

It currently contributes some $150 million in gross domestic product annually, generates 3,300 direct and indirect jobs, and is responsible for putting more than $60 million into federal, provincial and municipal coffers through tax revenues.

It inspires countless actors who aspire to one day act on its stages and each year attracts more than 600,000 visitors who flock to see the Bard's stories played out before them.

Throughout the festival's history, audiences have seen the likes of William Shatner, Jessica Tandy, Christopher Plummer and William Hutt, just to mention a few of the notable actors who have graced the stages. And to think it all started with $125 and a dream.

Mathieson was in elementary school when he first met the festival founder, but after becoming mayor, he had a chance to get to know Patterson better before he died in 2005 at age 85.

"Tom was a remarkably humble man who was blown away by what the Stratford Festival had become and amazed by how the community fostered and developed it;' says Mathieson.

BRING YOUR STUDENTS TO GUELPH S A U OF G SCIENCE major, Vince Campolongo, B.Sc. '83, didn't devote much of his school time to Shakespeare. And he's much more apt to talk physics and chemistry than he is to interpret the underlying themes in Macbeth. But Campolongo is heavily immersed in an initiative that will introduce the Bard to elementary and secondary school students.

When U of G's Office of Open Learning approached local school boards for help in developing an educational component for the "Shakespeare- Made in Canada" festival, Campolongo, who is co-ordinator of secondary programs for the Wellington Catholic School Board, is one of those who raised his hand. Since then, the volunteers have been working with University staff and faculty to create programming in English, drama, the visual arts, history and science.

"We've tried to bring some expertise from a variety of disciplines;' says Cam-

A

polongo. "The University has been great," he adds. "You can really see the vision they want to create with this project. We're trying to make it a really good learning opportunity for students:' School groups will visit the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre to participate in a docent -guided tour. An activity room will feature 'Speare, the literacy arcade game created by the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP), and other hands-on interactive learning activities.

Elementary students can try on costumes from the Stratford Festival, participate in a scavenger hunt and act out their own adaptations of Shakespeare.

Older students will learn about the scientific testing performed on the Sanders portrait and take part in an activity that ties to their visual arts classes.

For more information about the program, visit www.open.uoguelph.ca, send e-mail to info@open.uoguelph.ca or call519-767-5000.

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS GROW

s WE LOOK forward to the year ahead, I am thrilled to report that our connection with alumni is stronger than ever. This fall, we traveled from British Columbia to Hong Kong to meet with alumni and promote the opening of our new College of Management and Economics. The interest and enthusiasm we found was infec-

A

tious, and we want it to grow.

I encourage everyone to revive your connection with U of G. Come to an event, support our highest priorities, get involved as a volunteer - we're aiming for a new level of participation from our alumni.

In particular, I invite those classes celebrating an anniversary to show your pride at Alumni Weekend in June. We thank you for your help and are excited about working with you in 2007 as we continue to support a university that changes lives and improves life for all.

JOANNE SHOVELLER VICE-PRESIDENT (ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT)

U OF G ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

alumni@uoguelph.ca ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT

Joanne Shoveller, Vice-President I jshovell @u oguelp h.ca Pamela Healey, Assistant Vice路 President (Development) I phealey@uoguelph.ca Jason Moreton, Director, Alumni Affairs I jmoreton@uoguelph.ca Celeste Bannon Waterman, Director, Central Services I cbannon@uoguelph.ca Heather lves, Events and Communication I ivesh@uoguelph .ca Mary Feldskov, Alumni Chapters I mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca ARTS

Kathryn Elton, Advancement (Acting) I kelton@uoguelph.ca

I CPES

CBS

Sam Kosakowski, Alumni Affairs (CBS, HKIHB and Engineering 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路FRAN Alumni Associations) I karenber@uoguelph.ca OAC

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

ovc Jason Moreton, (Acting) (OVC AA) I jmoreton@uoguelph.ca Stephen Woeller, Development I swoeller@uoguelph.ca ATHLETICS

Sue Lawrenson, Advancement I slawrens@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路824路4120

Winter 2007 29

u of g THIS WAS HOMECOMING 2006

COMING SOON UELPH's ONLINE Community (OLC) is undergoing a complete revision and will be going live in the near future. The new OLC will allow you to post photos, write blogs and join interest groups and forums, while still offering its popular mentor profiles and travel advice section.

Send us your current e-mail address, so we can give you a first look at everything this new OLC has to offer. Write to alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca.

G

CHAPTER EVENTS JANUARY Rob Popkey, B.Comm. '98, and his daughter, ]ayden, enjoyed the family atmosphere .

•

FEBRUARY

The traditional Gryphon Glory Bowl welcomed these alumni, coaches and current play· ers. Front row, left to right: John Casasanta, Rob Kitching, Dan Conroy, Marc Beattie,

MARCH

Brett McCallum, Rob Popkey, Chris Davies and lan McQueen. Back row: Gerrit Starn, Dave Copp, Don Bagg, Dan Crabbe, Peter Partridge, Mark Antonelli, Joe Haggins, Glenn

:.

Tombia, Shane Dougherty, Ray Martin, Chris Portwood, Chris Camboia, Dave Gemin,

•

Hugh Tharby, Jeremy Oxley and Pat Nield .

APRIL

MAY

.. ...

Families gathered in the alumni tent for a barbecue prior to the football game.

30 THE

PORTICO

GHANA GRAD VISITS

I<

WADWO 0PARE, M.Sc. '69, was one of the many bright young Ghanians who came to the University of Guelph in the 1960s as part of the GuelphGhana Project, directed by Prof. Jim Shute. He and the others who studied at Guelph returned to their homeland to become leaders in education, agriculture and many other areas of industry.

Afer earning his Guelph degree, Opare worked on campus as assistant director of residences and returned to Ghana in 1971 as a lecturer in agricultural extension. He later took a study leave to complete a doctorate at the University of British Columbia, also under the auspices of the GuelphGhana Project.

In 1980, he joined the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, where he served until1997 with postings in Rome headquarters, Sudan, Kenya and Zimbabwe. In recognition of his services to Sudan, he was awarded the prestigious Order of the Two Niles.

COOKIES,

Jan. 23 • Jan. 24 • Jan. 26 • Jan. 29 • When Kwadwo Opare visited Guelph during Alumni Weekend 2006, it was the occasion for a gathering of friends and colleagues at

Feb.

10 •

the home of retired professor Jim Shute and his wife, Anne, BA '91. From left are: jeremy Shute, BA

'89;

Feb. 17 • OAC

Prof. jack Hagarty, BSA '61

and M.Sc. '63 ; Kwadwo Opare; Prof. Doug

March 17 and 18 •

Pietsch, BSA '62; Vera Pietsch, BA '77 and MA '83 ; and Anne Shute.

He is now retired and operating his own travel agency in Accra, appropriately named Two Niles Travel. He is married to another Guelph-Ghana student, Freme Opare, M.Sc. '76, who has also enjoyed a prestigious career in education and is now serving as a cabinet member in Ghana's government.

March 21 •

March

30

and

31 •

June 22 to 24 •

June 22 to 24 •

SNOWBIRD GRADS GET TOGETHER

CIDER AND COLLEGE ROYAL HEN YOU BRING your family to College Royal March 17 and 18, visit the U of G Alumni Association booths that will be serving up cookies, hot apple cider, coffee and a chance to win prizes in an alumni raffle. Arrange to meet U of G friends and enjoy exhibits and activities organized by today's students.

The Human Kinetics/Human Biology Alumni Association will also host a booth and reception.

College Royal is a weekend not to be missed: www.alumni.uoguelph.ca/ collegeroyal.

July 6 to 8 •

W

U of G president Alastair Summerlee, centre, presented the Baker Trophy to the class of OAC '51 at the annual Florida reunion in March 2006. From

Jan. 26 • Feb. 1 •

•••

left are: Bob Moote, BSA '49, and 1951 classmates Clayton Switzer, Alex Henry, Summerlee, Harold

April 27 •

-

Shield, Stan Boyd and Don Rutherford. Grads heading to Florida this winter are invited to attend the next Florida reunion March 7 at Maple Leaf Golf and Country Club in Port Charlotte and/or a boat cruise on Sarasota Bay Feb. 3- For details, write to mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca or call 519-8244120, Ext. 5 2904.

Winter 2006 31

CAREERS •

FAMILIES •

LIFE EXPERIENCES •

MEMORIES

university of guelph Gryphon swimn1ers star in Victor

~

8~ ::;: i.....5: ~ ~

! ~

~ ~

~

il:

32

THE PORTICO

the Alumni Weekend meet to watch their niece, Laura Kendall, a current Gryphon swimmer and a 2005 OUA medallist.

The Davis script began to take shape while Lutz was competing for Guelph at the swim meet. He's now a professional actor based in Los Angeles, but "appears be in the best shape of his career," says Fairweather, who got involved in the early stages of the film. He was eventually responsible for re-creating the 200-metre breaststroke finals at the 1982 In front row, from left, are Mark Lutz, Adair Hanna, Polly Shannon, Mel Davis and Glen Oomen.

World Swimming Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador; Middle row: Jon Pilon, Kristin Cloutier, Amanda Budd, John Eddolls and Peter Kolisnyk. Back the 400m medley relay at the row: Scott Van Doormaal, Stephanie Hatt, Jeremy Warner, Sean Sepulis and Alan Fairweather.

1982 Commonwealth Games There was no bigger figure in Canadian swimming than in Australia; and the lOOm and 200m breaststroke finals Guelph-born Victor Davis. The two-time Olympic gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. medal winner was as brash as he was talented, and when "We were very successful in making all the races look a hit-and-run driver ended his life back in November 1989, realistic right down to the spacing between competitors all the way through each race and at each turn," says Fairthe country lost one of its brightest stars.

Thanks to the talents of former Gryphon swimmer Mark weather.

Lutz, Canadians will soon have a chance to relive Davis's He recruited two dozen swimmers for the film, enlisting story. Victor, a film written by Lutz, wrapped up filming in the help of many past Gryphon athletes, including Peter Kolisnyk, a friend of Davis's; Glen Oomen; Sean Sepulis; Scott Van Toronto in October. The movie will air on CBC in March, Doormaal; jeff Sumner; Jamie Fairweather (a former Gryphon starring Lutz and featuring a tight U of G swimming comsoccer player); Rob Trick; Dan Lindquist; and john Eddoll. munity that includes past and present athletes. Many of them attended the traditional Alumni Weekend swim meet Also on board were current swimmers Stephanie Hatt, An1ai1at Guelph, bringing back a flood of Victor Davis memories. da Budd, Kristen Clouthier, jeremy Warner and Jon Pilon.

"Victor's accident was the weekend of a big swim meet, Los Angeles actor Polly Shannon, who played Davis's girlfriend in the film, came to Guelph to watch other cast and the news crushed the energy from the meet and brought the deck to silence;' recalls U of G aquatic supermembers participate in the Gryphon alumni meet .

Fairweather notes that, although working on the film provisor Alan Fairweather, former head coach of the Gryphon ject was exciting, Davis's death is always an emotional topic. swim teams. "Everyone spoke of Vic's great physical fit"He worked hard to be the very best. Vic could also be ness, strength of character and will to live. We were convinced he'd be fine in a few weeks or months." brutally honest- he called things the way he saw them.

Average people do average things; extraordinary people do But the Olympic medallist succumbed to his injuries extraordinary things." two days after the accident. He was 25.

Davis's father, Mel, and his partner, Adair, also attended

by David DiCenzo

D NEWS 19505 • Cuthbert Gunning, BSA '51 and M.Sc. '53, has lived in North Bay, Ont., for 40 years and is known for his community involvement and his dedication to preserving the city's history. A former librarian at Nipissing University College and Canadore College of Applied Arts and Technology, he has researched, written and published nine books since his retirement in 1990. The most recent, North Bay's Homefront, 1939 to 1945, tells the story of the city and its citizens during the Second World War. The Ontario Heritage Foundation recognized him in 2001 for his contributions to heritage preservation.

Anne Croy

• Anne Croy, DVM '69, makes an understatement when she says she's been busy of late. She received a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in July 2004 and moved from U of G to Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. This past summer, she received the Blackwell Munksgaard Award from the American Society for Reproductive Immunol-

ogy for outstanding contributions to the field. She will give a lecture associated with the award at the society's annual meeting this spring. Also during the summer, she spoke in Prague to the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology, gave three research seminars in the United Kingdom, taught a summer school for one of the European centres of excellence on early embryo development, and was a workshop speaker in Lisbon at the meeting of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.

Croy also directed the first human placenta summer school at Queen's University in August and organized a symposium for the International Federation of Placenta Association meeting held in Kobe, Japan, in September. She went on to Nagoya to participate in a symposium for the Japanese Society for Animal Reproduction. In November, she addressed the Sereno Symposium on Endometrial Biology: Transdisciplinary Science Meets Clinical Practice in San Francisco, gave a plenary talk to the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society in Ottawa and was a featured speaker at the biennial Australian Health and Medical Congress.

• Margaret Dickenson, B.H.Sc. '68, recently released her second cookbook, Margaret's Table Easy Cooking & Inspiring Entertaining. The self-published work includes recipes (including "No Time, No Talent" recipes), menus, food styling

CALLING ALUMNI AUTHORS THE UNIVERSITY OF GuELPH LIBRARY wants to hear from you if you wrote or edited a book in 2006. The library has launched an initiative celebrating authors in the University community and wants to review and recognize the literary work of Guelph alumni.

The library also hopes to add your books to its collection.

Honoured books will contain a bookplate indicating alumni authorship, and an "electronic" bookplate will be linked in the library catalogue.

Faculty, staff and students who published books in 2005 -everything from textbooks to nature photography to short stories and poetry- are currently listed at www.lib.uoguelph. cal author.

Next year, that list will expand with the names of alumni authors. Check the website for details of the program and a form to use in submitting information about your 2006 book.

Margaret Dickenson

and practical tips. The photography and computer designs were done by her husband, Larry, B.Sc.(Agr.)'68. Margaret's first cookbook, From the Ambassador's Table: Blueprints for Creative Entertaining, was shortlisted as one of the five best hardcover recipe books in the world at the 1999 World Food Media Awards. She sits on the board of the Ottawa chapter of U of G alumni and is involved in many charitable and professional organizations.

• Peter Hannam, BSA '62, was

inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame during the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto Nov. 5. Cofounder of First Line Seeds in Guelph, Hannam is probably Canada's best-known soybean promoter and plant breeder.

President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture from 1977 to 1979, he has served on many agriculture industry committees and is a strong supporter of research and education at U of G. Also inducted into the Hall of Fame was the late W.W. "Wib" Donaldson, a Kemptville graduate who was recognized for his contributions as a Hereford and shorthorn breeder.

• George Penfold, B.Sc.(Eng.) '68 and M.Sc. '79, is moving from a private community planning and development consulting practice in Comox, B.C., to a new research chair position with Selkirk College in Castlegar. The focus of this new

Winter 2007 33

endowed chair is to undertake applied research related to economic development in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. He is married to Marilyn Armstrong, BA '68.

19705 • Michael Brown, MA '71, has retired from local church leadership after 47 years in the Christian ministry. He lives in Gravenhurst, Ont., and is now focusing on helping denominations and churches develop strategies to reduce burnout among pastors, who have one of the highest burnout rates of any professional group. He notes that only one out of 20 pastors stay long enough in the ministry to retire.

• Geoffrey Hart, B.Comm. '78, ofVictoria, B.C., was married April 1, 2006, to Sylvia Van Kirk. CHTV referred to their Victorian ceremony as the "wedding of the century."

• David Johnston, B.Sc.(Agr.) '79, is chair of the board of directors of the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA) . Director of safety and health for Canada ADM AgriIndustries Co. since 2001, he has been involved in maintaining, developing, implementing and supervising environmental, health and safety systems and processes across North America and overseas for almost 30 years. An IAPA board member since 2003, he is also a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and serves on the board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals.

19805 • Holly Angus, BA '85, recently relocated to Yellowknife with her husband, David Labrie, and seven-year-old son, Damian.

She is manager of fundraising

34

THE PORTICO

and marketing for the 2008 Arctic Winter Games Host Society. She says the whole family is excited about this opportunity and the adventures that await them in Canada's North.

• Douglas Barber, AMPHI '85, has been named general manager at Sofitel Jin Jiang Oriental Pudong Shanghai - a 446room hotel. He has worked in the hotel industry in Asia for many years and helped organize aU of G alumni event in Hong Kong in 2001.

• Todd "Barney" Bryant, BA '86, describes himself as "alive and well living in London, Ont:' After leaving Guelph, he earned his CMA designation and for the past 10 years has been CFO of LeMaitre Special Effects Inc., a manufacturer of specialeffects equipment for the entertainment industry. Friends can reach him at todd.bryant@ lemaitrefx.com.

• Laurie Buckland, B.Sc. '80, has taken a leave of absence from her position as environmental assessment biologist with Golder Associates Ltd. in Calgary to pursue a graduate diploma in science communication. This new program is offered jointly by Laurentian University and Science North in Sudbury, Ont. She can be reached at ll_buckland@laurentian.ca.

• Kim Dibb, B.Comm. '84, was recently appointed finance manager for the fleet maintenance facility at CFB Esquimalt in Cape Breton, N.S. The base employs more than 1,100 military members and civilian employees responsible for providing ship repair and maintenance services to Canada's Pacific fleet.

• Right Rev. David Giuliano, BA '82 and M.Sc. '94, is the new moderator of the United Church of Canada. He and his

wife, Pearl, B.A.Sc. '82 and M.Sc. '95, both earned graduate degrees in rural extension studies at U of G. They live in Marathon, Ont., where David has served the pastoral charge since 1987. They have two teenage children, Jeremiah and Naomi.

• Susan Kasprzak, BA '80, came back to complete her honours equivalent at U of G in 1999, then earned a master's degree in human geography at Carleton University in 2004. Since then, she has worked for the University of Ottawa School of Nursing on a palliative care research project and recently started as a research associate/evaluation researcher with the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

• Andrew Olsen, BA '88, worked in Tokyo for five years before settling in Sydney, Australia, where he works in GM business development. He is married with three children and says he misses Canada but loves living at Bondi Beach.

19905 • It was 1998 when Dave Beaton, B.Sc.(Env.) '98, started out to build a boardwalk across the Hanlon Conservation Area near Guelph. His epic journey neared its end this fall when volunteers joined him for a two-day build-a -thon to complete 150 metres of boardwalk through the Hanlon Creek wetland. Beaton's goal has always been to protect the integrity of the wetland from hikers and runners. He says the fall workday was his personal tribute to the late Henry Kock, B.Sc.(Agr.) '77, a longtime horticulturist at U of G's Arboretum, who died in 2005.

• Steven Bereznai, B.Sc.(Env.) '96, is editor of Toronto's fab magazine and author of a new

book that grew out of a Valentine's Day story he wrote for the magazine in 2004. Gay and Single ... Forever? 10 Things Every Gay Guy Looking for Love (and Not Finding It) Needs to Know was published in the fall by Marlowe & Company of New

Steven Bereznai York. "My time at Guelph was very influential in writing this book, even though it's been 10 years since I graduated," says Bereznai. "I came out in Arts House, in part because it was a gay-friendly environment. I was a program assistant in residence in my third year, and I was very influenced by the diversity training, which was gay-positive but also dealt with sexism and racism."

Bereznai says he also harkened back to his biology and environmental science courses when writing a chapter on the potential evolutionary origins of homosexuality and its link to homosociability. As a Guelph student, he founded the environmental residence EcoHouse and was a features editor at the Ontarian and an environmental reporter for CFRU FM. His website can be found at www.stevenbereznai.com.

• Candace (Westlake) Campbell, BA '94, is an elementary teacher with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board who says life is fantastic with her husband, Jason, and two sons. She tells a great story about choosing a name for their

older son: "I loved my Guelph experience so much that our older son is lovingly named Gryphon Jay Campbell. While attending my father's induction into the Gryphon Club Hall of Fame for football and wrestling, my husband and I were sitting at the table when we realized the greatest way to honour my dad would be to announce that our unborn child (if male) would be named Gryphon."

Her father, Don, B.Sc.(P.E.) '72, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988.

• Kelly Daly, BA '99, has been working in human resources since graduation and is a certified human resource professional. He runs his own business called Daly HR Solutions (www.dalyhrsolutions.com) in Waterloo, Ont. He and his wife, Carol, BA '00, met during their last semester at Guelph and recently celebrated their fourth anniversary.

• Andrew Dunsmore, B.Sc. '92, lives in Toronto with his wife, Carol, and their daughters, Kate, 3, and Avril, almost a year.

His lifelong dream to fly for Air Canada was fulfilled in 2006, and he now flies a Boeing 767 from Toronto's Pearson Airport.

Dunsmore can be reached at adunsmore@sympatico.ca.

• Angela Fairfield, B.Sc. '97 and M.Sc. '03, and her husband, Bryan, are mourning the loss of their three-year-old daughter, Faydra, who died Sept. 10,2006, from a rare childhood cancer called trilateral retinoblastoma.

In her short life, she inspired many of her parents' friends and relatives, who have formed a charity called Friends of Faydra (www.faydrasfriends.ca) to raise money for cancer research.

OAC students contributed $500 to the cause. The Fairfields can be reached at RR #4 Arthur, ON NOG lAO.

• Jackie Fraser, B.Sc.(Agr.) '94, spent part oflast summer on a North American study tour with the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP).

She was in good company, with half of the current class being graduates of Guelph or one of its regional campuses. U of G is one of the founders of AALP, an executive development program administered by the Centre for Rural Leadership. Fraser says it's been a great experience so far, and her class is looking forward to its international study tour in February.

To see if any of your classmates are AALP graduates, visit the website www.aalp.on.ca.

• Pauline Lipkewich-Povoledo, B.Comm. '92, recently moved back to Alberta with her family and holds a senior management position with CDI College in Edmonton.

• Tammy Oakley, B.A.Sc. '9 1 and M.Sc. '00, has returned to Guelph's Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, where she earned both her degrees, to become an academic administrative assistant. She's been married for 13 years and has two children: Claire, 7, and Liam,4.

• Joleen Thomas, BA '99, and Stuart Humphries, R.Dip. '96, are the proud parents of their first child, Olivia Grace, born July 20.

• Robert Varga, BA '91, is a partner and vice-president of sales and marketing at WALKAWAY Canada Inc. in Toronto.

The company offers "walkaway protection" designed for anyone who leases or finances a car.

The company website is www.walkawayprotection.com.

• Michael Wilson, MA '94, began his career teaching part time in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Brunswick and

GIVING GOOD ADVICE This photo was taken at the wedding of Sharon Robertson Vogels, B.Sc.(Agr.) '01, centre, but it's really a picture of 11 cousins who came to the University of Guelph on the advice of their father and uncle, John Robertson, BSA '64. John taught physics in the early days of his career, but he obviously found his calling as a high school counsellor. The proof is in the family: his own children (Carrie Pilgrim, B.A.Sc. '92; Bruce, DVM '94; and Ruth Anne, B.Sc. '95), his brother Bob's children (Paul, B.Sc.(Agr.) '9 1; Roger, B.Sc.(Agr.) '93; Scott, DVM '97; and Sharon), and his sister Jean McNiven's children (John, ADA '87; Andy, ADA '89; Bonnie Strachan, B.Comm. '99; and Heather Nixon, BA '94). John is now retired and lives in Cannington, Ont., with his wife, Anne. The photo was sent in by Harvey Monkman, BSA '64. From left to right are: Roger, Paul, Carrie, Ruth Anne, Heather, Sharon, Bruce, Bonnie, Andy, John and Scott. working in the business field.

In 2001, he earned a bachelor of education and began teaching at Harbourview High School in Saint John. Last spring, he was appointed principal of St. Patrick's School. He and his wife, Kelly McClure, have three children: Kayla, Cuinn and Lily Mae. • Teresa Woolard, DVM '96, lives in a small community north of Barrie, Ont., and has an eight-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son. She runs her businesses- Dynamic Veterinary Marketing and Pawsitive Resources - from her home and also helps other families and business owners protect themselves against identity theft through the services of PPL Legal Care of Canada.

2000

• Jasper Blake, B.Sc. '00, has a website that says he came out of the womb running and hasn't looked back. He proved that true when he won the 2006 Subaru Ironman Canadian title in Penticton, B.C., in August.

He had placed second and third in previous attempts. More than 2,000 athletes from around the world competed in the 2006 event, which included a 3.8-kilometre swim, a 180-km bike race and a full marathon run of 42.2 km. Blake grew up in British Columbia with a passion for downhill skiing and came to Ontario to attend the National Ski Academy in Collingwood during high school. While earning a Guelph degree in human kinetics, he competed in Gryphon cross-

Winter 2007 35

country running and swimming. He's been participating in lronman and triathlon events for the last 10 years. To read more about his achievements, visit www.jasperblake.com.

• Tyler Burrows, BAA '06, graduated in business administration and is now a logistics administrator at KCI Medical in Toronto. He says his GuelphHumber degree helped him find the job within a couple of weeks of graduation.

• Jason Dunkerley, BA '03, of Hamilton, Ont., won a gold medal at the world track-andfield championships for athletes with a disability held in the Netherlands in September. He took the men's 1,500 metres for the visually impaired. He was born blind with retinitis pigmentosa and runs accompanied by an able-bodied guide. He was a member of the Gryphon

track-and-field team while studying at U of G. He was the Paralympic Games silver medallist in 2004 and finished first in the same race at the 2005 world championships in Madrid.

• Paula Gomes, BBA '06, says attending the University of Guelph-Humber "was the best decision I've ever made. It's great to have two pieces of paper from two of the most reputable institutions m Ontario, if not Canada. I went for four interviews for four different companies and received a job offer from all of them."

• Brooke Hilditch, B.Sc. '03, and current Gryphon rugby player Shannon Kane represented Canada at the World Student Games (FISU Sevens) in Rome last August. The Canadian rugby team outscored the opposition 147-0 throughout the tournament, bringing home

the gold medal. This was Hilditch's second appearance with the national team. At U of G, she was a two-sport athlete in rugby and wrestling and was awarded Guelph's President's Trophy in 2003 . She was also co-recipient of the Female Athlete of the Year award.

• Kim Hinder, BA '00, and Matt Goodman, BA '01, were married June 10, 2006, and recently bought their first home in Keswick, Ont. • Andrew Kaszowski, BAA '06, used his media studies degree and public relations training from Guelph-Humber to land a job as a communications consultant with the Lawson Research Institute in his hometown of London, Ont. Lawson is affiliated with the London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London.

• Andrew Kirwin, B.Comm.

Make another educated choice ...

Bring your colleagues home

'04, married Amy Delisle July 22 , 2006, in Toronto. Among the many Guelph alumni in attendance were best man Matthew Buller, B.Comm. '05; maid of honour Emily Delisle, B.Sc. '04; and master of ceremonies Paul Devoe, B.Sc. '05 .

The Kirwins live in Mississauga, Ont., where he is a financial adviser. Friends can reach him at Andrew.kirwin@freedom55 financial.com .

• Jennifer McCartney, BA '03, will see her first novel, AFLOAT, published in February by Penguin in both Canada and the United Kingdom. Her fiction has previously appeared in The Seeker: A Glasgow Literary Review; AIM: America's Intercultural Magazine; Celtic View; and Snacks After Swimming, an anthology of new writers from Glasgow. She has also written for BBC's Radio 4. McCartney has lived and

~Po

reaches 78,000 Guelph graduates

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

PASSAGES Eleanor (Macrea) Abbott, DHE '40, July 21, 2005 Thomas Allman, DVM '48, Oct. 11, 2006 John Andrich, DVM '40, Dec. 23, 2005 Florence (Moritz) Atcheson, DHE '34, Feb.4,2006 Gillian Auld, BLA '04, Nov. 3, 2006 Gordon Ball, BSA '49, Oct. 28,2006 Ross Beardall, DVM '55, Aprill999 Robert Blay, BA '77, Dec. 19,2004 David Boynton, BSA '60, March 26, 2006 Howard Churchill, B.Sc. '71, Sept. 30, 2006 Donald Cleave, Dip. '56, June 10,2006 Terry Coote, B.Sc. '79, date unknown Mcinroy Cuddy, BSA '42 and H.D. Litt., Oct. 18, 2006 George Depuydt, R.Dip. '61, Feb. 23, 2006 Roberta (Laughlin) Fitts, DVM '45, June 19,2006

worked in Ohio, Michigan, Utah and South Carolina, as well as London and Glasgow, where she was awarded a distinction for her graduate degree in creative writing at the University of Glasgow.

Friends can reach her at www. myspace.com/jennifermccartney.

• Janine (Breimer) Mcintosh, B.Comm. '04, says a lot has happened since she graduated from U of G. She started working for Procter and Gamble in Toronto right after graduation and has moved up the corporate ladder to her current position as customer logistics and financial co-ordinator. She adds: "I was married to my husband, Brian, on Jan. 21, 2006, and we bought a house in Ajax in June. I just want to thank all my profs for their support in my four years at Guelph, especially Prof. Tapon. Thanks for everything!"

• Jessica Molenhuis, B.A.Sc. '03,

Edwin Gamble, BSA '52, MSA '54, Oct. 5, 2006 Esther (Wigien) Hargrave, DHE '40, March 9, 2006 Donald Hendriks, BSA '41, July 31, 2006 Margaret (Fleming) Henry, B.H.Sc. '52, Sept. 19,2006 Clarence Hodgson, BSA '51, Sept. 6, 2006 Corrine Hutchings, B.A.Sc. '92, Dec.31, 2005 Herman Jensen, BSA '51, Oct. 31,2003 Kathleen (Rogers) Kennedy, DHE '39, April 8, 2006 James Knox, BSA '49, May 28,2006 Karl Kriese, ODH '65, June 24,2006 Betty Lapp, DVM '42, Aug. 25, 2006 Robert Leach, BSA '51, Sept. 12, 2006 Isabel (Robinson) McKenzie, BA '77, April21, 2006

lives in Stratford, Ont., and is a speech-language pathologist with the Waterloo Region District School Board. She was married in July 2004 to Gary Van Bakel and gave birth to a daughter, Ella Grace, July 4, 2006.

• Dagmar Schouten, DVM '00, and her husband, Graham Keys, had a baby girl, Femke, in March 2006. They lived in the United States for four years, but are happy to be back in Canada. She is a small-animal veterinarian in Calgary.

• Denise Tubino, B.Sc.(Env.) '04, moved to Brazil after graduation. She volunteered and worked with ministries and non -governmental organizations on environmental education and research related to sustainable development in the Amazon. Last April, she coordinated the participation of 17 Latin American environmental leaders at the Environ-

Evelyn (Beattie) McPhee, DHE '34, Nov. 12, 2006 Mary (Tully) Moseley, DHE '40, Jan. 20, 2006 Anthony Pellizzari, BSA '55, Oct. 1, 2006 Gregory Rankin, R.Dip. '69, May 27, 2006 Donna (Dillon) Robinson, DHE '50, April2005 Izabela (Kalabis) Sacco, BA '86, Sept. 11, 2006 Ian Scott, H.D.La. '05, Oct. 10,2006 John Shaddock, R.Dip. '61, Sept. 5, 2006 John Shain, R.Dip. '66, Oct. 8, 2006 Deborah (Pearce) Smith, DHE '38, Sept.

3,2005 Patrick Wall, DVM '66, Oct. 31, 2006 Bruce Watson, R.Dip. '66, Dec. 25, 2005

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

mental Youth Conference of Brazil. She's planning to move back to Ottawa to work and begin a master's degree in 2007.

• Laura Jean Way, BA '03, completed McMaster University's child life studies post -graduate program and is a certified child life specialist. In fall 2006, she started a master's degree in critical disability studies at York University.

• M. Basri B. Wahid, PhD '93, was recently appointed director general of the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia. He was also honoured by being given the title "Datuk" by the sultan of his home state, Negeri Sembilan.

• Chandra Rajashekar, BBA '06, is an accounting supervisor at Mine Air Systems in Calgary.

She says the Guelph-Humber business administration program "is awesome. It helped me get into my profession of accounting, and my company

is now sponsoring me to CGA. I advise students to take this course without hesitation."

• Mike O'Shea, B.Sc. '94, a linebacker with the Toronto Argonauts, achieved a rare milestone in October when he registered his thousandth career tackle in a game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He's the first Canadian and only the third player in history to do so. O'Shea has played 14 seasons in the CFL, 10 of them with Toronto. Originally from North Bay, Ont., he played for the Guelph Gryphons from 1989 to 1992 and was a first-team OUAA all-star and CIAU all-star in 1992 when the Gryphons won the Yates Cup. He was named OUAA Defensive Player of the Year in his final year and still holds the Gryphon record for quarterback sacks with 21. He lives in Milton with his wife, Richere, and their children, Michael, Ailish and Aisling.

Winter 2007 37

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UNIVERSITY 9/GUELPH

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

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