Guelph The Portico Magazine, Fall 2009 by University of Guelph

the portico •

Fall 2009

president's page • grad news -

30 • passages -

- 8in and around the university

UELPH S TUD E NT S

cover story

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUCCESS Guelph graduate, professor and adnuni strator - Juli a C hristense n H ughes is one of the U1-Uversity's strongest advoca tes for experi ential learnin g and strategic planning.

and new graduates receive pres ti gious Ca nadi an and in te rn ation al awa rds to co ntinu e th eir studi es, w hil e th e University recogni zes th e internati onal co ntributi o ns of eight hono rary deg ree recipi ents. In additi on, U ofG experts make news with th eir work in fundrai sing, human health , fi sheri es and environmental studi es.

- 12 TALKING TO CANADIANS ABOUT SCIENCE It's not eno ugh to do grea t science. G uelph researchers find th emselves on th e fro nt lines of improving science literacy am ong C anadians and recruiting th e co untry's next generati on of scientists.

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ALUMNI PROFILES on the cover Prof.Julia C hristensen Hu ghes gains a new view as dea n of th e C ollege of M ana gem ent and Economics . Ph oto by Martin Schlllalhe

The stories of four Guelph gradu ates highlight their di ve rse caree rs and their m emories of U of G.

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ALUMNI NEWSLETTERS The ce ntre of Th e Portico ma gazine is always reserved for the alum1-U newsletter produced by yo ur college and/ or college alum.ni association. Th e Portico distribu tes a newsletter for each of th e University 's seven colleges . To read all of them., visit the magazin e online at www.u oguelph/ theportico.

alumni matters

R EC ORD NUMBER

of class reunions are held during Alumni Wee kend, and th e University of Guelph Alumni Association renews its board o f directors and prese nts th e annu al awards of excell ence. Alumni events planned for fall include H oc key D ay in Gryph o nville and netwo rkin g for gradu ates of th e hum an reso urce manage ment and real es tate and ho using prog rams.

In times of limited resources, conflicting demands, and rapid cultural and technological change, organizations need skilled leaders and managers. The University of Guelph's MBA and MA (Leadership) offer unique solutions tailored to your personal leadership development.

thportico Fall 2009 â&#x20AC;˘

VOLUME .j I

1.:E

Editor Mary Dickieson Director Charle Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enneson Design In c. Contributors Barbara Chance, BA '74 Barry Gunn Lori Bona Hunt Wendy Jespersen Rebecca Kenda ll , BA '99 Te resa Pitman SPAR.K Program Writers Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '8 4 Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderso n 519-827-9169

Make another educated choice ... Bring your colleagues home

Direct all other correspo11de11ce to: Con1mun ica tions and Public Affa irs Un iversity of Guelph G uelph , Ontario, Ca nada N1 G 2W1 E-mail rn .dicki eson@exec. uoguelph .ca www. uoguelph.ca/ theportico/ 711e Portico magazine is published three tirnes a yea r by Co mmuni cation s and Publi c Affairs at the University of G uelph. Its mission is to enhance the relatio nship between the Unive rsity an d its alurnn i and friends and promote pride and comm it111 ent within th e Unive rsity co111111unity. All 111ate ria l is copyri g ht 2009. Ideas and op inion s expressed in th e articles do not necessa ri ly reflect the ideas o r o pinions of the University or th e editors. Publi catio ns M ail Agreernent # 4006-1673 Printed in Canada -

ISSN 17 1.J-873 1

To update yo ur alu111ni record, contact: Alu111ni Affairs and D evelop111ent Phon e 519-824-.J 120, Ext. 56550

Fax 5 19-822-2670 E-111ai l alurnnirecords@uoguelph.ca

ARLIER TH IS MONT H, the 15-year-old Guelph Jazz Festival fill ed the streets of o ur city with crea ti ve and improvised music and th ousa nds of visitors. Last fall , the C ity of Guelph and local biotech compani es launched a marketing strategy called " Grow Guelph" to build recognition of the life sciences and agrifoo d opportunities in Wellington Co unty. What these disp arate events have in common is the University of Guelph, specifically U of G faculty engaged in researc h. Without their contributions, the jazz festival and "Grow Guelph " would not have happ ened. There are so m e edu ca tors who say all of Ca nada's resea rch dollars sh o uld go to its bigges t universities, but U of G's in credibl e research success d ispels that notion. Our research engin e is not the biggest in Ca nada, but it is one of the most produ ctive. Ask the

local arts communities, yo un g entrep reneurs m entored by o ur busin ess fac ulty, the bi oscience co mpani es in our region , or the agrifoo d industry, which benefits from the University's partnership with th e Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It's been documented th at every do ll ar invested in agricultural research at U of G returns more than $20 in provincial economic impact. A strategic research plan approved by Sena te last fall describes how Guelph research responds to societal needs in our core areas of expertise : environ ment, ecology and biodiversity; agriculture, foo d and bioprod ucts; physical and biological stru ctures; promoting health and preve nting disease; and culniral transformation and social change. The repo rt also identifies one of our key stren gths as th e ability to form connections betwee n major areas of academic research and scholastic endeavour. Our ability to li nk research with teaching is a defining characteristic th at has long esta blished G uelph 's place am ong all Ca nadia n universiti es, big and small. The annu al university rankings in Maclea n's magazin e, the University R eport Card in the Globe and J\!Iail an d th e " R esearc h Uni ve rsity of the Year" sur vey by R esearch Tnfosource have documented that Guelph offers a uniqu e learning environment beca use of our ability to partner stud ent learning and resea rch intensity. Lea rning at its best is discove rin g new knowledge. So across the board , the U of G curriculum strives to ensure th at research opportunities aren't j ust the domain of faculty, staff and graduate stud en ts, but that und ergradu ates, too, ca n exp erience the process of discovery.

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5z O ur stud ents prove the point. From the 2009 graduating class, Adam Lewandowski ea rn ed a cove ted Co mm onwealth Scholarsh ip to Oxford University. H e credits his desire to pursue a career in medical resea rch to th e experi ence of workin g with two Gu elph professors. Through active learning, U of G engin eerin g students ea rned top spot at the national round of the Institute of E ng in eerin g and Technology co mp etiti on for th eir design of an electronic pediatric stethoscope. A team of students from a Guelph business class tied for first place in a co mp etiti o n at th e World Food and Agribusin ess Fo rum and Symposium in Hun ga ry. And four justice studi es stud ents from the University of G uelph-Humber captured first place in an international crim e sce ne investigati on co mpetition held in Maryland , w here th ey competed against 24 teams from U.S. universities. U of G's uniqu e discovery-oriented, active learning style is key to our success as edu cators.The University's 21st-Century C urri culum Committee recognized that the benefits to individual lea rners and Guelph 's intellectu al environment as a w hole are enormous. And so there is conti nual effort on th e part of o ur faculty to enrich th eir teaching wi th current research results . At th e University of Guelph, we are committed to a research agenda that addresses some of the world's most pressing needs w hil e nurturing the educational experience we offer to students. And that is w hat sets us apart. ALASTAIR SUMMERLEE , PRES IDENT

Fall 2009 3

people •

NUMBER OF award announcements this spring focused attention on the scholarship and research potential of eight University of Guelph students and graduates. OFF TO OXFORD

z ADAM LEWANDOWSKI, B.Sc. '09, received z ::::> a prestigious Conunonwealth Scholarship C) ~ and Fellowship Plan to study cardiovascua:

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The award covers all major expenses, including airfare, tuition and living costs. zw He developed an interest in cardiovas~ cular research while studying human anatomy with Prof. Lorraine Jadeski, Human en w Health and Nutritional Sciences . H e also a: fii credits the opportunity to work with Prof. @ Jim Petrik, Biomedical Sciences, and PhD I 0.. student Nicole Solinger, B.Sc. '06. ~

Lewandowski hop es to combine his interests in cardiovascular clinical research with medicine, to one day work as both a researcher and a medical doctor. FIRST VANIER RECIPIENTS

THREE U o F G PhD students received inaugural Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, the most prestigious doctoral awards in Canada.Worth $50,000 a year for up to three years, the scholarships were awarded to 166 of th e world's leading students from Canada and abroad . Veterinary science stud ent Sherilee Harper plans to investigate the impact of climate change on surface drinking water and infectious gastrointestinal illness in Inuit Nunaat. Her advisers are population medicine professor Scott McEwen and adjunct

CONVOCATION HONOURS IGHT PEOPLE rec eived honorary degrees from U of G and the University of Guelph-Humber during sununer convocation ceremonies: • Louise Arbour, the former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada who is known for being a chief prosecutor for tribunals into the genocide in Rwanda and human rights

4 TH E PORTICO

professorVictoria Edge of the Public Health Agency of Canada. Tal Avgar works with Prof. John Fryxell , Integrative Biology, studying 1novement patterns, habitat selection and range delineation in woodland caribou. And Tristan Pearce, MA '06, is conducting research in a small Inuit community with geography professor Barry Smit to study adaptation to climate change. RIGOROUS AUDITION PAID OFF

SHOHTLY BEFORE graduating in Jun e, Nigel Gough, BA '09, was accepted into the wor)d-renowned master's program at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London , England. The school is part of the University of London and has maintained a reputation for top theatre training for more than a century.

abuses in the former Yugoslavia; • Jean Augustine, the first African Canadian woman elec ted to Parliament, a fo rmer cabinet minister and now Canada's first fairn ess commissio ner; • Tim Bray, B.Sc. '81, an Internet pioneer who is widely recognized as an expert in web architecture; • Leo Gerard, president of the United

ANIMAL ADVOCATE LEAVES $7.5 MILLION TOUOFG

he University of Guelph has received its largest-ever single donation from the estate

of Toronto businesswoman Mona Campbell , who was a tireless advocate for animals. Her $7.5-million gift reflects a 20-year relationship with the University. During that time, she supported various programs in the Ontario Veteri nary College and the Ontario Agricultural College, including a research centre in animal welfare that was named in honour of her late husband, Col. K.L. Campbell. The bequest will provide further support for animal welfare research. "We are so grateful for this incredible gift, not only for the financial support and tremendous

Gough took part in a rigorous 12hour audition process in N ew York C ity and received offers into both th e advanced performance master's program and th e music theatre master's program at Central School.

College ofVeterinary Pathologists in five years.Anunersbach's research with Prof. Dorothee Bienzle focuses on feline immunodeficiency virus.

opportun ities it affords but also for the spirit in which it was made," says U of G president Alastair Summerlee. "It reflects Mona's passion for and dedication to animals." Mona Campbell was chair and CEO of Dover

TOP GRADUATE STUDENT MELANIE AMMERSBACH, DVM '07,

HEADED FOR COPENHAGEN THE UNIVERSITY of Copenhagen has awarded Nico M erk and Kristen Weersink, both B.Sc. '09, sc holarships

a PhD stud ent in the Department of Pathobiology, is among 24 top-ranked grad uate students to receive a $25,000 Julie Payette-NSERC R esearch Scholarship from. the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. She is combin ing her PhD with a residency in clinical pathology, with the goal of finishing the degree and becoming board-certifi ed by the American

to its ma ter's program in human biology. The university offers sc holars hips to just five international stud ents each year; the awards are valued at more than $87,000 each over two years. "The school has nearly 40,000 students," says Merk, who hopes to go on to medical chool. " It attrac ts a lot of international students and, like Guelph, has a strong focus on research."

Steelworkers and a vice-presiden t of the American Federation of La bo ur and Congress oflndu strial Organizations; • Jack MacDonald, a fo rmer physics professor and vice-president at U of G w ho left to head the M anukau Institute ofTechnology in New Zealand; • Marangu Njogu, head of the nonprofit Windle Trust Kenya and a 1nem-

ber of World Uni vers ity Servi ce of Canada; • Christopher Plummer, one of Canada's most celebrated actors and the winner of Tony and Emmy awards; and • Barbara Stymiest, chi ef operating office r of th e Royal Bank of Ca nada, who was named amon g the "SO Most Powe iful Women" by Forbes magazine.

Industries, a company she inherited from her father at age 33. At the time of her death in 2008, the firm was Canada's largest flour-milling company, with revenues of $228 million and some 500 employees. She was also the first woman elected to the board of the TorontoDominion Bank. She was a patron of numerous cultural, educational and business organiza!ions, and her Mohill Farm s was known for its numerous award -winning show horses and cattle, as well as her beloved dogs that she had rescued .

Fall 2009 5

VVatch your circadian clock to help your ticker LLOWING YOU R inner circa dian clock to fall out of sync with the 24ho ur wo rld outside yo ur body ca n ca use hea rt disease. That's th e finding o f a study whose lead author took up a new faculty post at Guelph this spring. Prof. Tami M artino, Bi o m edi ca l Sci-

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ences, says doctors, nurses and pharma cists - virtually th e entire medi cal profession - need to heed circadi an rhythms in diagnosing and trea tin g hea rt di sease patients. "We now know th at o ur be havio ur, body physiology and m olecular processes differ dramati ca ll y durin g the day versus night, and th e basis for this is the mol ecuJar clock m echanism," says M artin o. Thro ugh an intri ca te m ec han ism involving hormon es and feedback loops, every cell in the body synchroni zes itself to th e passage of day and night. Your eyes co nvey information about light levels to the brain's hypothalamus. From

~ here, molecular pathways distribute signals

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THE PORTI CO

keeps everything ticking in sync. Upset th e dai ly rhythm and you introdu ce stresses

rays and bioinformatics techno logies to show how genes in heart tissue switch on

that may ca use variou s ailments. The study, which was co-authored with Toronto researchers and appeared in th e A merican J o11rn.al of Physiology, found that disrupting circadian rhythms in hamsters led to cardiovascu lar and renal disease. In 2004, Martino and her collaborators published th e first paper using gene nucroar-

and off from night to day. Your heart rate and blood pressure fall at night and increase by day in a predictable curve, she says. Platelet clumping happens m ore ofte n early in the day, increasing the ri sk of hea rt atta ck at that time. Indeed , most hospital adnussions for heart atta cks occur in the monung, she says .

NOTEWORTHY

Study may help·salmon populations

Boulding cautions that mis was a limited study, but she notes that the dispersal of lice appeared to be limited during their free-swimming larva] phase. This suggests that the lice could not be transmitted between farmed and wild fish if

G RESEAR C HERS have used DNA bar-codin g techniqu es to shed new light on controlling th e spread of the salmon louse, a parasite blamed for devastating wil d Pacific salmon stocks and cos ting British Colu1nbia's salmon-farm ind ustry millions of do llars eac h yea r. The resea rch team, led by integrative biology professo r Elizabeth Boulding, also co nfirmed that th e Pa cific salmon louse is a distinct "sister species"

net pens are kept far enough away from tl1e migration routes of me wild saLnon.

tions to physics education and stu-

Environmental hub finds a home

Good Morning Canada and for the

of the salmon lo use that has plagu ed the East Coast and salmon fisheries and fish farms on both sides of th e Atlantic Ocea n. They analyzed 239 samples of lice from wild and farmed salmon hosts from British Columbia , Alaska and Japan, as well as 180 samples from areas on both sides of the Atlantic. The researchers discovered significant differences in gene frequ encies between lice samples from salmon caught at different locations along the B. C. coast, as well as between sampl es from wild saL11on and farmed fish taken from the same waters. This suggests a low level of migration of lice back and forth between farm ed and wild fish.

• U of G's John Bell Award, wh ich recognizes outstanding contributions to university education, was presented to physics professor Ernie McFarland for his contribudent mentoring. He is known for his science demonstrations on CTV's Fantastic Physics Fun Show performed at local elementary schools. • Second-year science student lsdin Oke and third -year arts and sciences student Lauren Wallace were

a boost in more ways than one as U of G prepares to overhaul an old building to create a cutti n g-edge environmental teac hing and resea rch centre. The project involves retrofitting and renova ting the Axe lrod Building to house facu lty and students from the School of Environmental Sciences, as we ll as co mpon ents of the School of Engineering, th e School of Environmental Design and Rural D evelopment and the Faculty of Environmental Sciences. It wi ll also be home to th e Guelph Institute for the Environment, which is headed by former federa l environment minister David And erson. The renovation plan was kick-started in May when Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science and technology) ,

named among Canada's "Top 20

HE ENVIRONMENT GETS

and Guelph-Wellington MPP Liz Sandals visited the campus to announce a $33 .6-million investment fron1 the federa! and provincial governments . Guelph 's project is on e of 28 that received support from the federal Knowledge Infrastructure Program as part of a joint government plan to repair and expand research and ed ucational facilities at Canada's colleges and universities. "This significant contribution will allow us to cluster our expertise in a state-of-the-art tea ching and resea rch hub and to showcase our innovations and green tec hnologies," said U of G president Alastair Summerlee.

Under 20" by the Globe and Mail. Oke was honoured for his achievements in science and mathematics; Wallace was recognized for her volunteer efforts to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. Each will receive a bursary worth up to $5,000 to benefit their education . • Psychology professor Hank Davis is receiving media attention for his new book, Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World. Davis, a specialist in evolutionary psychology, strives to explain why more people today believe in ESP, ghosts and angels than in scientific theories such as evolution. • U of G engineering students earned top spot at the national round of the Institute of Engineering and Technology competition. Alyssa Randall, Danielle Boucher, Janith Peduruge and Dane Reynolds designed a pediatric stethoscope that filters out extraneous noise and slows the sounds of a heartbeat, allowing doctors to more accurately diagnose heart defects.

• The College of Management and

Economics received a Guelph

Chamber of Commerce award for

a new course called "Service Learn-

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minds of students to the struggles

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Fall 2009 7

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o ffi ce in the M ac Kinn o n Buildin g, Prof. Juli a C h ristensen Hughes sees th e Unive rsity from a va ntage point similar to that of the crane operator perched above a new patho biology building go ing up o n th e west side of Gordon Street. T he campus below them is filled wi th energy vehicles, people and a few four-legged mammals bustling back and for th. Whi le the crane opera tor co nce ntrates o n liftin g steel bea ms and tubs of cement, C hristensen Hughes is building a different kind of structure - an academic edifice that fram es th e University's teaching and research programs in management and eco no mj cs. " I'm excited to have the opportuni ty to build o n the uniqu e strengths of th e Unive rsity's newes t college," says C hristense n Hu ghes, wh o was app o inted dea n of th e Coll ege of M anage1nent and Eco no mi cs (CME) in May. She received her C ME hard hat fro m economics professor C hris McKenna. He spent more than fo ur years as fo reperso n during th e design and co nstru cti on of C ME, including a three-year stint as its first dea n. T he coll ege was laun ched in 2006 , evo lved from th e Coll ege of Soc ial and

By Rebecca Kendall

Applied Human Sciences in respo nse to growth in the D epartment of M arketing and Consumer Stuilies, th e D epartment of Economics and the School of H ospitality and Tou rism M anagement. A new D epartment ofBusiness was added in 2007, with C hristense n Hughes serving as its first chair. She's been part of the changing landscape surro unding the University's business pro grams since arriving on campus as a student in 1977. She was enrolled in th e School of H o tel and Foo d Administrati o n (HAFA), which became the School of H ospitality and Tourism M anage ment in 2003 . Whi le wo rkin g at a Burlingto n , Ont., golf course during high school, C hristensen Hu ghes had met two HAFA grads wh o convinced her that U of G would be a great place to call home, if only fo r a few years as an undergradu ate. " I got th e sense that Guelph had a really fri endly stud ent culture, and I liked th e idea of a busin ess program th at included co urses from the sciences," she says. O ne of the highlights of her undergraduate yea rs was a manage ri al accounting course taught by Prof. Bill Braithwaite, who celebrates his SOth anni versa ry of teaching accounting at Guelph this fall. "Bill was always able to provide prac tical exampl es," she says." He made accounting relevant and interestin g."

An other highlight was a senior-level hospital ity co urse taught by Prof. Jo hn Patterso n, now retired . "John challenged us and used the case method. In his classes, yo u always had to be prepared, always ready to defend yo ur position." Patter o n hired C hristensen Hughes to help with a research project comparing electro ni c point-of-sal e sys tems that were j ust bein g introduced to the industry. Th e fo llowin g summer, she go t a j o b in Toro nto supportin g the installati on of the systems in hotels and res taurants, th en tra ining managers and staff in their use. Today, she's o ne of G uelph 's stro nges t advocates fo r experi enti al learn ing - ge tting stud ents o ut of the classroom and into real- wo rld work settin gs w here th ey ca n apply th eo ry and develop esse ntial skills. " Lea rnin g isn'tjust abo ut abso rbing disciplinary knowledge - it's also about developing the ability to apply it," says C hristensen Hughes. " Leadersrup skills and interpersonal skills are integral to professio nal success. We need to crea te lear ning environm ents w here stud ents have th e o pportunity to develop th ese typ es of skills as well." After earrung her B. Comm. in 1981, she worked in management for the Keg resta urant chain and ea rn ed an MBA fro m the Schuli ch School of Business at York Uni versity befo re takin g a teacrung position at

CME dean Julia Christensen Hughes l1as a bird's-eye view of tl1e University Cen tre and Mclaughlin Library. Off to the left are Rozanski Hall, the Bullring and Day Hall, where she spent 1O years as director of Teacliing Support Services.

Fall 2009 9

Guelph in 1987. Over th e next few yea rs, she taught classes in human resource management, organizational behaviour and business policy. She also taught U o f G 's w ildly popular restaurant operatio ns co urse. On the research side, she fo cused on topics related to o rgani zation al effec tive ness, strategic human resource m anagem e nt, empowe rm ent, motiva ti o n and workpl ace dive rsity. l n 1996, she receive d a PhD in organizational behaviour from Schulich. A decad e after joining Gu elph, Christense n Hu ghes switched gears professionally and became direc to r of U o f G 's Teaching Support Services (TSS), a position she held for 10 yea rs. From her offi ce in Day Hall , she was involved in enhancing learn er-centredn ess at the University, developing th e teac hing skills of graduate stud ents and expandin g th e foc us of TSS fro m working primaril y with indi vidu als to liaisin g w ith departmental tea ms on curriculum reform . She also co ntributed to th e des ign of th e

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

HTM MAKES A NAME INASIA

Teacl1111g students about sustainability and cor porate social responsibility is one of CME's top priorities, and the l1i1'ing of Profs E:lizabeth Kurucz and Rum1na Ohalla 111 the Department of Business 1s a na1or step 1n ti13t clirection. "The University's tag line Improving Life'

'Chanqing Lives.

is practically a definition of

sustainability," says Kurucz. "This 1s a power ful place to be dc1ng this research because the ideas are so t.:onsistent with everything U of G does and stands for "

Ro zan ski H all class ro o m co mpl ex, position ed Gu elph to host a number of national forums on the scholarship of teaching and learning, and secured funding fo r a study on the concept of universal instru ctional design. H er work in TSS proved invaluable during a three-yea r term as presid ent of th e Society for Teaching and Learnin g in Higher Education, a national assoc iati on of acad emi cs dedi ca ted to improvin g post-secondary teac hin g and learning. In 2006 , th e Ca nadian Jo1m1al of Higher Edu cation published a stud y C hriste nse n Hughes co ndu cted with D onald M cC abe o f Rutge rs Unive rsity on th e state o f aca-

crea te engaging lea rning environm ents and use assess m ent approaches that provide mea ningful feedback based on th e lea rning

says . " We need to emphas ize a lo nger- term perspec tive." R efl ectin g th e success of th ese efforts, C M E 's B. Co mm. prog ram was rece ntl y nam ed to Corporate K11ights magazin e's list of top l 0 und ergradu ate busin ess programs that integrate CSR into th e school experience. The nati onal business magazin e's annu-

obj ec tives of th e course. What we need to do is make sure we're creatin g cultures of lea rning." Sh e believes this is especially impo rtant fo r C ME stud ents, given that studi es show manage m ent stud ents are m o re likely to

al sur vey loo ks at how bus iness sc hools inco rp o rate enviro n menta l co nce rn s and issues of social justi ce, human ri ghts, professio nal co ndu ct and cultural diversity into th eir academi c programs. C hristense n Hu ghes is thrill ed by

demi c integri ty in C anada. Specifically, they wa nted to get a tru e sense of th e prevalence of chea ting, plagiarism and oth er forms of deception amo ng th e nation 's high sc hool and unive rsity students. Their findin gs, w hich came as a surprise to many in the field, attracted national attention and res ulted in a call for changing how learning is fa cilitated and assessed. "That study showed th at w hen faculty just go throu gh th e m o ti o ns, delive rin g uninspirin g lectures and repeatedly using the same exams, many students just go through th e motions as well, finding shortcuts in the system to get th eir degrees and move on ," says Christensen Hughes. " For real lea rning to occur, we need to

report engaging in acad emi c miscondu ct th an other stud ents are. She sees this as an o pportunity. "We ca n use co nve rsa ti o ns ab o ut stud ent integ rity to talk about perso nal and business ethi cs." With the N orth American economy still in disarray and many people po inting fingers at economists and business leaders for th eir collective rol e in th e crisis, C hristensen Hu ghes says a coll ege like C ME has an obliga tion to introdu ce conce pts such as integrity and corporate social respo nsibility (CSR), challeng ing the traditi o nal shortterm shareholder view. "That's one of the reasons I'm so pleased with our decision in CME to fo cus on sustainability and the triple bottom line," she

Guelph 's ranking. "CME has been working hard at embeddin g sustainability across the B. Co mm. curri culum as well as offerin g students uniqu e CSR -focused lea rning opportuniti es in o ur MBA and MA (Leadership) programs," she says. Faculty th roughout CME 's four departments have been pursuing C SR-related initi atives for some tim e, she says, but last year's hiring of Profs . Elizabeth Kuru cz and Rurnina Dhalla gave this important area dedi ca ted foc us. " Without qu es ti o n, sustainability has become an increasin gly important co mponent of our curricular and research ac tivity, and I an1 personally conuTiitted to ensuring that it continues to help us build on Guelph's

TH E P O RTI CO

GUELPH TEAM SHARES TOP PRIZE

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

A team of Guelph undergraduates tied for top

Named for tl1e Un1vers1tyÂ°s r:hdnc e lor emeritus

prize in a case competition held at the 2009

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International Food and Agribusiness Manage-

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standing Leader Award hrghlrrihts r,ME'c com

gary. They shared the prize with a team of MBA

m1tment tc recognizing strong leri.ders and

students from Santa Clara University in Cali-

developing similar leadership values rn its stu

fornia . From left: Matthew Ball and Nicole

dents Tl11s fall. CME: adds a new PhD in rran

Beechey, B.Comm. '09, with business profes-

1gement to support tl1e study of leadersllrp at

sor Elliott Currie. Other members of the team

Hle h1gl1est levels.

were Blair Cameron, B.Sc . '09 , and Emily Bogaert, B.Comm '09. Melanie Lang, director of U of G's Centre for Business and Social Entrepreneurship was also a coach.

uniqu e approach to m anage ment and econom.i cs edu catio n." C hristensen Hughes is quick to point out w hat she sees as the college's und erl ying strength s: "our industry- fo cused programs in real estate, hotel an d foo d admin.istrati on, and tourism; our breadth and depth in econon1.ics; our consumer behaviour orienta tion; our well-esta blished gradu ate program s in econon1.i cs and marketi ng; our grad uate programs in leadershi p that attract executi ves fiu m a variety of industries; and our new PhD in managem ent, set to laun ch th.is fall." To th ose building blocks, she adds recent ac hieve m ents in the D epartment of Business, whose fac ul ty numbers grew from fo ur to 17 under her guidance. "Building th e D epartment of Busin ess was an incredibly reward.ing experience," she says . " I was delighted w ith the calibre of the fa culty we were able to attra ct and with the invaluable role se11.ior fa culty played in helping to mentor our newest members and providing leadership fo r our various initiatives." Those initiatives included a curric ul ar

review of th e hum an resource managem ent maj or, leading to th e introdu cti o n of a ca psto ne researc h co urse in w hi ch undergraduate stud ents co mpl ete proj ec ts w ith organi za ti o ns in th e local co mmunity and the req uirem ent th at stud ents take a co urse in lea d ership. In additi o n, th e maj o r now includes all courses needed fo r the ce rtifi ed human reso urces professional designati on. The D epartm ent o f Bu sin ess is also launchin g a new majo r in acco untin g th at will similarl y provide all co urses in supp ort of a profess io nal acco unting d esignati o n (CMA, CGA or CA). "That's sometl1.ing Bill Braith wa ite and o th ers have wa nted for many years," says C hristensen Hu ghes. Business students are also workin g with students in oth er maj ors and local busin ess peo ple to d evelop new pro du ct ideas and actu ally launch th eir ow n small businesses . Amo ng her o th er ac hi eve m ents is a scholarly boo k she recen tly co- edited, to be published this fall. Tak i11g Stock : R esea rch in Teachi11g a11d Lear11i11g in Higher Ed11catio11 features co ntributions fro m more than a dozen intern ati o nally renow ned edu cati o nal resea rchers, who discuss how students learn and the systen1.ic changes that are needed in suppo rt of stu de nt lea rn ing. T he book calls

on all th ose workin g in hi gher educa ti on to collabo rate to bring abo ut th ese changes. Fo r her wo rk o n aca d emi c integ rity, C hri stens e n Hu ghes ea rn ed th e 2007 Edward F. Sheffield Award for resea rch excellence fro m th e Ca 11adia11 Jo11 rna l of Higher Ed 11catio11. In 2008, she receive d U o f G's Jo hn Bell Awa rd fo r outstanding edu ca ti onal leadership. This fall marks a tim e of intense foc us o n developin g strategy and stru cture fo r C M.E , but the dea n says she's excited abo ut th e potenti al fo r putting the college at the to p o f th e list for people wanting to stu dy manage ment and econo mics. " It's about ensuring that all our programs are of the highest possible quality, that we're meetin g the needs of our students, and that we've got th e stru ctu res and mechanisms in place to suppo rt that. We have to continue to strengthen our reputatio n, communica tin g the amazing work - bo th teaching innovation and research - being done here. Tl1.is fall, we will be building excitement and momentum . I'm excited about the fo ru re of CME and th e University of Guelph. I truly think our time has com e." â&#x20AC;˘

Fall 2009 11

magine trying to sell your research to D on C herry. Guelph scientist Mike Dixo n face d that challenge a few years ago w hen he ran into C herry and his H ockey N ight in Canada sideki ck Ro n M acLea n at the Edmonton airport. A professo r in the School of E nviron mental Sciences, Dixon was on a cross-country road trip for U of G's Tomatosphere proj ect, whi ch si nce 2001 has enlisted hundreds of thousands of school kids to grow tomato seeds that have bee n in o uter space. H e and Ca nadian astronaut Bob T hirsk - who has to m ato seeds o n boa rd th e Intern ati o nal Space Station ri ght now in preparati o n for next yea r's grow ing seaso n - have m ade annual visits to classroo ms across th e co untry, trying to lure kids into space science. " l tell them the first Canadian horticulture missio n specialist o n a trip to M ars is currently in Grade 3," says Dixo n. H e told C herry and M acLea n the sa me th ing but wa nted to co nvince them that growing plants as a life-suppo rt system fo r a trip to M ars is just as vital for Ca nada's future as "Coach 's C orner" is for legions of hockey fa ns across the country. Dixo n's story covered everything from fo od, atmosphere and wa ter needed for lo ng-distance space fli ght to j obs, economic health and tech nological adva ncem ent bac k here o n Ea rth . G rowing plants fo r space is o ur nex t

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Talking to Canadians about science By Andrew Vowles Canadarrn., he said. "This is probably the single most signifi ca nt eco no mi c engine for Canada that yo u can imagine." B y the time his plane left, C herry said

he had a new appreciatio n fo r the impo rtance of space resea rch. "In 15 minutes, I convinced Don C herry that space explo rati on was not o nl y doable but also a necessa ry proj ec t fo r Ca nada," says Dixon, who likes to share his "Cherry tomatoes" story with me1n bers of the Ca nadi an Space Agency. Instead of D o n C herry, substitute any Ca nadi an. And replace Tom atosphere with any science proj ec t by any G uelph resea rcher. The challenge is the same: how to find use r- fri endly ways to explain yo ur wo rk to th e masses , no t just to persuade age n cies to fund yo ur proj ec t but also to score a bigger goal: imp roving science literacy in Ca nada. A scientifically literate society is one where people "can understand the basics of science and its relatio n to everyday life," says Prof. Kevin H all, U of G vice-president (research). "They have the abili ty to take informati o n th ey read or hea r in the medi a and have a basic understa nding of how it affects them, th eir health , th e planet, their lifestyle." A 2006 article in Policy Options magazine defi ned scientific literacy as kn owledge of basic scientific co nce pts and processes, including such skills as informatio n m an-

Tomatoes, outer space and hockey show us the impact science has on our lives ?

Besides inadequate knowledge of scientific concepts, consider economic woes affecting the auto assembly plant located a short drive from his Oshawa-area farm. " The next generation of jobs is going to require much more skill in science, engineering and tec hnology," he says. "We can no longer depend on the auto sector.We're not getting the skills base needed for the next economy." Canada's eco nomic well-being depends on our understa nding of science and tec hnology, says U of G engineering professo r Valerie Davidson, who holds the Natural Sciences and Engineering R esea rch Council/ R esea rch in Motion Chair for Women in Science and Engineering. "We need innovation, new technological ideas developed into potential working concepts," she says. A sim.ilar innovation message came out at a "Science Day" conference he ld in Ottawa last spring, attended by Guelph chemistry professor Richard Manderville. Organ.ized by the Public Policy Forum, the event included discussion of recent reports by the Council of Canadian Academies and the federal Science, Technology and Innovation Council.According to those reports, Canadian industry lags that of most other industrial.ized countries in R&D spending even as our public-sector research - including that done at un.iversities - is considered an1ong the best in th e world. Beyond the need to find better ways to turn research into products, another science challenge looms, says Manderville. "Where are all these yo ung scientists going to come from? They've got to come from our youth."

â&#x20AC;˘

Photos left to right: CBC 's Don Cherry and Ron Macl ean , U of G professor Mike Dixon and Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk.

agement and problem solving. "In our democratic society, it is crucial for people to have an und erstanding of science to be able to take an inform ed and ac tive ro le in our country's future," wrote co- authors Bonnie Schmidt, president and founder of London, Ont.-based Let's Talk Science, and Ken Knox, B.Sc.(Agr.) '72, then head of the Ontario Innovation Institute in Toronto. "Science literacy enables us to und erstand and advance the links between science, technology, innovation, the eco nomy and our society." Their article was titled:" A Âˇwake-Up Call on Science Literacy."Three yea rs later, have we woken up ? "We're partia ll y awake - we're in a slumber;' says Knox, a longtime Ontario civil servant and former deputy minister of energy, science and technology. Another survey by Ekos R esearch Associates found that most respondents had positive attitudes about science and research but suggested inadequate understanding of how science works and its impact. Look at how pork sales were affected this year by misunderstandings about so-called "swine flu ," says Knox.

That could be a problem. Canada ranks 20th among industrialized countries in the proportion of science and engineering grads, behind the averages for countries in the European Un.ion and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), according to a 2005 OECD report. Almost two-th.irds of the brightest 15-yearold science stud ents in Ca nada and other western countries aren't interested in pursuing research careers, said another OECD study released this year. That study found that many yo ungsters shun science for several reasons: lack of role models, little awareness of career options, too few teachers equipped to teach science properly, a curriculum that is light on science, and stereotypes of resea rchers locked away in laboratories day and n.ight. Not even U of G science faculty and staff are irnmune. As recruitment officer for the College of Physical and Engineering Science and a Guelph chemistry grad, Bonnie Lasby knows about the ne ed for scientists and the importance of science literacy. Earlier this year, she helped run U of G's first-ever Science Olympics for high school students . But her own two teenage sons plan to study something else after !ugh sc hoo l. Prof. R eggie Lo, Molecular and Cellular Biology, a longtime Guelph scientist who has judged numerous regional science fair projects over the past three decades, wryly notes that his daughter's perception is that " all scientists are geeks." Hall gives Canada a grade of six out of 10 for scientific literacy. " ! think we do a good job with young people. It's easy to develop interesting progranmung with seven- to 10-year-olds. Where we fail is to capture people as they grow older." So how do we "de-geek-ify" science for the masses?

Fall 2009 13

We have to loo k fo r ways to tailor the m essage to the audience, he says. "Universiti es have a hu ge role in publi c outreach." In a way, nearl y every degree parchment handed out during convocation signifies that G uelph has already do ne so m ething to increase the co untry's scientific literacy. B ut fo r oth er Ca nadians - o f whatever age plenty of outreac h opportuniti es exist here,

on an d off ca mpus. Rather than reinven t w heels, U ofG has established for mal and info rmal ti es w ith extern al science outreac h gro ups already focuse d o n ki ds, such as Schmi dt's Let's Talk Science. M any Uni versity departments run science workshops, summ er ca mps and comp eti tions to enco urage elem entary and hi gh sc hool studen ts to have fun w ith

science. Facul ty, staff and stu de nts coac h science fa ir teams and "take their show o n th e road" by visiting area sc hools. Eve n College R oyal is an opportuni ty to help kids get excited about science. In the pages that follow, we offer mo re examples ofU of G efforts to increase science literacy am ong Ca nadians and to recruit th e ne>-.'t generation of Canadian scientists.

Helping people understand science ... ways that engineer-

The School of Engi-

wind turbine

neering's annual

designs and

ing can be fun

WindENG contest

compete for cash

and contribute in

drew 200 Ontario

prizes. "Our goal is

positive ways to

high school teams

to engage young

society," says engi-

to show off their

people and get

neering professor

energy-generating

them to think about

Warren Stiver.

Veterinary professor Scott Weese conclud-

Let's Talk Science,

ed the 2008/2009 Cafe

about 30 Guelph grad

Scientifique series with

students volunteered

a talk on how people

last year with local

and pets influence

pr:sen~ation by',.,

schools during class-

each other's health .

physi.cs

room visits, field trips,

Cate Scientifique is

Robert Brooks on

lab tours and work-

hosted by the Faculty

moder elescopes I . . an' what they see.

shops. DVM student

of Environmental

LL LL

and site co-ordinator

Sciences on the first

(f)

Joanna McPherson

Tuesday of each month

hopes to double the

(October through April)

number of volunteers

at the Bookshelf in

this fall.

downtown Guelph .

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manager at the

Laurel Nailer, BA '04, is

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where she's planning a

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U of G collaboration in

nanoscience for this

>al

fall 's National Science

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and Technology Week.

U of G is celebrating •

In partnership with

T H E P ORTICO

This spring, 450 Ontario high school students took part in Guelph's first Science Olympics. Members of the University's four science colleges ran activities such as building catapults and contests in math "Jeopardy," chemistry "Scramble" and "Survivor" biology.

. the International Year •

of Astronomy with

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Physics professor Joanne O'Meara powered her Rollerblades with a fire extinguisher to demonstrate the principle of kinetic energy on a 2008 Discovery Channel show The annual Ken

with Jay Ingram.

Hammond Lectures on Environment, Energy and Resources honour a U of G graduate and environmentalist by bringing "expert" speakers to campus to discuss emerging environmental issues. Lectures are free. Everyone's welcome: www.envsci. Helping high school teachers learn to teach evolution was the

uoguelph.ca.

purpose of a daylong workshop held by this year's organizers of a Darwin-themed Yodzis Colloquium in Fundamental Ecology. About 50 teachers spent the day discussing ideas for teaching evolutionary biology. Prof. Ryan Gregory, Integrative Biology, hopes the event will strengthen links between U of G and high schools and lead to similar workshops on other science topics.

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According to a survey by

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Guelph students have run Creative Encoun-

Science, two out of three

ters summer camps for

university researchers

elementary and middle-

engage in some kind of outreach activity. The top

school students for the past 16 years, covering

benefits they cited were

topics like computing,

increasing science literacy

robotics, forensics ,

and raising public awareness

space science and

of research .

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Local schoolchildren and

elementary and high school

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what engineers do and how

the natural world -

engineering technologies

plants,

mammals, birds, insects,

affect their everyday lives.

amphibians and more.

Fall 2009 15

When they talk to the media, U of G scientists help to educate us all about the impact of science on our lives. Prof. Cate Dewey of the Department of Population Medicine was one of many faculty who stepped forward last spring to talk about the H1 N1 flu virus. A professor Prof. Lorraine Jadeski and grad student Geoff Collins, Human Health and Nutri-

of swine health manageme and epidemiology, she described how the virus is

tional Sciences, led the development of anatomy workshops for high school classes. Last fall, more than 1,000 students from

Philosophy professor Andrew

The Arts, Science and

schools in southern

Wayne is involved in Scientists

Technology Research

Ontario visited Guelph's

in Schools, an organization that

Alliance brings togeth-

cadaver lab for instruction

runs science workshops across

er sciences, humanities

tied to the high school biol-

Ontario. He's even led physics

and fine arts in public

ogy curriculum. "Science is

and chemistry sessions at his

lectures held in the

more than a textbook,"

children's school in Guelph. A

University's science

says Collins, whose mas-

former physics student himself,

complex atrium. The

ter's thesis compared the

Wayne now studies and teach-

series was developed

learning effectiveness of

es the philosophy of science.

hands-on workshops ver-

by Profs. Don Bruce and Mike Emes, deans

sus video-only instruction .

of the colleges of Arts and Biological Science. "People have forgotten For more than t wo decades, physics professor Ernie McFarland

that science and

and technician Tom Kehn took their "Fantastic Physics Fun Show"

technology exist in a

on the road to Ontario schools. "In a world of increasing technolo-

human context," says

gy, I think it's important to have some fundamental understanding

Bruce.

of how the physical world around us works," says McFarland.

For the past 20 years,

Last winter, the Advanced

Guelph students have

Foods and Materials Net-

become science communi-

work -

a national Centres

cators by writing for the

of Excellence program

SPARK (Students Promot-

based at U of G -

provid-

U of G researchers who receive funds from the Ontario Research Excellence Program and Early Researcher Award Program

ing Awareness of Research

ed research internships at

Knowledge) program run by

five universities for aborig-

must use up to one per cent

the Office of Research.

inal Canadians. Two

of their funding for youth

Their articles have appeared

Ottawa-area students

outreach . Amy Cook, B.Sc.

in the University's Research

spent a week in Guelph

'01, helps them do it in her

magazine, local newspa-

labs as part of the pro-

job as senior policy adviser in

pers, commodity publica-

gram called "Be a Food

the youth outreach unit of the

tions and The Portico.

Researcher for a Week."

Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation .

TH E PORTICO

our place in the universe I

he telescope dome at Californi a's Palo mar Obse rvatory is

th e sum1ner. T hat year, Kavelaars was still a gradu ate student at Queen's Uni-

no rm ally a qui et place. So w h en applause fill ed th at space o ne Septemb er eve ning in 1997, it m ea nt so m ething unusual had occ urred. Indeed it had , says astro nomer and Guelph gradu ate John "JJ" Kavelaars. Back up a few months to earli er in

ve rsity. H e had acco mpanied a colleague, Brett Gladman, to th e 200-inch H ale Telesco pe at M o unt Palom ar. M ore or less out of interest, they'd gone looking fo r comets. But it turned out that sumin er was off-season fo r cornet spo ttin g. P rom pted by Gladrnan 's

sup ervisor, they looked fo r irregul ar satellites of Uranus instead. And they found them , although they didn 't realize it ri ght away. U sin g a telescope like th e H ale to obse rve th e sky yields m ore data and images than one can absorb at once. So it was a few weeks after that smnmer trip that Gladman reviewed their obser-

Fall 2009 17

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vations. H e spotted so m ethin g th at mad e him pick up th e p ho ne to call Kin gsto n . Twe lve yea rs later, Kavelaa rs, now a resea rcher w ith the N ational R esea rch C ouncil 's H erzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, B.C., recalls Gladman 's wo rds. " H e ca ll ed m e immediately and said, 'There's so mething ve ry o dd. l think I've fo und a moon of Uranus. l can't believe this has happened. You have to look at this right a\;vay."'

Kavelaars checked the elec tro ni c images arriving o n his co mputer, and sure enough, there th ey were - two tiny dots of refl ected sunli ght aga inst black night. " Ou r two ca ree rs were altered significa ntl y at th at point. l still remember the mo ment." Career altering? Two new chunks of rock fo und o rbiting a planet in th e o uter solar sys tem? Co n ider : Uranus was first sighted in 1781 by Wi ll iam H ersc hel, pee rin g thro ugh a seven- inch homemade telescope set up in his backyard in England.Within a few years, he spotted two moons circling the planet. By the time Gladman collec ted his data fro m the H ale Telescope, Uranu s had bee n in as trono mers' sights for mo re th an two ce nturi es, and 17 m oo ns had alrea dy bee n recorded by sub seq uent viewe rs. N o wo nd er Kavelaa rs was skeptical. "This co uldn 't be tru e," he says . " H ow could we be findin g sa tellites of Uranus'" The pair decided th ey'd keep qui et until they'd had a chance to visit M ount Palomar again. That happened Sept. 6. "We pointed th e sco pe at the loca tio n where th e sa tellite should be;' says Kavelaars. "We took an exposure, and there it was. I've never bee n in a telescope dome w here th e observers have chee red w hen th ey saw th e first image.We were so ecstati c.T here were shouts of j oy." The H ale discovery knocked some of his ow n plans o ut of orbit. After fini shing his PhD, he'd arranged to begin a post-doc at M cMaster University to study globular star clusters. H e did head for Hamilton, but with a new focus. "When I showed up in September, I had transfer red from a galac tic astron om er to a solar system as tron o mer." H e sp ent th e n ext decade as a " rn.oon hunter." Al o ng w ith colleagues, Kavelaars eventu ally fo und m o re moons o rbitin g

TH E PORTICO

Uranus, N eptune, Jupiter and Saturn. H e's nam ed dozens of plan etary satellites, including Saturni an moons dubb ed ljiraq, Kiviuq and Siarnaq to refl ec t his interest in native Inuit myth ology. T he moo ns of Uranus are nam ed for Shakespea rea n charac ters, although Kavelaars points out a ho megrown twist. H e named one moo n Francisco for a lord in The Tempest - and indirectly fo r his daughter Catherine Frances, 11. (M argaret, a moon discove red by ano ther astronom er, is nam ed for the se rvant of H ero in Much Ado A bout Not/1i11g and happens to be the middle nam e of K ave laars's 13-yea r-o ld daughter, Ruth Ann e.) What about his wife, Joa nna Rippin ? H e lau ghs. " Try to find a Joanna in a Shakespea rea n chara cter. She's never noti ced that." As fo r Kavelaars, his ow n nam e is

"I've never been in a telescope dome where the observers have cheered when they saw the first image. We were so ecstatic. There were shouts of joy." attac hed to an asteroid nam ed in 2007 by a colleague. That year was no tabl e fo r th e Guelph gra d in ano ther way, as he m oved from seeking out moons to looking for other kinds o f celes tial objects in th e Kuip er Belt. That region beyond the o uter planets co ntains tens of thousa nds of objects, including remn ants from th e solar system's birth. (Most o f th e Kuip e r Belt objects are icy, unlike th e obj ects made mostly of rock and metal in th e astero id belt located between M ars and Jupiter. ) Originally scientists th o ugh t th e Kuiper B elt was a massive region, but mo re rece nt observati o ns show that it's mu ch smaller. Learning w hy is part ofKavelaa rs's research. H e's also looking at objects out there with

unusual orbits . Last yea r, he and other scientists fo und a com et in the Kuiper Belt orbiting backwa rd aro und th e sun. The co met, dubbed Dracula, is one of two such oddballs in the outer solar sys tem , about 4.5 billion kilometres from Earth. The astronomers are now looking much farth er out to where tl1ey expec t to find a " rese rvo ir" of H alley-type comets. H e's also looking at binary or paired objects in the Kuiper Belt, including one pair of natural sa tellites that orbit each oth er at roughly walkin g speed rather than a mo re customary tilt-a-whirl pace. His goal? H e hopes stud ying these leftovers will tell us more about how planets and planetary syste ms form, includin g ga ining clu es abo ut th e fo rm atio n of the solar system some 3 Yi to four billion years ago. These primo rdi al objects pro bably retain more of thei r o ri gi nal stru cture, unlike th e planets th emselves, whose formation involved drastic changes over some 路100 million years a bli nk of an eye in astronomical terms. 'Tm completely foc used now on the rem nants of the planetary fo rmation process." H e's not alo ne. T he recent di scove ry of extrasolar planets - abo ut 300 have bee n fo und o rbiting distant stars - has sparked interes t in planetar y for matio n amo ng astronomers worldv1ide. In Victo ria, Kavelaars is workin g w ith Gladman and two oth er scientists as the co-o rdin ator of the Ca nadaFrance Ecliptic Plane Survey.That's part of an international project using the Canada-FranceHawa ii Telesco pe in M aun a Kea to discover and track objects in the outer solar system. That so unds exo ti c - until Kavelaa rs explains that the last time he actuall y visited Hawaii was in 2003. That's w hen th e group developed a system that allows th em to send obse rvin g instru ctions to th e telescope and receive elec tronic data ba ck. H o used in a huge co mputer, that info rm ation is now as close as his laptop.That's how all of Canada's astron omers work today, he says . Admittedly, computers and electro ni c communi cation have taken so me of the romance out of skywatching, he adds, but the system makes fo r more eco nomi cal science than his previous monthly flights across the Pacific. " I go t to know the beaches of H awa ii reasonably well, but it's not an efficient way of doing things," says Kavelaars, w ho is an adjunct physics and astronomy professor at M cM aster and the University of Victoria.

Chasing celestial obj ects was hardly what he had in niind when he arrive d at Gu elph in 1984. Sure, he'd grown up staring up at th e night sky on th e fa m.ily farm. southwest of London, Ont., but his plan was to study agriculture and return to the farm. About a month into his first semester, he realized he'd made a mistake. By se m es ter two, he w as enrolled in physics . Recently he broached th e subj ect of that earlier ca reer switch with his dad, who still runs the fa rm. " ! felt like I had reall y disappointed my famil y," says Kavelaars, th e onl y so n amo ng three children. (His sisters have ca rved out their ow n hi gh- profile caree rs away from the fa rm: l ngri d Kavelaars is an ac tress and M oniqu e Kavelaars competed in fencing in the 2004 O lymp ics .) What did his dad say? " H e sa id it surpr ised him w hen I said I wan ted to be a far mer. It d.idn 't seem to fit with my in teres ts." Work.in g with G uelph physicists such as R oss H all ett and Jim. Stevens, now bo th retired, showed Kavelaars w hat being a scientist was like. H e laughs as he recalls another not-so- subtl e hint nea r the end o f his und ergradu ate studi es, w hen he was po nderin g his next move. O ne day, he opened his locker and out fell a cosni.ology textbook, clunk.ing him on the head. A subsequ ent talk o n cosm ology by a visiting Qu ee n's researcher led him to apply for g radu ate studi es in Kingston. N ow in Vi ctori a, Kave laa rs, 42 - " I'm currentl y loo k.in g fo r th e answe r to life, th e uni verse and every thing" - is loo king to th e Kuip er B elt in m o re w ays than o ne. Al o ng w ith ano ther G uelph physics grad, Alan Scott, B.Sc. '91, he is pushing the Canad.ian Space Agency to fund th e development of a suitcase-sized m.i crosa tellite that would m ore precisely survey the o uter solar system. Positioned in low-Earth orbit, tliat satellite co uld be us ed to m ap o bj ec ts in th e Kuip er B elt and eve n o ut to th e O o rt C lo ud, believed to be the so urce o f longperiod co mets at the edge of the solar system. Sco tt is a program scientist helping to make hardware for sa tellites at C OM DEV C anada in Ottawa. H e's currently involved in building a guidance sensor for the James Webb Spa ce Telescope. Du e for launch in 20 13, that infrared telescope will look for planetary systems form.ing around other stars. For their proposed mi crosatellite, Sco tt

and Kavelaars have completed a con ce pt study and now hop e to begin developing a satellite. The last time they worked together was in stud ent government at U of G in th e late 1980s . "I th.ink it's got a good chance;' says Scott of their proposed m.i crosatellite, likely to cost about $22 million. (H e's also kept a hand in at Guelph, work.in g with Prof. Mike D ixon , Environmental Bi ology, o n advanced lifesupp ort sys tems fo r future space mi ssio ns.) B eyo nd planets and oth er space ro cks, Kavelaa rs says he's as interested as any oth -

looked and found a co uple in the late '90s . Hundreds of them have been found since." Kavelaars finds th ese qu esti ons resonate with th e "inner explorer" in other people, not just scientists but also school groups and even his dau ghters. " I've met very few people w ho, after a co nversation, aren't excited to learn more. I

er astronomer in the big questions about th e unive rse. What's da rk energy, for instance, th at hypothetical stu ff believed to be speeding up the expansi on of the universe? And is there life som ewhere else o ut there? H e's betting th ere is, perhaps as close as mi crobes on M ars o r as fa r as o ne of th ose exoplanets. "O ne thing yo u lea rn in science is to expec t the unexpected." Take those irregular bodies circling the outer planets. "We looked for m oons around U ranus o n a w him as mu ch as anythin g. Others said there were none to be fo und. We

That curiosity is apparently age less . H e recalls a talk he gave to a gro up of retirees . Afterward, they had lots of qu estions. Someone asked w hether we' ll eve r reac h another plan et. So m eone else wa nted to know ~ abo ut ex traterres tri al spacec raft possibl y ~

think it's the mys tery of the world around us, how it works. H ow have planets formed' Why are there trees? Why is th e sky blue? These are ques ti ons that intrigue yo u and 111sp1re yo u

making the reverse trip. ~ Kavelaars takes such ques tio ns in stride. ~ " Th e reaso n we ge t so swe pt up in U FO iij sightin gs is not because people really think ~ it happens bu t beca use of an in nate desire ffi that it would happen." By Andrew Vowles =1

Fall 2009 19

we need to give back

t's no wonder Theresa Fires tone, B.A.Sc. '78, places a hi gh va lu e on volunteering: she's co nvinced her voluntee r experi ence helped her get her first job. Fires ton e hadn't done any voluntee ring in hi gh sc hool , but not lon g after she enroll ed in U of G 's fami ly studi es program, she and some fri ends dropp ed by th e ca mpu s vo lunteer office. lt was a spur-o f-th e- moment decis io n, but it changed her life. Two opportuniti es ca ught her eye : working with children wi th learnin g disabilities and helping developm entally handi ca pped ad ults livin g in a community residential setting. " l found that I liked it," says Fireston e. " Jn fact, I liked it more than going to classes beca use it was reali ty, being in th e real wo rld. In those days, we didn't have mu ch in th e way of practi cums, and I liked being where th e action was and working with real people." Soon she was spending 30 hours a week as a vo lunteer wh il e continuing to attend classes and keep up her grades. She graduated with not only a degree but also a track record of hundreds of ho urs of volunteer wo rk experience. "Beca use I was abl e to talk abo ut my vo luntee ring, I was hired into a more management-type position than other grads were," she says . Her voluntee r work mea nt mu ch more than padding out a resume, however. Fires ton e beli eves it helped her become more compassionate and more understandin g of th e ne eds of others facing challenges . Working with the Ontario Ministry of H ealth, she moved through a number of positions with significant responsibility. She says that's one of the advanta ges of public service the opportunity to gain broad experi ence

THE PORTI CO

in less time than it would typically take in th e private sector. Ea rly in her ca ree r, she worked in home care, legislation policy, and publi c and mental health, and was also direc tor of th e mini stry's psyc hiatric hospitals branch, overseeing the 10 psychi atric hospitals run by the province. She went on to serve as director of the Drug R eform Secretariat and th en

"Because I was able to talk about my volunteering, I was hired into a more managementtype position than other grads were." director of th e ministry's drug programs branch. Fireston e says her proudest accomplishm ent was leading the team th at developed the province's Trillium Drug Program, which helps employe d people w ho have prescription dru g cos ts that are high in relation to th eir income. "Before the program was introduced, people were having to make decisions about w hether to ea t or buy their medi cation s," she says . " There were also peo ple making significant amounts of mon ey who still couldn't afford their drugs because they were so expensive. It's a program I'm very

pleased to have been involved with." In 1996 , Fireston e left public service to become president and CEO of th e Canadian Wholesale Drug Association. In 1999 , she went to work for Pfizer Canada Inc. as vice-p res ident, government and public affairs.After six years in that role, she decided she'd like a different perspective of the business, so she switched jobs with the vice-president, sales. " I had no experi ence in sales, and he had no experience in govermnent, so it was an interesting experiment. It was great for me to have a chan ce to lea rn th e other side of the busin ess." She obviously lea rned it we ll, beca use two yea rs later she was appointed country manager for Pfizer Austria , res ponsible for managing all aspects of th e company's business in the co untry. Much was different in Austria - for one thing, business is condu cted in German, w hi ch Firesto ne doesn't speak but she was surprised by one aspect that was familiar. When she met with representatives of the Austrian health-care system and mentioned she'd worked for the Ontario government, they told her they had copied and used the province's pharmaceutical guidelines - guidelines she had actuaUy developed and implemented years befo re. "So l still had these connections to home," she says. Firestone's husband moved to Vienna with her, but her son and daughter remain ed behind to attend uni versity. In 2009, she moved back to Canada to take on new respo nsibi li ty as general mana ge r of th e e tablished products business unit at Pfize r Canada. Before moving to Austria, Firestone had been involved in a lot of charitabl e work, includi ng se rving as vice-

chair of the Childhood Cancer Foundation. Language was a barrier to getting similarly involved in Austria, but she actively promoted volunteering among her Pfizer employees. "People could sign up and take a half day or day off to do volunteer work with one of the charities we support in Vienna," she says. "Pfizer donates funds as well, but many places don't need just funding - they also need people to help out. Our program tries to make it easy for people to volunteer by

giving them time off and encouraging them to sign up with their colleagues." It was Firestone's commitment to volunteering at U of G and beyond that inspired the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences to introduce an annual Student Volunteer Award in 1999. 'Tm very pleased about that award,'' she says. "I know that for many students, volunteering seems tough to fit in. It can be hard with school, maybe a part-time job and making the adjustment to living away from

home, but volunteering is suc h an i1nportant part oflife.We need to give back." She credits U of G with giving her the ~ sense of social responsibility that has guid- ~ ed her in making decisions throughout her c career. :'.l "It started for me when I went to that fJl volunteer office and made those co nnec- ::;i tions. I don't know if I would have had the " l'g same experience or developed the san1e valc ues ifI'd gone to university anywhere else." ~ By Teresa Pitman ~

Fall 2009 21

do feed the animals

icrure a bippo.You're probably im aginin g a natura ll y plump and well-rounded creature. But even hippos, it seems, can become overweight. When th e hipp os in residence at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom th eme park bega n gettin g a little too " hippy," an entire tea m of experts took acti o n to help th em regain th eir svelte figures. (Well , svelte for a hippo, anyway.) Eduardo Valdes, M.Sc. '82 and PhD

'94, head of animal nutrition at Walt Disney World, is a key player on that tea m. " Hipp os are probably th e most ch all enging anima ls to ge t to lose we ight," says Va ldes. " I had cut th eir food intake back, but it wasn't helping. So th e an im al-care tea m train ed th e animals to swim from one end of their lake to th e other, tl1en bac k agai n, a few tim es a day. Th e trea ts th ey used as rewa rds were calculated into th eir di et." H elpin g hipp os stay trim was n 't what Valdes had in mind when he came to Canada from his homeland of C hil e. H e'd co mp leted an und erg raduate deg ree in animal science at the Uni versity of Chile and wanted to contin ue his education at U of G. First, howeve r, he spent four yea rs working as a zoo keeper at th e Toronto Zoo. "That tim e as a zookeeper changed my whol e ca reer," he says . " I developed an interest in exo ti c animals and bega n to see nutrition in a di fferent way." T hat's why, after comp leting hi s PhD at G uelph ,Valdes headed back to the Toronto Zoo as an anima l nutri tionist - wo rk he loved . But in 2001 , he was invited to apply to Walt Disney World to oversee th e feeding of som e 7 ,000 animals (more than 200 different species) .After an interview, he was offered the job but intended to turn it down. Wh en he arrived home that day,

THE P OR TI CO

however, he discovered Disney had sent his family a bouquet of Oowers and toys for the children. "M y dau ghter gree ted m e at th e door and said: ' Daddy, we're goi ng to Disney World' 'They made the decision fo r me." And as it turn ed out, it was a grea t decision, he says . Today,Vald es oversees th e feedin g

"My daughter greeted me at the door and said: 'Daddy, we're going to Disney World!' They made the decision for me."

of animals throughout th e theme park - eve rythin g from the w hite ponies that pull Cinderella's ca rria ge and the elephants on the Kilimanj aro safari ride to th e huge tanks of fis h and marin e mammals that make up the Livin g Seas in Epco t. " Feedin g animals in captive co nditions is chali enging," he says. " It's often hard to mimi c th eir natural di et, and if they're defi cient, th e effects m ay not show up right away. O ve r th e yea rs, zoos lost a lot of animals because of their diets. Animal fe ed co mpanies tended to ass ume that beca use a giraffe is a ruminant, th ey co uld just take cattle feed, change th e name on the pack-

age, and it wou ld be OK fo r giraffes. But a giraffe is not a cow." Valdes says his approach to creating appropriate diets has invol ved seve ral steps . " ! first look at w hat an animal is known to eat in th e w ild and at th e kind of digestive system it has." If th e animal's natural food isn 't ava ilabl e, he looks fo r substitutes . T he Disney giraffes, for exa mple, eat willow instead of aca cia leaves . Customized pellet foods he's developed help make up any nutriti onal defi ciencies . Com in g up w ith an appropriate m enu is ju st th e b eginnin g, h e says . "You have to consider how the animals are fed - are they alone or in a group? With th e fish and marin e mammals, they're in tanks, so th at's another challenge. We also co ntinuousl y monitor and anal yze th e water quality." In addition, Valdes has to take into account th e need for animal enrichment and training. H e provides th e food rewards that Disney staff use in working with th e animals and makes sure they're factored into the animals' diet plan.The training isn't to get th e animals to shake a paw or do tri cks - it's aimed at making any needed medi cal care less stressful. The gorillas, for exampl e, have been taught to stand at the barri er and allow veterinarians to do cardiac ultraso unds to detect heart problems; they'll also hold up an arm for an inj ectio n. " In other pl aces, the se animals might have to be sedated for tl1ese procedures ," says Valdes . " This is a big advance ment beca use we can do this preventi ve health care in a way that is not srressfol fo r th e animals." Because th e animals are constantly monitored (e,路en th eir feces are collec ted and a sessed), he can id entify w hen an individual animal's levels of a parti cular nutrient are too low.

"We ca n make changes in the di et and monitor th e res ults ve ry qui ckly," he says. " Now we have 10 years of data on what the animals were fed and the outcom es. I'm putting together som e resea rch papers, and I might write a book." That's so mething he learned at U of G, he add s - how to interpret resea rch and how to co ndu ct studies that yield useful results. He's also in corporating another skiJJ from his Guelph days: teaching. Disney enco urages its animal-care experts to co n-

tribute beyond the th eme park boundaries, says Valdes, who's on graduate co mmittees at seve ral universiti es and has trave ll ed to Costa Rica, Guatemala, M e},,ico, Chile and Puerto Rico to teach in local co mmunities . In Pu erto Rico, he's also been involved in co nse rva tion efforts to protec t the Puerto Rican crested toad, an endangered species. "This proj ec t started w hen l was at th e Toronto Zoo, and I've co ntinu ed it here." His favourite classes may be th e ones with th e yo ungest students because they give him

an opportunity to share somethin g else he -u I heard a lot about at U of G. S1 "Even when I was a student, people were

talking about th e importance of protectin g the environm e nt . Wh en I go to Puerto ~ Rico, l talk to th e middl e-sc hool kids about ~ w hat we're doing to save th ese toads and re ~ what th ey ca n do to protec t their habitats. We ca n't do conservation in a vacuum; we ~

have to share w hat we're learning with peopie around th e wo rl d." By Teresa Pitman

Fall 2009 23

yes, your honour I

hen Justice Sharon Nicklas, BA '89, don s her robes to preside over the Mental H ealth Court in Kitchener, Ont., for the first time this October, she will have come full circle. Four years ago, she played a key role in starting the co urt whi le she was deputy Crown attorney for Waterloo Region. The road that led Ni cklas to this particular courtroom had its beginnings, as m any roads in life do, in serendipity.When she enrolled at U of G in 1984, her plan was to major in biological sciences, but she ended up switching to co-op psychology. A few years later, with a BA in sight, Nicklas had another plan: graduate school. But serendipity wasn't through with her yet. A member of the women's hockey Gryp hons, she was often teased by her teammates for her dedi ca tion to her schoolwork. "We'd go out, and after a while I'd say:'Gotta go' because l needed to srudy." It was those teammates who convinced her to consider law as a career. "They thought I was outgoing and said I always had an opinion. I don't think that was acrually very flattering, but they did succeed in getting me to give it a try." After graduating from Guelph, Nicklas enrolled at th e University of Toronto's law sc hool. Summers and breaks were spent getting real-life ell.'Perience, including a stint at the prosecutor's office in Kitchen er. After articling with Hamilton 's Crown attorney, she was called to the bar in 1994 and served as an assistant Crown prosecutor in Hamilton, Brantford and Waterloo R egion before being appointed Waterloo's deputy Crown attorney in 2003. Although her psychology studies were long behind her by now, they were still playing a significant role in her career.

THE PORTICO

"There were so many cases involving people with mental health issues. I started tracking them and worked with defence lawyer Steve Gehl, who defended many of these cases, to determine whether they might be better served in a different court." The next step was to approach Justice Gary Hearn about starting a special Mental Health Co urt in Waterloo

"You're seeing people at their lowest point, and you're able to have an impact on their situation and help them find their way to a better place." Region. He gave the go-a head to laun ch th e co urt in September 2005. It runs one day a week, with four local judges taki ng turns presiding, and was one of five similar programs in Ontario when it began. Since then, other jurisdictions have created such co urts. "People are still held accou ntable," says N icklas, "but we look at cases from the perspective of: ' Does this person need help, and can we connect him or her to the help he or she needs?"' At the same time, the co urt aims to protect the rights of the public as well as th e accused while maintaining th e integrity of the crinunal justice system. Sh e notes th at if a defendant is

found not criminall y responsible by reason of mental disorder for any crime, the Ontario Review Board takes over. " It detertnines whether someone can be safely reintegrated into the communi ty. I believe th ere are cases where the board doesn't release people back into the conmm11ity if the risk remains too high." To make the Mental H ealth Court progran1 work, Nicklas built connections and attended many meetings with staff from local hospitals and community mental health and support programs. "We were looking for communitybased solutions," she says. During this process, she reco1mected with Gryphon hockey teammate Helen (Fis hburn ) Calzonetti, BA '90, who works in this field. The court has a support co-ordinator who helps link people accused of crimes with th e services they need: psyc hi atric assessments, hou ing, co uns elling, access to medication or in- hospital trea tment. "It's not a 'get-out-of-jail-free card,'" Nicklas emphasizes, but linking people with the supports they need can significantly reduce the risk of reoffending . The court benefits not only th e mentall y ill who appear befo re it but also the entire conununity, she says. When she served as deputy Crown attorney - and acting Crown attorney in 2007 - her work became focused on management, but she missed th e courtroom se tting. Applying to beco me a provincial court judge seemed like the next logical step u1her career. In August 2007, she was ap pointed to the bench in J(jtchener/ Guelph, becoming one of the yo unger judge presiding over Ontario co urtrooms. The transition from prosec utor to judge has gone s1noothly, says Ni cklas,

alth o ugh she face d a fa irly steep lea rnin g curve in preparing to adjudica te fa mily law situatio ns aft er many yea rs of dealing solely with criminal cases . " Initially it appea red to be a very daunting task, but once I review the facts and th e law on th e issues in a case, the decision usually beco mes apparent.Yo u find a path way throu gh th e case and an understandin g that makes sense to you." She does spend a considerable amount of time reflecting on her cases and resea rching current law - more than she had anticipated. There's no easing into th e new responsibilities of a judge, she says. "They can't really just start yo u o ut o n easy cases and later have yo u move to th e harder o nes.You get the cases that co me in,

and I have had some really challenging ones. Fo rtun ately, I have a broad crimin al law bac kgro und, and that has helped." She adds that she has received great support from her colleagues, including another U of G graduate,Justice David Carr, BA '71. D espite her lo ng hours, N icklas hasn 't forgotten her love of hockey. "My best experi ence at Guelph was playing o n th e va rsity hockey tea m ," she says . " ! m ade great fri ends and still play hoc key w ith K aren R ooney, B.Sc.(H.K. ) '88, and M ari-Jayne Woodyatt and Pat Foga rty, both BA '88 ." She also coaches her daughter's hockey team and throws in a little soccer coaching fo r her son as well. " I had th e bes t coachin g I've ever had when I played at Guelph , and that makes you

realize how important coaching is. I try to be a mentor to the girls on my daughter's team." Ni cklas, w ho's marri ed to fo rmer fo otball Grypho n Al An o nech, BA '94, says she works hard at balancing her wo rk life and farn.ily life. " M y hu sba nd was my biggest cheerl eader in my pursuit of the be nch and has been terrifi c in helping me achieve this balance," she says . She appreciates th at her role as a judge j1 allows her to give bac k to th e communi ty S1 .

a umqu e way. ~ "You 're trying to help peopl e throu gh ~ )> the worst crises of th eir lives.Yo u're seeing :'.1 people at their lowest point, and you're able ~ to have an impact on their situation and help them find th eir way to a better place." ~ By Teresa Pitman ~

111

Fall 2009 25

Alumni Achievements

Events

u of guelph

Volunteers shine in UGAA awards

got involved in United Way activities. She i now secretary to the chair of the

ti ces . H e's also bee n president of the board of directo rs of R esource Efficient Agricultural Production since 2000.

Department of C linical Studi es in the Ontario Veterinary College . Bechler se rved as OVC area co-ordin ato r for th e U of G United Way ca mp aig n

Alumn i Volunteer Award Mary Lynn McPherson, B.Sc.(Agr.) '80 MAR Y LY NN M c PH ERSON'S volunteer involvement with OAC over the last 20 yea rs has led to various leadership positio ns with th e OAC Alumni Associatio n, the OACAlumni Foundation and the UGAA. She also co-led a negotiation skill s course for three Ad va n ced Agr icultural Lead ership Program classes. In ad diti o n , M cPh erso n dedi cates her time to vario u community groups, including the Ontario 4-H Foundation, the London C hamb er of Conunerce, th e Centre for Rural Leadership, th e W oolwi ch Co mmunity H ealth-Ca re Centre, Toasm1asters and Strive. In addition, she has co-led a negotiation skills course for three Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program classes.

b efore bein g as ked to co-c hair th e 2 08 ca mpus campaign, w hi ch raised

ACH YEAR, th e Unive rsity of Guelph Alumni Assoc iation ho no urs alumni , a staff member and a student throu gh its awards of exce llence. M eet th e 2009 rec ipients:

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Alumnus of Honour Neal Stoskopf, BSA '57 N EAL STOSKOPF was a U of G administrator and faculty member for 37 yea rs b efo re retirin g in 1994 . H e taught more than 28 introdu cto ry and senior und erg radu ate co urses during hi s ca reer and served as director of the associate dipl o ma program. From 1988 to 1993, he was also th e curri culum coordinator for th e Advan ced Agri cultural Leadership Program. Stoskopf's innovative resea rch in w heat breedi ng has been widely recognized in Canada and abroad. In 1995, he and two colleagues received C hina's Friendship M edal, th e country's highest honour given to foreign resea rchers. Their work introduced winter wheat to China and in creased wheat production by up to 25 per cent. In retirem ent, Stoskopf has worked w ith the Canadian Executive Service Organization on assigm11ents in China, the Philippines, Bolivia and Bulgaria , teaching sustainable agri cultural prac-

26 THE PORTI CO

Employee Volunteer Award Jennifer Beehler, ADA '92 ] EN !F ER B EE HL ER became a ca mpus volunteer w hen sh e joined th e Central Animal Facility in 1989 and

$490,000. She w ill complete a seco nd term as co-chair this fall. Beehler is also a talented sin ge r/songwriter who performs in th e Guelph area and uses her talents to raise m o ney for m any co mmunity o rga ni za ti o ns.

Student Volunteer Award Gailey Campbell , BA '09 WHI LE COM PL ETI NG her deg ree in anth ropo logy, Cailey Campbell dedi cated many hours to human rights issues o n ca mpus. She orga ni zed anti-sexism, anti-racism and anti-ableism workshops to en hance the personal growth and soc ial co nscio usness of students, coordinated events to rai e awareness of hum an ri gh ts violations in H ai ti, and parti cipated in a human rights trave l seminar in El Salvador. he was external commissioner for the Central rudent Association (CSA) from 2007 to 2009, se rved as events co- ordinator with the CSA's hum an rights office and was o n the board of th e Ontari o Publi c Interest R esearch Group.

Networking Alumni show their pride

lumni reunions are special times, offering old friends and classmates a

chance to reconnect and rekindle fond memories of time spent on campus. Whether the class is celebrating 25, 50 or 60 years, returning alumni feel a strong connection with their alma mater. Certainly this happens with most universities, but I have found it's more pronounced at Guelph. Alumni have many reasons to take pride in the University today. U of G is taking a leadership role in dealing with world priori-

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ties involving food , animal/human health,

environment and communities. Several of this year's reunion classes have made a strong commitment to their alma mater through financial support of tangible projects, reflecting their appreciation of the University's impact on their lives and their desire to help U of G make a difference.

The Ontario Ag ricultural College diploma class of 1959 was one of 34 special

I met with the OAC class of 1959, whose

reunion classes that celebrated during Alumni Weekend 2009. The diploma class

members decided to support student edu-

held a 50th-anniversary dinner at the Arboretum . The OAC degree class cele-

cation through international travel as their

brated w ith 1959 grads from the Ontario Veterinary College and Macdonald Institute at the sold-out President's Lunch. A separate alumni dinner honoured silveranniversary celebrants. In total, more than 1,200 alumni were back on campus June 19 and 20 to reconnect with friends and classmates. The reunion classes spanned almost seven decades from 1939 to 2004. Combined , they have provided $6 .6 million to the

University in lifetime giving. Plans for Alumni Weekend 2010 are already under way. If your class is planning a reunion, contact Helen McCairley at hmcairl@uoguelph.ca.

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Gryphonville takes silver Ho KEY DAY in Gryphonville reunion event, whic h was h eld for the first time last fall, reunited hockey alumni and honoured the 1958 OAVC champi onship team.Th e event was recently recogn ized by the Ca nadi an Cou ncil for th e Advancement of Educa ti on in its Prix D'Excellence awa rds program, earn in g the si lver awa rd in the best alumni event ca tegory.

H ockey Day in Gryphonville vvill be held again Nov. 14, 2009, celebrating the 1975/76 championship Gryphons. For

more information , contact Jacque line Watty at jroberts@uoguelph.ca . To lea rn m ore abo ut g iving to U ofG sc ho larships, visit www.a lumni . uoguelph .ca .

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legacy gift. They felt strongly about the importance of internationalism and real-world experience. Relationships like this among the University, students and alumni continue to deliver great benefits all around. My colleagues and I welcome opportunities to meet with alumni to explore ways to strengthen your connection with the University and your personal legacy or that of your class. Joanne Shoveller Vice-President (Alumni Affairs and Development)

Fall 2009 27

Applauding students Guelph 's und ergradu ate stud ents ini tiated an d supported an energy co nservatio n referend um in April 2007, pledging $10 eac h per semester fo r 12 years. Grad uate students fo llowed suit the fo llowing spring, bringing student pledges up to more than 4.3 million and creating an Energy Conservation Fu nd th at is already paying dividends in reduced energy use and costs. T he students who initiated this progra m showed remarkable vision. Their gift to the University and the students who have yet to arrive on campus is a powerful demonstration ofl eadership and foresight. But it's no t surprising. Guelph students are known fo r th eir social responsibili ty, environmental awareness and civic engagement - a big part of the

UGAA launches new year A new slate of d irectors was approve d at the Unive rsity of Guelph Alumni As sociati on's annual general meeting June 20. Front row, from left: Sandy Warley, H.D.La. '03; president Linda Hruska, B.Sc.(Agr.) '85 a nd M.Ag r. '88; past president Trish Walker, BA '77 and M.Sc. '90; and di rector of alumni affairs Jason Mo reton, BA '00. Back row: recording secretary Vikki Tremblay; vice- p resident external Te d Young, ADA '65; Brandon Gorma n, B.Comm. '06; Meaghan Hourigan, BA '07; Colin Henry, BA '91 ; Ian Rumbles, B.Sc.(Agr.) '79; vice-president inte rnal Brad Roon ey, B.Sc .(Agr.) '97 ; a nd David Bruce, B.Sc. '76. Absent: Debby Pavlove, BA '94 and MA '96.

Praise for athletes HE COVE R STO RY in T he Portico Summer 2009 iss ue ge nerated co mments from cu rre nt and former va rsity athl etes, in clu ding th is fro m foot ball Gryp hon Step hen O'Bri en, BA '05 and M A '07, of M ississa uga, O nt. "The rigo urs and challenges associated w ith being a stu dent-athl ete are something

28 T HE P ORT ICO

ma ny people don't un derstan d. r am pro ud that my alma mater is now offering financial support to its student-athletes. T hese stu dents are fa ntastic ambassadors fo r U of G. T heir continued individual success is integral to the overall success of the U niversity of Guelph. I have supported and will co ntinu e to support Gryphon athleti cs. Go, Gryphons!" To read O'Brien's fu ll letter and comments fro m o ther alumni , see T he Portico onli ne at www. uoguelp h.ca/th eporti co.ca.

exemplary student experience at U of G. Guelph is one of the first unive rsities in Ca nada to take on such a project. It's a perfec t exa mp le of how stud ents are demo nstrating their commitment to their alma mater and to fuwre genera tions; they're already thinking and actin g like alu m ni. In additi on to posting inm1edi ate benefits on campus, U of G stud ents are se ttin g an exa m ple and m akin g a difference throughout th e world. T he University of Guelph Alunmi Associati o n co uldn't be mo re pro ud o f to day's students and this extraordinary pledge to th e University and to the e nvironment. T he U GAA's 92,000 alumni members salute you! LI ND A HR US KA B .Sc.( A cR .) '8 5 , M. AGR. '88 PR ES ID ENT, U GAA

COMING EVENTS Sept. 25 to 27 •

OAC '49 stays connected 60 years after graduation

g radu ated fro m th e Ontario Agricultural College 60 years ago had mu ch to celebrate.With the Seco nd Wo rld War be hind th em and th eir BSA degrees in hand , the 26 1 gradu ates were full of life, and life was foll of promise. The class of' 49 was mo re than twice the size of th e O AC classes precedin g it beca use it includ ed 177 ve tera ns; many we re already marr ied and had fa mili es . Academi cs was a pri ority fo r th e ' 49ers, but class president D ave Adams says th ere was sti ll tim e fo r fun and a tre mend o us esprit de corps. T heir mem ori es incl ud e th e m o rnin g th e campus wo ke to find a

H OSE WHO

Hur rica ne fi ghter plane assembled nosedown in crash position on Johnston Green. And there were romances, including that of Murray M cR ae and D oro thy Knapp, w ho met in the program and celebrated their 50th wedding annive rsary in 1999 . When th ey gradu ated, class memb ers bo ught a clock fo r the tower ofJohnston Hall. "We wa nted so m ething of our ow n, something permanent th at wo uld stand out and always be visible," says class secretary Do n M cArthur. "We we re proud of OAC and wa nted to leave som ething of valu e th at would co ntribute to the enj oyment and the identi ty of the ca mpus." Since then, OAC '49 has co ntinu ed to give genero usly to the Unive rsity. Abo ut $815,000 has been raised for commemorative projects that have enhanced the campus. " ! think our class has felt a very strong urge to try to repay Guelph in some small measure fo r the good start it gave us in our careers and our lives," says Adams. H e adds th at nea rl y 80 people - 35 class memb ers and their guests - attended their 60th-anniversary reunion at Alumni Weekend 2009, co ming fro m O ntari o, British Co lu mbi a, Saskat chewa n , N ew Brunswick, Michiga n and Florida. R ead more about O AC '49 at www. uoguelph .ca/ th eporti co.

Sept. 26 •

Sept. 28 •

Nov.12 •

Nov.

14 •

Nov. 19 to 22 •

June 18 and 19, 2010 •

Dress for Success Guelph grads enjoyed an evening of mingling and shopping at Banana Republic 's flagship store in Toronto July 8. More than 150 U of G and McMaster University alumni attended the event.

Fall 2009 29

Careers

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Saving 'the lungs of the planet' introduction of selective logging, striking a balance benveen ecology and the need for resources is critical. For example, Leuteritz and his team are working to develop protocols to combat the movement of fire ants, an invasive species that can crawl into the wheel ridges and oth er parts of vehicles used by oil extractors. This may involve a stri ct policy of fi.1.111.igating vehicles before they leave the regio n, he says . The tea m is wo rking on this in partnership with Gabo nese scientists, the Shell Foundation, Shell International and Shell Gabon.

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vationist and naturalist john Muir once said: " Wh en o ne tu gs at a sin gle thing in nature, he finds it attac hed to th e rest of th e world." More than 100 yea rs later, it's a quote that U of G zoology gra du ate Thomas Leuteritz, B.Sc. '90, o ft en refers to when asked about the importan ce of his life's work. Now sta ti oned in the tiny African nation of Gabon, Leuteritz is the newly appointed director of the Gabon Biodiversity Program for the Smithsonian [nstitution . In this role, he is working to advance the Smithsonian's goal to develop more environmentally friendly and sustainabl e mana geme nt prac tices for resource e:Ktraction in the Gamba Complex . H e w ill also crea te biological research stations to attract scientists fi:om around the world w ho are interested in ecological resea rch in this region.

THE P ORT!

'T m a co nse rvatio n ecologist, so I like th e idea of takin g th e things l do as a scien tist and the research that's been done by others and applying it to practi cal app li catio ns people need," he says. Leuteritz's wo rk focuses primaril y on a busy re ource extraction corridor betwee n th e Loango and M oukalabaDoudou national parks, whi ch are ri ch in plant and animal biodiversity. On its own, Loango boasts more than 2,000 tree species, 67 species of reptiles and amphibians, 200 bird varieties, 18 species of m edium-sized and large mammals and a dozen va rieti es of small animals. " It's one of th e more pristin e parts of the Congolese rainforest in westcentral Africa,'' he says. "Eighty- fi ve per cent of th e fo rest is intact, and we want to mai ntain that." But amid activity by the oil industry, w hi ch has had a strong presence in th e area for 40 yea rs, and the more recent

"The reality in this wo rld is that we n eed ce rtain reso urces, but we also need to co nsider the biodiversity,'' says Leuteritz. "Ecosystems in pla ces like th e Co ngo lese rainforest, the Amazo n Basin and New G uin ea contain large tracts of rain forest that offe r a va ri ety of ecosystem services, which arc basically the lu ngs of the planet.When one spec ies is lost, that puts th e entire ecosystem, including hum ans, at ri sk. It's mu ch li ke a spider web: when one thread is snapp ed, th e entire stru cture beco mes co mpromised ." This is not his first time working in Afri ca. After ea rning a master's degree at the University of Mi chigan , he studied tortoises in Madagascar as part oflus PhD research at George M ason University. He also did a post-doctoral stint in South Africa . Both of these nations have biological "hot spots" because of th e high levels of biodiversity and the high levels of threat from such things as hunting and habitat los , he say . Leuteritz has also served as a co nsultant in the United Arab Emirates and taught conservation biology at the Uni vers ity of Redlands in Cali fo rni a and at th e University of Hawa ii. By Rebecca Kendall

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1960s • Jim Crozier, B.Sc. '67 and M .Sc. '70, who went on to earn a PhD at th e University of Glasgow, has retired from his caree r as a professo r of biochemistry, exercise and nutrition. • Maurice Marwood, B.Sc. '64 and M.S c. '66, is managing director of Capital Machin ery Limited and has just fini shed a five-year stint in Taiwan. H e recently published a book called· Professio11al Noma d about his international adventures as a busin ess executive over th e past 40 yea rs. Go to www.trafford. co m /08-0776 for a previ ew. • Donna Washburn, B.H .Sc. '63, rece ntl y co mpl eted work on her fourth gluten-free cookbook , G/11teu-Free Favo11rites, w ith co-a uthor H ea th er Butt. They're now developing recipes for t\vo books on bread making du e for release next year. Visit www.bestbreadrecipes.co m.

1970s Paul and Rebecca Kendall w ith daughters Taya, left, and Eden

Braids over the ocean 1C HT-YEAR- O LD Taya Kend all has braided the lives of seve ral Guelph grad uates because of her desire to help ot her children. She is th e unlikely publisher of a book by acclaimed children's author Rob ert Munsc h, H .D.Lett. '00. Taya is the daughter of Paul Kendall, BA '90, and R ebecca Kendall, BA '99, a \\Titer in U of G's Department of Com-

muni cations and Public Affairs. L1st January, Taya started a newspaper at Sir Isaac Brock School in Guelph as a way to raise money for C hildren ofBukati, a charity found ed by veterin ary professor Cate D ewey, DVM '79, M .Sc. '88 and PhD '92 . The school regularly raises money for the charity, whic h assists more than 650 HIV I AIDS orphans at Bukati Primary School in Butula, Kenya.

After a chance meeting at the local library, Munsch sent Taya an unpublished story about braiding hair to print in the school newspaper. She asked oth er students at Sir Isaac Brock to draw pictures for the story, and the response was so great, she eventually produced a 36-page book called Braids. A for mer adjunct professo r at U of G, Munsch has written more than 40 books and has sold 30 mi lli on copies. The story about Braids has gar nered national media attention, with the children ofBukati being the ultimate winners. "Profit from the sale of one book will fe ed an orphan ed child for a week and provide a pencil for th e child to use at school," says D ewey. For more information about Braids, go to www.childrenofbukati .co m.

• Rod Hodgson, BA '78, a local historian in Hudson, Q ue., has published nin e books and recently completed three more, including his first novel, a histori cal fi cti o n se t in Lowe r Canada in th e 1830s. H e also works for Hudso n 's Publi c Works D epartment. • Edwin Loughlin, BA '75, has been named Canadian ambassador to Croatia . Previously, he was minister- co unsellor and co nsul ge neral at the Embassy of Canada in B eijing. Since j o ining th e Department o f External Affairs in 1979, he has also worked in Algiers, Jaka rta, Islamabad, Brasilia, Hong Kong, Tok yo and New D elhi. His postings in Canada have incl uded serving as financial officer for th e Offi ce of International Summ.its and deputy director of the R eso urce Management Burea u. H e and his wife, Suzie, have two daughters.

Fall 2009 31

• Deborah Poff, BA '7 4 and PhD '88, has been appointed the 16th president and vice-chancellor of Brando n University. She joined Brandon Aug. 1 from the University of Northern British Columbia, where she was founding dea n of the Facu lty of Arts and Science and served for 10 years as vice-president (academic) and provost. A philosophy professo r, she co- fo unded and continu es to edit the j ournal of Business Ethics and the Journal ef Academic Ethics. She is also president-elect of the N ational Council on Ethics in Human R esearch and vice-president, development, of the Canadia n Federatio n fo r the Humaniti es and Social Sciences. Poff is married to reti red U of G philosophy pmfessor Alex MichaJ os, who is chancellor of

UNBC. • D oug R omanek, B.Comm. '79, has been operating a special-

ty bakeshop called N ana's Bakery for 10 years in Windsor, Ont. Its specialty products include diabetic and gluten-free baking. H e also offers classes for people with special dietary needs. • Patricia (Richards) Steer, B.Sc. 70, retired from teaching science and fa1nily studi es in Burlingto n, Ont., in 2005 and now helps her dau ghter and son-in-law run Angel House Bed and Breakfast in Creemore. The B&B offers a 10-per-cent disco unt fo r Guelph grads. • Bob Stephenson, BA '74, retired from the Ontario Ministry of R eve nu e in 2008 after a 30- yea r career with the federal and pmvincial governments. H e and his wife, D ani ele, live in N ewcastle, Ont., and are enj oyin g retire ment, pursuing th eir love o f skiing, golfing and cycling. They have two grown sons and a grandchild .

• Laura Tryssenaar, B.A.Sc. '75 , ofListowel, Ont., has retired after 28 yea rs of teac hing high school famil y studies . Sh e was the lead writer for the textbook and teachers' guide Parenting in Ca nada: H1mrnn. Growth and Development, published in 2003 . She receive d a PhD fro m the University ofWestern Ontari o in 2005 and now writes and teaches additional qualifica ti on courses in fa mily studi es for Quee n's University.

1980s • Linda Bolton, DVM '84, a veterinarian in Walkerton, Ont., received the Ontario Veterinary M edical Association's Award of M erit this yea r fo r her many contributions to veterina1y medicine and animal welfa re. Those contributions include her involve ment in th e Cat Lake Proj ect, w hich takes volunteer-

ing veterinarians to a native community in northern Ontario, and the St. John 's Ambulance pet therapy program. Bolton is marri ed with three children. • Susan (Thatcher) D imma, B.A.Sc. '83, reports that she has " retired " fro m th e child-care fi eld and has opened a new business in Guelph called Garnishes Perso nal C hef Services after graduating from th e Liaiso n C uli nary School's perso nal chef program. C hildren will still be par t of her wo rk, however, because she plans to offer cooking camps and classes for kids. • Patrick D owds, BA '88, and his wife,Jeny, aimounce the arrival ofJanaJulia, born Jun e 1, weighing 7 lbs., 15.5 oz. T hey live in Oakville, Ont., w here Patrick teaches Grade 4 at St. D ominic's School. He has been teaching elementary sc hool for th e H alton Catholic D istri ct School Boa rd

Ag-Venture

Travel Unfo rgettable tours of fa rms and tourist sites in South America during w inter 2010

R.W. Thomas www. rw th omastours.com Payments to Peerl ess Travel TICA# 42 74452

519 .633.2390 rwth omas@sympatico .ca

TH E P OR TI CO

A new report by Alumni Affairs and Development to thank U of G donors and show how your financial gifts are making a difference on campus

Brook, NL. She invites HAFA '84 grads to contact her at bobelaine.

Patrick and Jeny Dowds with baby Jana

for the last 20 years."! have many fo nd memories from my time at U of G and visit the ca m.pus at least once a yea r," says Patri ck. "M y wife and I ac tually took baby Jana fo r a stroll up Winegard Walk and hiked th ro ugh the Arboretum th.is sw1m1er. Maybe som eday my daughter w ill be lucky enough to attend the University of Guelph." • Christine Fraser-McDonald , BA '87, recently completed a muni cipal administratio n p rog ram co urse en ro ute to beco ming clerk fo r the Township o f Geo rg ian Blu ffs, surro undin g O wen Sound, Ont. • Richard Guiot, B.Sc. '83, has been with th e Ontario Provincial Police for 24 yea rs and is currently a staff sergeant and unit conm-ia nd er o f the ce ntral tactics and resc ue uni t at OPP headq uarters in Orillia. H e and his w ife, Ann e, have two children:Tom , 16; and Michelle, 14. • B rad Honywill , BA '8 1, was elec ted president o f th e Southern Ontari o Newsmedia G uild in 2006 after 25 yea rs as rnalist at the W indsor Star, '> pccrator and Toronto 'J children in unird abo ut to go, · · ~ee k ing a the rn-

huxter@ nf.sympatico.ca. • D avid Kangaloo, B.Sc. '82, studied ve terin ary m edicine at the University of Liverpool and is now a senior veterinary offi cer with the Ministry ofAgriculture in Trinidad and Tobago. H e has t'NO daughters, Dana and Farrah. • Mo nique Leclerc, M.Sc. '82 and PhD '87, a professor of crop and soil science at the University of Georgia, has been nam ed a R egents Professor by tlie University System of Georgia Board of Regents.The honour recognizes her intern ati onally renowned research on atmospheric biogeosciences and cli mate change. Leclerc j oined the U niversity of Geo rgia in 1995 and heads the Laborato ry for Environmental Physics and Atmospheri c Biogeosciences. Previously, she taught at Utah State University and the University of Q uebec at Montreal. Leclerc was also honoured recently by Pekin g University, receiving the titl e of H onorary Professor at its State Key Laboratory. In addition, she was tlie fi rst woman and y0lmgest person ever to be voted president-elect of tlie International Society ofBiometeorology. • Laura Murray, B.Sc. '89, has bee n workin g at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto for 10 years and is currently co-ordinator of th e Inn ovation Centre.

1990s • R uth Bowes, BA '98, a realto r based in R ockwood , Ont., has become an accredited green agent, allowing her to bring her enviro nmental interes ts and g ree n business practices to her work. She took green a step further this year w hen she and her husband built a straw bale house · m Eden Mills. • \lary (Atkins) Carley, M.Sc. n-ed Conestoga College's

Enthusiastic about agriculture

H EY WE R E brea thing in smoke and wa tchin g the ash fall all summer, but M atth ew and M o ll y (Bann erman) Thursto n, bo th B. Sc.(Agr. ) '04, say th e fi res aro und Kelow na, B.C., were inconve ni ent but no t devastatin g to th e Okanagan Valley, where th ey bo th wo rk in the agri cul tural industry. H e's a credit adviser with Farm C redit Ca nada; she's a horticulturalist with the O kanaga n Tree Fruit Cooperative.When tlle nortl1so uth hi ghway was closed fo r a few days, tru cks of cher ri es were delayed getting to tlle packing house in Kelowna, says M olly. "Overall , the summer hea t was wo nd erfu l fo r the fruit growth, but we experienced very dry conditions and water shortages. Several fruit growers exceeded tlieir water alloca tions." Molly is on home tu rf in Kelowna; she met O ntario-born Matt w hen both we re studying at U o f G. Th ey enj oyed a va riety of mnm er j obs in th e agr icultural industry and, afte r grad uation, worked in Lethbrid ge, Alta., and o n o rga ni c fa rms in England , Scotland and Wales befo re settlin g in Kelowna. M att's first j ob in th e Okanagan was helping to manage a vineya rd, and he has taken additi o nal co urses in viticulture and banking. In additi o n to th eir current j obs, th ey're runnin g their own small organi c fa rm. Matt also referees in the Wes tern Hoc key League, ave raging 15 ga m es a m o nth fo r th e Kelowna R oc kets. Both enj oy runnin g and cycl ing and o ften take cycling vaca ti o ns.

2009 Aubrey H aga r Awa rd fo r Teaching Excellence. She j oined Co nes toga's nursing fa culty almost 30 yea rs ago. H er husband, Robert, M .Sc. '83, is also a Guelph graduate, as are her parents, Janet, DHE '37, and George Atkin s, BSA '39 and HD.La. '89. Carley's grandfatl1er was Prof. W C. B lac kwood , fo r whom U of G's Blackwood Hall is named. • Jackie Fraser, B.Sc.(Agr.) '94

and M .Sc. '96, and her husband, Derek R oberts, welcomed their fi rst daughter, C harl otte W illow, in Jun e 2008. T hey have opened Fraberts Fres h Food in the old marketpl ace in Fergus, O nt., o fferin g loca l produ ce, meat, gourmet cheeses and ready- made meals. A number of their suppliers are U of G grads, incl uding Krista H arrington, B.Sc.(Agr.) '05 (From These R oots gourmet jams); Katie Wtlman, B.Sc.(Agr.)

Fall 2009

Derek Roberts, Jackie Fraser and daughter Charlotte

'97 (dairy goa t products); and Brad , ADA '80, and H eath er F raser, BA '78 and ADA '80, (Harvest Goodies). • J efferson Frisbee, B.Sc . (H.K.) '92, M.Sc. '93 an d PhD '97, has bee n selec ted by the Microcirculato ry Society, Inc., to serve as editor-in-chi ef of its offi cial journal, lVficrocirculatio11. Frisbee is an associate professor of phys iology and pharmacology at West Virginia University.

• C eleste Gray, BA '90, earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and worked in purchasing after graduating from Gu elph. She's now a child-ca re worker in Germany, w here she has lived for the past five years with her husband. • Derek K iinsken, B.Sc. '94, w ho lives in Gatineau , Qu e., published a short story call ed Getting High Witl1 Th o111as the Apostle in th e spring 2009 iss ue of the literary magazine s11b- Terrain. It's th e story of three boys livin g on the stree ts of Honduras and is his first publication outside of science fi ction. • Alain Lajeunesse, B.Sc.(Agr.) '90 and MBA '99, and his wife, Paula Rogers , B.A .Sc. '92, announce the arrival of their son, Malin, who is 2Y, and was born in Ethiopia. Lajeunesse was recently appointed manager ofbusiness development and communication

The Lajeunesse family

services with Holste in Ca nada, based in Brantford, Ont. • Laura- May Mason , BA '96, lives in Fergus, Ont. , and is a social work consultant with the Upp er Grand Distri ct School Board. She also wo rks privately as a perso nal transfo rmati o n co un seUor/ coach/consu ltant. • Mark McCutcheon, BA '95 and PhD '06, is an assistant professo r of literary studi es at Athabasca University in Alberta. His article " Down loading

Doppelgange rs: N ew M edia Anxieti es and Transnatio nal Ironies in Battlestar Calactica" recently appeared in the journal Science Fiction. Film a11d Television.. • Ross Mitchell, M .Sc. '98, has been a social impact assess ment specialist at Golder Associates Ltd. in C algary since 2008. • Alan Smith son, B.Sc. '99, started his own DJ business, Star Productions Inc., w hen he was a student at Guelph and was the resident DJ at the Brass Taps and th e BuUring from 1996 to 1999 . In 2005 , he went bac k to the bu sin ess fu ll- time and now offers both audiovisual and DJ services. H e was nominated for an Entertainer of the Year award in 2008.Th.is yea r, Star Producti o ns won a Ca nadian Event Industry Award fo r best use of lighting.T he co mpany's website is www.sta rprodu ctions.co m. • J oy St er r itt, MA '91, is a

www.recruitguelph.ca Hire Guelph Students, Co-op Students and Alumni

Co-operative Education & Career Services 519-824-4120 ext. 52323 recruit @uoguelph.ca

THE P O RTI CO

supervisor with the field services division of the Ontario Ministry of N atural R esource . She lives in Brockville. • Laura-Jane Swan BA "9-t, he Engh h and dance at a 1111 :\uckJan d, ce -hc:rs ..elected from the cou nrry to trave l to Zambia to pilot the C hildFund GI bal chools Program, w hi ch foc uses on the quality and sustainability of education in developing nation s. Fo r more inform at ion, visit www.c hildfund chalJenge.co.nz/ LauraSwa n. • Graham Takata, B.Sc.(Env.) '98, went on to earn a master's degree at Ryerson University and is now head of research and client services for Zerofootprint. Previously, he worked for the Ontario Minisny of the Environment and an environmental consulting firm. He lives in Toronto \vith his wife, r •

Judi; their so n, David; and their dog, Ralph. • Stephen and Lee-Ann (Thorne) Turley, both ADA '92, wiJJ celebrate their 15th wedd in g an ni ve rsary Oct. 15, not their 13th as reported in the summer issu e of The Portico . They have three children: Eric, 12; Joshu a, 1O; and Grace, 3. Steph en works for the C ity of Kitchener Cemeteries and is a vo luntee r firefig hter with the Mapl eton Fire Department, Drayton statio n. Contact them at stephenrtu dey@hotmail.com. • Robin White, B.Sc. '96, ea rned an MA in international environm ental policy at Tufts University in 2006, then worked for a foreign affairs critic on Parliament Hill before joining Environme nt Ca nada as an economist. H e is ana lyzi ng the impact of various climate change policies on th e Ca nadian economy.

2000s • Nathalie Bendavid, BA '03; Brook Hilditch, B.Sc. '03; and Mario Gallo, B.Sc. '00, alJ former rugby G ryphons, co mpeted in the first Women's Rugby

From left: Nathalie Bendavid , Brook Hilditch and Mario Gallo 7's World Cup in Dubai as memb e rs of th e Canad ian National Women's Rugby Team. Ca nada finished six th in th e tourn ame nt of 16 teams, losing to England in the bowl fina l. • Jennifer Duff, B.Sc. '07, is

in th e third yea r of a five-year veterinary medicine program at th e University of Glasgow. • Alex Folkl, B.Sc. '06 and M .Sc. '08, is in his second year of medical sc ho o l at the Uni ve rsity of Vermont and did so me clinical work in G uelph this summer. He was married in May 2008 to Kathryn Kuntz, M .Sc. '04, who is co-ordinator of national co nse rvation programs for th e Nature Conserva ncy of Canada in Toronto. Both are avid rock climbers. • Jaclyn Hill, B.Sc. '02, co mpleted a PhD at Rhodes University in South Africa in 2008, specializing in stable iso topes. • Michelle Le Chien, BA '05, is assistan t curator and registrar at th e Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound , Ont. Sh e organized the gallery's 46th annua l Juried Art Exhibit and had her fir st curated ex hibit

Legacies

Matter

Your bequest can change the world by making future generations your beneficiaries. The University of Guelph is dedicated to providing what the world urgently needs: innovation that protects and cultivates the essentials for our quality of life - water, food , environment, health , community, commerce and culture. Visit our web site to learn more about building a legacy in education for you and your family. www.alumni.uoguelph.ca/ For more information on Bequests and Planned Gifts contact: Ross Butler 519-824-4120 , ext. 56196 Fax : 519-822-2670 E-mail: rbutler@uoguelph .ca

Fall 2009 35

reviewed by the Toronto Star in May. It was titled "Mapping the

administrator at Cambridge

'06, is the national stakeholder relations manager of th e Cam-

Group: The Travels of the Group of Seven in Canada."

M emorial Hospital in Cambridge, Ont. , and is working

paign to Control Cancer, a Canadian coalition of more than

Oakville, Ont., writes that he's

• Greg MacArthur, BA '08, is an officer wit h the Gue lph

towards his CGA designation. • Owen Mullings, B.Sc.(Eng.) '06, has joined D esire2Learn

70 cancer organizations. • Philippe Rinn, BLA '05,

country-blu egrass-psyc hedelicrock-roots-metal band call ed

In c. as a product designer. H e 's

works for Site36 0 Consultin g Inc. in Kelowna , B.C.

GCDC. Guelph really le t me see what's important in life, and

Poli ce Servic e and has joined th e Gryphon men 's ho c key

' 07 , is the acco unts payable

School in Brampton, Ont. • Dave Toms, BA '06, of " having a blast drumming in a

tea m as an assistant coach. He

also

comple ting a ma st er 's

• Debby Seed, ADH '04, has

pursuing m y dreams seems vital.

played defence with the team

d egree in engine ering systems

Thank you for su ch a reward-

for four years as a student.

and co mputing at U of G. • Eamonn O'Connell, B.Sc.

bee n hired as a supply teacher to oversee the greenhou se prog ram at N orth Peel Secondary

• Brandon Mosgrove, BA

in g opportunity to shap e m y wo rld vi ew."

PASSAGES William Abraham, BSA '47,July 30, 2009

John Hare, BSA '43 , Marc h 23, 2009

John Agar, DVM '54 and M.Sc. '70,

Michael Hawrylez, B.Sc. '81,

Jun e 28, 2009 Gus Alevizos, BA '89,Jan. 30, 2008 Craig Alexander, BSA '49 and MSA '51, March 23, 2009 JohnAllin,ADA '67, March 12, 2009

Daniel Helsberg, MA '77, May 20, 2009 Richard Hember, BSA '53 , April 15, 2009 Thomas Henderson, DVM '59, Feb. 26, 2009

March 25, 2009 Mildred (Taylor) Misener, DHE '35, December 2008 Ruth (Srigley) Morris, BA '74, May 7,2009 Joseph Morrison, BSA '51,

Ross Alloway, BSA '49, March 3, 2009

Ernest Hochhalter, BSA '62, Feb. 2 1, 2009

James Barlow, BSA ' 49, March 30, 2009 Renee (Roy) Biggs, DHE '40, April 3, 2009

William Howell, BSA '49, May 30, 2009 Douglas Humphreys, DVM '54, Apri l 2009

Harry Mount, DVM ' 41 ,April 15, 2009 Donna Murdock, BA ' 74, Feb. 25, 2009 Douglas Peacock, ADA '62,

William Brack, DVM ' 49,ApriJ 26, 2009 Russell Bruce, BSA '47,May 11, 2009

William Hunt, ADA ' 55,Jan. 13, 2009 Elizabeth (Goddard) Jamieson,

March 2 1, 2009 Kenneth Pennifold, DVM '50,

Denton Brumwell, BSA '61 , March 14, 2009

B.H.Sc. ' 64, March 23, 2009 Leonard Johnson, BSA ' 36, May ·13, 2009

Jan. 6,2009 Ruth (Johnston) Peppen , DHE '41,

Elizabeth (Jackson) Cardiff, DHE '41 , April 6, 2009

Robert Johnston, BSA '42 and MSA '49,April 15, 2009

Michael Pontello, BA '84,July 19, 2009

Brian Cardy, B.Sc '77, M.Sc. '81 and

Michael Kamenar, BA'75, Feb. 28, 2009

PhD '86,Jan 18, 2009 Alexander Carman, BSA '50, April 23, 2009

Willard Karn, DVM '54, May 8, 2009 Wallace Knapp, BSA '48, April 16, 2009

Leanne (Snively) Chalmers, BA '89,

Allen Knight, BSA '39, March 20, 2009

Feb. 11, 2009

Nov. 25, 2008 William Roach, DVM '49, April 22, 2009 Walter Saidak, BSA '53 , March 5, 2009 Lawrence Salmon,ADA '48,

Cheryl (Gandy) Korody, BA '68,

May 14,2009 Mary (Cox) Scott, DHE '38,

Matthew Chapman, BA '07, May 9, 2009 Alan Christie, DVM '49, Sept. 12, 2007

February 2009 Hassan Lalani, B.Comm. ' 92 ,

March 17, 2008 Tina-Lisa (McDowell) Skerrett, BA '91,

William Cochrane, BSA '51 ,

March 18, 2008 Herbert Lavine, BSA ' 50,June 17, 2009

May 19, 2009 John Stone, BA '72, March 3 1, 2009

Melanie (Bant) Dale, B.Sc. '03,

Richard Luckham, BSA ' 55,

Boyd Taylor, ADA '53 , March 10, 2009

June 21, 2009 Eileen (Elson) Entwisle, DHE '38,

July 26, 2009 Wray Marshall, ADA '51,Jan . 7, 2009

Shirley (Herron) Taylor, DHE '37,

Dec. 4, 2008 Frederick Gillies, BSA '50, April 26, 2009

Bruce McCallum, BSA '64,June 26, 2009 Kenneth McEwen, DVM '51 ,

John Gilman, DVM '39, May 17, 2009 Arthur Godard, DVM '51 ,A pril 20,2009

March 31, 2009 Barrie McFadzean,ADA '47 and

Anna Liu Gonthier, BA '93 ,

BSA '51 , May 18, 2009 George McGowan, DVM '47,

May 20,2009

May 28,2009

April 15, 2009 Barbara Gregory, B.Sc. '87, Feb. 2, 2009 Selwyn Griffith, B.Sc.(Agr.) ' 71 and M.Sc. '74,July 13, 2009

Feb. 17,2009

Edward McNinch, BSA '49,

THE

Po RTICO

May 26,2009 Ruth (Schooley) McKersie, DHE '56, Occ.16,2008

July 19, 2009 William Tom, BSA '50,Ju ne 25, 2009 Dragoslava (Petkovich) Vesselinovitch, DVM '59,Jan. 2, 2009 Jeffrey Wheeler, B.Comm. ' 95 , May 23,2009 Donald Whillans, BSA '50, April 21, 2009 James Wright, ADA '61 , May 9, 2009 JohnYoung,ADA '40, April 12,2009 Harry Zinger, DVM '59, May 25, 2008

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