SPRING 2019
UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
BUSINESS FOR GOOD New name, renewed focus at Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics p.14 In the public interest
Grads in government. p.20
Sprinting to a new life One grad’s journey to U of G. p.28
Discovery
3-D to help treat cancer. p.10
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Contents
10 14 26
FEATURES COVER STORY
14 More than a new marquee
COVER ILLUSTRATION: RAYMOND BEISINGER
32 VOICES
SECTIONS
6 Around the ring
4 Leading edge 4 Life improved 5 President’s message 34 Class notes
IN EVERY ISSUE
News and views from around campus
10 Discovery U of G research, innovations and ideas
31 Alumni matters 25 New chapters, sights & sounds 26 Alumni spotlights 30 Time capsule 36 Passages 37 Lives that improved life porticomagazine.ca
Events, updates, class connections
Lang School of Business emphasizes sustainable education
21 At your service Grads answer the civic duty call
26 Perfect blend Grad combines engineering, chemistry, physics as research scientist
28 Going the distance From Zimbabwe to Guelph, the story of a rising track star
38 Last look A new angle on the U of G campus
Spring 2019 PORTICO | 3
Life improved Spring 2019, Vol. 51, Issue 1 LEADING EDGE
Let’s get social! Stay up-todate on news, events and moments from the University of Guelph through these social media channels: @UofG @UofGuelph University of Guelph University of Guelph Say hi and tag #UofG in your posts! #UofG #ImproveLife Fall 2018
UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
SHE’S GOT GAME U of G launches fundraising campaign for women’s athletics p.14
Throwaway living Drowning in plastic rain p.20
2018_PORTICO_FALL_issue.indd 1
In praise of neurodiversity Grad runs ADHD, Asperger’s centre p.28
2018-10-01 12:57 PM
Where did your U of G degree take you?
PUBLISHER
Daniel Atlin, vice-president (external) EDITOR
Lori Bona Hunt
looking back, I am grateful for the life-impacting education, connections and opportunities I obtained at the University of Guelph. My beautiful Heather Cooper poster from the 1980s remains a part of my office decor to this day. Thank you, University of Guelph. –Kathleen Walsh, B.Sc. ’84, Retired after 33 years of an amazing career as an ergonomist i took a creative writing class with Thomas King and ended up attending the University of British Columbia for an MFA in creative writing. I now work as a writer and editor, most recently as the editor-in-chief of Maisonneuve magazine. My books are Canoodlers (Nightwood Editions, 2014) and Moon Montreal and Moon Quebec City (both with Moon, a division of HBG USA, 2018). I received a National Magazine Award in the essays category a couple years ago. –Andrea Bennett, BA ’07 in 1983, I shared a room in Lennox/Addington with Greg Berti. I received my BA in ’86 while Greg received his B.Sc. in ’87. With more than 20 years in the beer industry, I am a co-founder of Village Brewery in Calgary and a member of the board of Beer Canada. Greg has worked in the wine industry since his first summer job in Niagara-on-the-Lake while he was still at the
Connect with Portico portico@uoguelph.ca 4 | PORTICO Spring 2019
porticomagazine.ca
ART DIRECTOR
Janice Van Eck COPY EDITOR
Andrew Vowles CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Deirdre Healey, Hannah James, Rob O’Flanagan, Andrew Vowles CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Rob O’Flanagan Portico is published by Communications and Public Affairs at the University of Guelph. Opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the University. FEEDBACK
This painting by Canadian artist Heather Cooper adorned U of G recruitment materials from 1981 to 1987.
University of Guelph. He is now a vice-president at Andrew Peller Ltd. and a board member of the Canadian Vintners Association. Funny how two different starting points and paths can lead you to similar spots after 35 years. –Jim Button, BA ’86
Send letters and story ideas to portico@uoguelph.ca or by mail to Communications and Public Affairs, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ont., N1G 2W1. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. ADVERTISING
Send advertising inquiries to Lori Bona Hunt at lhunt@uoguelph.ca or 519-824-4120, Ext. 53338. MOVED?
Send address changes to alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca or 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550, or by mail to Records c/o Alumni Affairs and Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ont., N1G 2W1. ISSN 1714-8731
Printed in Canada Publication Agreement #40064673 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Portico Magazine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ont., N1G 2W1.
Greg Berti and Jim Button.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Sustainable business contributes to world well-being
W
e all know about environmental sustainability and the importance of stewarding our natural resources, be they land, water or air. But there’s another vital aspect of sustainability. Call it community sustainability. To me, community sustainability involves various factors – environmental, yes, but also economic, social, cultural, educational – that contribute to the well-being of our place in the world. Here on campus, I think of the John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise. Through the centre, our students, faculty and staff work with local organizations and businesses on solutions to important community challenges – solutions that ultimately help us sustain our way of life. Broaden the lens to include the entire College of Business and Economics, and that wider idea of sustainability is captured in the college’s guiding purpose: Leaders for a Sustainable World.The same sentiment underpins much of what we do right across our campuses, embodied in U of G’s commitment to
porticomagazine.ca
improving life. Those values also resonate with our many partners and supporters, whose generosity enables us to carry out the research, teaching and community service that are central to our institutional mission. Those partners and supporters include the late John F. Wood, whose gift to U of G last fall will help to ensure that our newly named Wood Centre has the resources it needs to continue providing opportunities for our students,
mission and values, and of the mission and values that continue to sustain this University more than 150 years after the establishment of our first founding college. Looking to the future, the Langs’ gift is also a huge vote of confidence in our shared potential to make a difference in the world – to sustain and improve life.
Their generosity enables us to carry out the research, teaching and community service that are central to our institutional mission. faculty and researchers, and to offer solutions for the wider world. This spring, we announced an unparalleled gift from longtime University donors Stu and Kim Lang through their Angel Gabriel Foundation. Their $21-million donation, the largest-ever single gift in U of G history, will support numerous initiatives in the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, named for Stu’s father. This gift is a powerful endorsement of the school’s
Franco Vaccarino President and Vice-Chancellor Spring 2019 PORTICO | 5
Around the ring CAMPUS NEWS AND VIEWS CAMPUS NEWS
Ethical artificial intelligence centre opens
CAMPUS NEWS
Scholar at risk gets fresh start at U of G Just months ago, the academic career of Evren Altinkas was in tatters. Forced to resign from a Turkish university and blacklisted from teaching in any state-run university in his home country because of his political views, he believed that his lifelong dream of being a professor was lost. Thanks to the University of Guelph’s support of the international Scholars at Risk program – which protects persecuted academics around the world – the historian is now free to teach and conduct research as a visiting professor of history at U of G. Up until the final moments before boarding a plane at the Adnan Menderes Airport in Izmir, he wondered whether he would be allowed to leave Turkey. An airport police officer had already stamped 6 | PORTICO Spring 2019
passports for his wife and two daughters, meaning they had crossed the symbolic line to freedom. But something about Altinkas’s documents had triggered an alert. “Finally, the officer looked at me, stamped my passport and said, ‘OK, go.’ His hand gesture was like: ‘Go! Get the hell out of this country and let us be rid of you.’” Early in his academic career, Altinkas studied the treatment of minorities in Turkey, including women, members of the LGBT community and other groups such as Kurds, Armenians, Greeks and Jews. “My focus was also to provide a chance for my students – who considered themselves to be members of these minority identities – to express themselves in my classrooms and civil society organizations.”
Near the end of his career in Turkey, Altinkas faced increasing pressure to resign. His salary was cut, and he was assigned to teach unfamiliar courses. His wife, a painter and academic, endured similar pressure, he says. They were told that all investigations and allegations against them would be dropped if they resigned – and so they did. Philosophy professor Monique Deveaux, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Ethics and Social Global Change, was the driving force to make U of G an institutional member of Scholars at Risk. “I’m happy I can do my scholarship. I have a lot of time to conduct my research at the library. I’m able to spend a lot of time with students, who come and ask me so many questions about the Middle East and other issues in the world. I’ve never experienced this level of acceptance in a society before.”
PHOTO: (BOTTOM) SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Turkish scholar Evren Altinkas came to U of G through Scholars at Risk.
Building “machines with morals” and addressing the ethics of artificial intelligence are among the goals of a new research and teaching centre at the University of Guelph. Among only a handful of Canadian groups of its kind, the new Centre for Advancing Responsible and Ethical Artificial Intelligence will ensure that AI technologies – now being rapidly deployed in numerous fields from health care to feeding the world – benefit people and minimize harm. It also aims to influence public policy and regulations. “We want to connect researchers trying to solve real problems that are important to people,” says Graham Taylor, an engineering professor who serves as the centre’s academic director. The centre will involve almost 90 researchers and scholars from across campus and include an advisory panel of academic and industry leaders. Researchers will look at the humanistic and social aspects of AI and focus on applying machine learning and AI to U of G strengths.
NOTEWORTHY
PEOPLE
Student entrepreneurs score backing from Dragons’ Den investor
Physics professor Joanne O’Meara has won a prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship, sponsored by 3M Canada and the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. O’Meara is known for using active-learning techniques in her classes and exploring teaching ideas.
If you only knew what lurked under the grill of your prized barbecue, you would make much more of an effort to keep it clean – or hire someone to clean it for you. Enter the Canadian BBQ Boys, a business started by U of G students Matt McCoy and Michael Sutton. After their first year of business school at U of G, they discovered a market for their elbow grease when put to the task of cleaning greasy barbecues during summer break. The reputation and client roster of their summer BBQ cleaning business grew rapidly. In their second year of operation, the business got a major boost from the Hub incubator program of U of G’s John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise. They received mentorship, $8,000 in program funding, another $2,000 from Innovation Guelph and general support on how to get a lean start-up off the ground. Now, the Canadian BBQ Boys
Canadian BBQ Boys Matt McCoy and Michael Sutton.
have the backing of one of Canada’s best-known entrepreneurs and investors after a successful appearance on the popular CBC television program Dragons’ Den. Venture capitalist Jim Treliving, who is chairman and owner of Boston Pizza, saw a lot of potential in the BBQ cleaning business when the young entrepreneurs made a compelling pitch for investment on the show. Treliving invested $50,000 for a 10-per-cent stake in the company.
CAMPUS NEWS
PHOTO: (BOTTOM) ROB O’FLANAGAN
Renovations to benefit audiences, performers A major renovation of the MacKinnon Building to start this spring will result in updated performance space and a new look. The renovations aim to inspire the next generation of artists, musicians and performers who will shape the Canadian and international cultural landscape. Work is expected to begin this month and be completed by fall 2020. The renovation will make the building fully porticomagazine.ca
accessible and provide new practice rooms and landscaped open space. Through Canada Foundation for Innovation funding, the ImprovLab will get dedicated space in the current building courtyard, fulfilling the courtyard’s originally intended purpose as a theatre space. In addition, the George Luscombe Theatre (above) and the Goldschmidt Room will receive significant updates.
Cate Dewey has been appointed as U of G’s associate vice-president (academic). She chaired the Department of Population Medicine for 11 years and has been a U of G professor since 1995. Emma Nishimura, an instructor in the School of Fine Art and Music, received Norway’s prestigious Queen Sonja Print Award. She was chosen from a field of 42 artists worldwide. Tamara Friesen, MA ’97, was appointed a judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in Edmonton. Previously she served as legal counsel for the Law Society of Alberta and Nugent Law Office and as director of legal research and writing at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. She studied Canadian literature at U of G. Alex Charette, a former B.Sc. student, was signed by the Toronto Argonauts. The wide receiver was a standout player for the Guelph Gryphons for four seasons. He also played for the Montreal Alouettes. Ian Dohoo, DVM ’76, PhD ’83, received the Order of Canada for his contributions to animal and human epidemiology. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Prince Edward Island. Spring 2019 PORTICO | 7
Around the ring NUMBER CRUNCH
CAMPUS NEWS
U of G in demand
U of G donors and alumni make a difference in the world.*
$31,334,587 total donations to U of G
12,731 donors
86 alumni events
$51.4 MILLION awards and financial aid received by U of G students in 2017/18
173,000 size of alumni family
160 countries where our alumni live
*Advancement Impact Report, 2018
8 | PORTICO Spring 2019
NOTEWORTHY
Remembering former president Winegard One of the University of Guelph’s founding presidents, William “Bill” Winegard, died Jan. 31 at the age of 94. Hundreds of people attended a celebration of life service held on campus April 6 in War Memorial Hall. “Bill Winegard played a pivotal role in helping U of G become the institution that it is today,” says U of G president Franco Vaccarino. “Bill embodied the values that still help to guide this University: volunteerism, community engagement, leadership.” Winegard served as U of G’s second president and vice-chancellor from 1967 to 1975. He arrived at U of G three years after its founding in 1964 and played a pivotal role in converting an agricultural, veterinary sciences and home economics institution into a comprehensive university. After retiring from academia and U of G, Winegard entered federal politics. As a Member of Parliament for Guelph, he served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade, and was the minister of state (science and technology) and Canada’s first minister for science. Winegard was also known for his dedication to social and environmental causes and his volunteer work, including reading to children at U of G’s Child Care and Learning Centre. On campus, he has lent his name to Winegard Walk, the William Winegard Exemplary Volunteer Involvement Awards and the Winegard Medal for undergraduate achievement. He also established three annual visiting lectureships.
Total applications from Ontario secondary students to the University of Guelph are up nearly 10 per cent this year – about double the system average. As well, the number of students who named U of G or the University of Guelph-Humber as their first choice jumped by nearly 8 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively – significantly higher than the system average increase of 2.6 per cent. “Demand for a U of G education is on the rise,” says Charlotte Yates, provost and vice-president (academic). “This speaks to the quality of our faculty, staff and programs and to our reputation for providing an excellent student experience as a top comprehensive university.” U of G received a total of 26,362 applications, a 9.3-per-cent increase overall. Guelph-Humber received 4,793, an 11.3-per-cent increase over this time last year. “We have been working hard to get the word out about U of G being a unique place to learn and live, and these numbers reflect our success,” says Ray Darling, University registrar.
Charlotte Yates
CAMPUS NEWS
Grads donate $1 million to improve food safety, alum named to position A new $1-million gift from two Laboratory in the Department of University of Guelph grads will Animal Biosciences. establish a professorship intended to “We’ve always been advocates for improve food safety. food safety,” says Tony Leung, who Prof. Lawrence Goodridge, a studied environmental horticulture three-time U of G grad, returned to at U of G. his alma mater to take up the new Connie Leung, an economics Leung Family Professorship in Food graduate, hopes to see U of G Prof. Lawrence Safety based in the Department of attract more students in the field. Goodridge Food Science. Both she and Tony grew up in His position will be funded by Hong Kong before coming to $750,000 from Tony and Connie Leung, both Canada, where they met as U of G students. 1977 grads of U of G and now semi-retired Under the new professorship, Goodridge founders of Sanwa Growers Inc. Based in plans to pursue interdisciplinary research on Tampa, Florida, the 38-year-old company campus on food-borne pathogens, antibiotic sells produce and other goods to restaurants resistance and food fraud. and small wholesale markets. Since 2013, he has been a professor in Their gift also includes $200,000 to expand McGill University’s Department of Food experiential learning in food system issues for Science and Agricultural Chemistry. He undergraduate students and a $50,000 completed a B.Sc. in microbiology and leadership donation for an OAC ’77 class graduate degrees in food science at U of G. project to renovate U of G’s Meat Science CAMPUS NEWS
ILLUSTRATION: (RIGHT) RIGHTMESH
Project to improve data sharing in remote places Improving communications and weather monitoring through better mobile connectivity in Northern and remote communities is the goal of a cross-Canada research project involving the University of Guelph. The project has received $2.13 million from Mitacs and Left, a technology start-up based in Maple Ridge, B.C. The funding – the largest-ever research grant received by the School of Computer Science – will enable the University and Left to further develop the company’s patented mobile mesh porticomagazine.ca
RightMesh networking technology
networking technology, called RightMesh. It is intended to improve sharing of data in Northern communities currently lacking adequate Internet and cellphone access. Residents in isolated areas need access to potentially life-saving information about environmental conditions such as changing sea ice or extreme weather, says Nic Durish, a master’s student in computer science working on the project with Prof. Dan Gillis. The award will support up to 120 graduate student internships over five years.
NOTEWORTHY
U of G to reduce carbon footprint of investments Lessening the environmental impacts of the University of Guelph’s investments is the goal of a plan approved unanimously by the Board of Governors earlier this year. The goal is reducing the carbon footprint of the University’s endowment fund portfolio. The plan includes setting shortand long-term carbon reduction targets and developing new investment goals using responsible investing and environmental, social and governance criteria. Under the plan, the University will reduce its endowment fund’s carbon footprint by 10 per cent in the next two years, and set sustainable and responsible investment goals for the next 10 years. U of G will also build partnerships with other universities for reducing the systemwide environmental footprint of university endowments. Spring 2019 PORTICO | 9
FINDINGS
3-D printing research opens new possibilities When the Ontario Veterinary College’s Michelle Oblak used a 3-D printed custom titanium plate for surgery on a dog’s skull, the procedure not only marked a veterinary first in North America, but it also signalled a potential new breakthrough in cancer research. Along with Cornell University small-animal surgeon Galina Hayes, Oblak removed a large cancerous tumour growing on an eight-year-old dachshund’s skull and replaced it with a 3-D printed custom implant that fit in place like a puzzle piece. Their research breakthrough made national and international headlines. “The technology has grown so quickly, and to be able to offer this incredible, customized, state-of-the-art plate in one of our canine patients was really amazing,” says Oblak, assistant co-director of U of G’s Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation and board-certified veterinary surgical oncologist at OVC. In her translational research, Oblak 10 | PORTICO Spring 2019
OVC’s Michelle Oblak sees the potential for 3-D printed implant technology to be used in treating human cancers one day.
is examining dogs as a disease model for cancer in humans. She studies use of digital rapid prototyping for advance planning for surgeries and 3-D printed implants for reconstruction. Oblak operated on the dachshund, named Patches, at Cornell’s College of
Veterinary Medicine with Hayes, a former OVC colleague. The dog’s tumour had grown so large that it was weighing down her head and growing into her skull, pushing dangerously close to her brain and eye socket. Without surgery, Patches was expected to live only a few weeks; the procedure extended the dog’s life by seven months. Oblak mapped the tumour’s location and size. She worked with an engineer from Sheridan College’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing Design and Technologies to create a 3-D model of the dog’s head and tumour so she could “virtually” perform the surgery and see what would be left behind once the growth was removed. “I was able to do the surgery before I even walked into the operating room.” She also worked with ADEISS, a 3-D medical printing company in London, Ont., to adapt software designed for human medicine. Together they created a skull plate to replace the part she planned to remove from Patches’ head. Typically, she says, surgeries of this kind take a long time. Once the portion of skull is removed, surgeons must assess the damage and shape titanium mesh over the spot. The new technique will eliminate the need to model an implant in the operating room and reduce patient risk by shortening the time spent under anesthesia. Oblak sees tremendous potential for 3-D printed implant technology to be transferred to humans. “In human medicine, there is a lag in use of the available technology while regulations catch up. By performing these procedures in our animal patients, we can provide valuable information that can be used to show the value and safety of these implants for humans,” she says. “These implants are the next big leap in personalized medicine that allows for every element of an individual’s medical care to be specifically tailored to their particular needs.”
PHOTOS: OVC
Discovery RESEARCH, INNOVATION, IDEAS
FINDINGS
FINDINGS
Controlling children’s behaviour with screen time leads to more screen time
PHOTOS: (TOP) SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; (RIGHT) STEFAN MALLOCH / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Giving kids extra time on the iPad for good behaviour may not be the best idea. University of Guelph researchers found that children whose parents dole out screen time as a reward or revoke it as punishment spend more time on a smartphone, tablet or computer or in front of the television than children whose parents don’t. When you give food as a reward, it makes children like the carrot less and the cake
more. Same thing with screen time, says U of G researcher Lisa Tang. Currently only 15 per cent of Canadian preschoolers meet the Canadian Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines of less than one hour of recreational screen time per day. Children under two years of age should not have any. The study found a majority of parents reported using screen time as a way to control behaviour, especially on weekends. Sedentary activity is associated with a greater risk of obesity as well as poorer academic and social skills later in life, says Tang. porticomagazine.ca
Seafood mislabelling persists throughout supply chain
FINDINGS
‘Hangry’ is a real condition It seems “hangry” isn’t just a made-up term. University of Guelph researchers have revealed that the sudden drop in glucose we experience when we are hungry can impact our mood. “We found evidence that a change in glucose level can have a lasting effect on mood,” says Prof. Francesco Leri, Department of Psychology. “I was skeptical when people would tell me that they get grouchy if they don’t eat, but now I believe it. Hypoglycemia is a strong physiological and psychological stressor.” Published in the journal Psychopharmacology, the study examined the impact of a sudden glucose drop on emotional behaviour by inducing hypoglycemia in rats. The researchers tested blood levels of the rats after experiencing hypoglycemia and found more corticosterone, an indicator of physiological stress. This finding supports the idea that the animals experienced stress and depressed mood when they were hypoglycemic, he says. While missing one meal may make you “hangry,” the findings suggest your mood could be impacted if meal-skipping becomes a habit. “Poor mood and poor eating can become a vicious cycle in that if a person isn’t eating properly, they can experience a drop in mood, and this drop in mood can make them not want to eat,” says PhD student Thomas Horman, who led the study. “If someone is constantly missing meals and constantly experiencing this stressor, the response could affect their emotional state on a more constant level.” The study results may help treat people who experience anxiety or depression and may provide insight into connections between depression and diseases such as obesity, diabetes, bulimia and anorexia.
Not only does Canada continue to have a problem with fish mislabelling, but that problem persists throughout the supply chain, according to a first-ever study by University of Guelph researchers. The study found 32 per cent of fish were mislabelled and the number of incorrectly identified samples became compounded as they moved through the food system. “We’ve been doing seafood fraud studies for a decade,” says integrative biology professor Robert Hanner, the study’s lead author. “We know there are problems. But this is the first study to move beyond that and look at where the problems are happening throughout the food supply chain.” The findings reveal that mislabelling happens before fish are imported into Canada, as well as throughout the supply chain, Hanner adds. The research, published in the journal Food Research International, was conducted with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Spring 2019 PORTICO | 11
Discovery RESEARCH BRIEF
‘Robo-gut’ prof part of $25-million research project A University of Guelph microbiologist is part of an international research team receiving a $25-million award under the world’s most ambitious cancer research grant. Prof. Emma AllenVercoe, Department of RESEARCH BRIEF
Prof. Emma Allen-Vercoe
Molecular and Cellular Biology, is among 14 researchers from five countries on a research team looking to study connections between microbes in the body and cancer. Her expertise in culturing gut microbes developed in her U of G lab – and its custom-designed “robo-gut” mimicking the workings of the large intestine – led the team’s principal investigators to invite her to join the project.
12 | PORTICO Spring 2019
A University of Guelph plant scientist has been given the green light by Health Canada to grow cannabis on campus. Under the licence granted to cultivate cannabis in his lab, Prof. Max Jones plans to study everything from cannabis genes to optimal growing conditions to help bring scientific rigour to Canada’s newly legal industry. Jones will develop propagation methods and tools, and work to optimize greenhouse growing conditions needed to nurture a potential multibillion-dollar market in Canada following the recent legalization of recreational cannabis. He also aims to help train students for careers in the growing industry. Before now, U of G cannabis studies have taken place only on licensed partner company premises rather than on campus. Jones will grow the material in a secure culture room on campus.
PHOTO: (MAIN) SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
U of G granted licence to grow cannabis for research
FINDINGS
NOTEWORTHY
Revealing domestic homicide study
Plant-based ‘meat’ aimed at meat-lovers
More than half of Canadians killed through domestic violence in recent years were Indigenous, immigrants or refugees, lived in rural, remote or Northern areas, or were children, according to a first-ever report led by a U of G researcher. The report by sociology and anthropology professor Myrna Dawson found that 476 people in Canada were killed through domestic violence between 2010 and 2015. Of those, 76 per cent were female and at least 53 per cent represented one of the vulnerable populations mentioned above. The majority of victims were in a current intimate
relationship with the accused (61 per cent) and 26 per cent were separated or estranged. Vulnerable populations are more at risk due to issues such as oppression, discrimination and lack of access to resources, says Dawson, director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Response to Violence and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice. “We need to learn more about the nuanced needs of these groups if we want to manage risk and promote safety planning. We need to do so by working with them.”
FINDINGS
PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Heart attack symptoms, treatment different for women Most people associate heart attacks with men. But cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally for both sexes, and women are more likely to die of a heart attack than men, according to a University of Guelph professor. Biomedical sciences professor Glen Pyle says that during a heart attack, women are more likely to present without pain or other symptoms. As a result, heart attacks are often missed in women, and women are less likely to receive recommended therapies, interventions and rehabilitation opportunities. Part of the problem is that treatment for heart attacks is based on data collected primarporticomagazine.ca
ily from men, including looking for “classic” symptoms and basing treatments on thresholds set for men. The failure to quickly recognize atypical symptoms can delay treatment and cause more heart damage, Pyle says. Women who have a heart attack are less likely to receive interventions such as cardiac catheterization, bypass surgery and cardiac rehabilitation, he says. Research agencies have guidelines to include more women in clinical trials and promote research into sex differences in cardiovascular disease. However, these recommendations must be enforced to have an impact on women’s health, Pyle says.
FINDINGS
Teens and family dinners Teenagers and young adults who sit down for family dinners are more likely to have healthier eating habits, regardless of how well the family unit functions and connects away from the supper table. “Gathering around the dinner table is sort of a magical thing,” says lead researcher Kathryn Walton, a dietitian and PhD student who worked on the study with Prof. Jess Haines, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition. The study found that family dinners are associated with better dietary intake for adolescents from both high- and low-functioning families.
A University of Guelph engineering professor is on a quest to give meat-lovers the textures they savour in beef, chicken or fish while retaining the human and environmental health benefits associated with eating plants. Mario Martinez’s research project was one of eight international plant-based meat initiatives chosen to receive funding by the Good Food Institute, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Martinez and four U of G colleagues will use $330,000 to develop prototypes for plant-based meat.
Spring 2019 PORTICO | 13
COVER STORY
LEADERS FOR A SU
14 | PORTICO Spring 2019
USTAINABLE WORLD BUSINESS SCHOOL RECEIVES LARGEST-EVER GIFT IN U OF G HISTORY BY ANDREW VOWLES ILLUSTRATION BY RAYMOND BEISINGER
T
he University of business schools, and most carry the Guelph’s business moniker of a prominent businessschool now has not person. For all its accomplishments, only a new marquee U of G’s former college had neither of and home on cam- those attributes – until now. The new pus but also substan- Lang School is named for Stu’s father tial new resources and renowned business leader, the late and equally big Gordon Saunders Lang (see sidebar). prospects in everything from innovation Adds U of G president Franco Vacand entrepreneurship to sports business. carino: “The Langs’ generous gift adds Following an early April announcement further prestige to our business proof the largest-ever single gift in the grams and will help raise the profile of University of Guelph’s history, the for- the school and the University among mer College of Business and Econom- prospective students as well as the ics was renamed as the Gordon S. Lang business community. This partnership School of Business and Economics. between the University and the Lang With the donation and the renaming, family reflects common values, includU of G is marking its place in business ing our shared commitment to sustaineducation and scholarship, says Julia ability and our focus on community.” Christensen Hughes. The funding is also Adds the dean of the intended to help the former college for the school to further expast decade: “We’re pand its already widesignalling that we’ve spread sustainability arrived.” initiatives, captured in In early April, longits brand statement: time benefactors Stu Leaders for a Sustainand Kim Lang anable World. This past nounced a $21-milfall, U of G’s sustainlion gift to U of G able commerce MBA through their Angel program placed ninth Gabriel Foundation, worldwide – ahead of the latest of several such institutions as major donations Harvard, Stanford made to the Univer- Dean Julia Christensen Hughes and MIT Sloan – in sity through the the BetterWorld MBA foundation. Their new donation will ranking published by Corporate support numerous initiatives in the Knights, a Toronto-based media comschool, from four new academic chairs, pany. Seated in her office located in the to various undergraduate and graduate former Macdonald Hall residence, scholarships, to student competitions which was repurposed in 2016 to house and experiential learning opportun- the business school, Christensen Hughes ities. From Schulich to Ivey to Rotman, says, “This honour recognizes our says Stu, business schools are, well, sincere commitment to producing a
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Spring 2019 PORTICO | 15
The Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics consists of five academic units: Department of Economics and Finance Department of Management Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management Executive Programs (MBA/MA Leadership) as well as… John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise International Institute for Sport Business and Leadership Centre for Marketing Analytics and links to… University-wide initiatives, notably the Arrell Food Institute, a signature U of G project to feed a growing world population while sustaining the planet.
different kind of business leader – That idea resonates for Prof. people who understand the power Rumina Dhalla. She joined the of ethical business to make a posiDepartment of Management a tive impact. For business schools to decade ago as an expert in organproduce the kinds of leaders the izational identity and reputation. world needs, we need a different She’s now coordinating efforts to approach to business education.” further embed sustainability The Corporate Knights results across the school’s teaching, realso reflect a widening consensus. search and community engageEarly this year, business school ment activities, including building deans and corporate leaders gathon innovations introduced by ered at Davos, Switzerland, for the colleagues, such as Introduction annual World Economic Forum to Business, with its “Great Ethdiscussed a new report released ical Dilemma” case competition under the aegis of the United for all first-year B.Comm. stuNations Global Compact. Calling Prof. Rumina Dhalla dents. Noting that the school for inclusion of measures such as belongs to both the UN Global sustainability and corporate social responsibility in Compact Canada and the Sustainable Developschool rankings, the report’s authors wrote “there ment Solutions Network Canada, Dhalla says,“We is a significant potential to have a positive impact want to build our identity of being sustainable so on business school education – and therefore the that it becomes our DNA.” global business community – by adjusting rankings Sustainability also encompasses community and accreditation criteria to reflect the needs of an well-being and engagement, ideas that underpin inclusive, sustainable 21st-century economy.” the John F.Wood Centre for Business and Student That’s what U of G’s business brand statement Enterprise, says Melanie Lang (no relation to Stu is all about, says Christensen Hughes, who will Lang), an adjunct professor in the Department of end her term as the school’s longest-serving dean Management and the centre’s founding executive this spring. Earlier this year at Davos, she facili- director. Founded 10 years ago, the centre received tated a session on rankings organized by the a $7-million gift last fall from John F. Wood, forUnited Nations Principles for Responsible merly president and CEO of W.C.Wood Co. Ltd., Management Education (PRME) initiative and one of North America’s largest appliance manuCorporate Knights. In 2018, U of G was recog- facturers. Working with client businesses and ornized as a PRME Champion – one of only two ganizations, the Wood Centre offers experiential Canadian business schools with that designation learning opportunities for students looking to solve – for its efforts to integrate the UN’s Sustainable economic, social and environmental problems. Development Goals into its academic and research Further afield, a course offered through the centre programs and community parthas taken U of G business and nerships. The University also science students to Campobello belongs to the Globally ResponIsland, N.B., to analyze the island’s sible Leadership Initiative socioeconomic challenges and (GRLI), an international group recommend solutions. of schools and organizations. The centre’s Hub incubator Says Christensen Hughes, who program has funded and supwill join the GRLI board this ported dozens of start-ups run by summer, “The Langs’ transformalumni and grad students – from ational gift will elevate the school Escarpment Labs, which provides to a new level.We are particularyeast strains for craft brewers; to ly excited by the opportunity to WELO, a food and beverage significantly strengthen our company that makes probiotcommitment to active learning, ic-infused bars and drinks; to research with impact and comAltilas Beauty, a cosmetics comProf. Melanie Lang munity engagement.” pany that sources innovative and
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LANG GIFT ROOTED IN DESIRE TO IMPROVE LIFE
PHOTO: ROB O’FLANAGAN
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tu Lang wanted to put his dad’s name on U of G’s business school. But how to square that name recognition with Gordon Lang’s lifelong business ethos grounded in humility? Gordon Lang ran CCL (Conn Chem Ltd.) based in Toronto, the company begun originally as Lang Lamps by Stu’s grandfather, also named Stuart. Today the multibillion-dollar company is the world’s largest label maker, employing more than 20,000 people in 40 countries and making products from iPhone glass screens to most of the polymer currency in circulation today. CCL was formed in 1951, the year Stu was born, the eldest of four siblings. It was Gordon who steered Stu into chemical engineering studies at Queen’s University, where he won a Yates Cup as a wide receiver with the varsity football team and where he played varsity hockey. He ultimately joined the family business in 1982 – but not before playing professional football for eight years with the Edmonton Eskimos, including winning five Grey Cup championships. Stu retired from CCL in 2005. His connection to the University of Guelph began in 2009 when he volunteered as a receiver’s coach. Named as head coach the following year, he spent six years with the Gryphons, compiling the best winning percentage in team history and claiming the Yates Cup in 2015. He is now a team adviser. Lang and his wife, Kim, have made major donations to Queen’s University and Upper Canada College, which is also Stu’s alma mater. The new business
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Philanthropist Stu Lang says U of G’s sense of identity and community-mindedness would have resonated with his dad, namesake of the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics.
school gift at the University of Guelph follows more than $50-million worth of donations to U of G, including funding for a sports pavilion opened in 2017, humanitarian scholarships and facilities support in the Ontario Veterinary College, where Kim serves on the Pet Trust board of directors. Lang first connected with Julia Christensen Hughes, dean of U of G’s College of Business and Economics, when he asked her to evaluate his football team’s coach and player meetings. He says he’s a fan of the business school’s vision as a force for good and its focus on sustainability.
Referring to grads, he says, “What’s important is not how much money they make but what they accomplish. Did they make the world a better place to live? Hopefully we’re creating business leaders who can make tough decisions because they’re the right decisions.” Lang says the business school’s strong sense of selfless work, leadership development, entrepreneurial spirit and community involvement would have resonated with his dad. “I think he would feel embarrassed,” says Lang of the school’s new marquee, “but he would still have patted me on the back and said, ‘Well done, son.’”
Spring 2019 PORTICO | 17
Prof. Norm O’Reilly
“THIS GIFT WILL GIVE US RESOURCES TO BECOME A WORLDLEADING BUSINESS SCHOOL WITH ELITE INTERNATIONAL FACULTY.”
environmentally responsible ingredients. Some of those business ideas might come from participants in the centre’s newly equipped MakerSpace, which provides facilities and equipment for students from across campus to collaborate on prototypes. Among other benefits, the Wood gift will enable the centre to establish two named chairs in entrepreneurship and community engagement, says Melanie Lang, who is 2018-19 chair of the board of directors of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. “It’s important for students to be part of their surrounding community.” Elsewhere in the school, the Marketing Analytics
Experiential learning opportunities include a connection through the John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise that has seen U of G students visit Campobello Island, N.B., to analyze the island’s socioeconomic challenges and suggest solutions. 18 | PORTICO Spring 2019
Centre launched early this year is intended to help bridge academia and industry through events and marketing research projects. Calling the centre a virtual hub, director Tanya Mark, a professor in the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, says it’s the first research centre in Ontario to use business analytics and insights to explore consumer behaviour in food and health. “Companies have access to incredible amounts of data, and we want to help them improve how they engage with their customers,” says Mark. Besides helping organizations learn about consumers and improve business decision-making, the centre is intended to provide students with skills in analytics through collaborations with local companies. That kind of industry-academia partnership also underpins the University’s new International Institute for Sports Business and Leadership, announced last fall.The only one of its kind in a business school at a Canadian university, the institute brings together U of G faculty members and grad students with Canadian and international researchers to study business aspects of the multibillion-dollar sport industry, including events, facilities, sponsorship, professional and participation sport, and links to health and wellness. “Sport-related businesses need the kind of analysis that can be provided by the academic world,” says founding director Prof. Norm O’Reilly, a leading sport business scholar and the school’s assistant dean of executive programs. The institute is run jointly by the business school and U of G’s Department of Athletics; its advisory board of more than 40 industry leaders is chaired by Richard Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee and a globally recognized champion of doping-free sport and fair play. Ask O’Reilly about the impact of the new Lang gift, and he predictably reaches for a sport metaphor. “It’s a home run,” he says. “Unless you’re a Harvard or a Stanford, every named business school needs the credibility of a successful businessperson. This gift will give us resources to become a world-leading business school with elite international faculty.” At U of G’s new Lang School, that’s an idea worth sustaining.
NOTEWORTHY U OF G BUSINESS GRADS Tony Arrell Burgundy Asset Management, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’67
More than 3,500 undergraduate students are enrolled in eight B.Comm. majors in the school. U of G offers M.Sc. programs in marketing and consumer studies, and tourism and hospitality; MA programs in economics, management and leadership; an MBA in sustainable commerce, hospitality and tourism, and food and agribusiness; and PhD programs in economics and management.
Faculty in the school include holders of a Canada Research Chair in risk management and regulation; University Research Chairs in consumer choice and econometrics; and college fellowships in human resource management, market dynamics, knowledge and risk, and commerce for a sustainable world. Faculty and students in the school have studied varied topics including:
The school’s executive programs consist of three MBA streams and the MA Leadership, launched in 2004 and now U of G’s largest graduate program. School faculty rank in the top four per cent in the world for research output in economics, according to Research Papers in Economics. U of G has been ranked among the top institutions worldwide for real estate research, according to a study in the Journal of Real Estate Literature.
Martha Billes Canadian Tire Corp., BSA ’58 Tim Bray Open Text, B.Sc. ’81 Bill Brock TD, BSA ’58 Shauneen Bruder RBC, BA ’80 John Kenneth Galbraith economist, Dip. ’28
Risk management and regulation Environmental economics Indigenous/wine tourism Sustainable food service Compulsive and impulse shopping Accounting/governance in developing
Warren Jestin Scotiabank, BA ’71 Kim Parlee TD, B.Comm. ’92
countries Leisure time for well-being and productivity School-to-work transition Sport marketing and sponsorship Innovation adoption
Evan Siddall CMHA, BA ’87 Rob Wesseling Co-operators, BA ’95 Don Ziraldo Inniskillin, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’71
2006
2009
2013
2014
2016
2018
2019
Creation of the College of Management and Economics (CME) consolidates U of G business research and teaching strengths
CME launches the Centre for Business and Social Entrepreneurship, now the John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise
CME inaugurates the forerunner to today’s Business Career Development Centre
CME rebranded to become the College of Business and Economics (CBE)
Macdonald Hall, a former campus residence, reopens as the new home of business at U of G
CBE launches the International Institute for Sport Business and Leadership, and the Marketing Analytics Centre
CBE renamed as the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics
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FEATURE
FROM U OF G GRADS TO
CIVIC CITIZENS STORIES BY ROB O’FLANAGAN
20 | PORTICO Spring 2019
The transition from campus community to broader community has taken many of our grads down a path of public service. Whether they studied political science, economics, chemistry, agriculture or communications, a number have landed in the political arena, serving in Canada’s Senate or as MPs or MPPs. What they have in common is the conviction that the University’s core value of making the world a better place, a value instilled in them as students, fuelled their desire to serve a wider constituency and make a difference. Some are historical figures from decades past, including Albert Campbell, previously mayor of Scarborough, Ont.; former New Brunswick premier Allison Dysart; and James Taggart, former member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. Others are known for their dedication to contemporary political life, including Audrey McLaughlin, former leader of the federal New Democratic Party; former Guelph and Guelph-Wellington MPP Liz Sandals; and former MP Olivia Chow. The following stories offer a glimpse into the lives of seven of our grads who followed political aspirations to serve their constituents, their province and their country. Many other alumni fill vital roles at all levels of government across the country, including Ontario MPPs Kinga Surma and Kaleed Rasheed and Canadian MPs Karen Ludwig and David McGuinty.
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LISA RAITT MP, MILTON
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isa Raitt came to U of G to do a master’s degree in chemistry but ended up leaving with a desire to represent others. It started when she served on the graduate student association board. “Then I also got into external politics at U of G, taking on the role of vice-president external,” she says. “So, yes, I would say I got the bug for representing people at the University of Guelph.” Raitt, who did her undergraduate work at St. Francis Xavier University and has a law degree from Osgoode Hall atYork University, went on to major roles in Canadian government. First elected to the House of Commons in 2008, she served as minister of natural resources, minister of labour and minister of transport in the government led by former prime minister Stephen Harper. “The first really big takeaway from U of G that has served me very well is I learned how to run a meeting,” she says. “But the other very important thing I learned was the importance that, even when you didn’t agree with somebody in the political or partisan world, you still had to forge a friendship and work with them.” That lesson has served throughout her political life in Ottawa, where she has nurtured strong working relationships with people from all parties. “I came in with that being a very important part of my value set. The person across from you in politics doesn’t have to be your enemy. Everyone talks about inclusion and diversity, and what it always boils down to is tolerance and the ability to see past your ideology and see the person. I think we need more of that.” Raitt came to U of G from a small town in Nova Scotia and knew no one on campus. “I was looking for community and I found it,” she says. “Going to Guelph turned out to be the right decision for me. I made friends there who I still call friends today.” Spring 2019 PORTICO | 21
ROB BLACK
LISA THOMPSON
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CANADIAN SENATOR
ob Black’s first semester at U of G was nearly his last. A couple of months in, he realized what was missing: a deeper connection to the campus community. He found it, and his life changed. Raised on a mixed farm north of Fergus, Ont., which has been in his family since 1834, Black has a lifelong connection to agriculture. He still lives near Fergus. Black came to U of G to study agricultural business at the Ontario Agricultural College. In his first semester, he continued to live at home and drive back and forth for classes. “I didn’t feel a part of the campus community or the class,” he says.“Early in my first semester, I was ready to quit. But I spoke to our class adviser, Mike Jenkinson. Mike said, ‘You can’t do this on the spur of the moment. Go home and think about it.’ I credit him for keeping me here.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Black to the Senate in 2018, highlighting his background in agriculture, rural community development and youth development. He sits on the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. His four children, while not farmers, are all employed in agricultural and rural sectors. “When we’re debating issues, looking at bills or legislation, how it’s going to impact agriculture and rural people in Ontario and Canada is always on my mind,” he says. Keeping young people thriving in rural settings is vitally important to him. But that doesn’t mean they have to be farmers, he says. “There is an abundance of agricultural opportunities in science and technology, education, organization, finance and accounting. The opportunities are almost endless.” Black stepped into the political arena about four years ago, winning a seat on the Wellington County council. He resigned that position when appointed to the Senate. “I wanted to give back,” he says. “Giving back to my community of Wellington County is where I started. And it is an absolute honour to be a senator and to represent Ontario and Canada.” 22 | PORTICO Spring 2019
MPP, HURON-BRUCE
ntario’s new Minister of Education, Lisa Thompson, has deep roots in the breadbasket of Ontario. She lives on a farm near Teeswater with her husband, Dennis. They tend a small herd of purebred goats and a cash crop operation not far from Lake Huron’s shores, an area where she was born and raised. Thompson served in professional roles in agriculture, including as general manager of the Ontario Dairy Goat Cooperative and rural community adviser for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. She knew in high school that she wanted to run for provincial office someday. The BA grad’s network of friends and associates at U of G proved invaluable throughout her career, she says, adding that the University-sponsored Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program was immeasurable in developing her executive leadership skills. She says Ontario’s agri-food sector is ripe with opportunities for U of G grads. She wants to ensure that future grads are aware of the opportunities and get the resources and guidance they need to capitalize on them. “We need to do a better job of promoting the jobs of today and tomorrow for our students,” says Thompson. “Given that I’m in the unique position of being Minister of Education at this time, I’m seeing the opportunity to have evidence-based learning complemented by handson learning to ensure that our students are embracing the opportunities that are ahead of them.” She wants to help guide students along career tracks where they have a better chance of working close to home if they choose and having a good quality of life. “We are the breadbasket of southwestern Ontario with our farming sector,” she says, speaking of her riding. “The lure for me is to head home every Thursday night after I’m done at Queen’s Park. It’s the place where I recharge my batteries.”
MARWAN TABBARA
MP, KITCHENER SOUTH-HESPELER
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orn into political chaos and civil war, Marwan Tabbara came to Canada as a child in the late 1980s after his family fled their homeland of Lebanon. His early experience stirred in him a deep appreciation for the democratic process and for non-violent means to social change. “I think of myself as someone who wants to make a difference,” says Tabbara, when asked why he entered politics. He was elected in 2015 for the Liberal Party of Canada. “It’s a good feeling to be a voice and an advocate for my community. It’s really rewarding.” An electrical apprentice before studying politics at U of G, Tabbara worked at physically demanding construction and factory jobs to pay his way through school. He says he has always been intrigued by and deeply concerned about world events, and the more informed he became about the world’s problems, the more he wanted to make it a better place. “When you think about what we fought for just to earn the right to put our name on a ballot, voter apathy is difficult to understand,” he says. “I saw politics as a good way to effect change in a positive and non-violent way.” In many countries around the world, change comes through violence and revolution, he says. “But within our western democracies, you can bring about change by being socially active or being a part of our governing systems.” Tabbara says his time at U of G was the most significant and best experience of his life. “When I went back to Lebanon for the first time after being elected, I visited my cousins and spoke with their children, who were university-age. They say it was great and so exciting that I became an MP in Canada. But I told them that the most important thing, and my biggest achievement, was my education,” he says. “What you learn in university – to always look for secondary sources, check if it is a reliable source and find out if it is true – is so relevant.” porticomagazine.ca
SUZE MORRISON MPP, TORONTO CENTRE
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s a performance driver, Suze Morrison likes the thrill and skill of autocross, a motorsport involving car handling and driving prowess. Shortly after completing a degree in media studies and public relations at the University of Guelph-Humber, she took up the sport as a means of empowerment. “Learning to drive after a life of trauma was the first thing that made me feel like I was in control again,” says the Toronto Centre MPP, a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party. “And that’s when the speed bug took hold and I started looking into performance driving schools. It’s a huge part of my life now.” Morrison holds the portfolios for housing and women’s issues in the NDP caucus. “There’s no shortage of good work to be found in those two areas,” she says. Born in Parry Sound, Ont., and raised in her earliest years in a tiny community near there, she moved to Toronto as a child. She identifies as having mixed settler and Indigenous heritage, with a history of foster care on both sides of her family. “Over the years I’ve struggled with my identity and how I self-identify,” she says.“It’s largely been the urban Indigenous community that’s caught me, given me place and opportunity to learn about my own history and culture.” She was raised in poverty by a disabled mother and learned resilience at a young age. Her lived experience and the strength she gained from it, she says, made her suited to a life of service to her community. She and her husband, Trevor, live in Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood. “The value of having gone through so much and come out the other side is you have more perspective to draw on. It’s about how you connect with the people you represent.” A member of one of the first graduating classes at Guelph-Humber, Morrison was active in student council and learned invaluable advocacy lessons.
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TOBY BARRETT
RANDY PETTAPIECE
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B
MPP, HALDIMAND-NORFOLK
ne day in 1949, Toby Barrett was riding in the back seat of his parents’ Studebaker. Suddenly his mother turned around and said, “Look, Toby, it’s your name.” The four-year-old boy peered out the window and indeed saw his name on federal election signs attached to telephone poles. The signs belonged to his grandfather, also Toby Barrett, who was seeking his second term in office in the Canadian Parliament. The sight left a lasting impression. “I was a farm boy who always wanted to farm,” says Barrett, a grad of U of G’s Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) who is the long-standing MPP for the southern Ontario riding along Lake Erie. “But at age four, they put the bug in my ear that I was going to be an elected representative, like my grandfather.” Barrett credits his U of G economics degree and the practical knowledge he gained about extension education during graduate studies at OAC for preparing him for a lifetime of community service. Extension education involves the dissemination of useful information, often focused on rural people, to help foster professional, social and cultural change. “My education helped me realize the importance of reaching out to large groups of people, one person at a time.” By the time Barrett enrolled at the recently established University of Guelph in 1965, three generations of Barretts had already attended OAC or the Ontario Veterinary College. His great-grandfather, grandfather and father all went here. “Dad had this big grain truck that he drove to university. They were always using that truck to carry out pranks.” One of those pranks involved hauling an entire Second World War plane from a scrapyard near Hamilton to the campus, where it was plunked nose down in a prepared hole. Like father, like son. During the height of UFO paranoia in the 1960s, the younger Barrett and others at Mill’s Hall fabricated a UFO out of an inflatable swimming pool, filled it with hydrogen and sent it aloft over the city. 24 | PORTICO Spring 2019
MPP, PERTH-WELLINGTON
efore the Ridgetown Campus of the University of Guelph was established, there was the Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology.That’s where Randy Pettapiece went to learn some of the finer details about farming. A professor there instilled in him the value of serving his community. “The late Jean Wilson was one of my teachers at Ridgetown,” says Pettapiece, who was first elected in 2011, representing the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. “One of the last things she says to us before graduating was that we may not know where we’re going or what we’re going to do when we get out of college, but she asked us to please consider getting involved in our community. She says the rewards are so huge that you don’t even worry about getting paid. I took that to heart.” When he was at Ridgetown, modern farming technology, particularly for crop production, was in its infancy. And people within agriculture were only beginning to talk about farming as a business. “Now there are ways to put the optimal amount of fertilizer on different areas of a corn crop, as opposed to fertilizing the entire field to the maximum, whether it needs it or not,” he says. The political life, he says, is a life of service to constituents. “I told my staff that I don’t want to hear that anyone was turned away at the door. If anyone wants to see me, we make it happen.You have to serve your constituents.” Of the many issues that preoccupy Pettapiece, the urbanrural divide is foremost on his mind. “We live in our own little worlds,” he says. “City folks have maybe lost touch with where our food comes from and rural people don’t always know a lot about the city. That sometimes translates into having difficulties understanding each other.” He wants as many urban people as possible to know about what goes on in rural Ontario.
New chapters, sights & sounds
The latest books, art and exhibitions by U of G faculty and alumni HELEN MARSHALL
THE MIGRATION Described as a dark and topical fable with a timeless quality, Helen Marshall’s first novel, The Migration, was released in March by Random House Canada. Born in Sarnia, Ont., to parents who immigrated to Canada from South Africa, Marshall was inspired to become a writer in high school. She studied English at U of G and medieval studies at the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford. She has published two collections of short stories. LORRAINE ROY
PAINTING © DAVID URBAN, THE DREAM OF THE PORCELAIN BIRD
Woven Woods
Artist Lorraine Roy’s exhibition Woven Woods continues its coast-to-coast tour this year. The exhibition consists of 12 circular quilted wall hangings about the science of tree root communication. The intricate, finely crafted pieces are inspired by the research of University of British Columbia forest biology expert Suzanne Simard. porticomagazine.ca
The exhibition began in early 2018 in Waterford, Ont., and will end in 2021. Roy studied ornamental horticulture at U of G. As an artist, she has worked in textiles for more than 30 years. CHRIS BANKS
Midlife Action Figure Chris Banks’s next full-length poetry volume, Midlife Action Figure, is due out this year from ECW Press. Banks has a BA from U of G and a master
of arts in creative writing from Concordia University. His first full-length book of poetry, Bonfires, won the Jack Chalmers Award for poetry in 2004. Midlife Action Figure follows the 2017 release of his fulllength volume The Cloud Versus Grand Unification Theory. Banks’s poems have been described as heartfelt meditations on the contemporary world, written with conversational ease. DAVID URBAN
Lonely Boy New paintings by well-known Canadian artist David Urban were featured this spring at Toronto’s Corkin Gallery. The new works in the solo exhibition Lonely Boy embrace vibrant colours inspired by Italian design and architecture, while maintaining
an affinity with Canadian legends Group of Seven and Painters Eleven. The human body and the landscape merge as one in the paintings. Urban completed a master of fine art at U of G. He has held more than 40 solo exhibitions and has been included in group shows around the world.
to their neighbours. But an unusual invitation placed in their mailboxes forces them out of their shells, exposing their secrets. Reed has a BA from U of G and a creative writing master’s degree from the University of Windsor. LAURA BERTRAM
MARINA REED
Unspeakable
Primrose Street
Laura Bertram appears in the television mini-series Unspeakable this year. Toronto-born Bertram, who studied history at U of G, had film roles in 50/50 and Gunless. She has worked steadily in television since the early 90s. She appeared in last year’s TV film A Winter’s Dream.
Marina Reed’s novel Primrose Street has gained many fans since its 2018 publication. Residents of Primrose Street go about their relatively mundane lives, remaining virtually invisible
Spring 2019 PORTICO | 25
Spotlight
Skin deep Nanoscience moves from research lab to start-up cosmetics company
There are lab studies – and then there’s personal experience. As a research scientist and co-founder at Veriphy Skincare in Guelph, University of Guelph graduate Carley Miki spends her days testing the fledgling company’s beauty products. “A lot of science goes into skin care,” says Miki, who graduated in 2012 in the inaugural cohort of the University’s nanoscience program. Still, some of her best informal testing happens when she looks in the mirror. Miki has used the company’s product triad – moisturizer, facial serum and eye cream – every day since Veriphy was launched last summer. The result? “I’ve noticed a big difference through this winter. Normally my skin is so dry and this winter it’s keeping healthy through all this crazy weather we’ve been getting.” Call it professional and personal validation for a product line whose active ingredient was discovered by physics professor John Dutcher, Miki’s former lab “ A LOT OF supervisor during her studies at enced by her dad, who had studied SCIENCE U of G. That ingredient – produced physics before becoming a math GOES INTO under the trade name PhytoSpherix teacher. SKIN CARE,” – consists of glycogen nanoparticles She was attracted by what she SAYS MIKI, that retain water. describes as U of G’s cutting-edge WHO Dutcher, holder of a Canada nanoscience program that meshed GRADUATED IN 2012 IN THE aspects of engineering, chemistry and Research Chair in Soft Matter and INAUGURAL Biological Physics, found those physics. “I like working with them COHORT particles in sweet corn in 2008. A all,” she says. “When you start OF THE year later, he launched Mirexus blending fields, you get some interUNIVERSITY’S Biotechnologies to explore applicaNANOSCIENCE esting science out of that.” PROGRAM. tions in cosmetics, food supplements During the third summer of her and drugs. undergrad, she worked in Dutcher’s That same year, Miki arrived from KingsMacNaughton Building lab on flow properties ville, Ont., to begin her undergrad in the of his nano-based materials. “That solidified University’s brand-new nanoscience program for me that I enjoyed working in the lab,” says directed by Dutcher. Miki, who saw results from that initial work Back then, she hadn’t envisioned working published in a physics journal last year. with cosmetics. Miki just wanted to pursue her After completing her master’s degree in interest in STEM disciplines, perhaps influphysics at McMaster University in 2014, she 26 | PORTICO Spring 2019
Carley Miki is a research scientist at Veriphy Skincare in Guelph.
Veriphy’s line of skin care products contains nanoparticles discovered in the lab of U of G physicist John Dutcher. porticomagazine.ca
returned to Guelph. By then, Dutcher was working on taking PhytoSpherix to market. Mirexus and Veriphy are now housed in a 12,000-square-foot facility opened in 2018 in Guelph’s Hanlon Creek Business Park. Besides skin care applications, Mirexus aims to develop markets for its nanoparticles in nutraceuticals and drugs. Working with Veriphy’s product formulator and co-op students from U of G and other schools, Miki has studied anti-aging and moisture retention properties of PhytoSpherix. The company plans to add a new cleanser and mask to its product line. As well, Miki works on potential biomedical applications for phytoglycogen under Glysantis, a Mirexus subsidiary. Alter the formulation of PhytoSpherix, she says, and it affects the skin in different ways. She’s looking at use of the product for immune-based skin disorders such as eczema, psoriasis and contact dermatitis. “We still work closely with John Dutcher’s group on fundamental properties of phytoglycogen,” says Veriphy president Alison Crumblehulme. That’s not the company’s only ongoing tie with the University. In 2018, the inaugural Veriphy Skincare Scholarship for Women in STEM was awarded to first-year science student Grace Coleman. The new annual award is intended to encourage young women to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at U of G. Worth $1,000, the funding came at a good time for Coleman, who arrived last fall from her hometown Halifax. “I am solely responsible for paying for my own education,” she says. “The Veriphy scholarship is part of the much-appreciated funding I need to get to the Class of 2022 finish line.” For Dutcher, the award is “the whole full circle. It’s nice that activity that started in the lab can actually help to enhance the education of up-and-coming students. A new scholarship is always a good thing, and to have it come from technology discovered at the University of Guelph is really quite special.” This past February,Veriphy’s eye cream was chosen as tops in 2018 by Toronto-based Fashion magazine. Spring 2019 PORTICO | 27
Spotlight
Landing on his feet
U of G sprinter Kudakwashe (Kuda) Murasiranwa has his sights set on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Kudakwashe (Kuda) Murasiranwa has journeyed far to be a Gryphon athlete. Born in Zimbabwe during great turmoil in the African nation, the 21-year-old was separated from his parents as a small child, a separation that unexpectedly lasted more than 10 years and spanned some 15,000 kilometres. Eventually he made his way to the University of Guelph, where he is now a rising star on the track and field team. He won gold and bronze medals at this year’s 28 | PORTICO Spring 2019
“THIS IS A GUY WHO IS A STABLE, EVERY-DAYALWAYSTHERE KIND OF GUY,” SAYS U OF G SPRINTING COACH JASON KERR.
national track and field championships in March in the men’s 4x200 relay and 60m races, and gold and silver medals in the same categories at the provincial championships in February. If his prowess as a sprinter is apparent, so are his depth and strength of character, says his coach. “Right away you learn that this is a guy who is a stable, every-day-always-there kind of guy,” says U of G sprinting coach Jason Kerr. “No matter how much chaos is around him, he finds a way to keep everything together. He’s
PHOTO: ROB O’FLANAGAN
Sprinter turns past turmoil, hardships into motivation to excel
PHOTO: ROB O’FLANAGAN
like a rock. He’s the kind of person who is not going to falter in a crazy, high-performance environment. For him, that’s just another day.” Murasiranwa says learning to live without his parents made him tough and determined. His natural talent for athletics and his capacity to push himself to improve played a major role in the development of his inner strength and his resilience and independence. “When I was young, it was very challenging. I didn’t grow up with my parents around. It was just my little brother and I,” he says. “From where I am right now, I can appreciate it because it made me the person who I am. It made me stronger. I understand why they did it – for a better life.” Political and economic chaos in Zimbabwe drove his family apart at the beginning of the 2000s. Conditions in the country had deteriorated rapidly due to failed monetary policies, a ruinous land seizure program and government-led violence against civilians. The inflation rate was astronomical and unemployment rampant. His parents, Murasiranwa says, wanted their children to grow up free from the threat of violence, and felt moving to North America was the answer. His father, Armstrong, left for the United States first, leaving his toddler son and pregnant wife, Emillia, behind. A boilermaker by trade, his father had trouble finding work, and his second son, Darlington, was born in his absence. It would be 13 years before the father saw his second-born child for the first time. In 2003, Kuda’s mother, Emillia, decided to join her husband in the U.S., seeing it as a way to hasten the resettlement process. But since she was unable to get a visa that allowed her children to come with her, the mother left her sons with their grandmothers, believing it to be a temporary arrangement. Immigration barriers lingered, and time passed. The boys were eventually moved to South Africa to live with their half-siblings, as violence and starvation spread in Zimbabwe. Years passed. Murasiranwa and his brother, Darlington, were finally able to join their parents in Edmonton in 2014. The two boys excelled at football, soccer and track, and both immediately caught the attention of high school and post-secondary recruiters and coaches. Kerr, himself a sprinter, began recruiting Murasiranwa in 2015, soon after hearing a lot of porticomagazine.ca
chatter about him in national track and field circles. He says he saw something special in the young man, and not just in his athletic physique. “If you spend enough time around elite athletes, you get a feeling for those who have something extra, something a little bit different,” Kerr says. Murasiranwa wanted to come to U of G right away, but ended up attending Southwestern Oregon Community College in 2017 and part of 2018 to boost his grades. “Jason was always there for me and believed in me. And U of G had the best track program in Canada,” he says. Once at U of G, Murasiranwa won his first two 60-metre races, and never looked back. His goal is to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. “I’ve set goals for myself Kuda’s early life helped to form his character and make him able to that I really want to function well in the chaos of the highaccomplish,” he says. “I’ll performance environment. keep training hard and working hard at academics and hopefully I’ll do well in the next two or three years. I feel good around here. It’s like a family.” Kerr’s highest hope for his young sprinter is that he gets a good education. Pursuing a major in criminal justice and public policy, Murasiranwa wants to work as an immigration or police officer. “I think he is going to be a very influential member of community groups in the future. There’s a lot going on under the surface with him,” Kerr says. “When you combine his faith and his life experiences, it writes a pretty poetic story. I think he is driven by a much stronger force.” Murasiranwa says he is happy – happy with the athletic gifts he has, happy with the home he has found at U of G. His parents now live in Kamloops, B.C. “I talk to them every day.” And he appreciates the struggles he went Have an idea for through and strength he gained from them. an alumni “It taught me not to give up easily and to work spotlight? Send hard. I always find a way to get through someus a note at thing, find a reason to work through it. I find a porticomagazine @uoguelph.ca. higher purpose in everything.” Spring 2019 PORTICO | 29
Time capsule
1975
Coffee on campus has a long history. Well before the days of full, half-caf, decaf or fancy frapps with or without whip, coffee at U of G often meant the Massey Hall Coffee House. Ask anyone who studied or worked here between 1951 and 1998 about the place, and odds are they will have a great story to tell about what they heard, saw, discussed or experienced there. In 1951, a group of students got permission to excavate the basement of Massey Hall to open the coffee house. They dug it out in just three nights, and opened it under the auspices of the Campus Co-operative, selling coffee, muffins and more. Over the years, the coffee shop changed with the times, including sporting a psychedelic vibe in the mid-1970s. The shop closed in 1998.
We believe this shot to be from about 1975. Are we correct? Do you spot yourself or anyone you know? Send a note to porticomagazine@ uoguelph.ca and let us know! 30 | PORTICO Spring 2019
ON CAMPUS
OFF CAMPUS
+ The University Centre officially opens in June and is dubbed the “campus hub.” + Donald Forster becomes the University of Guelph’s third president. + The Umbria sculpture is installed in front of the University Centre. The trio of cast fibreglass and concrete sculptural forms by Walter Redinger now stands in the U of G Arboretum. + U of G scientists announce freezing techniques to store cow embryos.
+ The Vietnam War ends in April 1975 with the fall of Saigon. + The British Conservative Party chooses its first woman leader, Margaret Thatcher. + The IRA attacks the United Kingdom. + NASA launches the first joint United States/Soviet Union space flight. + Betamax videotapes and VHS tapes are introduced by Sony and Matsushita/ JVC, respectively. + One of the very first blockbuster films, Jaws, is released in the summer.
PHOTO: U OF G ARCHIVES
THE YEAR
Alumni matters ALUMNI NEWS
COMING EVENTS
Caring students pitch in to help alumnus
E
PHOTO: HENRY VIII, STRATFORDFESTIVAL.CA
ach day we hear stories that make us proud to belong to the University of Guelph family. Whether it is about a research project, a varsity championship, alumni achievements or a grassroots student initiative, pride in our institution is everywhere. We learned of an incredible story recently. A U of G alumnus, Bill, Richard Horne Jason Moreton was involved in a car accident. President, UGAA, Associate During this terrible time, his wife and proud donor Vice-President, to U of G Advancement, had to think about Bill’s beloved and proud donor flock of sheep. She had no idea how to U of G to care for them, and several ewes were pregnant. She contacted an OVC faculty member, who immediately rallied the troops. Students quickly organized a rotation schedule and outlined care duties on a massive whiteboard, and spots were filled immediately Initially, the family hoped Bill would recover, and it was a tremendous relief to have OVC students look after the sheep. Sadly, Bill passed away, and while it took some time to find a new, permanent home for the flock, the students continued their duties faithfully each day. The students were offered remuneration and gas money, but they politely refused, happy to pitch in when the family needed help. Put simply, U of G has incredible people who care about others and do what they can to help.They jump into action, expecting nothing in return. This story is just one example of how students today are still as caring and connected as always. And that is something we can all be proud of.
May 8 Gryphons on Bay Street Hosted by the College of Business and Economics, an annual networking reception for alumni working on Bay Street and in the GTA.
June 21-23 Alumni and Reunion Weekend Don’t miss the marquee alumni event of the year! Events include class reunions, craft beer tasting and campus tours.
May 9 Gryphons at Big Rock Brewery A networking evening for alumni in the GTA, hosted by the College of Biological Science.
July 4 Alumni Night at Blue Jays Game Join alumni for a pre-game reception and cheer on the Jays against the Boston Red Sox.
June 2 CBSAA Family Day at the Royal Botanical Gardens Enjoy lunch, a guest speaker and the RBG.
July 16 OVC Alumni Reception at the CVMA Conference in Toronto. Sept. 28 UGAA Pre-Game Party at Homecoming Stay tuned for details.
June 21 Alumni Awards of Excellence Gala A celebration to honour this year’s winners of Alumni of Honour, Young Alumni Award and Alumni Volunteer Award.
For details and a full event list, see www.alumni.uoguelph. ca/events.
ALUMNI PERKS
Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory Staybridge Suites Book a studio suite for your family at our corporate rate of $119.99.
Stroll among thousands of free-flying butterflies in the tropical gardens. U of G alumni receive a 20% discount on in-person ticket purchases.
Stratford Festival U of G grads enjoy up to 50% off selected spring Stratford Festival productions. Use promo code 85665 for this season!
For details on these offers and a complete list of alumni perks, see www.alumni.uoguelph.ca/benefits/promotions. porticomagazine.ca
Spring 2019 PORTICO | 31
Alumni matters ALUMNI EVENTS
She’s Got Game gala
FEATURED EVENT
The Frosty Mug
Gryphon sprinter Shyvonne Roxborough, who recently won her third consecutive provincial gold medal in the 60m event, shared stories of testing and triumph at this year’s She’s Got Game gala at U of G.
The 10th annual Frosty Mug was held at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph Jan. 24. More than 100 alumni gathered for the pre-game party at the Draught Picks Tap House and Grill. The Gryphons lost to Laurier in a shoot-out, but alumni enjoyed an exciting game.
Are you interested in organizing a reunion in 2019 or 2020? We can help. Please contact us at reunions@uoguelph.ca. 32 | PORTICO Spring 2019
The fourth She’s Got Game gala fundraiser held in February raised $38,000 for women’s athletics at U of G.
From left: Sandy (BSA ’64) and Eleanor Hepburn, Cosmina Ionescu Vaccarino and president Franco Vaccarino, and Pat (BSA ’64) and Denny Mighton (BSA ’64). ALUMNI EVENTS
PHOTOS: WILLIAM BABISH PHOTOGRAPHY
President’s open house This past December, U of G president Franco Vaccarino hosted the President’s Open House at the Art Gallery of Guelph. He thanked donors who support the University at the President’s Giving Council level of at least $1,000 a year. The open house has become an annual tradition for many alumni and donors. A record 300 guests enjoyed U of G hospitality, exhibits at the gallery and time to catch up with friends, students, faculty and staff. On display this year was 1745, a short film by Glasgow-based Morayo and Moyo Akandé about the hidden history of slavery in Scotland. The exhibit was presented by the gallery along with U of G’s Centre for Scottish Studies and the Guelph Black Heritage Society. U of G president Franco Vaccarino with student Kiana Gibson, President’s Scholar and multi-sport athlete.
porticomagazine.ca
Spring 2019 PORTICO | 33
Alumni matters he will work in the Center for Indigenous Nursing Research for Health Equity. Wong is widely known for his studies on sexual health and substance abuse among Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
CLASS NOTES
1960s
OVC Class of 1966 grads Ross Fitzpatrick, Ted Clark and Don Wilson are the masterminds behind a new vintage veterinary exhibit opening at Calgary’s Heritage Park Historical Village. Through their non-profit, they have launched a fundraising campaign for the exhibit honouring the 300 Canadian veterinarians who served in the First World War and marking the 100th anniversary of the war’s end. More information is online at vintageveterinaryexhibit.ca.
1970s
Wayne Spencer, B.Sc. ’75. Retired since September 2003 after a career with the Government of the Northwest Territories Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service. Spent 13 years above the Arctic Circle in the communities of Cambridge Bay and Pond Inlet, as well as Inuvik and Yellowknife. Linda and I have
ANDERSON-COATS PHOTOGRAPHY
Pamela Stagg, BA ’74, was among botanical artists across Canada honoured during the Art of the Plant exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. Stagg delivered the keynote address at the exhibition’s opening. been together for 48 years come November 2019. Our children, Dana and Kristofor, have presented us with five grandchildren ages 13 to 18, including four gifted wrestlers.
1980s
Marian Thorpe, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’82, M.Sc. ’87, released Empire’s Exile, the third book in her historical fantasy trilogy, Empire’s Legacy.
Lynn SmurthwaiteMurphy, BA ’87, has become president and CEO of StarTech.com, an IT technology tools company. She was director of the Halton Children’s Aid Society and has served on the advisory boards of some top IT companies in North America. Jeffrey Hauswirth, BA ’82, was named vice-chairman of FPL, a global professional services firm. He was with Spencer Stuart for 25 years. Scott Reid, DVM ’87, serves on several human hospital boards, providing input on issues from ethics and governance to strategic planning. “It has been a great learning experience and you feel that you are contributing to your community.”
Paul Sharpe, M.Sc. ’80, is lead author and editor of a new textbook, Horse Pasture Management, coauthored by 10 other specialists across Canada. Sharpe taught at U of G’s former Kemptville campus. He met his wife, Helen MacGregor, M.Sc. ’80, while both were graduate students in animal science at U of G. Frank Y. Wong, BA ’81, joined Florida State University’s College of Nursing, where
www.guelphgradphotos.ca Images available from 2004–2018
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Matt Johnston, B.Comm. ’96, co-founded Collective Arts Brewing, which combines craft beer with promoting emerging artists and musicians. Located in Hamilton, Ont., the brewery has won numerous awards and has a gallery showcasing artists who have designed their beer cans and labels.
Christine Langevin, B.Comm. ’88, recently obtained her chartered director designation from the DeGroote School of Business and the Directors College. She has served as the principal of a boutique accounting firm for more than 20 years. Melanie Prosser, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’89, joined Hensall Co-op as marketing and communications manager.
1990s
Heather Laverne, B.Comm. ’98, was named vice-president, customer engagement, loyalty and partnerships, for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Hilton Hotels.
Naeema Bhyat, B.Sc. ’98, developed and hosts a podcast about creativity and innovation, Cross-polliNation, that recently received a 2019 Canadian Podcast Award for Outstanding Business Series. www. crosspollination.co
2000s
Jennifer McCartney, BA ’03. Her latest book, The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place, is a New York Times bestseller. Her forthcoming book, called So You Want to Move to Canada, Eh?, is a handbook about Canada for Americans.
Guide-dog-in-training Akron got to know the Gryphon well during her time at U of G with Libby Desjardins, B.Sc. ’19. From eight weeks old, Akron attended classes with Desjardins as part of the puppy trainer program run by the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides. Trainers teach basic obedience and socialize their pups to places, people and situations they may encounter as a successful working dog. Akron even attended finals and walked across the stage with Desjardins at graduation. Desjardins, an animal biology major, now works as a groom for TMG Racing Stables at Woodbine Racetrack and is still training Akron, who will eventually go into one of the Lions Foundation’s seven programs: canine vision, hearing, diabetic alert, seizure response, autism assistance, service or support. “It’s a lot of work and can be challenging to balance with school, but it’s extremely rewarding and Akron handled university life great,” says Desjardins.
Arun Dhanota, MA ’05, is pursuing a PhD at Queen’s University while working as professor with the Police Foundations Program at Humber College. Beth MacDonald, B.Comm. ’07, currently living in Portugal with her husband while running sales for the HempFest Cannabis Expo across Canada. Lian Zhao, PhD ’07, is a principal at CEPro Energy Group, a registered engineering consulting company in Western Canada. Susanna Joy, MBA ’18, uses her hospitality and tourism degree to “improve life” in Myanmar by building tourism education capacity.
porticomagazine.ca
Krista DuChene, B.A.Sc. ’00, aka Canada’s Marathon Mom and member of the 2016 Olympic team, will run in the Boston Marathon in April. Last year she placed third overall and first in the master’s division. DuChene, a dietitian, met her husband, Jonathan, B.Comm. ’01, at U of G; she studied human nutrition and was an ice hockey star, and he played volleyball. They live in Brantford, Ont. Spring 2019 PORTICO | 35
Alumni matters
Passages ALUMNI 1930s Maynard Slack, BSA ’39, Feb. 4, 2019 Norman (Norm) Thompson, BSA ’39, MSA ’49, Dec. 2, 2018 1940s William Stacey, Dip. ’42, May 31, 2017 Gordon (Gord) Davis, DVM ’45, Feb. 2, 2018 Margaret (Elsie) Doughty, DHE ’47, April 14, 2018 William (Bill) Tossell, BSA ’47, MSA ’48, Oct. 10, 2018 Maurice Lamoureux, DVM ’49, Nov. 24, 2018 Dorothy (Dot) McRae, BSA ’49, March 26, 2018 Winston Shapton, BSA ’49, Aug. 22, 2018 Ivan Stinson, BSA ’49, Oct. 4, 2018 1950s Howard Baskerville, BSA ’50, Feb. 18, 2018 Heinz Braun, BSA ’50, MSA ’56, May 30, 2017 Robert (Bob) Crawford, BSA ’50, Sept. 7, 2018 Kenneth (Ken) Murray, BSA ’50, Fellow ’83, Hon DLaw ’96, March 2, 2019
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James (Jim) Bell, Dip. ’51, Oct. 11, 2018 William (Bill) MacKay, BSA ’51, Nov. 22, 2018 William (Bill) Osborne, DVM ’51, Feb. 14, 2017 Arthur (Art) Campbell, BSA ’52, Jan. 26, 2018 George Lantz, Dip. ’52, Oct. 27, 2018 Larry Burt, BSA ’53, Jan. 16, 2019 Jack Hanna, BSA ’53, Dec. 16, 2018 John Newman, Dip. ’53, April 28, 2018 Thomas (Tom) Hulland, DVM ’54, Oct. 15, 2018 Ronald (Ron) Totten, Dip. ’54, Jan. 11, 2019 John (Jack) Goodall, BSA ’55, Dec. 22, 2017 August Kloppenburg, Dip. ’55, Jan. 20, 2017 William (Murray) Mills, BSA ’55, Dec. 8, 2018 Gordon (Gord) Rains, BSA ’55, Feb. 8, 2019 John Vamplew, BSA ’55, Nov. 17, 2018 Maurice DeKindt, Dip. ’56, BSA ’62, Jan. 12, 2017 Walter Baron, Dip. ’57, Aug. 12, 2018 Alan (Al) Christie, BSA ’58, MSA ’60, Jan. 10, 2017 John Curtis, BSA ’59, M.Sc. ’65, Feb. 17, 2019 Ben Jansen, Dip. ’59, Feb. 4, 2019 Willard Lane, BSA ’59, July 15, 2017 Malcolm McKie, DVM ’59, June 13, 2018 Dennis Meagher, DVM ’59, Feb. 20, 2019 Sheila Miller, DHE ’59, Jan. 24, 2017 William (Bill) Weber, DVM ’59, Oct. 8, 2018 1960s Elizabeth (Liz) Thomas, DHE ’60, Dec. 18, 2017 Glenn Coultes, Dip. ’61, BSc (Agr) ’65, June 9, 2018 John (Larry) Delver, DVM ’61, Nov. 24, 2018 Donald Lewis, BSA ’61, Feb. 6, 2018 Myrna Thompson, B.H.Sc. ’61, Dec. 8, 2018 Reginald (Reg) Laventure, BSA ’62, Feb. 15, 2019 W. (Dalton) Maxwell, DVM ’62, April 23, 2018 Gerald Rose, Dip. ’62, Oct. 21, 2018 Maureen Chambers, DHE ’63, Sept. 15, 2017 Bruce Heming, BSA ’63, July 22, 2018 David (Dave) Pree, BSA ’64, M.Sc. ’66, Oct. 12, 2018 Richard (Rich) Hiscocks, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’65, Sept. 21, 2018 Timothy Josling, M.Sc. ’65, Nov. 27, 2018 William (Bill) MacTaggart, M.Sc. ’65, Dec. 23, 2018 William (Bill) Paterson, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’65, M.Sc. ’67, Jan. 5, 2018 Nicholas (Nick) Van Vliet, ODH ’65, Aug. 29, 2017 Bruce Wilkie, DVM ’65, Feb. 25, 2019 James (Jim) Dalrymple, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’66, M.Sc. ’68, June 10, 2017 John Eidt, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’66, Dec. 17, 2018 Sylvia (Jane) Rigby, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’66, M.Sc. ’68, Sept. 20, 2018 Michael (Tony) Bernard, DVM ’67, Nov. 22, 2018 Norman Duquette, Dip. ’67, Feb. 5, 2018 Jean Ingrassia, B.H.Sc. ’67, April 11, 2018
Robert (Bob) Smythe, Dip. ’67, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’74, Aug. 15, 2018 David Steadman, Dip. ’67, Sept. 14, 2018 Terry Gillespie, PhD ’68, Dec. 2, 2018 Mans Klingenberg, ODH ’68, May 31, 2017 James (Jim) Nader, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’68, Jan. 12, 2019 Gordon Farndon, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’69, Nov. 2, 2018 Peter (Pete) Ferris, B.Sc. (Eng.) ’69, Nov. 19, 2017 1970s Anne Hall, B.H.Sc. ’70, Aug. 2, 2018 Murray Pennel, B.Sc. ’70, M.Sc. ’74, Jan. 7, 2017 Pasquale Rviele, B.Sc. ’70, Oct. 5, 2017 Gretchen Day, BA ’71, Jan. 8, 2017 Thursa Wilson-Zebic, B.Sc. ’71, DVM ’75, Dec. 21, 2018 Ralph Westendorp, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’72, May 25, 2018 Bruce Boland, B.Sc. (Eng.) ’73, Sept. 26, 2018 Roger Garbutt, Dip. ’75, Aug. 29, 2018 Franklin Jay, BA ’75, Aug. 14, 2018 John Lipinski, Dip. ’75, Nov. 12, 2017 Richard (Dick) Zurbrigg, DVM ’75, April 12, 2018 Robert (Bob) Howitt, B.Sc. ’76, March 10, 2017 Peter Johnson, B.Comm. ’76, July 18, 2017 Elizabeth Anne (Beth Anne) Kidnie, B.A.Sc. ’76, Feb 20, 2018 Dale Van Camp, Dip. ’76, Oct. 29, 2018 Robert (Paul) McDougall, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’77, Feb. 23, 2019 David Selander, Dip. ’78, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’85, Sept. 21, 2017 Margaret Kurvink, BA ’79, Dec. 19, 2018 William (Bill) Winegard, Fellow ’79, Hon. LL.D. ’05, Jan. 31, 2019 1980s Jack Westlake, M.Sc. ’80, May 30, 2018 Wayne Cross, DVM ’82, Dec. 6, 2018 Robert Grist, BA ’83, July 14, 2017 Leslie Rye, B.Sc. ’84, M.Sc. ’87, PhD ’00, Nov. 5, 2018 Susan Sheridan, BA ’85, July 10, 2017 Arthur (Art) Versteeg, Dip. ’85, Jan. 31, 2018 William (Jeff) White, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’85, DVM ’90, July 21, 2017 Agnes Gelb, M.Sc. ’86, April 26, 2017 Janice Selinger, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’86, DVM ’94, Jan. 5, 2019 Ramazan (Ramo) Gencay, MA ’87, Dec. 7, 2018 Christopher Scott, B.Sc. ’88, Jan. 7, 2018 Elaine Thorson, BA ’88, Dec. 21, 2017 Richard Goy, BA ’89, MA ’93, Aug. 5, 2018 1990s Marion Blackburn, BA ’93, BA ’99, Sept. 18, 2018 Grant Edwards, PhD ’93, Sept. 10, 2018
LIVES THAT IMPROVED LIFE Keith Ronald, Fellow ’94, July 17, 2017 2000s Craig Cole, B.Sc. ’02, Nov. 3, 2018 Rebecca (Becky) Wheatley, Dip. ’02, Jan. 4, 2017 Amber Landgraff, BA ’07, Aug. 1, 2018 Alastair Gillespie, Hon. Litt.D. ’08, Aug. 19, 2018 Frank Rovers, Hon. LL.D. ’09, Feb. 19, 2018 Jaspreet Dhindsa, M.Sc. ’11, July 27, 2018 Michael (Mike) Kizlyk, Dip. ’11, May 10, 2018 Stephanie (Steph) May, B.Comm. ’11, Jan. 20, 2017 Andrew Bretz, PhD ’12, Aug. 21, 2018 Alison Cooke, B.Sc. ’13, M.Sc. ’17, April 6, 2018 J. (Charles) Grieco, Hon. LL.D. ’14, Jan. 29, 2019 Riley Lynch, B.Sc. ’17, Jan. 19, 2017 Kaled Salih, B.Eng. ’18, July 22, 2018 Patrick Coffey, BA ’19, Dec. 20, 2018
To honour alumni who have passed away, the University of Guelph Alumni Association makes an annual donation to the Alumni Legacy Scholarship.
Denis Lynn The inaugural Lynn Medal in Zoology to be awarded at spring convocation for the College of Biological Science (CBS) this year is named for Denis Lynn, a University of Guelph professor emeritus and grad who died in June 2018. Described by one former colleague as “an academic who never grew old,” Lynn was killed after being hit by a rogue wave while collecting mussels on Calvert Island in British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Sound. He was 71. After studies in marine biology at U of G in 1969, he completed his PhD at the University of Toronto. He returned to the University’s former Department of Zoology in 1977. In 2011, he became an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia. During his 32-year career, Lynn studied ciliates, or single-celled organisms that he called his “favourite wee beasties.” The annual Lynn Medal, designed by Ian Smith, illustrator and CBS printing facility manager, will go to the top graduating
student in the zoology major. Prof. Ryan Gregory, chair of the Department of Integrative Biology, recalls Lynn’s thoroughness as a member of his PhD defence committee at U of G. “He was the consummate professor: he cared about both research and teaching,” says Gregory. Michaela Strueder-Kypke, coordinator of advanced light microscopy in U of G’s Advanced Analysis Centre, worked with Lynn as a post-doc after arriving from Germany. In 1991, she had sent her master’s thesis to several international experts; Lynn was the only one to reply, although he half-apologized for being unable to read German. “He had not only looked at it, he actually tried to read it,” says Strueder-Kypke, who first met Lynn at a conference in 1993. “That was Denis. He was always curious, keen. He gave everyone the same respect.”
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Spring 2019 PORTICO | 37
Last look
Late fall, 2018 ON JOHNSTON GREEN
Toronto photographer Stephen MacLeod had never visited the University of Guelph before spending two days last fall shooting what he calls a “cool mix of new and old” buildings and spaces on campus. But the photos he took here sparked some reminiscing about their alma mater for his parents. Although many of his photos captured more recent additions such as the glass-filled Summerlee Science Complex, his shots of heritage campus fixtures like Johnston Hall and the portico brought back a few memories
38 | PORTICO Spring 2019
for Randy MacLeod and Nancy Cambria, who earned science degrees here in 1979. Stephen MacLeod was a teenager when he first picked up an old Canon camera at home in the 1970s. He studied applied arts and photography at Sheridan College and now runs a studio called onwhite.ca. For this assignment, the photographer used a bottom-up approach, filming many structures from directly below for what he calls a more “heroic” angle. “I’ve always loved beautiful skies and amazing clouds. A wide-angle
lens gives you that opportunity to show not only the subject but also the sky or the environment around it.” Picking a moment when U of G students weren’t having grad photos taken, he captured the campus portico backlit by lateafternoon sun. “There’s something about that time of day,” MacLeod says, pointing to other shots of the science complex whose glass curtain reflects nearby trees. “I like the warmth of the light. The direction of the light then is lower and creates more contrast.”
PHOTO: STEPHEN MACLEOD
A new angle on the U of G campus
Join us for Alumni & Reunion Weekend! More than 60 individual events including Alumni Awards of Excellence Gala, Craft Beer Tasting, Campus Tours and more! Over 30 reunions from 1949 - 2009 Find your reunion at: alumni.uoguelph.ca/reunion Registration Opens April 2019
#UofGAW19 reunions@uoguelph.ca
An exciting benefit for you as a graduate of the University of Guelph. Get preferred rates and coverage that fits your needs.
You save with preferred insurance rates.
Take advantage of your alumni benefits. You have access to the TD Insurance Meloche Monnex program. This means you can get preferred insurance rates on a wide range of home, condo, renter’s and car coverage that can be customized for your needs. For over 65 years, TD Insurance has been helping Canadians find quality insurance solutions.
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Feel confident your coverage fits your needs. Get a quote now. HOME | CONDO | CAR
Get a quote and see how much you could save ! Call 1-888-589-5656 or go to tdinsurance.com/uoguelphalumni The TD Insurance Meloche Monnex program is underwritten by SECURITY NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY. It is distributed by Meloche Monnex Insurance and Financial Services, Inc. in Québec, by Meloche Monnex Financial Services Inc. in Ontario, and by TD Insurance Direct Agency Inc. in the rest of Canada. Our address: 50 Place Crémazie, 12th Floor, Montréal, Québec H2P 1B6. Due to provincial legislation, our car and recreational insurance program is not offered in British Columbia, Manitoba or Saskatchewan. All trade-marks are the property of their respective owners. ® The TD logo and other TD trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank.
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2018-09-11 11:47 AM