Guelph Alumnus Magazine, Winter 2004 by University of Guelph

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8 campaign 1{_eport

WINTER 2004

alumni Matters

in and Around the University

NIVERSITY OF

UELPH STUDENTS

celebrate the University's No. 1 status in the annual Maclean's ranking, a recognition that tops off announcements of aU of G-based centre of excellence in food research, a new initiative to encourage girls to pursue studies in science and engineering, and a wall of honour for Guelph's nationally recognized teachers.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Guelph Alumni Association president Bill Summers outlines plans for an Internet-based alumni panel, the Hall of Fame inducts new members, and alumni are invited to subscribe to a free electronic newsletter. In addition, a large crowd of students came out to hear Guelph grad John Bindernagel talk about the sasquatch.

EXPLORING EARTH'S MATRIX Guelph scientists who started catching frogs and collecting leaves as children are now trying to understand nature's intricacies to help preserve the varied plant and animal life they love.

20 RESEARCH OF MICE AND WOMEN Using the mouse as a model for studies of the immune system, veterinary scientists break the species barrier with research results that give us a greater understanding of reproduction in both animals and humans.

4 FACULTY PROFILE A TEACHER, A TRAVELLER, AN AUTHOR, A CRITIC ... Spanish professor Stephen Henighan admits he's been on a roll since publishing his controversial book When Words Deny the World.

on the Cover OVC professor Anne Croy and post路doctoral researcher Marianne van den Heuve\.

Photo by Dean Palmer I The Scenario

Winter 2004 1

guelph alumnus Winter 2004 â&#x20AC;˘ VOLUME 36 IssuE I

Editor Mary Dickieson Director Charles Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc. Contributors Barbara Chance, BA '74 Rachelle Cooper Stacey Curry Gunn Karen Gallant Lori Bona Hunt SPARK Program Writers Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84 Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 519-654-6122 Direct all other correspondence to: Communications and Public Affairs University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario N I G 2WI Fax 519-824-7962 E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/news/alumnus/ The Guelph Alumnus magazine is published three times a year by Communications and Public Affairs at the University of Guelph . Its mission is to enhance the relationship between the University and its alumni and friends and promote pride and commitment within the Un iversity community. Al l material is copyright 2004. Ideas and opinions expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of the University or the editors. Canada Post Agreement# 40064673 Printed in Canada by Contact Creative Services. ISSN 1207-780 I To update your alumni record, contact: Alumni Affairs and Development Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 519-822-2670 E-mail alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

UNIVERSITY ifGUELPH

2 GUELPH ALUMNUS

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

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ALASTAIR SUMMERLEE

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BELIEVE THAT UNIVERSITIES SHOULD be the moral and social conscience of society: a society that sadly faces many, many difficult and even dangerous decisions over the next several years. All too often these days, we hear of corporate and public scandals, the threat of terrorism and intolerance, rampant consumerism, the lingering economic doldrums, the deterioration of our environment, and considerable tension between the developed and developing worlds. All of these factors and more have unleashed a period of extreme uncertainty and extraordinary change. Possibly more than ever, society needs people who are armed with knowledge and experience, people who are willing to be open-minded, level-headed and concerned about the world. It is my fervent belief that universities and colleges have a vital role to play in the health and welfare of our society and in the care of our world. In a recent Ipsos-Reid survey about the position that Canada plays on the world stage, Canadians were identified as agents to be trusted: trusted in the middle of the divide between the rich and the poor, between the aggressor and the defenceless, and as the potential arbiters of numerous disputes and practices. Universities and colleges must be central in the debates about these issues, and Guelph will play its part in the moral and social debate as educators for change, as agents for effective and socially responsible research, and as the training ground for future minds and for the future. The University of Guelph is built on the strongest of foundations. Everyone in the University of Guelph community means something to the community, and part of my reason for committing to Guelph is because of that considerable level of caring. Over the next five years, the capacity and reputation of this university will continue to expand on the national and international stages, but we will not lose our commitment to the values and attitudes that make this campus so unique. Among all the priorities and actions that clamour for attention, I would like to highlight three that I hope will set the tone and guide the University in that development. First and foremost, I will be a tireless advocate for accessible and affordable public education: a quality education within a system to be proud of. This university has on a number of occasions taken actions directly in support of publicly funded quality higher education, and I will work with the other members of the Council of

Chancellor Lincoln Alexander, left, and Board of Governors chair Michael Walsh assist U of G president Alastair Summerlee with the presiden路 tial robe at his Oct. 10 installation ceremony.

Ontario Universities, staff, faculty and students at the University of Guelph, and members of the government to ensure that students who have the intellectual capacity to benefit from a University of Guelph degree will be able to do so. Second, we must take the steps to regain the position that universities should hold as that moral, social and intellectual centre of society and societies at both the national and international levels. We must seize the opportunities to not just promote a liberal education, but to encourage members of our community to develop a moral compass, a generosity of spirit, a compassionate heart, civility, respect for diversity, fortitude and an overwhelming passion for justice. We must take the lead in debates and in actions on a number of critical issues, including developing and sustaining environments, the life sciences agenda, ethics and ethical behaviour, and cultural diversity. Third, we have a responsibility to continue the innovation agenda in every aspect of this university: in teaching, in research, both pure and applied, and in service within and outside the community and the city, to whom we so integrally are linked. Only by continuing to innovate, whilst caring about others, can we truly make a difference in this world.

Winter 2004 3

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SARS RESEARCH

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PATHOBIOLOGY professor Dongwan Yoo, who has been studying a virus that causes respiratory problems in pigs, is trying to uncover how the SARS virus and coronaviruses in general overcome the body's normal immune response. Yoo's lab has performed the same types of analysis on SARS that they'd been doing on the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus C identifying and isolating the virus's proteins. He's found that SARS contains a capsid protein, which acts in the same way it did in his studies of the PRRS virus C impairing the host's defence mechanism. "Because of similar phenomena and binding capabilities, we can hypothesize that SARS and PRRS share a very similar strategy in impairing the host in1mune system," he says.

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4 GuELPH ALUMNUS

"Thanks for making us number one." That was the message delivered by the Central Student Association (CSA) when it invited the campus to celebrate with coffee and cake in the newly renovated Bullring coffee pub. From left: CSA executive members David Hornsby, Derek Husser and Quentin Sinclair.

ALL MAY SIGNAL THE BEGINNING OF a new school year for students, but it's the time of year when universities get their report cards. And this year, U of G topped the class with its across the board from four independent surveys that evaluate academic quality, research intensity, community atmosphere and public accountability. • When Maclean's magazine released its annual universities ranking issue Nov. 10, the University of Guelph was named the No. 1 comprehensive university in Canada for the third time in five years. The national publication cited innovative programs, accessible faculty, unique research opportunities and a distinctive commitment to students as some of the reasons for U of G's first-place ranking. Guelph was also named the top comprehensive university in 2002 and 1999. The category is defined by Maclean's as universities with a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. • Guelph was named the Canadian com-

prehensive "Research University of the Year" in a report by Research Infosource Inc. published in the National Post Nov. 4. Winners were determined on the basis of criteria that included total financial input and research output. The report also ranked Canada's top 50 research universities for research intensity, sponsored research income and number of fulltime faculty. Again, U of G was first among comprehensive universities. • Students voted Guelph the No. 1 university in Canada for campus atmosphere and technology resources in the University Report Card, an attitudinal survey of Canadian students published Oct. 15 by the Globe and Mail. More than 26,000 students responded to the online survey, including 847 from Guelph. Data from 58 schools were included in the survey results. • U of G was named the country's top comprehensive university and second among all institutions in public accountability and external reporting, according to the annual Canadian University Accountability Survey conducted by Wilfrid Laurier University professors.

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PEOPLE IN THE NEWS • CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS • UNIVERSITY NOTES

Think Food Research, Think Guelph! INCE 1991, THE Canadian government has funded centres of excellence that network researchers at universities across the country. The goal is to turn Canadian research and entrepreneurial talent into economic and social benefits for the whole country. Many Guelph faculty are participants in various Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), but the first NCE to be at Guelph was based announced Nov. 4 by Tom Brzustowski, president of the

KUDOS

professor • Biochemistry Frances Sharom was named to a Canada Research Chair this fall, bringing to 20 the total number of chairs U of G has received. Sharom's research is on membrane protein biology. • Sorouja Williamson, an administrative assistant at the

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. It is also the only NCE in Canada focusing on food.

Macdonald Stewart Art Centre for 13 years, won first prize in the Eden Mills Writers' Festival 2003 literary contest for her short story Dandelions. • Toronto-based du Toit Allsopp Hillier won a 2003 regional honour award from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects for its work on the U of G campus master plan . The company has designed campus plans for more than 10 Canadian universities. • OAC held a lOth-anniversary party this fall for the OAC Bayfield soybean variety. Developed at Guelph by plant scientists Wally Beversdorf and Jack Tanner, the bean has contributed more than $750 million to Ontario's economy since its introduction. The University

The new NCE in Advanced Foods and Materials will be directed by food science professor Rickey Yada, who was also recently named to a Canada Research Chair in Food Protein Structure. The NCE will receive $22.3 million over an initial five-year period, and its 90 plus collaborators will work on projects that may give us new manufacturing methods, new products made from food materials, functional foods and nutraceuticals that promote health, and ethical policies to regulate food innovation.

has received about $1 million in royalties from sales of the seed, with the money going back into crop research. • The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has recognized Prof. John Auld, Marketing and Consumer Studies, with the Educators' Award for Excellence in Sustainable Education for the role he's played in spreading the word about energy-conserving housing. • Projects by U of G landscape architecture students won seven out of 10 undergraduate awards at the annual competition held by the American Society of Landscape Architects. The competition attracted a record 210 submissions from landscape architecture programs across North America.

Guelph

baker Christine

Gallant may soon add dried fish powder to her bread.

FISH BREAD NuTRITIONAL sciences professor William Bettger, adjunct professer Julie Conquer and graduate student Terry McKay have found that dried fish powder baked into bread is absorbed by the body as effectively as fish oil supplements. Fish is rich in omega3 fatty acids, which have been associated with decreased incidence of cardiovascular disease and mental disorders, but many people are turned off by the taste and smell of fish. The research team's subjects said they could not detect the presence of the fish oil in the bread, but they received the same amount of fatty acids as did groups that took fish oil supplements.

Winter 2004 5

in and around the University MEET GUELPH's DISTINGUISHED DOZEN

English professor Daniel Fischlin, front, and research assistants Gord Lester, left, and Mat Buntin .

SHAKESPEARE, EH? THE WAY WE approach Shakespeare helps define us as Canadians, says Prof. Daniel Fischlin, School of English and Theatre Studies. Fischlin is compiling a unique online database that features hundreds of Canadian Shakespeare adaptations. "The way Canadians adapt Shakespeare is a transmission of cultural values;' he says. "We see patterns with how people change the stories or the language to suit the experiences they're facing in their own communities. This theatrical activity gives us insight into communities across the country." Fischlin and his team of more than 20 graduate students have worked closely with computer programmers to adapt a science-based programming language (ColdFusion) for arts-based data. The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare website boasts more than 3,000 pieces of text and multimedia materials related to the Bard's scripts.

6 Gu ELP H ALUMNUS

"We want students to know that we work hard to promote good teaching," said Prof. Maureen Mancu路 so, acting provost and vice路president (academic). Then she unveiled a dozen plaques lining a wall inside the Rozanski Hall classroom facility. Each one bears the photo of a Guelph faculty member who has received a national 3M Teaching Fellowship and includes a quote from one of their students. Nine of the distinguished dozen were on hand for the Sept. 22 unveiling. From left are Prof. Ernie McFarland, former English professor Constance Rooke, Prof. Terry Gillespie, retired professors Sandy Middleton and Trevor Dickinson, Profs. Gordon Lange, Joe Cunsolo and Fred Evers, and president Al astair Summerlee . The honour wall also recognizes former landscape architecture professor Ron Stoltz and the late John Bell, Languages and Literatures, and Norman Gibbins, Microbiology.

BlOOD DONOR RETIRES

o p eratin g sin ce 1974, a n d t h e eight-year-old greyhound m ade 12 blood donations while livin g in the Guelph area. While ben efitin g ca nin e p atients a t th e clinic, Harry received free m edical exa m s, vacc inati o ns a nd va ri o u s other services.

BUilDING ON AlFRED'S STRENGTHS Audrey Bloss, left, and veterina ry technician Karen Avent with Harry. VC's SMA LL- ANIMA L Clinic m ar ked the ret irem ent of ca nin e bl oo d d o n o r H arry w ith gifts fo r the g reyhound and flowers for his owner, Audrey Bloss. OVC's inh o u se blood bank ha s bee n

oF G AN D TH ECo nseil co mmun a utaire du College d 'A lfred h ave laun ch ed a strategi c planning process t hat w ill build o n th e co ll ege's

strengths to expa nd th e ran ge of post -seco nd ar y prog r a m s available in French. The st r ateg ic pl a n will expl o re expa ndin g ex ist in g diplo m as in agric ultural tec h -

nol ogy, food an d nutriti o n , enviro nm ent and intern atio n al d eve lo pment into th e fi eld of bioreso ur ce man agem e nt , includin g th e po ss ibilit y o f offerin g degree courses. Co ll ege d 'Alfred direc to r G ilbe rt H ero ux says th e n ew directi o ns will broaden th e college's a p peal and in crease stu dent numbers. "We also have the potential to se rve an increasin g numb er of st udents thro u gh di st an ce education in th ose fi elds o f stud y," he says. T h e Unive rsit y is pl a nnin g to serve up to 1,000 students at Alfred in the n ext five to seven years. Th e str ategi c pl a nnin g p r ocess wi ll culmin ate in t h e release of a report in th e spring.

Davidson named to NSERC I HP chair HE ScHOOL ofEngineering has long been recognized for its ability to encourage women to enter this field of science. Now Prof. Valerie Davidson will take that expertise across Ontario as the holder of a prestigious Chair for Women in Science and Engineering. Co-sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and HP (Canada), the research chair is designed to build role models for women interested in the sciences. Davidson plans to use her influence to emphasize opportunities for women in computing applications in science and engineering, particularly those that involve biosystems. Currently, women make up 30 per cent of the undergradu-

GUELPH MAKES SOUND INVESTMENT EN U OF G STU DE NTS were never late for class in the fall semester of Guelph's first-ever "Creating Music on the Computer" course. Using a process called musical instru ment digital interface (MIDI ), based on the software program Cubase SX, course instructor Paul Lamoureux would put a futuristic-looking wind instru ment to his lips and fill the room first with piano music, followed by guitar, harmonica and, finally, a string ensemble. Lamoureux says the wind controller shows students that "regardless of which instrument you play, you can find a way to get your information into the computer." Once that information is

U of G student and SPARK writer Leslie Irons.

PLASTIC BOTTLES

Prof. Valerie Davidson says many female students see Guelph's engi路 neering program as one that improves quality of life and makes the world a better place.

ates in the School of Engineering, well above the national average. But in computer-related engineering and science programs, the average is closer to 10 per cent. A Guelph faculty member

entered, MIDI enables students to manipulate and change the nature of what plays back, including what kind of instrument plays. It all happens in Guelph's new music technology lab. Filled with $60,000 worth of equipment, it gives Guelph students access to the powerful digital audio applications that are so influential in today's music.

VETS LINK ONLINE ET ER INAR IANS IN training and in practice are getting together through an Internet connection that allows them to post, review and discuss animal case stud ies. It's a way for students at Canada's four veterinary colleges to learn more about real-life veterinary practice, and a chance for practising veteri-

since 1988, Davidson hopes to build a provincial network to develop programs for girls from elementary school through university studies and to support women pursuing science and engineering careers.

narians to tap into the resources of the veterinary schools. Called the Virtual Veterinary Medicine Learning Community (V2MLC), the project recently received an additional $1 million in funding from CANARIE, Canada's advanced Internet development organization. In 1999, CANARIE provided $1 million for the first phase of the project. So not only will OVC be sharing veterinary expertise, but it will also be sharing technology expertise with other educators interested in online learning. The V2MLC module will include a database of case studies, searchable by species, breed, diagnosis and presenting complaint. It's ava ilable to all veterinarians through www.ovc. uoguelph .ca/Canarie/Project/ index.htm.

PLASTIC JUICE bottles that are enhanced with an ultraviolet lightblocking resin could help reduce degradation of colour and vitamin C by as much as half, say U of G researchers. When bottled juice is left in the sunlight, the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays can rob it of its colour and vitamin C. That's because clear plastic juice containers are made of polyethylene terephthalate, which doesn't block UV rays effectively. Now, food science professor Ian Britt, engineering professor Valerie Davidson and graduate student Karen Conrad say improving these containers with a resin called polyethylene naphthalate can give consumers a healthier, longer-lasting product. "Food packaging is central in delivering safe, nutritious foods to Canadian consumers," Britt says. "This work is only part of a continuing effort at Guelph to develop a sound understanding of how packaging systems can be designed to protect sensitive food products:'

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Winter 2004 7

U of G campaign raises more 1 HE CAMPA r GN

for the University of Guelph ended Dec. 31, 2003, with gifts and

pledges of more than $80 million. U of G has received many private gifts to support campaign priorities that foster student success and attract talented faculty, as well as generous support for capital projects that will enhance the learning environment across campus. The alumni portion of the campaign, which took place in the latter half of 2003, helped raise the campaign total well beyond the original goal of $75 million. Campaign results will be announced at a closing celebration in February, and a final report to thank donors and volunteers will be distributed this summer. The generosity of donors who responded to U of G's "Science of Life and Art of Living" theme has encouraged future planning and promised continuing success in reaching the University's fundraising priorities.

It's full speed ahead on science complex ONSTRUCTION WORK on Phase l of the new science complex is continuing at full speed, says Angelo Gismondi, SuperBuild senior project manager. A daily view of the construction site shows the status of construction work on the five-storey section that runs from the McLaughlin Library to Gordon Street. This is the first of three wings that will house research and teaching laboratories and related offices. This portion of the building will be occupied in summer 2004, allowing the demolition of the current Chemistry and Microbiology

8 GuELPH ALUMNUS

Building and the construction of Phase 2. When completed in 2006, the science complex will accommodate about 2,600 faculty, students and staff from the College of Biological Science and from part of the College of Physical and Engineering Science. Undergraduate teaching labs and research labs for each of the departments will be located in close proximity to encourage exchange between the two. Both the science complex, and the newly opened Rozanski Hall classroom facility are being funded in part by a $45-million grant from Ontario's SuperBuild program. To view daily updates of the science complex construction site, visit www.uoguelph.ca I super build/ science.sh tml.

Mclaughlin accepts research portfolio ORMER OAC DEAN Rob McLaughlin, B.Sc.(Agr.) '69 and PhD '77, was appointed associate vice-president (research) agri-food and partnerships Sept. l, 2003. For the previous three years, he served as vice-president (alumni affairs and development) and led the U of G campaign. Pamela Healey, BA '73, assistant vice-president (development), has assumed the fundraising portfolio as acting vice-president. McLaughlin is now managing U of G's life sciences research portfolio, including the partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

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$80 million Campaign leader makes gift of appreciation OT ONLY DID Anthony "Tony" Arrell, B.Sc.(Agr.) '67, work diligently as vice-chair of the University's three-year campaign, but he and his wife, Anne, B.H.Sc. '68, also donated a $500,000 leadership gift in appreciation of the role the University has played in their family's life. Tony's father, Judge Hugh C. Arrell, graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1938, and Tony and Anne met at Homecoming during her first year at Guelph. The couple say they feel strongly that alumni support is crucial to the ongoing success and vitality of the University landscape. The Arrell donation has enabled U of G to furnish and equip a 400-seat lecture theatre in its new classroom complex. Arrell Auditorium was unveiled Sept. 5 during the official opening of Rozanski Hall.

Equipped with state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities, the lecture room is a much different learning environment than the classrooms the Arrells remember as Guelph students in the 1960s. At that time, Tony Arrell planned to become a lawyer in the tradition of his father and grandfather, but says it was Prof. Bill Braithwaite, now retired from the Depart-

ment of Agricultural Economics and Business, who inspired him to go into business. Arrell says it's a move he has never regretted. He has had a successful career in the investment management business and is now chairman and CEO of Burgundy Asset Management, a firm that manages money for families of high net worth, endowments and pension funds. The firm's investments are in public companies in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan, and it has one of the best long-term investment records in Canada. Arrell has also sat on many corporate boards. Anne Arrell taught high school family studies for six years after graduating from Guelph. She left teaching to work at home as "a co-ordinator for the development of young Canadians" with their four children. Although the family's main address is Toronto, the couple have owned two working farms for more than 25 years, first in the Shelburne area and now in Creemore. The Arrells have a strong volunteer commitment to the communities they live in. Both are deeply involved as leaders in the not-forprofit sector- Tony with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Canadian Opera Company, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Bishop Strachan School, St. Michael's Hospital and the Schulich School of Business at York University. Anne's volw1teer commitments include serving as a board member of the Integra Foru1dation, chair of the Canada Blooms Gardeners' Fair, member of the Toronto Garden Club and chair of the Sanctuary Guild of Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. Tony Arrell is also a longtime U of G volunteer. He is currently chair of the University's investment management committee and a member of the Board of Trustees. He was a member of the steering committee for the University's ACCESS campaign to boost endowments for student assistance in the mid-1990s. He also served on Board of Governors from 1997 to 2003, during which time he helped spearhead the "Science of Life and Art of Living" campaign. The University Senate has recognized

Arrell's distinguished service by naming him recipient of the 2003 Lincoln Alexander Medal of Distinguished Service.

Unexpected gift provides scholarships N UN EX P EC TED LETTER received last March from Douglas Kennedy, BSA '39, included a cheque for $50,000 and a note: "Would you please place this in the endowment fund for University of Guelph purposes. My wife and I

met at a 'hop' here in 1937. Still together." Kathleen Kennedy also graduated in 1939, earning a diploma from Macdonald Institute. The couple's surprise gift to the University was used to endow two scholarship awards that recogni ze the Kennedys' time on campus and their 66-year relationship. Douglas Kennedy died in May 2003, but Kathleen attended aU of G undergraduate scholarship event in October, accompanied by her daughter and son-in-law, Sue, B.H.Sc. '63, and Robert Rogers. Beginning in fall2004, the Douglas and Kathleen Kennedy scholarships will provide annual awards of $1,000 each to students enrolled in the Ontario Agricultural College and the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences who demonstrate high academic excellence and financial need.

Winter 2004 9

ue of their degrees. Their $100,000 campaign gift has been designated to OAC's priority project, the Agricultural Plant Biotechnology and.Biocomputing Centre. Judy Dick is a family studies graduate who went on to become a teacher. Jim earned Guelph degrees in agriculture, environmental biology and horticulture, leading to a career in agricultural research management in the food industry. He is retired from Kraft Canada Inc. Their son, Adam, is completing a B.Sc. in physical sciences at U of G.

History award announced OLWYN

Artists encourage new talent

RTISTS MARGARET PRIEST,

University professor emerita in Guelph's School of Fine Art and Music, and her husband, Tony Scherman, have launched a graduate scholarship endowment to foster the growth of new Canadian talent. Both are

accomplished artists and strong advocates of the need to create scholarship incentives to attract the best students to U of G's master of fine art program. Beyond their own commitment to the endowment fund, the couple is seeking additional gifts in support of the Margaret Priest Graduate Scholarship and its endowment fund. The annual award will be offered for the first time in fall 2004.

Education supports career and vice versa

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professional life and the desire to encourage future Guelph graduates, Jim Dick, B.Sc.(Agr.) '71, M.Sc. '81 and PhD '88, has joined other members of his 1971 OAC class in supporting U of G's plan to build a new crop biotechnology centre. He and his wife, Judy, B.H.Sc. '71, say their Guelph education has been key to their career success and they want to recognize the val-

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RICH

have established the Mordechai Rozanski History Scholarship to honour the former president's 10-year term at U of G. A $5,000 scholarship will be awarded each fall to the undergraduate student in year three of the College of Arts honours history program with the highest cumulative average. Through the Jean Rich Foundation, the couple are long-standing supporters of the University of Guelph, particularly the Ontario Veterinary College awards program.

4-Hers receive scholarships EVEN U OF G students received awards in October that were funded by a $1.35-million campaign gift from the estate of Angelo and Frank Agro ofWaterdown, Ont. The Agro endowment supports both graduate and undergraduate awards for students involved in 4-H. The first recipients are all enrolled in Ontario Agricultural College programs: undergraduate student Jennifer Lichty and graduate students Kris Mahoney and Bonnie Lacroix, Plant Agriculture; Michael Steele and Reynold Bergen, Animal and Poultry Science; Richard Brain, Environmental Biology; and Mary Rankin, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development.

A teacher, a traveller, an author, a critic ... U of G prof gets bored focusing on just one thing By Rachelle Cooper N ONE YEAR ALONE, Prof. Stephen Henighan was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction for When Words Deny the World, wrote and published the widely acclaimed Lost Province: Adventures in a Moldovan Family, was a judge for the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction, organized and taught a semester in Guatemala for U of G and University of Saskatchewan students, had a short story published in an anthology edited by the Poet Laureate of Great Britain, and started

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developing the first-ever Spanish textbook for Canadian universities. He admits he's been on a roll, but those who know him would say what has been normal about the past year is Henighan's rate of accomplishment. Although he's a professor in Guelph's School of Languages and Literatures and head of the Spanish section, he doesn't restrict his research and writing activities to Latin American studies. "It's clear that I get bored focusing on just one thing;' he says. "I love being a Span-

ish professor, but I need to be other things as well to survive." Henighan realized just how strong that need was when he landed his first faculty position at the University of London after completing a D.Phil. at the University of Oxford. At London, he was discouraged from writing outside of Hispanic studies. So he began searching for a university that would enable him to do scholarly work in all his areas of interest. Guelph has done just that. Since arriv-

Winter 2004

ing in January 1999, in addition to teaching Spanish courses, he has taught creative writing and Guatemalan history and will be teaching Anglo-Quebec literature and contributing to the new MFA in creative writing program. "One of the things I'm grateful to Guelph for is that it's shown it actually values my other work as well;' he says. College of Arts dean Jacqueline Murray says the University is lucky to have someone with so many areas of expertise. "Stephen's breadth of knowledge, interests and talent reflects the new generation of scholars who cross boundaries by nature and by training, whether it's the boundaries of genre, from scholarly work through literary criticism to fiction, or the boundaries of space, from Canada to Moldova to Latin America. His energy and insights resonate with current students, who see themselves as part of a multidimensional global community:' To make time for all his interests, Henighan dedicates two or three hours every morning to writing before coming to campus. '1t's become a sort of patchwork life;' he says. "I get up in the morning and write, then I get interrupted by things and other ideas that are born on the spur of the moment. At first, this frustrated me, but then I began to accept that this is just the way my life is. There are a lot of things layered on top of each other, and I should just expect to work this waY:' It was during his early morning writing sessions that Henighan was able to complete his third book in two years, a novel called The Streets of Winter set to be published this April. It takes place in Montreal, where he lived for eight years completing his MA in creative writing at Concordia University and working as a freelance writer. One of the "interruptions" that took Henighan away from his work over the past year was serving as a judge for the Governor General's Award for fiction, a job that required him to read 160 books over the summer. "It was an honour, but boy, was it gruelling;' he says. "The moment I got back from teaching in Guatemala, I started reading, and I read until the end of September, when I had to fly to Ottawa for the judges' meeting." A regular reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, Henighan is used to setting aside his own writing to critique works, such as The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. "There's quite a lot of pressure there

12 GuELPH ALUMNUS

because I feel my review really has to be good," he says. "If it's not, they tear it to pieces, but I like that. 1 hate it, but I like the pressure of being on the front line all the time to produce world-class work. I get emails from all sorts of places like Turkey and Germany, from people arguing with what I have to say, so that's a lot of fun." At this point in his career, Henighan is used to criticism and has developed a reputation for stirring the pot. He admits that his 2002 book, When Words Deny the World, probably wouldn't be on its third printing without the resistance it received from Toronto readers. "The fact that I was being attacked by columnists in the Globe and Mail meant that all sorts of people who would never have heard of the book went out and looked for it. The controversy is due to somewhat of a misunderstanding or a vulgarization of what the book is about. It's an analysis of the impact of globalization on Canadian writing. It's not merely an anti- Toronto screed. One of the traits of globalization is that it devalues national culture and overvalues the products that are connected to big-city markets. But a lot of people in Toronto took that personally." That Henighan is able to keep a sense of humour and find time for himself is, as he says, what's kept him from not having a heart attack. "I've worked really, really hard at getting a lot done and at finding little ways of relaxing and releasing pressure, like cross-country skiing and swimming in the University pool. Those kinds of releases are very important to me." Walking 35 minutes to and from campus gives him a break between his writing and before he meets with students. Known for walking into his colleagues' offices to socialize and gossip, he says he's teased about never getting any work done, but it's clear that he's managed to find a balance between work and experiencing life for himself. A self-proclaimed "travel junkie," Henighan believes his obsession with travelling stems from always being on the move as a young child. "I was born in Germany, and by the time I was nine, I had lived in seven houses in four countries. So it feels unnatural not to be moving." The remainder of his childhood and high school years were spent in the Ottawa Valley, where his father, well-known liter-

ary critic and writer Tom Henighan, taught English literature at Carleton University and his mother was a social worker. Stephen Henighan says he felt restricted during that time and read and wrote like crazy to keep his mind occupied. His boredom ended when a family friend suggested he attend a "very small, very elite" school in Swarthmore, Pa. "Swarthmore College was an incredible environment to be in and was extremely stimulating;' he says. "It was shocking and quite difficult to deal with as an Ottawa Valley farm boy because suddenly I was thrown into classes with all these members of the U.S. East Coast elite who had gone to the best prep schools in Boston and New York and Washington and just lived in a completely different world than I did. But it was a great challenge." Spending a semester of his undergraduate program in Colombia was what began his travelling compulsion. When the semester ended, he stayed on for a few months to travel in South America. "It enticed me and made me want to go back for more." In the dozens of countries he's visited, Henighan has strived to be more than just a tourist. Instead, he tries to immerse himself in the culture by staying with families to experience their language and way of life. It was just such an experience that ultimately led to his 2003 book Lost Province: Adventures in a Moldovan Family. He lived with a family in Moldova in the early 1990s while teaching English 111 the former U.S.S.R. country. When he returned seven years later, he was able to see first-hand how political changes had affected their lives, observations he detailed in Lost Province. The book has resulted in a flood of e-mails from Romanian-Canadians and favourable reviews in the Romanian press. Henighan will continue the theme of looking at the hopes and actual results of revolutions during his sabbatical next year. He plans to visit England and Portugal to examine how history is portrayed in books written by those who participated in revolutionary governments after a revolution ended. "I'm taking 1990 as a sort of watershed because that's right after the Berlin Wall came down and global free trade started and the computer revolution started," he says. "In a way, I'm looking at the last wave of revolutionaries. I'm comparing mainly writ-

ers from Central America and from Portuguese-speaking Africa, where left-wing governments came to power in the 1970s. Some of the people involved in those governments have become very important writers, like Mia Couto, who was the director of

information for the Marxist government of Mozambique in his 20s and is now the country's best-known writer." At the end of 2004, Henighan will no doubt be adding a list of publications and awards to the CV covering his 43 years of

experiences. Although many people strive to accomplish in an entire lifetime what he has achieved in the past year, he believes he has yet to reach his full potential. "I haven't yet got to the achievement that would make me really proud." ga

Winter 2004 13

and natural killer cells Using the mouse as a model for studies of the immune system, veterinary researchers follow the science to a greater understanding of human reproduction BY MARY DICKIESON " I

that COUld see into the future, we might find ourselves watching the activity at a fertility clinic. A young woman who's been unable to conceive naturally is about to begin the therapy leading to an embryo transplant: intensive hormone treatments, the harvesting of eggs from her ovaries, in vitro fertilization with her hus-

F WE HAD A CAMERA LENS

band's sperm and the insertion of a fertilized egg into her uterus. But first, she waits for the results of a simple blood test that will greatly increase her chances of becoming pregnant. A lab technician will look at her blood cells under a microscope to pinpoint the day within her monthly cycle when her uterus is best prepared to accept the embryo.

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This woman will be delighted when the pregnancy test is positive. She won't give a second thought to that initial blood test, won't know that it was first performed in a veterinary research lab, and probably won't recognize that it has made in vitro fertilization much more reliable, less stressful and more affordable than it was just a few years earlier. A few years earlier puts us back to 2003, when University of Guelph professor Anne Croy and post-doctoral researcher Marianne van den Heuvellooked at a blood assay under a microscope lens and predicted: "This woman is going to get pregnant!" It was a eureka moment, says van den Heuvel, who based her prediction on a little bit of intuition and four years of research as a member of Croy's immunology lab at the Ontario Veterinary College. "We're still a long

way away from any practical application of this work;' cautions Croy, but she can't hide her excitement about the knowledge gained through van den Heuvel's work on the role of the immune system in human pregnancy. I know my immune system helps me fight off the flu, but what does that have to do with my ability to get pregnant? And why are biomedical scientists in a veterinary college earning accolades for research that affects human medicine? According to Croy, the answer is simple: "We're following the science." Some might say leading the science. In 2002, van den Heuvel was the first recipient of an Ontario Women's Health Scholars Post-Doctoral Fellow Award. The $41,000 award was renewed in 2003 by the Ontario Women's Health Council and the

Anne Croy's research has brought together the findings of vascular biologists and immunologists. Her work seems to say: "You're both right."

GuELPH ALUMNUS

Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. This new research awards program is designed to ensure that Ontario attracts and retains pre-eminent scholars specializing in women's health. Trained in OVC graduate programs in the departments of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, van den Heuvel is such a scholar, but she's quick to credit her mentor's support and expertise. Croy's work in reproductive immunology has earned numerous accolades and made her a teacher of medical experts. In 1999, she received a prestigious senior scientist award from the Canadian Society of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neurobiology. It was an unusual honour for a veterinarian. A year later, she headed the first U of G research team to receive support from the Canadian Health Research Projects Program, funded jointly by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, for a project in reproductive biology. If Croy's medical colleagues are still surprised by her veterinary background, they are fewer and further between. She served almost 10 years as a panel member for the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the body that determines the direction ofU.S.funded medical research. Since 1997, she has taught a summer course on reproduction, mostly to medical doctors, at the Wood's Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts. She has twice been a visiting scientist at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. Croy's particular interest in the immunology of pregnancy exemplifies one of the great strengths of veterinary medicine: the ability to look at medicine across species and gain knowledge that improves the health and wellbeing of people as well as animals. She has followed the science from basic immunology in mammals to the role of blood lymphocytes in pregnancy and gestation to a new focus on pre-eclampsia, a potentially fatal condition in pregnant women that leads to elevated blood pressure and premature delivery. Working with immune-deficient mice, Croy and her research team devel1 oped the first animal model mimicking the blood vessel aspects of this disease. Based on the strength of this work, she is part of a multi-university application for federal funding to establish a Canadian Preeclampsia Network. Although it's not yet

funded, she hopes this centre of excellence will support collaborative research that will eventually lead to a true understanding of what causes pre-eclampsia and what factors are related to the condition.

Working with animal models Croy has been working with immune-deficient mice for more than 30 years. When she graduated from Guelph's DVM program in 1969, she had already received a Medical Research Council fellowship to do graduate work. Soon after graduation, she married classmate Carl Croy, and when he joined a veterinary practice in Toronto, her OYC professors recommended her for a PhD program at the University of Toronto's Institute of Medical Sciences. She was the first woman and the first non-medical doctor to graduate from the program. Her U ofT supervisor, David Osoba, wanted to investigate a new strain of hairless mouse that had no thymus gland. Croy's PhD research demonstrated that the mouse had very specific genetic defects that made it immune-deficient, eliminating the need to surgically remove the thymus from normal mice for his research. After her PhD, Croy gave up research temporarily to help her husband launch a new practice in St. Catherines. They also had two small children, so she looked closer to home at Brock University for a chance to get back into a research lab. Jn 1980, she began working with developmental biologist Janet Rossant and moved from basic immunology to a new interest in immune response during pregnancy. In 1985, Croy joined OYC's Department of Biomedical Sciences, where she continued to develop the mouse as a model for studies involving large mammals, including pigs and cattle. In the late 1980s, she and her Guelph colleagues bred a new strain of severe combined immuno-deficient (SCID) mice as a model for veterinary and agricultural research. She was looking at the immune system in livestock to determine if there was a skewing of the immune response during pregnancy that prevented the fetus from being rejected like any other kind of graft would be. One of the results of that work was the SCID-beige mouse- an even more inununedeficient mouse- and a breeding program that continued for several years, with Croy's OVC lab producing SCID-beige mice for researchers around the world.

Finding an answer leads to more questions

HERE WAS ANOTHER revelation in Prof. Anne Croy's research career that has bridged a gap of sorts between medical scientists studying the human condition of pre-eclampsia. When Josee Guimond, PhD '97, was completing her graduate research, they studied three or four strains of inununedeficient mice and discovered that those that lack NK lymphocytes had smaller placentas and narrower maternal arteries supplying them. These are symptoms of pre-eclampsia, a condition affecting about one in 20 first pregnancies. It's a condition Croy knew about because of her involvement in the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which required reading numerous grant applications for pre-eclampsia research. "I wouldn't have known about preeclampsia if I hadn't sat on that study section in Washington," she says. "I think we could have totally overlooked this histology if I hadn't been part of that review section." When Ali Ashkar, PhD '01, was working with Croy, they discovered he could eliminate these symptoms by adding NK cells back into the mouse's bloodstream. His research showed that NK cells play a significant role in reproduction and defined the molecular signal involved. The small subset of lymphocytes that normally attack tumour cells are now known to secrete proteins that cause the spiral arteries of the uterus to thin and elongate, reducing the pressure of blood flowing into the placenta. Outside the uterus, the earliest events that occur in a pregnant mammal are changes in the cardiovascular system, says Croy. The mother's heart stroke volume rises significantly and blood flow goes way up. NK cells seem to play a key role in sensitizing the arteries to allow the other processes of pregnancy to occur properly and optimize fetal development. Croy's work in this area has attract-

ed attention from medical granting agencies and some of the world's top reproductive biologists. In fact, her research has brought together the findings of vascular biologists and immunologists who have previously disagreed on the etiology of pre-eclampsia. Her work seems to say: "You're both right." Carrying the reproductive studies to the next logical step, fourth-year students Christine Sullivan and Jaana Kastikainen are grafting human placental tissue on the alymphoid mouse. "We've transplanted the tissue and shown that it grows very well after the transplant;' says Croy, "and we're measuring human hormones in serum from these mice." The research group will now inject the mice with blood plasma from a woman with pre-eclampsia to see if they can show whether the origin and progression of the disease are from effects of the plasma on the normal placental tissue or if the normal placenta is resistant to the plasma. The latter would suggest that pre-eclampsia may be caused by a primary defect in the immune system of susceptible women. "There's still so much we don't understand about the condition;' says Croy, who is hopeful that the Canadian Pre-eclampsia Network will eventually receive federal funding. She is currently using other mouse models to test a hypothesis that a protein regulated by NK cells in the uterus at the onset of pregnancy is elevated in the mother's circulation system, promoting the cardiovascular changes. If this centre of excellence is successful, she says, it will bring together immunologists and reproductive biologists across Canada to work on pre-eclampsia and, at the same time, enlarge our understanding of the relationship between the immune system and other critical systems in the body.

Winter 2004 17

The mouse contributes

university research team to have a colony of immune-deficient mice, says Prof. Anne Croy. ''I'm lucky here at OVC to have access to an isolation unit and the staff who make it successful." The containment facility is a complete barrier isolation unitair is filtered until pure, food and water are sterilized. In addition to immune-deficient mice, it houses chickens, cows, rabbits, sheep and other animals that OVC researchers may need to keep isolated from infectious agents. The SCID-beige patent was leased to three commercial companies in 1995; all are still producing the mice for research purposes. Croy and the University share the royalties, with U of G revenue going back into OVC research and Croy's share into a trust account. She's received about $20,000 over the last 10 years and uses the money to help cover travel expenses for graduate students attending conferences, to bring guest lecturers to her classes and to support a monthly discussion group with students and faculty in the reproductive biology unit at McMaster University. A few years ago, Croy's trust account bought lunch for 10 OVC students and Chris Redman, a guest lecturer from Oxford University who's a leading expert on preeclampsia. One of those students was Angela Borzychowski, who was doing fourth-year research in Croy's lab. Today, she's completing her PhD at Oxford, and her research abstract was chosen by the British Society of Immunology as one of the top five immunology student papers in the United Kingdom in 2003.

T'S RARE FOR A

GuELPH ALUMNUS

SCID mice are missing two of three subsets of lymphocytes that enable mammals to develop immunity in response to an antigen that invades the body. A small fraction of blood lymphocytes are known as natural killer (NK) cells, aptly named because their role is to recognize and kill foreign cells such as viral or tumour cells, as part of the body's natural immune response. In SCID-beige mice, the function of this third subset is also blocked. Croy now works with the alymphoid mouse, a strain created by French scientist James Di Santo that is missing all lymphocytes.

Understanding NK cells The OVC research with mice has shown that NK cells migrate to the uterus during pregnancy as if called by the female body to attack the foreign embryo, but instead they

seem to play a vital role in nurturing the developing fetus . "That was always a puzzle from an immunology standpoint," says van den Heuvel. "Because the fetus is part of the mother and also part of the father, it's actually foreign and should be rejected by the mother's immune system." She knows from working in Croy's lab that, in mice, NK cells adhere to the blood vessel walls, where they secrete proteins that cause the blood vessels to thin and elongate and increase blood flow to the fetus. Because mouse and human reproductive systems are similar, the researchers believe NK cells play a similar role in women . That's a discussion van den Heuvel says she couldn't even envision 11 years ago when she left the family dairy farm near Stratford,

It was a eureka moment when Marianne van den Heuvel was able to predict: "This woman is going to get pregnant."

Ont., to pursue graduate work at U of G. "I didn't even know what immunology was." Van den Heuvel had earned a Guelph undergraduate degree in resources management in 1980, spent a year working for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, then joined the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. In 1988, she and her husband, lngo Menzel, a high school science teacher, moved to her family's farm so she could help out her father. She loved working with livestock, but her father's failing health led to the dairy herd being sold in 1992. It was the farm experience, particularly working with cows, that brought van den Heuvel back to U of G. "We would have high-production cows producing milk like crazy, but we couldn't get them to calve again," she recalls. "Our vet said he'd seen this at other farms, too. I wondered if it was because their reproductive systems were affected by high stress levels." She completed a master's degree in 1995 and a PhD in 2001 and is now doing postdoctoral research that she hopes will lead to an academic career at a medical university. Still, she's not too far from her initial farm insights. She and Menzel still live on the Stratford-area farm with their two children, and the research program that earned her the Women's Health Council award focuses on the intricacies of how the immune system affects a female's ability to reproduce. "About 10 per cent of couples are infertile, and it's hard to figure out why;' she says. "This work may be a way of identifying problems affecting a woman's ability to have children. The problem could be with the woman's immune system rather than the reproductive system." The first stage of her post-doctoral research used blood samples from healthy fertile women of child-bearing age who weren't taking any hormone supplements such as birth control pills. Thanks to dozens of female volunteers in Guelph who were willing to give a blood sample every other day for a month, van den Heuvel was able to map the adhesion of NK cells to the uterus against the states of the menstrual cycle. She found that in fertile women, there is an influx of NK cells into the uterus on ovulation. If pregnancy doesn't occur, the cells are shed along with the unfertilized egg. The work was done in vitro using uterine tissue harvested from pregnant mice.

Van den Heuvel's research group has partnered with the reproductive endocrinology and infertility programs at the University of Western Ontario in London, which help women trying to bear children through in vitro fertilization. The eureka moment came during the second phase of the project when she compared levels ofNK adhesions in the London patients, who were taking hormone supplements, with the NK adhesion mapping she created from her Guelph volunteers. The first pregnancy appeared in study patient 021, and her chart showed a definite pattern in the rise of NK adhesions just before and after the successful embryo transplant. None of the other patient samples showed an increase in NK cells. Using the pattern established by 021, van den Heuvel began to predict which of the other patients would get pregnant. "We knew nothing about these women, nothing about their fertility program, not even their ages, but I knew their blood cells, which were identified by codes held in London. It was very exciting when we could track a steady increase in NK cell adhesion as they progressed through their treatment protocol and be able to say: 'This woman is going to get pregnant."' Exciting, yes, but still only the beginning of a hypothesis that might develop into the simple blood test described at the beginning of our story. A test that would allow fertility clinics to predict reliably on which day an embryo transplant will be successful. That blood test would be invaluable to patients unable to conceive naturally. In vitro fertilization costs about $10,000 per cycle and is extremely invasive; the success rate is only 25 to 30 per cent. The next step for van den Heuvel is to frnd out what controls the adhesion of NK cells. Is there a hormonal influence? Can we measure it? Do infertile women display a dysregulation of the NK cells? And if so, can we figure out what causes it and find a way to correct it so the woman could have a normal cycle? This brings our story back to the future, thinking way beyond the development of a simple blood test for use in fertility clinics. But like her mentor, van den Heuvel is following the science, looking at the big picture of where these first studies may fit into a greater understanding of how the mammalian immune system affects, even controls, events associated with the reproductive cycle in females. ga

Developing Scientists N AN AGE WHERE technological advances are expanding medical frontiers at the cellular and subcellular levels, the potential for a comparative approach to research is growing exponentially. The veterinary profession needs to encourage more of its graduates to pursue research careers, and Croy is by her own example helping to meet that need. Throughout her OVC career, she has supervised 17 graduate students, six at the PhD level, and more than 25 fourth-year undergraduate project courses. She has also hosted seven postdoctoral associates and five visiting scientists. Their work has been funded by various granting agencies and foundations, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Ontario Pork, Ontario Cattlemen's Association, Canadian Association of Animal Breeders, Pet Trust, OVC Bull Travel Fellowships, Alma Mater Fund and other U of G research funds, as well as the Medical Research Council, World Health Organization, Hospital for Sick Children and Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Following the science has enabled Croy to complete two research leaves at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, where she is still an adjunct professor. She and the scientists training with her also enjoy the co-operation of medical school faculty and staff at McMaster, Queen's and the universities of Toronto and Western Ontario.

Winter 2004 19 !I

EXPLORING ' Innate curiosity drives Guelph scientists to study the amazing network of life we call biodiversity

ZooLOGY PROFESSOR Denis Lynn, B.Sc. '69, spends much of his day poring over things unseen, or at least things that can be seen only with the aid of microscopes and other instruments. He and his colleagues study single-celled creatures, including dinoflagellates whose uncontrolled blooms can cause shellfish poisoning and Plasmodium, a parasitic protozoan that causes malaria. But for all the scientist's singular focus on unicellular organisms, Lynn admits that a large part of what drives his studies stems from the same kind of wide-eyed appreciation for nature, in all its varied forms, that childhood instils in most of us. Recalling camping trips with his family to Georgian Bay, catching frogs and snakes and boating with his father, he chuckles: "I like to say I'm

BY ANDREW VOWLES

a kid who never grew up." These days, when he returns to Georgian Bay with grown-up eyes, he sees distinctly more of some things- more people, more cottages, more boats - and correspondingly less of others, notably the shoreline and its associated plants and animals. That change in his lifetime mirrors the experience of many of us who have seen a similar paring away of plants, animals and other living things in the places we knew as youngsters or even not that long ago. There are indeed limits to the seemingly infinite variety of life on Earth. Researchers like Lynn and fellow scientists across the U of G campus are focusing on the problem to help us understand and conserve the Earth's biodiversity.

ILLUSTRATION BY TRACY WALKER, i2i

Not far from Lynn's office in the Axelrod Building, zoology professor Jinzhong Fu points to a survey of scientists done five years ago by the American Museum of Natural History. Asked to rank the number-one threat to the globe, they fingered species disappearance triggered by habitat loss ahead of pollution, global warming and the thinning of the ozone layer. Many believe that, at current extinction rates, half of all species of plants and animals alive today will become extinct sometime this century.

Thinning numbers, on the other hand, are well-documented. Fu grew up on a farm in eastern China where evenings were alive with the sounds of frogs and toads. Today, the nighttime chorus has diminished noticeably. He blames habitat loss, as growing demand for irrigation water has reduced the height of the water table drastically in just 20 years. He points to another consequence of habitat erosion, one that led him to cancel a planned research trip during last spring's outbreak of severe acute respira-

At current rates of extinction, half of all species of plants and animals alive today will become extinct sometime this century - Connections between loss of biodiversity and health threats such as

"That's why we're alarmed," says Fu. "We're currently in a process of mass extinction;' one that's on a scale greater even than the catastrophic events believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. As a genealogist of sorts, he uses evolutionary ecology and molecular biology to work out lineages among species of frogs and salamanders and where those creatures came from in the first place. So diverse is one steep river valley on the eastern slope of the Tibetan Plateau in his native China that he has discovered some I 0 new species of herps- reptiles and amphibians in herpetologist's lingo -since his first trip there in 1999. Explaining the paradox of finding new species even as experts sound alarms over dwindling biodiversity, he says best estimates of numbers of creatures are just that: estimates.

22 GUELPH ALUMNUS

tory syndrome (SARS) In Beijing. Although epidemiologists have yet to fill in the dotted lines, scientists have traced connections between loss of biodiversity and health threats such as SARS that are believed to arise when disease organisms jump from animals to people. Shrink natural habitats even further, he says, and you risk forcing wild animals and their associated bugs into closer contact with people, a problem magnified in a densely populated country like China. It's not just habitat loss and human activities that threaten biodiversity. Just as SARS grabbed its share of headlines last year, so did an infestation of a different sort in parts of southern Ontario that threatened native tree species, including ash and maple, in cities and forests alike. Two insect species

believed to have hitched a ride to North America- the emerald ash borer and the Asian long-horned beetle- had federal officials imposing quarantine and considering widespread clear-cutting to contain the pests. One of the experts asked .to help in identifYing tl1e newcomers to north Toronto and the Windsor area was Prof. Steve Marshall, B.Sc.(Agr.) '77 and PhD '82, Environmental Biology. He calls invasive species "undoubtedly one of the most serious threats to biodiversity." The culprits here are the insects, of course. But the director of Guelph's insect collection says bugs themselves might just as easily become the victims. If it sounds paradoxical to hear zoologist Fu mention loss of numbers and discoveries of new frogs in the same breath, then it's almost impossible to imagine that insects- estimated to include some five million species worldwide- might face a crisis. Turn the microscope around, says Marshall. If one or a few animal species are endangered by some factor, you can automatically magnify the number and variety of insect species under threat. And although insects appear virtually everywhere on Earth, many have become so specialized that you might find certain species living only in a sliver of tallgrass prairie or on a lone mountaintop. Closer to home, he says bugs are not immune to the kinds of internecine warfare that affects animals and birds. In his Bovey Building office, he sketches a graph to show the decline of the native nine-spotted ladybeetle since his own days as an undergraduate here at Guelph. That downward line intersects almost perfectly with the equally precipitous rise of the introduced sevenspotted ladybeetle, a trend reflected today in their relative numbers in student collections. Well before earning his own PhD, Marshall began collecting insects around his native Guelph, including the former Hanlon Pond (since paved over) and here at U of G ("' had the Dairy Bush pretty well collected by age seven or eight"). Keeping a weather eye on regional insect species is part of his job as director of the insect collection, which dates to the mid-1800s and includes more than two million specimens, making it the third- or fourth-largest such collection in Canada. "University of Guelph material is now considered essential to anyone doing research on North American insects or on flies anywhere in the world," says Marshall, who has

described almost 200 fly species and has written fly species keys and catalogues. "Anyone working on taxonomy of an insect group in northeastern North America, as well as those working on certain groups of flies, pretty much has to come here." He and other U of G researchers belong to the Costa Rica "Megadiversity" Project, the largest biodiversity inventory ever undertaken. Involving systematists from around the world, the project is designed to document the biodiversity of four of the largest groups of organisms in Costa Rica: fungi, beetles, hymenoptera (bees and wasps) and flies. Marshall is talking about insects, but his words echo comments about plants made by another Guelph grad-turned-professor. Last spring, botany professor Steven Newmaster, B.Sc. '93, was appointed curator of the U of G herbarium, where he had spent three years as a volunteer technician during his undergraduate years at Guelph. "I knew I was going to be a botanist at eight years old," says Newmaster, who first learned to identify trees, shrubs and wildflowers on the family farm in Cambridge. Although most of those plants remain on the farm itself, parts of the adjacent forest marking the northern extent of Ontario's Carolinian region have been lost to a gravel quarry. Remaining sections, including land under the jurisdiction of the local conservation authority, have lost certain relatively obscure species of mosses- a sign to him that the authority's single-minded focus on encouraging growth of the forest under-story has ignored the larger issue of native diversity. Further afield, he's had more success. His surveys of plant species in northern Ontario helped change herbicide spraying practices to reduce the impact on non-target species of plants. Newmaster is an expert in moss taxonomy and Ontario flowering plants (he's currently writing an expanded edition of the Ontario Plant List, which he co-authored in 1998). As with U of G's insect collection, it's a mandate to classify and identify things that drives his century-old botanical teaching and research library. The herbarium's nearly 100,000 specimens serve as a primary source of information about the taxonomy, geography and biology of plants from weeds to native varieties. Besides its use by researchers in the Department of Botany and the Ontario Agricultur-

al College, the herbarium sees visitors from police officers hoping to identify toxic or hallucinogenic plants, weed inspectors, field botanists, consultants and the general public. As if to emphasize the herbarium's classification roots, Newmaster picks up a wooden plant press used to prepare newly acquired specimens for drying and mounting. "This is the technique Linnaeus used;' he says. Although Carolus Linnaeus- the 18thcentury founder of our system for classifying living things - might find familiar

computer printout resembling a complicated heart monitor readout will allow the researchers to determine which species of crustacean that tissue came from. For Hebert, it's been more than a few years since the day his four-year-old self ran home in his native Kingston to show his mother a bee he'd snared in a bottle. But the same impulse guides his steps as a Canada Research Chair in Molecular Biodiversity. "We're assembling information that will soon lead to a new approach to species iden-

SARS are believed to arise when disease organisms jump from animals to people U of G material is considered essential to anyone doing research on North American insects or on flies anywhere in the world

ground in the herbarium, he would arguably be a bit lost on the other side of the Axelrod Building. Here, zoology professor Paul Hebert is nurturing a 21st-century species identification system that he calls "the rise of a new level ofbio-literacy." In Hebert's lab, a visiting post-doc lifts an eyedropper-shaped tube in a gloved hand to reveal a snippet of muscle tissue from a Pacific shrimp floating in ethanol. Through a process involving digestive chemicals, centrifuges and DNAamplifying machinery, he will isolate a telltale fragment of the genetic material in the tissue. Like a checkout scanner reading the bar code at a grocery store, other machinery will then analyze that DNA snippet to read the sequence of base pairs within a particular stretch and compare that sequence with a growing database maintained in the lab. A

tification," he says. In a paper published last year, he suggested scientists could bar code within 20 years all of the estimated 10 million species of animals on Earth, of which only about 10 per cent have been identified and formally described during the past 250 years. "We're saying that we need to bring modern technology to the task of species recognition," says Hebert, whose vision includes the possibility of developing handheld bar-coding units that would allow field researchers to identify critters easily and quickly using nothing more than a bit of DNA from a tissue sample or swab. His method has attracted widespread attention from scientists worldwide, who are now debating the relative merits of using DNA to identify not just species of animals but

Winter 2004 23

other living things from Newmaster's plants to Marshall's insects to Lynn's protozoans. Studying biodiversity is about more than probing DNA, of course. But that fledgling technology is central to a planned grouping of researchers eager to lead a revolution in our understanding of life's variety. Construction is expected to begin this spring on a new two-story building (featuring a central staircase coiled, appropriately enough, in DNA-spiral fashion) to house a new Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO). The

ticularly in the past five years, he's seen reductions in diversity that he believes point to the larger effects of global climate change. Looking for field course sites closer to home, Newmaster was excited this past September when he was tipped to a likely location that turned out to be a Class I wetland. Two months later, he was shocked to learn the area had been clear-cut for a gravel quarry. The tale was distressingly familiar. He's seen the bog that he visited as an undergraduate nearly completely taken over by

Scientists could bar code within years all of the estimated

million

species of animals on Earth -- Reductions in diversity point to the larger effects of global climate change.

institute will draw in researchers from at least three colleges across campus, including not just botanists, zoologists and environmental biologists but also microbiologists, molecular biologists and even computing and information scientists interested in bio-informatics, the use of computers to sift through oceans of biological and species data. "We're on the brink of a new taxonomy;' says Newmaster, who last year retired his collecting notebooks in favour of a laptop and global positioning system for logging plant finds in the field. Last summer he took several students to study plant populations in so-called ''Arctic disjuncts," pockets near the northern shore of Lake Superior whose plant communities date back to the postglaciation period. He's been tracking changes there for more than a decade. Par-

24 GuELPH ALUMNUS

Being able to

weedy, invasive species, perhaps triggered by nearby development and an accompanying reduction in the level of the local water table. He hopes the proposed BIO will make a difference, here and further afield. "Guelph is one of the few spots in North America and internationally looking at the landscape, floristically and faunistically, to try and understand everything in these systems, collect the samples, figure out how to identify them using the most current technology we have, and preserve their genomes." Newmaster's botany colleague Prof. Brian Husband plans to investigate use of DNA bar-coding for identifying hybrid plants, inducting threatened American chestnut trees. Husband belongs to natural recovery teams for two tree species. Red mulberry is the most endangered tree in Canada, thanks

to hybridization with white mulberry, introduced to North America in the 1600s to feed silkworm caterpillars. American chestnut trees, once of major economic importance to eastern North America, were nearly obliterated by a fungus thought to have been imported from Asia early in the 20th century. "It was probably one of the biggest ecological disasters of the last century," says Husband, who is working with the Canadian Chestnut Council on plans to restore the species. His two-year inventory turned up more than 600 specimens in southern Ontario, and he estimates there may be that many again growing in pockets around the province. He hopes to use genetics, including DNA bar-coding, to verify a theory that hybrids between native and Asian or European chestnuts imported by nut growers are naturally resistant to the fungus that causes blight in the native species. Being able to identify hybrids reliably is key to the recovery plan, says Husband. "The main value of the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario will be the opportunity to identify and distinguish biological entities we can't otherwise identify, either because the boundaries are fuzzy or because only material such as pollen, roots or other hard-toidentify parts are available." Holder of a Canada Research Chair in Population Biology and Ecological Genetics, he studies threatened or endangered plants, including the lakeside daisy, which is found only around the Great Lakes. Surveys by one of his graduate students found that the plant has suffered from habitat destruction and land-use activities, leading to its designation as a threatened species. Habitat destruction and encroachment resonate personally with Husband, who has watched changes occur to areas of the Rockies where he regularly hiked and camped as a yow1gster. He still does fieldwork in soutl1western Alberta, where "the first thing you notice is changes in land use along the front slopes. Development for access for oil and gas companies is incredible." Back on the other side of the Axelrod Building, zoology professor Kevin McCann, M.Sc. '93 and PhD '97, returned to Guelph this year as a Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity. For him, signs of problems in the wild increased in lockstep with the ever-rising number on the population sign posted at the outskirts of Barrie, Ont., where he

grew up. "You think about these things as a child and feel you can't do a thing," he says. Now a theoretical ecologist- he combined earlier math studies with ecology degrees from Guelph- McCann models ecosystems from seagrass communities in Barbados to the Great Lakes to tease apart often-complicated webs of predator-prey interactions. He is among a number of scientists challenging long-held ideas about the "balance of nature." Diversity doesn't necessarily beget stability, he says. Instead, there are likely other forces at work to explain how an ecosystem unfolds more or less predictably from one year or season to the next. "What is it about nature that allows things to be stable?" he says. Similar questions absorb another recent arrival in Botany. Prof. Hafiz Maherali, a plant physiologist, studies the role of plants and associated organisms in ecosystems. Never an outdoors type while growing up in Calgary, he says his interest in the natural world was piqued at McGill University during a summer field course in plant ecology. Acknowledging human effects on the landscape, he is also interested in natural processes that affect ecosystems. "I've been in North Carolina after a hurricane. It's damage on a colossal scale; it might as well be clear-cut. I'm interested not so much in preserving biodiversity as in understanding what biodiversity means." That sentiment is echoed by Husband, whose interest, besides his work with threatened or endangered species, lies in studying ecosystem changes, including changes wrought by natural processes such as forest fires along the slopes of the Rockies. In a unique twist, Maherali arrived at Guelph last year as one-half of a husbandand-wife team that bring shared interests in plant physiology and ecology to bear through a "whole-organism perspective." His wife, Prof. Christina Caruso, Botany, likens her interest in the evolution of flowering plants such as lobelia to her abiding passion for history, a subject that nearly became a double major alongside her ecology studies. Says Maherali: "Ecologists or evolutionary biologists are all in some way trying to understand how biodiversity evolved. How did we get here?" Beyond the BIO, Hebert is also leading a drive to assemble a cross-Canada network

of researchers interested in using DNA barcoding to understand and promote biodiversity. Their proposal for a Microgenomics Network has also generated interest from industry and governments in Canada and abroad. They see possibilities for applying bar-coding to numerous problems: curbing invasive species; identifying pests and diseases; tracking regional changes in biodiversity; learning more about evolution and speciation; completing habitat inventories (including the ambitious Census of Marine

inherent in Goodall's Roots and Shoots program that might help us understand and preserve the diversity of life on Earth, to borrow a phrase from Sir David Attenborough, who visited U of Gin 2003 to receive an honorary degree .. ln an interview last spring, the British documentary filmmaker explained that his career spent recording the wild- including his landmark BBC series, Life on Earth- has been an attempt to engage and inform an increasingly urban audience about the world beyond the city,

identify hybrids reliably recovery plan

key to the

What is it about nature

that allows things to be stable?

Bio-

diversity is the matrix that supports us; it is the network in which life exists

Life, under which scientists have been cataloguing the oceans for the past three years); and managing ecosystems from the Great Lakes to nature preserves. "Biodiversity is the matrix in which we're suspended," says environmental biologist Marshall. "It's the network in which life exists." He visited Australia late last year to help develop a digital identification key for insects. "We need to understand pieces of the network." And we need to pass on what zoologist Lynn calls that inborn "interest and passion" for the natural world, not just to today's university students but earlier than that- to, say, those wide-eyed youngsters he says attended a recent lecture at Guelph by world-renowned chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall. For all the big words and big ideas on campus, it's equally the small steps

and the threats that those cities and city mice pose to that natural world. "If I talk to an audience in Britain;' he said, "I can be pretty sure that 95 per cent of them have not seen a wild living creature, other than maybe a pigeon, for days. It's extraordinary." It's also bordering on sacrilege for Hebert, who took time to introduce the University's expertise in biodiversity studies to Attenborough during his Guelph visit. The zoologist's work with DNA bar-coding may be earning him attention from researchers around the world. But it's hard not to hear in his voice something of the excitement of that youngster rushing home to share his insect find with his mother as he says: "A deep love of organisms is what drives us. We're gaining insights that, as a child, I couldn't have imagined." ga

Winter 2004 25

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

ALUMNI PROFILES

SASQUATCH TALK DRAWS A CROWD

investigator who studied wildlife biology at U of G drew a crowd of more than 350 when he spoke on campus in October. John Bindernagel, BSA '64, presented eyewitness drawings and plaster casts of tracks to make the case for the hypothesis that "there seems to be a North American great ape among us." He also discussed the nature of scientific inquiry and the resistance he's encountered to his ideas, dating back to his own undergraduate days at Guelph. Bindernagel's Guelph host was zoology professor Jim Bogart, a U of G classmate during the early 1960s. Bogart, whose own recent work on a species of unisexual salamanders has raised eyebrows among mainstream herpetologists, said the lecture was a good addition to the department's fall semmar senes. "I think people should have an open mind;' said Bogart. "I think students can listen to something and judge for themselves. That's what we train them for." Bindernagel admitted that most scientists dismiss reports of sightings of large ape-like animals as mistaken identification of bears or as hoaxes. Others point to the lack of bones and other remains that would prove the existence of a North American great ape. But there is no question that Bigfoot is a topic of great general interest. Although most sightings occur in the Pacific northwest, people have reported seeing Bigfoot-like creatures or tracks across ;;e North America, including about 30 accounts Vl !5 in Ontario. Bindernagel said reports have ~ come from northern Ontario, the Bruce ~ Peninsula and the Niagara Peninsula over a ::;: ~ span of at least 20 years. ~ In 1998, he published a book called North [5 America's Great Ape: The Sasquatch, which 6: drew on more than 150 sasquatch reports. LONGT!M E SASQUATCH

GuELPH ALUMNUS

Bindernagel's own interest was sparked while studying at U of G. When he asked a question in class about a sasquatch report, he drew laughter from his classmates and a curt reply from the professor. "He said: 'We're not going to talk about that: We went back to wolves and moose and deer. That got my back up." After leaving Guelph, Bindernagel earned a PhD at the University of Wisconsin in 1970. He has worked as a wildlife conservation adviser in East Africa, Iran and the Caribbean. Since 1975, he has been an environmental consultant in British Columbia and has studied sasquatch reports. He

belongs to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (www.bigfootbiologist.org). "I don't go around trying to convince people that the sasquatch exists," he said. "What I'm looking for is a forum to explain and tell the evidence we have and say this is worthy of scientific scrutiny." He has never seen a sasquatch himself. In 1988, he found 15-inch tracks in Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. In the photo, he's holding a plaster cast made from one of those tracks. During his Ontario visit, Bindernagel also filmed a TV interview in Toronto for the Discovery Channel.

atters HIGHLIGHTS • GRAD NEWS • OBITUARIES • CALENDAR

GRYPHON ATHLETES JOIN HALL OF FAME

Members of the 1966/67 women's hockey team who attended the Hall of Fame dinner were, from left: Ingrid (Wicklund) Laidlaw, BA '67; Kaye (Marsh) Hogg, DVM '70; judy (Beamish) Nave, B.H.Sc. '67; Shirley Peterson, women's athletics director; Mary (Gilbank) McEwen, B.Sc.(Agr.) '67; Beth (Stansell) Batty and Kathy (Hodgins) Lougheed, B.H.Sc. '68.

Individuals honoured by the Hall of Fame are, from left: Ron Foxcroft, Mike Shoemaker, Avril (Peaker) Swanston, Steve Perkovic, Bill Weber and Stuart Miller.

woN GuELPH's firstWomen's Intercollegiate Athletic Union championship in hockey in 1967, setting the pace for a string of six championship titles over the next seven years. The ath letes, coaches HEY

and managers of the women's 1966/67 hockey team were inducted into the Gryphon Club Hall of Fame Sept. 25, 2003. Five individual athletes were also inducted, and an award of merit went to OUA bas-

ketball official Ron Foxcroft, the only Canadian basketball referee to have officiated in the NCAA (1963 to 1999). Off the court, he is president of Fluke Transport and Warehousing and inventor of the Fox 40 Pealess Whistle. He was named by Profit Magazine as one of the top 10 Canadian entrepreneurs of the decade. The individual athletes honoured were: Stuart Miller, B.Sc. '81. Team captain and a leading scorer for the soccer Gryphons, he captured conference All-Star honours, was named to the OUAA Select Team, chosen league MVP and selected as a CIAU All-Canadian. • Avril (Peaker) Swanston, BA '83. Female Rookie of the Year in 1980, she led the Gryphon swim team to a bronze-medal finish at the OWIAA championships and won individual go ld and silver OWIAA freestyle medals in both 1980 and 1981 and a bronze at the 1980 CIAU championships. Steve Perkovic, B.Comm. '93. The OUAA's hockey rookie of the year in 1989, he also earned All-Star status in four consecutive years. He was captain of the 1992 west division champions and was selected as the team's MVP, a CIAU All-Canadian and U of G's Male Athlete of the Year. Mike Shoemaker, B.A.Sc. '89. This twotime OUA First Team All-Star and CIAU All-Canadian quarterback has a long list of accolades: recipient of U of G's Don Cameron Award, Male Athlete of the Year in 1988, OUA conference MVP twice, eight sc hool records and four OUA records in both 1988 and 1989, and the CIAU's highest completion percentage in a season (68.5 per cent) in 1988. Bill Weber, DVM '59. He quarterbacked the football Gryphons to the OQAA title in 1955 and 1958 and was known for his outstanding leadership abilities and character. He served on the athletic council for four years, including a term as chair.

Winter 2004 27

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alumni Matters OTTAWA ALUMNI/ STUDENTS CONNECT

Coming Events jan. 16- 13th Annual Aggie Good Times Banquet, a formal banquet at the end of Career Week for alumni and students, Country Heritage Park. Contact the Student Federation of OAC at Ext. 58321 for tickets and details. jan. 30 - Deadline for nominations for UGAA Alumni Awards. Categories are Alumnus of Honour, Alumni Medal of Achievement and Alumni Volunteer Award. To receive a brochure and nomination form, call Alumni Affairs at 519824-4120, Ext. 56544, or 1-888-266-3108. March 3 - U of G annual Alumni Florida Reunion, Maple Leaf Estates, Port Charlotte, Fla. For details, send e-mail to alumni@uoguelph.ca or call Ext. 56544. March 20 and 21 - College Royal. Check out www.collegeroyal.uoguelph.ca for details. March 26 and 27 - OAC Alumni Association ( OACAA) 46th annual curling bonspiel, Guelph Curling Club and Guelph Country Club. To register, contact Carla Bradshaw at Ext. 56657 or e-mail cbradsha@oac.uoguelph.ca. March 31 -Deadline for nominations for OACAA Distinguished Faculty Awards. Contact Carla Bradshaw at Ext. 56657 or cbradsha@oac. uoguelph.ca. june 25 to 27 -Alumni Weekend. For more information about these and other alumni events, contact Alumni Affairs at alumni@uoguelph.ca or 519824-4120, Ext. 56544. ;;< (f)

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U of G alumni and their families enjoyed dis路

Incoming Guelph students and their parents

counted prices at a fa ll 2003 Ottawa Rene-

were welcomed into the U of G community

gades game and tailgate party. The event

at an informal gathering in August. There

was part of the Inter-University Capital Alum-

were lots of questions for the recent grads

ni Network schedule of events for universi-

and current Guelph students who attended,

ty alumni who want to stay connected to

as well as for Alumni Affairs staff, including

their alma mater. Above: Elizabeth Dennisk,

OAC alumni manager Carla Bradshaw, left.

left, and Janet Toole, both BA 'o2 graduates

Close to 400 students from Ottawa are now

who live in the Ottawa area, came out to

enrolled at U of G, and more than 2,500

show their Gryphon spirit.

Guelph alumni live in the Ottawa area.

)

SUMMER'S JUST AROUND THE CORNER

URING ALUMNI Weekend 2004, we'll celebrate the 40th anniversary of the incorporation of the University of Guelph. Mark June 25 to 27 on your calendar and plan to join your classmates for a reunion event, birthday cake, campus tours, award presentations and an alumni pub. Information about how to plan a reunion for your class is available at www.uoguelph.ca/alumni.

STAY IN TOUCH BY E-MAIL

LUMNI AFFAIRS AND Development sent out its first e-newsletter to more than 30,000 alumni last summer. The e-newsletter will continue to go out every two months with invitations to alumni events, as well as news of student achievements, athletic events and services available to alumni. To receive the U of G alumni e-newsletter, send your e-mail address, name and grad year to alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca.

28 GuELPH ALUMNus

LIVE OUT OF TOWN?

VARIETY OF EVENTS are being planned for the coming year in areas outside of Guelph, including social and networking events. To get involved as a local volunteer, contact Alumni Affairs staff at alumni@uoguelph.ca. To ensure that your name goes on the invitation list for events in your area, keep your e-mail and mailing addresses up to date. Use the alumni online community to contact other Guelph grads in your area, post

your business card or provide personal information. For address changes, send e-mail to alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca. To join the U of G alumni online community, visit www.olcnetwork.net/uoguelph.

SOCCER STARS STILL SHINE

H 1 s SPRING, the Gryphon men's varsity soccer team will host its fifth invitational soccer tournament in the sports dome. Organizers hope to duplicate the nostalgia and success of last year's event when several members of the 1990 provincial champion Gryphon squad reunited to compete inand win- the indoor soccer tournament. The former Gryphons went undefeated and did not allow a single goal as they met current varsity teams from the universities of Windsor, Western and Carleton. They tied teams from Trent and Guelph and defeated Windsor again in the final match to win the championship hardware. According to one team member: "As in the old days, the victory was celebrated at Gryphs, except this time there was more ice strapped to our bodies than in the drinks."

"WE ARE YOUR SQUEAKY WHEEL ON CAMPUS"

HE SQUEAKY WHEEL gets the grease. And right now Bill Summers, B.Sc.(Agr.) '82 and M.Sc. '84, is one of the squeakiest wheels among Guelph's 70,000 alumni. He says that's his job. Summers uses the professional skills developed working at DuPont Canada Inc. in his volunteer role as president of the University of Guelph Alumni Association (UGAA). He says one of his mandates as president is to make sure that individual alumni voices are being heard by the University administration, by the UGAA board of directors and by the staff, faculty and students of the University. "Our alumni base is our most valuable asset," he says, "and we need to make sure we're giving them every opportunity to share their opinions and ideas. Our alumni need to know we're listening." That's why Summers and other alumni on the UGAA executive are trying to turn up the volume on alumni communications. In addition to proposed changes to streamline the structure of the alumni association to make it more efficient and effective, they've also got some ideas that will ensure there is an alumni perspective on issues that affect the University of Guelph.

UGAA president Bill Summers speaks on behalf of alumni at the Oct. 10 installation of U of G president Alastair Summerlee.

with U of G's new president, Alastair Summerlee, to outline UGAA plans and suggested that the association also needs greater influence on issues that affect alumni and their connection to the University. "We need to ensure that alumni are represented on boards and committees, and that these alumni representatives are hearing from their constituents;' says Summers.

Listening to alumni

Getting things done

Taking advantage of Internet technologies, the UGAA plans to launch a virtual alumni panel of 110 people representing what Summers calls "the diversity" of Guelph's alumni family. "We want people with a variety of degrees and diplomas, men and women, new graduates and older alumni, some who live close to campus and others who are oceans away:' They'll communicate with the UGAA through e-mail, and panel membership will change every two years. Summers sees the virtual panel as a sounding board for UGAA initiatives and a source of support for the volunteers who represent alumni within the alumni association and on a variety of University committees, boards and Senate. Summers met

The UGAA also wants to improve communication within the association itself and increase the number of opportunities for alumni groups to contribute. At the annual general meeting during Alumni Weekend in June 2004, UGAA members will be asked to ratify a new three-tiered administrative structure. It's proposed that a UGAA council be created to give all alumni groups an opportunity to connect with the association. Its membership will welcome existing college- and program-based alumni associations and other "communities of interest" that may be based on alumni connections through athletics, residences, student clubs and other means. The proposed council would meet three times a year, providing input for the benefit of the UGAA board and University staff

in Alumni Affairs and Development. But the council would also offer information and training opportunities to help participants organize and manage their own communities of interest. The second tier in the new UGAA structure is an advisory board with a representative from each U of G academic college, the Central Student Association and the Graduate Students' Association, committee chairs and the Senate representative, as well as the UGAA's five elected executive members. The executive group makes up the third tier of the new structure. "We want input from a broad base of alumni interest groups;' says Summers, "but we also need smaller working groups in tiers two and three to streamline business meetings and make the association more effective:' Although the proposed UGAA structure would decrease the size of the board, it would add a new position to the executive tier with the mandate to work with students, faculty and staff and integrate their voices ~ . h 0 mto t e UGAA. 6 For more information or to comment ~ on these proposed changes, write to Sum- ~ mers at alumni@uoguelph.ca or plan to ~ attend the UGAA annual general meeting~ -i during Alumni Weekend, june 25 to 27. z

Winter 2004 29

GRAD NEWS

Grads meet at the 17th hole

and treatment of bovine diseases, particularly his research into the epidemiology and pathogenesis of foot-and-mouth disease. He also received the DalrympleChampneys Cup and Medal from the British Veterinary Association to recognize work that advances veterinary science. Last January, Donaldson received an

Alex Donaldson

From left: David Braun, Mark Hughes and ian Andrew.

§ ~

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Despite what you may think, being in the business of designing and building golf courses does not help your game. The Guelph graduates who spent last summer building an irrigation pond at Guelph's Cutten Club golf course had little time to hone their own skills.

Lead architect Ian Andrew, BLA '90, says the 4.5-milliongallon pond will reduce the club's dependency on water drawn from the adjoining Speed River. The project involved altering the ll th hole and building a brand new 17th hole to accommodate the pond.

Andrew, who is employed by Carrick Design Inc. in Toronto, worked with consulting engineers David and Stephen Braun, B.Sc.(Eng.) '88, of Guelph and site supervisor Mark Hughes, ADA '97, who is a project co-ordinator for Michigan-based Turf Drain Inc.

1930

• Helen (Passmore), DHE '32, and George Rogers, BSA '36, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary July 6, 2003, at Craigleith, Ont. Five U of G graduates were in attendance.

'70, live in Surrey. Callowhill was part of the first B.Sc. class to enrol in Wellington College of Arts and Science, which was established after the University was incorporated in 1964. • Alex Donaldson, PhD '69, retired from the Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, in Surrey, England, in 2002 after 30 years of service. He had been head of Pirbright for the previous 13 years. Soon after his retirement, he received the Pfizer Animal Health Prize for his contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the origin

1960

Front row, from left : Helen (Darling) Rogers, B.A.Sc. '79, and Helen and George Rogers. Back row: Leslie (Dunbar) Miles, BA '85, and Walter Atkinson, ADA '62.

GuELPH ALUMNUS

• Bryan Callowhill, B.Sc. '69, retired from the RCMP in 2001 after 30 years as a civilian member forensic scientist in Vancouver and Regina. He is currently working as a hazardous materials instructor for the justice Institute of B.C. Fire and Safety in Maple Ridge. He and his wife, Anne (Gerbrandy), BA

OBE for services to veterinary science and international disease control. In July, he was awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh. He has established a consultancy company, Bio-Vet Solutions Limited, with projects in Poland, Lithuania, Ireland and the United States. He and his wife, Ruth, live in Gui ld ford. • Bruce Heming, B.Sc.(Agr.) '63, is a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta. He recently published Insect Development and Evolution with University Press Cornell ( www.cornellpress.cornell.edu). The book aims to put recent progress in understanding the molecular genetics of development in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster into the context of insect phylogeny and Earth history. He also received Alberta's 2003 Rutherford Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching. • Judy (Barrager), B.H.Sc. '67, and Jim Stewart, B.Sc.(Agr.) '67, recently celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. They met

at Guelph and moved to London, Ont., after they were married. Celebrating with them were their children, Chris and Susie, and two grandchildren. They can be reached at grandmajudya@hotmail.com.

1970 • Marilyn Armstrong-Reynolds, BA '78, spent five years editing the recently published two-volume history of Kingsville, Ont., Canada's most southern town along the north shore of Lake Erie. Kingsville: A Stroll Through Time documents the history of the Kingsville-Gosfield area from 1790 to 2000 and is embellished with hundreds of photos and stories of early settlers and community life through the years. Armstrong- Reynolds lives in Harrow, Ont., with her husband, Dan Reynolds, PhD '87, and their daughter, Kathryn. He is a soil scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. • Tamara Beckstead, B.Sc. '88 and DVM '93, and Don Holman, BA '85, are new parents to twin boys, Marcus Donald and William Arnold, born Aug. 29, 2003. They live in Guelph, where Beckstead owns SilvercreekAnimal Hospital. Holman is security manager at Mohawk Racetrack and Slots. Friends can reach them by e-mail at tad @sentex.net. • George Bolton, B.Sc.(Agr.) '75, has joined the London, England, office of Zurich Emerging Market Solutions as the first trade credit insurance underwriter in that location . He transferred from the Washington, D.C., office and is responsible for developing medium-term trade credit insurance solutions for exporters to emerging markets and the financial institutions that support these transactions. Bolton joined Zurich in January 2001 to serve as senior underwriter for the credit insurance group in Washington and was

named assistant vice-president in 2002. Previously, he worked for Australia's Export Finance and Insurance Corporation and the Ban que Nationale de Paris. • Ralph Bretzlaff, B.Sc.(Agr.) '76, and Dorothy Haley, B.Sc.(Agr.) '80, live in Pakenharn, Ont., with their son, Kent. After selling their dairy farm in Shawville, Que., they spent some time in British Columbia, Australia and New Zealand before buying the Stonebridge Inn about a year ago. Check our their new location at www.stonebridgeinn.ca. • Cmdr. Doug Broughton, B.Sc.(Agr.) '70, retired from the Canadian navy in 2002 after 31 years of service. He served on ships in Nova Scotia and British Columbia until1988, when he was posted to National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. He worked there in a variety of staff positions and was involved in such naval projects as Y2K and the relocation of Maritime Command Headquarters from Halifax to Ottawa. He and his wife, Gaye, now live in Kanata, Ont. They enjoy their cottage on the Rideau River, follow the NHL Ottawa Senators and spend more time with their family: daughter son- in -law Sean Tammy, Cochrane and grandchildren Charlie, Gillian and Stephen. • Ralph Campbell, HDLA '74, was head of the OAC Department of Agricultural Economics from 1951 to 1962 and says "the fallen maple" episode of 1957 is one of his most vivid memories. He was honorary president of the 1957 degree class, as well as the diploma classes of 1959 and 1961, and writes about these experiences in a new autobiography called From Foxboro, Ontario. The book chronicles Campbell's life experiences, beginning on the Foxboro family farm and continuing through his wartime service as a pilot and

Athlete meets astronaut

Former Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar, B.Sc.(Agr.) '68, left, was the guest speaker at a luncheon hosted by Ontario Univer· sity Athletics to honour the top female scholar-athletes in the province. Booke Hilditch, B.Sc. '03, represented the University of Guelph. Hilditch maintained an 85-4-per-cent average in the challenging biomedical sciences program while competing in rugby and wrestling. She earned almost every possible honour in rugby, including MVP, OUA All-Star, OUA Player of the Year, CIS AllCanadian and CIS Tournament All-Star in 2002; captured a silver medal in wrest ling at the OUA championships and placed sixth at the national championships. One of the prizes Hilditch received was an autographed copy of Bondar's latest book of photographs.

his career in education at Guelph and the universities of Toronto and Manitoba, where he was president from 1976 to 1981. He also spent seven years as an economic adviser to the governments of Jordan and Kenya. A longtime member of the OAC Alumni Foundation, he travels with his wife, Ruth, between a summer home in Ontario, a condo in Florida and points of interest around the globe. The couple has six children and 11 grandchildren. • Wayne Caston, M.Sc. '77, was one of the first Guelph graduates

to be licensed as a professional geoscientist in Ontario. He runs his own consulting business in Waterloo, Ont. In May 2003, he was acclaimed as regional councillor for southwestern Ontario to the first elected council of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario. • Peter Hohenadel, ADA '75, has been hired by St. Louisbased advertising agency Osborn & Barr Communications to head its Canadian operation. He has more than 20 years of experience in Canadian agriculture and marketing,

Winter 2004 31

Peter Hohenadel

most recently with Quarry Integrated Communications in Waterloo, where he was vicepresident of integrated communications and team leader for agricultural clients. As executive vice-president of Osborn & Barr Canada, he will be responsible for developing the agency's Canadian business. • Rob McCaig, B.Sc. '78 and M.Sc. '81, has left Molson Breweries after 21 years as a researcher and brewmaster in various locations across Canada to join the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre as managing director. The centre is a private research group established by member companies to provide technical support to the marketing of Canadian malting barley around the world. He and his wife, Louise, and sons, Alex and Jan, are learning about their new hometown ofWinnipeg. • Dermot McCann, BA '70, is a volunteer unit leader with Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific Unit 35, providing 24-hour sea rescue along the waterfront in Victoria, B.C. He works as a residential restorations contractor and makes international yacht deliveries, recently enjoying a 19day transatlantic passage from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. • Geoffrey Parker, B.Sc.(Eng.) '77, has been working in Ireland for seven years as an environmental consultant. He established his own company in 2002 and

now employs 10 people, providing environmental and geotechnical engineering services to the waste management industry. • Pamela Stagg, BA '74, is a botanical illustrator and artist who provided the watercolour paintings for the book Roses, A Celebration. Edited by Wayne Winterrowd and published in October by North Point Press, Roses is a collection of essays by well-known rosarians and garden writers. Stagg also contributed an essay to the book.

1980 • Irene Alderdice, B.A.Sc. '88, is an instructional designer for Canadian Tire, helping to revamp the curriculum used to train dealers. After graduation, she worked as an agent for CAA, then earned an education degree and taught with the York Region Board of Education. She and her husband, Michael, have two children, Aiden and Briar. She says her inspiration for naming her daughter Briar "came from a wonderful little girl in the U of G lab school, where we FACS girls worked in our first years. That Briar would be in her 20s now." She invites classmates to contact her at

irene.alderdice@cantire.com. • Laura (Wang) Arseneau, BA '83, was recently appointed curator of education at the Burlington Art Centre. She lives in Grimsby, Ont., with her husband and son. She worked previously at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Grimsby Public Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Peel and Dundas Valley School of Art. She is also a freelance curator and an arts and fiction writer. • John De Goey, BA '87, is a senior financial adviser at Assante Capital Management Ltd. in Toronto. He recently published a book, The Profes-

sional Financial Advisor: Ethics, Unbundling and Other Things to Ask Your Financial Advisor About. Contact him at jdegoey@assante.com. • Luc Duchesne, PhD '88, is al3-year veteran of the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) who has joined the management team at DynaMotive Energy Systems Corporation as part of an agreement between the company and CPS's Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste Marie, Ont. Internationally acclaimed for his research and promotion of the non-timber forest industry,

Duchesne will be working with DynaMotive to develop a renewable energy technology called Fast Pyrolysis that converts biomass (waste products from the forest industry) into a liquid fuel known as BioOil. • Christopher Dufault, M.Sc. '82, has been appointed head of the re-evaluation and use analysis section, Efficacy and Sustainability Assessment Division, Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) in Ottawa. The PMRA is responsible for the evaluation and registration of pesticides in Canada. He and his wife, Heather, and daughter, Sophie, live in Ottawa. • Nancy Fish, B.Sc. '84, recently received an MBA from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. She works for Allianz Canada as a claims supervisor in Thunder Bay, Ont. • Steven Hawkins, ADA '87 and MBA '99, recently moved his family from Switzerland to Urbandale, Iowa, to accept a new position with his employer, Syngenta Crop Protection. • Chris Horb·sz, B.Sc.(Agr.) '83 and M.Sc. '88, has joined the tourism recovery office of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism

and Recreation, helping to deliver Ontario's $128-million tourism recovery program. He worked previously for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, .the Red Tape Secretariat (cutting the proverbial government red tape), and the life sciences branch of the Ontario Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation. He and his wife, Carol, B.A.Sc. '83, live in Milton and have two children in high school. • Douglas Hykle, B.Sc. '85, has relocated from Germany- his home since 1991 - to Bangkok, Thailand, to establish a new regional office for the UN Convention on Migratory Species. U of G friends can reach him there at hykle@un.org. • Giancarlo Moschini, PhD '86, was recently named a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association in recognition of his research contributions to the advancement of agricultural economics. Moschini has spent most of his professional career at Iowa State University, where he is a professor of economics and currently holds the Pioneer Hi-Bred International Chair in Science and Technolo-

GRAD NEWS UPDATE FORM Name

Degree & Year _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Address

City

Prov./State

Postal Code _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Home Phone ________

Fax

E-mail

Business Phone _ _ _ _ _ __

Fax

E-mail

Occupation - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Grad News Update _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Send address changes and Grad News to: Alumni Records, University of Guelph, Guelph ON N1G 2W1 Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550, Fax: 519-822-2670, E-mail: alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

Winter 2004 33

gy Policy. He is married to Bronwyn Frame, B.Sc.(Agr.) '84 and M.Sc. '88, and they have a daughter, Emily. • Donna Munroe, M.Sc. '82, earned an education degree from Queen's University in 2001 and is currently teaching elementary school for the Upper Canada District School Board. She lives in Rideau Ferry, Ont., with her husband, Phil Hennessy, and children, Campbell and Kenzie. • Andy Read, B.Sc. '80, M.Sc. '83 and PhD '90, is a professor of biology at Duke University. The June 2003 issue of National Geographic featured a program he started in 1991 to save harbour porpoises trapped in Canadian herring weirs in the Gulf of Maine region. The program has saved scores of porpoises and garnered valuable data on these marine mammals. • Gordon Southam, B.Sc. '86

and PhD '90, is a professor at the University of Western Ontario and a recent recipient of a Canada Research Chair (CRC). An expert in the development of bacterial mining processes, he will hold a CRC in geomicrobiology. The science delves into the geological and environmental processes in which bacteria can contribute to environmentally friendly technologies. In addition, he was recently appointed a co-investigator at the NASA Johnson Space Center's Astrobiology Institute for the Study of Biomarkers. • Mary Jane (Ebel), B.A.Sc. '89, and Scott Ulens, ADA '86, announce the birth of their third child, Dylan Scott, on April1, 2003. Scott is president of Matrix Post, an animation and post-production studio in Toronto; Mary Jane is the project co-ordinator. They would

like to hear from friends at sulens@matrixpost.com. • Dave Tonetti, BA '85, is a university instructor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea. He was married in September to Marie Cheong and has two stepsons, Charlie and Paul.

1990 • Alison Allan, B.Sc. '97 and PhD '02, has received the prestigious H.L. Holmes Award for Post-doctoral Studies for 2003/2004 from the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. She is at the London Regional Cancer Centre in London, Ont., where her research examines the functional role of the protein osteopontin 111 breast cancer and metastasis, the spread of cancer cells from a primary site and the establishment of secondary tumours. The Holmes Award was bequeathed to the NRC by the

late chemist R.H.L. Holmes to promote research excellence. It will provide more than $180,000 over two years for Allan's research program. • Daniel Attuquayefio, PhD '95, is a senior lecturer and head of the Department of Zoology at the University of Ghana. He is also project secretary for the Volta Basin Research Project. • Deepa Balachandran, M.Sc. '96, lives in the Boston area and works as a software engineer. He would like to hear from friends at dbalacha@hotmail.com. • Jamie Baxter, B.A.Sc. '91, was a founding member of U of G's first co-ed cheerleading squad. He captained the team for two years, then graduated into a job of coaching and choreographing for cheerleading teams across North America. While coaching at the University of Nebraska, he earned a masters of education in

SHOW OFF YOUR ROYAL ROOTS

at College Royal

March 20 and 21, 2004 Alumni welcome! Square dance, compete in the livestock show or bring the family for a day of fun.

Contact: Beth Kent, College Royal Director of Faculty and Alumni Relations 519-824-4120, Ext. 58366 colroyal@uoguelph.ca

athletic administration. After retiring from cheerleading, he relocated to New York City and has spent the last six years working for an independent record label. His current position is vicepresident of marketing. • Kate Brennagh and Kyle Mackie, both BA '97, welcomed their daughter, Maeve Frances, June 16, 2003. Maeve is the granddaughter of Jill (Southwell) Brennagh, BA '69, and the greatgranddaughter of retired engineering professor Peter Southwell. She is also the niece of Erin Mackie, BA '93, and Geoff Brennagh, BA '99. Kate and Kyle live in Guelph, where he is e-learning program manager in U of G's Office of Open Learning. Kate is on leave from her position as teacher-librarian at Central Public School. They can be reached at brenkie@golden.net. • Amy Brown, BA '97, has opened her own Pilates studio in Toronto. Pilates for Life Ltd. offers group and individual mat Pilates classes for people of all ages and fitness abilities. • Judy DaCosta, B.Sc. '93 and DVM '98, lives in Brampton, Ont., with her husband, Martin Pisani, and two sons, Marcos (born june 6, 2001) and Ethan (born Aug. 1, 2003). She is currently on maternity leave from the Brampton Veterinary Hospital. • Jon Fage, B.Comm. '94, and Maria Kryzanowski, B.Sc.(Env.) '99, were married in 2002 and live in Guelph. He is completing a bachelor of education at the University of Western Ontario. She is an occupational therapist and team leader with NRCS Inc., a firm that provides rehabilitation and disability management services in Kitchener, London, Hamilton and Windsor. • Lisa Fleischaker, BA '92, and her husband, Michael Dunbar, celebrated their first wedding

anniversary in May 2003, as well as the arrival of their first child. Having worked in both sales and marketing over the years, Lisa is now a marketing man-

Great strides for Scottish studies oss SAuNDERS is retired from a career in marketing, is currently studying history in U of G's College of Arts and is planning to celebrate his 70th birthday by hiking 600 kilometres across Scotland. He's decided to turn his passion for hiking into a fundraising venture for Guelph's Scottish studies program. He completed a 185-km trek across England in 2000 and has hiked in Austria, Alaska, Yukon and Bulgaria and along Ontario's Bruce Trail. Saunders will cover his

Lisa Fleischaker, Michael Dunbar

ager for Robin Hood Multifoods on the Bicks brand and is living in Aurora Ont. Her e-mail is thedunbars@sympatico.ca. • Juniper Glass, BA '98, lives in Montreal, where she is managing editor of ascent magazine, a journal of yoga and engaged spirituality. Friends are welcome to contact her through the magazine's website: www.ascent magazine.com. • Campbell Horn, B.Comm. '93, is a missionary stationed at Camp La Cumbre in Costa Rica. He and his wife, Lisa, have a two-year-old son, Calvin, and a six-month-old daughter, Ruth. • Lynn (McNair) Horsey, BA '95, is a silversmith and jewelry designer who operates her own business called Sway Silver. She was married March 30, 2002, to David Horsey and lives in Cambridge, Ont. • Becky (Miller) Madill, B.A.Sc. '95, and her husband, Dave, relocated to the Bruce Peninsula area in August 2002. She is a teacher with the Bluewater District School Board. They have two children, Gabrielle and Alexandria. • Michelle Mann, BA '91, graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law in 1994 and was called to the Ontario bar in 1996. She practised law for various federal government

bodies and worked in Cape Town, South Africa, on human rights and democracy building until2002, when she moved to Toronto to become a consultant and freelance writer. • Thomas Matthews, B.Comm. '95, received an award last summer from the American Accounting Association for outstanding PhD dissertation in international accounting. He is currently an assistant professor in the School of Business at the University of Alberta. • Christine (Jackson) Parker, BA '97, works for State Farm Insurance and lives in Barrie, Ont., with her husband, Adam, and their son, jackson, born March 13, 2002. They can be reached at caparker@drlogick.com. • Mark Reeves, B.Comm. '91, is reservations manager for InterContinental Hotels Group Canada in Toronto. In 2002, he was nominated by the hotel in a competition recognizing the "Best of the Best" in the hospitality industry.

expenses for the Scottish trip, but invites alumni to pledge their support. All donations will go directly to the Scottish studies program. For more information, visit the website www.alumni.uoguelph.ca.

• Janin (Pugh) Robertson, BLA '95, and her husband, Don, had their second child, Alex, in May 2003. Daughter Ainsley was born in May 2001. Robertson has worked as an assistant development co-ordinator for Canadian Tire Real Estate Ltd. and as a commercial planning analyst for Stonefield Development Consultants in Vancouver, but is currently home with the children in Toronto. She welcomes e-mail from U of G friends at janin.robertson@sympatico.ca. • Anne Robinson, B.Sc. '96, is a family physician currently living in Thunder Bay, Ont., with her husband, Scott Bonneville. They both graduated from the University of Western Ontario medical school in May 2000, married the following September, then completed a two-year residency in rural medicine. They can be reached at ks_bones@yahoo.ca. • Ron Rouben, B.Comm. '94 and MBA '01, was interviewed by the Toronto Star in September for an article about new

Winter 2004 35

university and college professors. He is the new co-ordinator of the bachelor of applied business program in hospitality management at George Brown College. Rouben told The Star he's been a nomad for the past 11 years, working in the hospitality industry in New York, Banff and Florida. He's now turned to a teaching career, but said he doesn't know if he'll be able to stay put. ''I'm afraid of becoming like some of those horrible professors we've all had, who are teaching outdated material in plaid suits." • Asep Saefuddin, M.Sc. '91 and PhD '96, completed his Guelph degrees in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science while on leave from Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia, where he has worked since 1980. In 1997, he was secretary of a strategic planning committee at Bogor, and in 2000, was elected head of the Department of Statistics. His work has included developing programs for research and training in statistics at university campuses across Indonesia. He also led a research project on oil prediction in Indonesia and currently directs the nongovernment Center for Regional Resource Development and Community Empowerment. In February 2003, he was appointed Bogor's vice-rector for planning, development and collaboration, with responsibility for strengthening the role of research and development, as well as community service and income-generating activities. • Kathleen (Ovens) and Aaron Todd, both B.Sc.(Env.) '97, were married in spring 2000. Both completed graduate degrees in water resources at Trent University before settling in Guelph. She now manages benthic ecology projects for the

GuELPH ALUMNUS

engineering and environmental consulting firm Stantec Consulting Ltd. He is an aquatic ecologist with Earth Tech Canada Inc., co-ordinating stream monitoring networks for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. They invite friends from South Residences and environmental science to contact them at aaronandkate@ sympatico.ca. • Robyn (Bezaire) Watts, B.A.Sc. '93, is a kindergarten teacher in Kingston, Ont. She and her husband, Rob, are the proud parents of two sons, Colin and Ryan. • Lee-Anne (Hirst), BA '99, and Bruce Wilson, BA '93, were married March 29, 2003, and live in Burlington, Ont. • Reta Wright, BA '94, relocated to Seattle, Wash., in January 2003 and is a member of the neurophysiological monitoring team in the surgical department of the University of Washington Medical Centre. She is engaged to be married this July and invites U of G friends to contact her at retaw@u. washington.edu. 2000 • Brad Brooker, B.Sc.(H.K.) '00, graduated from New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls, N.Y., in July 2003. He received an award for diagnostic imaging, the Phi Chi Omega Honour Society Award for academic excellence and the Valedictorian Award. He recently established the Active Lifestyle Chiropractic Clinic in Barrie, Ont. • Bree-Anne Brooker, B.Sc. (H .K.) '02, graduated from Brock University's College of Education in May 2003. She is now teaching math, science and physical education at an elementary school in Mississauga. • Paul Hoekstra, PhD '03, has received the Best Student Paper Award for a paper published in Environmental Toxicology and

Remembering the past

MAC cooking class in the 1950s

Macdonald Institute's 1ooth anniversary year is over, but the memories linger. 1938 grads are proud of classmates who broke down barriers for women by using their diplomas in domestic science to launch impressive careers. 1952 classmates still laugh about keeping the biggest secret of their time on campus. The 1951 marriage of Dorothy (Allan) and her aggie beau, Clay Switzer, may have been Mac's first pre-graduation wedding. 1975 was the first class to have a male graduate, family studies grad Kenneth Devine. 100 years after the founding of Macdonald Institute, modern students began digging into college history to find connections between their lives and those of their predecessors. Do a little digging of your own. Copies of Macdonald Institute: Remembering the Past, Embracing the Future are available from the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, Room 111, Macdonald Institute Building, University of Guelph, ON N1G 2Wl. The cost is $53.50, including taxes, shipping and handling.

Chemistry, the journal of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The paper relates to his PhD research in the Department of Environmental Biology under the supervision of Prof. Keith Solomon and adjunct professor Derek Muir of the National Water Research Institute. This is the second year in a row Hoekstra has won the award, and he is the first person to win it twice. Students in Guelph's

graduate environmental toxicology program have done well in this competition over the years. Other recipients are Pam Martin, M.Sc. '91; Dean Thompson, PhD '93; and Mark Hewitt, PhD '98. Their achievements give U of G a higher success rate than any other U.S. or European Union institution, says Solomon. "If criteria of excellence were needed for our program here at Guelph, this is certainly a very good one."

OBITUARIES Gillian Clark, BA '78, was killed Aug. 19, 2003, in the bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad. A children's aid worker for 15 years, she was in Iraq on behalf of the Christian Children's Fund, but she had also worked with Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee and Oxfam. An Ontario native based in London, England, she was attending a meeting at the UN compound when a truck full of explosives blew up, killing more than 20 people. James Elliott, DVM '41, died Aug. 5, 2003, at his home in Westminster, S.C. Born in Dundalk, Ont., he practised veterinary medicine in Bangor, Maine, for 48 years and was past president of the Maine Veterinary Medical Association. He and his wife, Beatrice, bred and exhibited many regional and national champion Morgan horses, and he served on the boards of both the Maine and New England Morgan horse associations. He is survived by his wife, three children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Amanda King, B.Sc. '03, was killed July 3, 2003, in an automobile accident. While at U of G, she was a student trainer for the Gryphon football team during their 2000 season and an off-campus volunteer for minor sports and Big Sisters. She is survived by her father and stepmother, Rick and Zita King; her mother, Kathy Pearce; and two younger sisters, Kerri and Carla. Emerson "Jeff" Meads, DVM '51 and M.Sc. '58, died May 29, 2003. He spent most of his career working for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Veterinary Services Laboratory in Kemptville and Guelph and is an OVC professor emeritus. He is survived by his wife, Margot; three children, David, Patrick and janice; and four grandchildren. Bruce Petti pas, B.Sc.(Agr.) '83, of Upper Nappan, N.S., died May 4, 2003. He transferred from the Nova Scotia Agri-

cultural College (NSAC) in Truro in 1981 to complete an animal science degree at Guelph, then worked at NSAC and the Nova Scotia Experimental Farm. He was named Nova Scotia's Outstanding Young Agrologist in 1997 and was honoured by NSAC in 2003. He is survived by his wife, Michelle, and children, Lacey and Zack. Ian Ross, B.Sc. '82, died in a plane crash in central Kenya June 29, 2003. A wildlife biologist based in Calgary, he was radiotracking lions in Kenya's Laikipia district as part of a research study aimed at improving the conservation of large carnivores in Africa. He was a partner in a consulting firm called Arc Wildlife Services that completed a 14-year study on cougars in the mid-1990s. Bertram Wilson, DVM '50, died Sept. 15, 2003. He operated a mixed-animal veterinary practice in Gananoque, Ont., for 37 years until his retirement in 1987. Predeceased by his wife, Marion, he is survived by his children, Lynn, Doug, Virginia and Valerie; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Lynn (Barbeau) Shumway, BA '74, died July 23, 2003. She worked at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre from 1978 to 1989 as education and extension co-ordinator before moving to Wisconsin. She operated Forest Rose Garden Design and wrote for gardening and outdoor publications, and worked at a natural history museum. She is survived by her husband, Bruce. Michael Southwell, B.Sc.(Agr.) '84, died suddenly Oct. 15, 2003, at his home in Rockwood, Ont. He worked as a certified diesel mechanic for several farm operations, then ran his own business for several years before moving into transportation service management. He was general service manager with Freightliner Mid-Ontario Inc. at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife, Liz, B.A.Sc. '87.

Frederick Allan, DVM '38, date unknown Rae Allan, ADA '74, October 2003 Thadeus Bartkiewicz, BA '7.3, May 9, 2001 Madelyn Bennell, DHE '48, July 28, 2003 John Bennett, BSA '46, in 2002 Cecilia Bronston, B.Sc. '87, August 2003 Anna Cave, M.Sc. '66, in 2002 John Chomut, BSA '38, Oct. 30, 2002 Peter Crompton, BA '01, July 13, 2003 Robert Crosbie, ADA '52, August 2002 Alwyn Dale, ODH '80, March 2001 William Dobbin, BSA '42, July 2, 2003 Arthur Dolby, DVM '51, May 6, 2003 Thomas Doyle, DVM '49, May 28,2003 Ruth Dryden, DHE '36, Dec. l, 2002 Ted Eberle, BA '86, May 1, 2003 Raja Grandhi, PhD '74, July 26, 2003 Hugh Hill, DVM '58, Oct. 2, 2003 Peter Hughes, ADA '62, Aug. 12, 2003 Alexander Kerkkamp, DVM '63, April2003 Wai K. Lai, M.Sc. 2001, in 2002 Allyn Laursen, DVM '52, Oct. 15, 1995 Charles McMullin, ADA '49, july 3, 2003 Daniel Mones, DVM '54, Sept. 2, 2003 James Morton, BSA '47, Sept. 27, 2003 William Nagge, DVM '43, Aug. 30, 2003 Wallace Nicholson, DVM '42, August 2003 Douglas Orchard, BSA '33, July 29, 2003 Bradley Pett, BSA '30, Sept. 23, 2003 Percy Plummer, DVM '28, july 7, 2003 Donald Ross, ODH '84, Sept. 9, 2003 Ken Rowe, DVM '40, Oct. 9, 2003 Doug Schier, ADA '64, Oct. 18, 2002 Ernest Seager, ODH '63, in 2003 Barthel! Simpson, BSA '41, May 10,2003 Marie Taylor, B.H.Sc. '69, Sept. 25, 2003 Delos Utter, BSA '41, in 1999 Linda Thompson, BA '78, Jan. 25, 2003 John Thomson, ODH '69, in 2003 Foster Vernon, BSA '39, july 12, 2003

Winter 2004 37

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

shared name comes from "Welfen;' the family; name of the royal House of Hanover. That ancestry is recogi!ized by the white Han ovarian stallion which appears on tlie UniversitY. of Guelph's official crest and in this 1981