Guelph The Portico Magazine, Winter 2005 by University of Guelph

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WINTER 2005

auto and travel insurance from TO Meloche Monnex • Preferred rates on hfe, ate aent and disability Insurance from Manuhfe F1nanaal • MBNA canada• MasterCard•

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Onhne Community Alumni Weekend Homecoming Careers nights Alumni association activities Off-campus social ~therings Volunteer opportumt1es

THE PORTICO •

JANUARY 2005

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

[ 8 IN AND AROUND THE UNIVERSITY

22 ] • [

great guelph grad -

cover story ] ALUMNI MATTERS

URBAN ABSTRACTION David Urban is one of Canada's leading painters and both a critic and a promoter of contemporary painting.

OF G is attracting worldwide attention for veterinary research that is developing a new treatment for a heart condition in horses, a renewed teaching and exchange partnership with institutions in Iceland, and a zoologist's plan to assign bar codes to the planet's 10 million species of animals.

13 ]

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at U of G's September invocation ceremony, political science grad Lisa Butler motivated new students to get the most out of their Guelph experience. The University of Guelph Alumni Association will undergo a facelift at a special February meeting, and Alumni Affairs staff are travelling far and wide to host alumni events. GUEST SPEAKER

[ 10 ] THREE FOR THE MONEY The first edition of a Guelph Press Portfolio offers rare talent and exceptional value for the connoisseurs of contemporary Canadian art.

[ 14 ] on the cover

GIRLSPOKEN

A portrait of artist

Women's studies graduates jessica Hein and Heather Holland are giving girls a voice and a place to learn from each other.

David Urban, MFA '94 by Dean Palmer I the scenario

[ 16 ] SERVING SCIENCE Although much health research today occurs at the cellular level, it is still important to look at how things work in a warm, breathing human body. Winter 2005 1

Faculty of Management Graduate Programs Innovative programs combining online learning with residential components. Canada needs inspired leaders and managers mo re than ever. In times of limited resources, conflicting demands, and rapid cultural and technological change, organizations need skilled leaders and managers to guide them in the achievement of their goals.

ÂŁPORTICO Winter 2005 â&#x20AC;˘ VOLUME 37 ISSUE I

Editor Mary Dickieson Director Charles Cunn ingham Art Direction Peter En neson Design In c. Contributors jen nifer Brett Fraser Barbara Chance, BA '74 Rachelle Cooper Lori Bona Hu nt SPARK Program Wr iters An d rew Vowles, B.Sc. '84 Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderso n 519-82 7-9 169 519-654-6122 Direct all other correspondence to: Communications and Publ ic Affairs University of Guelph Guelph , Ontario NIG 2WI Fax 5 19-824-7962 E-mai l m.dickieson @exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/

The Portico magazine is pub lished three times a year by Communications and Publi c Affairs at the University of Guelph. Its mission is to enhance the re lationship between the University and its alumni and friends and promote pride and co m m itment within the University community. All material is copyright 2005. 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 Prin ted in Canada by Contact Creative Serv ices. ISSN 1207-7801 To update yo ur alumni record, contact: Alumn i Affairs and Development Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 519-822-2670 E-mai l al um ni records@uoguelph .ca

UNIVERSITY ff"GUELPH

2 THE PORT ICO

WE MUST REDUCE THE BARRIERS TO UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

HEN WE WELCOMED ournewstudentstocampus in September, I had an opportunity to talk with many of them about their ambitions and the financial challenges they face. Listening to these students reaffirmed my belief that the University of Guelph should continue to advocate for accessible, affordable education in Ontario. The University community has spent a full year looking at issues of accessibility as they affect Guelph and the entire university system in Ontario. If we believe that all qualified individuals should be able to attend university, then we must try to reduce the barriers they face, whether they be financial, social or physical. The final report from the Presidential Task Force on Accessibility makes a number of recommendations that we can pursue as an individual institution- re-evaluating admission criteria, initiating bursaries to cover residence costs, encouraging better transportation services for people with disabilities- but the task force also makes systemic recommendations that must be addressed by the Ontario government. There is an obvious and essential overlap between our efforts to improve accessibility and the provincial government's current review of higher education in Ontario. Former premier Bob Rae was asked last fall to review the design and funding of the system. The University of Guelph made a written submission to Rae's advisory committee and hosted a town hall discussion on campus. The message Rae heard in Guelph was similar to the comments he received across the province: reinvest in higher education. In its 2004 budget, the Ontario government announced a goal of making the province's higher-education system second to none. Rae's advisory panel was told time and again that Ontario cannot expect its universities and colleges- and their students- to continue to provide the best education results when they receive the lowest per capita funding in the country. Over the past 10 years, the University of Guelph has upheld its commitment to providing an affordable education. Student financial aid has increased by more than 570 per cent. We have chosen not to increase tuition fees to the maximum allowable. Our residence and meal plan fees are lower than the average in the province, and we have not differentiated fees in deregulated programs. Although these decisions have been made in an effort to minimize the financial barriers to obtaining an education, they come at a cost to the University and threaten the quality of our educational programs and support services. The University of Guelph submission to the Rae

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"':::!z panel recommended five essential changes to improve the Ontario system: Overhaul financial assistance programs to make them more realistic. Increase operating grants for universities to a level that is comparable with that in the other nine provinces. Provide funding to double graduate enrolment by 2013, including appropriate support for students. Commit multi-year resources to address critical capital requirements and deferred maintenance. Make ongoing investments to ensure that university research in Ontario remains competitive. We believe that the public interest will be best served by preserving the autonomy of Ontario's universities, but we acknowledge that universities and colleges must remain accountable to the public and flexible enough to support students who want to transfer from one institution to another. Effective transfer programs do not require a government-imposed structure, but would grow and thrive along with joint university and university-college programs through a competitive funding process. I invite you to look more closely at these documents. You'll find them on the University's website by searching for Presidential Task Force on Accessibility and Sub-

mission to the Rae Panel on Post-Seco11dary Educatio11. We welcome your comments and ask you to support our efforts as we seek government reinvestment in higher education, more equitable student loan programs and ways to reduce barriers for all qualified students. ALASTAIR SuMMERLEE, PRESIDENT www.uoguelph.ca

Winter 2005 3

THE PORTICO •

AGRICULTURE •

SPELLING •

PHILOSOPHY

shop to create the scale model. Does the University still issue the award? ANDREW McCAMMON, BA '75 AND MA 'So ToRONTO, 0NT. Editor's Note: The Central Student Asso-

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Re: The Portico OAC ALUMNI aredelightedthatthe University's alumni magazine has been renamed The Portico. The choice of name reflects the fact that this is the oldest existing physical link to the roots of the University and the one structure on campus all alumni can re late to. The portico began life in 1855 as the entrance to the Fredrick W. Stone farmhouse and has stood on johnston Green since 1934. Over the years, it fell into disrepair. In 1999, the OAC Class of' 49 marked its 50th year and the !25th ann iversary of the found ing of OAC by donati ng $75,000 to have the portico fully restored. KAREN DAYNARD, B.Sc. (AGR.) '94 AND M.Sc. '97 EDITOR, OAC ALUMNI REVIEW

USING THE PORT ICO is an inspired idea. The first issue looks great! LEE MASTER, BSA '56 DoN M 1 LLS, 0NT.

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IT's GREAT and, in retrospect, the o nl y logical name for the mag! The photo reminded me about all the effort that went into creating the Community Service Award in 1979- the trophy is a brass replica of the portico- both at the comm ittee level and with respect to the time John put in at the metal

4 THE PORT ICO

ciation presents the Community Service Award each summer, thanks to Andrew McCammon's idea, former president Donald Forster's support and more tha 11 150 hours of labour provided by Department of Physics technician jack O'Brien who made the trophy. The 2004 winner was Toni Pellizzari, administrative assistant to the dean of CBS and a longtime volunteer for the United Way. She co-chaired the University's 2003 United Way campaign, which raised a record-breaking $319,000. 1 RECEIVED The Portico today. I love the new name and look! KATHRYN HoFER, B.A.Sc. '98 GUELPH, 0NT.

Verify the source A QUICK COMMENT On an article in the fall 2004 Portico. (By the way, l think the name change is quite appropriate. I have fond memories of idle time spent near the portico). The comment is about an article in the CPES Alumni News, which was inserted in my copy of the magazine: "Mathematician Finds Research Freedom." In the last paragraph, Prof. Hristo Sendov "ca lls to mind one 19th-century phi losopher who said: 'A science is not really deve loped until it has learned to make use of mathematics."' Wasn't that Marx? Perhaps I'm wrong, but shou ld the reader be responsib le for verifying the source of a quotation? Although my op inion is not the same on th is issue, I sti ll think it's important to quote your sources when you call on the past for support, desp ite what some may think of the source. )OHN HENNI G, B.Sc. '76 A D PHD '86 SAINTE-ANNE- DE-BELLEY UE, QuE.

What about aquaculture? I EN) 0 YED REA DING the last issue Of 77Je Portico with its strong focus on farming and a look at family farms across the country. But l was surprised that there was no mention of aquaculture. In my home province of New Brunswick, aquaculture is the largest farming business- bigger than potatoes and dairy combined. In Charlotte County, 25 per cent of the people are working on aquaculture farms or at processing plants or making feed in the mills. The blue revolution is well under way here, and production in British Columbia is even higher. STEVE BACKMAN, DVM '87 ST. STEPHE 'N.B. Watch the spelling oN PAGE 8 of the winter 2004 issue of your fine magazine, there is a spelling error. In the caption below the drawing of the science complex, "it's" should be spelled "its." Probably others have noticed this by now. I teach business courses and tell every class that "its" is the most frequently misspelled word. In fact, in a recent paper, a student spelled it "its'." You and your staff do a great job with the publication. S. MACCALLUM KING, BSA '48 LAKE ZURICH, ILL. Honouring the president A LETTER TO THE EDITOR IN The Portico apprised me of the location of former president Burton Matthews's obituary. Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to note Burt's passing on the" President's Page" or next to it? From student and sportsman to graduate, as professor, president and active alumnus- always with the same gracious humility, personality and smile -Dr. Matthews was all one could ever hope to be. No doubt he would have been pleased to be honoured on any page with five or 500 other alumni. DoNALD P. WHILLJANs, BSA 'so CoBDEN, 0NT.

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS â&#x20AC;˘

RESEARCH â&#x20AC;˘

CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS

IN &AROUND catheter-mounted electrodes to deliver a high-voltage jolt to the heart, improving the heart's efficiency and ultimately the horse's performance.

Hannam is Ag Laureate

HE UNIVERSITY oF GuELPH's

Heart health for horses

OOD NEWS TRAVELS FAST IN

the horse industry, especially news of an effective new procedure for treating a common equine heart condition. The Guelph research team of veterinarian Dan Kenney, left, graduate student Kim McGurrin, B.Sc. and DVM '98 and D. V.Sc. '04, and Prof. Peter Physick-Sheard, GO '73 and M.Sc. '82,

has developed an electric shock treatment for atrial fibrillation (also known as irregular heartbeat) that is garnering worldwide attention. New out-of-province horse patients, invitations to speak overseas and visits by veterinary cardiologists from several international institutions attest to the need for a treatment to replace drug therapies that are currently used to treat the condition. Drug treatment has many adverse side effects, says McGurrin, who developed the shock technique as part of her OVC training. It uses

prestigious H.R. MacMillan Laureate in Agriculture was awarded Nov. 8 to 1964 BSA graduate Peter Hannam. The $10,000 award is given every five years to an individual judged to have made the most significant contribution to agriculture in Canada during the preceding five years. Hannam is a farmer, former president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and founder of First Line Seeds in Guelph, a leader in Canada's soybean industry. He has created research awards at U of G to encourage faculty, graduate students and undergraduates to develop new and novel uses for soybeans. Hannam says he plans to invest the prize money in the Ontario AgriCentre, now under construction in the University's Research Park. He is a principal investor in the facility, which will open in 2005 and is expected to house more than 70 key agricultural organizations and related companies.

She's coach of the year Michelle Turley,

BA '87, coach of the

for the Gryphons, but she says this was

Gryphon field hockey team, was named

the best season in the team's history.

the Canadian Interuniversity Sport coach

They were ranked fifth in the country,

of the year and Ontario University

received three OUA All-Star selections and

Athletics coach of the year. As a student,

collected major awards for rookie of the

Turley was team captain and a star player

year and most valuable player.

Winter 2005 5

IN &AROUND

the

UNIVERSITY

READING BAR CODES OF LIFE Several new species of birds, butterflies and fishes have been identified us ing a DNA ana lysis technique developed by Guelph zoo logist Paul Hebert. They are the first of almost nine million species he hopes to identify with DNA bar codes. Hebert was the first scientist to propose that a short DNA sequence from a gene found in all animals can be used to identify their species. He called it "DNA bar-coding" to reflect the

fact that analysis focuses on a short, standard gene region. Just as retail bar codes allow the quick identification of millions of items on store shelves, DNA bar codes allow the rapid identification of species. The appli cation of Hebert's techno logy rece ived a $3-mi ll ion boost this fa ll from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to help equip, staff and operate the world's first centre for h igh-volume DNA bar-cod ing. Established in

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YOUR TODDLER NEW STUDY BY GUELPH psychology professor Barbara Morrongiello says parents give todd lers too much credit for being able to understand safety teachings and may unwitting ly be setting them up for increased injury. Morrong iello suggests that, even in

6 THE PORTICO

September 2000 by Intel cofounder Gordon Moore and his wife, the foundation supports outcome-based projects that wi ll measurably improve the qua lity of life for future generations. The grant will support the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, which is being built on the west side of the Guelph campus. The new research facility has also received fund ing from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. H ebert wi ll direct the Biod ivers ity Institute and the first-ever production line for DNA bar-coding. "We are building a master key to life that will represent a major advance in accessibility to biological identifications," he says. Only 1.2 million of the estimated I 0 million species of animals on the planet have been formally identified over the past 250 years. Hebert believes the job can be completed in the next 20 years by using DNA bar-coding.

this era of hyperparenting, parents are too quick to abandon supervision tactics and environmental safety measures such as safety gates and other household devices. By the time children reach the ages of two and three, parents tend to re ly more on child-based strategies such as teaching their children about safety rules or stressing proh ibited behaviour. But this shift in strategy typica lly occurs too early for chi!-

Dressed for dollars t's an annual ritual. Students in every

campus residence contribute bits of

clothing for a pre-Halloween spectacle

known as "Dressed for Dollars." Members of the Residence Life management team allow themselves to be dressed by students in return for donations to a local charity. Some of this year's funky fashions are modelled by staffers from Mills and Maritime halls and East Residence. Front row, from left: Jennifer Bock, Dallas New, Kim Colangelo and Emily Ambos. Back row: Aaron Verdoch, Colin Rankin , Jim Maye and And rew Greenwood. Funds raised went to support the United Way and a youth drop-in centre in downtown Guelph.

dren to fully comprehend the import and "often elevates risk of injury to toddlers," she says. The study also found that children are most likely to be injured in living rooms, playrooms and bedrooms- the rooms where parents are most likely to let their supervisory guard down- rather than the rooms parents are most hypervigilant about- the bathroom and kitchen.

• A newly created Iceland-Guelph

Institute will build on long-standing relationships between Guelph

Bonnie and Clyde rescued

and H6lar University College, the University of Iceland, University of

onnie and Clyde were starving when they were rescued in September by Dave Barbour, a biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources m Kapuskasing, Ont. He named the two juvenile bald eagles after the famed gangster duo, fed them fish and fluids and sent them to the OVC Small-Animal Clinic for a diagnosis. At OVC, the birds were checked for blood disorders, injuries, diseases and mercury and lead toxins, but pathobiology professor Dale Smith, a clinician with the Wild Bird

Clinic, says it seems the animals were simply starved. There were reports of other Ontario eagles in similar condition. The eagles may have hatched late because of a late spring in 2004 and didn't have enough time to learn survival skills from their parents before being abandoned. Bonnie and Clyde are spending the winter at a wildlife rehabilitation facility in British Columbia, but will be returned to Kapuskasing and set free in the spring.

Akureyri and Hvanneyri Agricultural University. • More than 6oo U of G students collected 16,ooo pounds of food for local food banks during the annual Meal Exchange "Trick or

Eat" event. Guelph students broke the Canadian record for both the number of volunteers and the amount of food collected. • A new faculty member at U of G,

Prof. Georgia Mason, Animal and Poultry Science, is the University's 23rd recipient of a federally funded Canada Research Chair. Mason came to Guelph from the University of Oxford in 2004. Her research will focus on the welfare of animals kept by humans, such as food animals and wild animals in zoos. • The fifth and final volume of The

ANT I DOPI NG T ES T ' MOO VE S ON

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A non-invasive test developed at U of G to help detect alleged "doping" cases in prizewinning dairy cattle now shows promise in preventing human skin discolourations caused by exposure to silver. Physics professor Joanne O'Meara began measuring trace amounts of silver in veterinary medicine after Prof. Howard Dobson, Clinical Studies, asked for help in investigating alleged silver "doping" in dairy cattle being shown at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

Injecting silver under the skin of a cow's udder causes inflammation that may

make the udder appear more round and full, a trait highly prized among cattle judges. In 2003 lab testing, O'Meara and former student Sean Graham, B.Sc. '03, showed that a modified radiation detector picked up trace amounts of silver injected into samples of bovine udder tissue. Graham worked on the project as a Natural Sci-

ences and Engineering Research Council summer research assistant; he's currently studying medical physics at the University of Toronto. O'Meara is now pursuing their X-ray fluorescence system as a non-invasive tool for clinicians to identify people at risk of developing diseases caused by prolonged occupationa! or medical exposure to silver. Prolonged exposure to high amounts of inhaled or ingested silver can cause argyria, an irreversible discolouration of the skin. O'Meara hopes that monitoring skin silver levels accurately may he lp in altering exposure before discolouration occurs.

Selected journals of L.M. Montgomery was published in the fall. It was edited by English professors emeritae Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston. Montgomery's handwritten journals, diaries and scrapbooks are housed in the U of G Library and are the most used resources in the archives.

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• The University of Guelph, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Waterloo and McMaster University have signed a mem-

orandum of understanding (MOU)

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commercialize technologies deriv-

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kind in Canada and puts the con-

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technology transfer institutions in

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the United States.

• The University of Guelph's annual celebrated the 30th anniversary

of Canada's oldest queer club on

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Queer Identities Week in October

a university campus, Guelph

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Queer Equality.

Winter 2005 7

HEN DAVID URBAN, MFA '94, thought Canadian institutions weren't doing enough to promote Canadian painting abroad, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He approached 15 painters whom he considered to be the best in Canada to mount an exhibit showcasing the diversity and talent of Canada's most accomplished contemporary artists. Urban's "Painters 15" exhibit was launched at the Shanghai Art Museum in 2002, marking the first time a major survey of contemporary Canadian painting had taken place in China. "It was an attempt to bring the best painting in Canada to a different audience;' he says. "China is a country that's looking for international partners and exhibitions, so it was an opportunity." After being well-received in China, the exhibit was shown at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in 2003. Urban says that although he would rather not have been the curator of the exhibit, the lack of action on the part of Canadian art galleries left him little choice. Included among the 15 painters were two members of U of G's School of Fine Art and Musicdirector John Kissick and Prof. Will Gorlitz. Urban says his connections to the University didn't play a role in his choice of painters for the ambitious international exhibition. "The reason they were in the show is because they're the best." After becoming U of G's first MFA graduate in 1993, Urban, who also holds a BFA in visual arts and a BA in English literature from York University and a master's in English literature and creative writing from the University of Windsor, has become known as one of Canada's leading painters. He has exhibited widely across Canada and around the world, including solo exhibitions at Trepanier Baer Gallery in Calgary, Galerie Rene Blouin in Montreal, Artcore Gallery in Toronto, David Beitzel Gallery in New York and Galerie Barbara Farber in Amsterdam. This fall, U of G invited Urban to take part in a symposium on painting at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. In his introduction of Urban, Christian Giroux, a curator and the moderator of the symposium, said Urban's name "is synonymous with a resurgence of abstraction in Canada in the 1990s."

8 THE

PORTICO

Giroux noted that Urban was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art in 2003 in recognition of his accomplishments. Urban grew up in Toronto and lives there still with another well-respected painter- his wife, Gina Rorai- and their four-year-old son, Joseph. In an article he wrote for the August 2004 issue of BorderCrossings magazine, Urban explains that even a child's artistic expression can reveal the power of painting as an art form. He notes that his son is much more interested in looking at a representational drawing of an object than at a true-to-life photograph. "In his developing mind, drawing provides him with a quality of information he can't find elsewhere." For some artists and art connoisseurs, that may be the ultimate attraction to painting as an art form. Urban sees one of painting's goals as creating "human thought." In BorderCrossings, he wrote that the basic structure of a painting contains a question. "This question concerns the ability of the painter's forms- forms that are chosen out of desire- to supplant or transform the commonplace. In great painting, this question is posed in a manner that makes it troubling and vital. Paintings exist in our minds as much as they exist on the wall or easel in front of us. So it follows that they may be thought of as imaginary or mental constructs that borrow reality in order to exist." Urban and Rorai share a studio in Toronto and recently had their first joint exhibition in Ontario. "Treats for the Nightwalker" showcased a sequence of Urban's paintings commissioned by Toronto's Moore Gallery. The show, consisting mostly of large works, marked a return to his abstract roots and highlighted his strong use of colour and sense of space. Also recognized as a superb colourist, Rorai exhibited works that included both still-life and abstract imagery. Urban says some of the ideas for the Moore Gallery exhibition came from his work on the University of Guelph Press Portfolio. "A nice spinoff of the U of G project is that the second I started working on something, I'd get an idea for something else," he says. "So I was able to incorporate some of the monoprints that I did at Guelph in my show at the Moore Gallery." â&#x20AC;˘

[portfolio ]

Intaglio print by David Urban

U of G Press Portfolio begins unique collection of contemporary Canadian art [ story by Rachelle Cooper â&#x20AC;˘ photography by Dean Palmer I the Scenario ]

SOMETHING HE DIRECTOR OF the University's School of Fine Art and Music (SOFAM) is using his flare for big ideas, his painter's instincts and his pull in the art community to help draw national attention to U of G's fine art program. Prof. John Kissick asked three of Canada's top painters to create original prints that now make up the first edition of the University of Guelph Press Portfolio. Thirty limited-edition portfolios containing three prints

10 THE PORTICO

are being offered- first to U of G alumni for $3,700 and then to the general public for $4,000- to raise money for SOFAM. "I'm hoping to create a splash in the larger art community, as well as a bit of a buzz around campus," says Kissick. "The University of Guelph Press Portfolio celebrates the very high quality of our program." There's no doubt that a portfolio containing original prints by U of G friend Tony Scherman, alumnus David Urban, MFA '94,

and Prof. Monica Tap will generate interest in the art world. "A Tony Scherman piece alone would be worth the price of our entire portfolio, so as a collection, this is about 50 per cent of the going market rate," says Kissick. The portfolio contains three different genres of work: a portrait by Scherman, an abstraction by Urban and a landscape by Tap, all printed on lOO-per-cent cotton, acid-free paper that is 22 by 30 inches. Each

Silkscreen print by Monica Tap

Intaglio print by Tony Scherman

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print features a dominant colour, making for a striking visual impact. "We didn't plan it, but Tony's has strong blue, mine has strong red and Monica's has strong yellow, which is the primary colour combination;' says Urban. "It certainly makes for a good-looking ensemble of prints."

Master printer ensures quality The artists created their work with master printer Allen Ash in U of G's printmaking

studio, which has one of the best press beds in the country. Ash, who has been U of G's printmaking technician for the past year, has worked with more than 100 Canadian and international artists as master printer for Toronto's Open Studio and the Ontario College of Art and Design. He says each artist had the choice of creating a work in any of the four printmaking media: intaglio printing (which includes etching), screen printing, relief printing or

lithography. Scherman and Urban both chose to do etchings, and Tap did a silkscreen. Each print in the portfolio is an original, says Ash. "These images have an intrinsic value. The artists work directly in the print format, and they're a limited edition, so we print only a small number, then destroy the plates and screens." Because the printing is all done by hand, each individual print has its own nuances. "To produce the etchings, you're emboss-

Winter 2005

[ portfolio ] ing the paper as you're printing it, so you're getting very pronounced lines and raised surfaces," says Ash. "The ink is highly pigmented. There's a tactile sensibility to these prints that really can't be reproduced by any media today. You're pressing against a matrix or screen to physically make an image."

Painted accents add interest The slight variances make each print more valuable. Scherman went one step further by adding blue accents with his paintbrush to each of his prints, which feature a portrait of 1950s actress Grace Kelly. "The cool blue adds to the ice-blonde image of Kelly's personality;' says Ash. "Tony wanted to add the variations to see what subtle shifts could occur from one print to the other because that's what happens as a painter works. It's always changing in front of you." The portrait of Kelly is in keeping with Scherman's best-known work. Since earning an MA from the Royal College of Art in

England in 1974, he has worked primarily in encaustic (wax and oil pigments) on canvas or paper, depicting historical, contemporary and literary figures in the guise of their public and private personas. His paintings have been featured in 80 solo exhibitions in countries around the world, including France, Amsterdam, Sweden, the United States, Germany and England. In addition to being aU of G adjunct professor, Scherman has lectured at universities, art colleges and art galleries throughout North America and Europe.

Etching most like painting Urban says etching is the printmaking medium he enjoys most because it has the strongest relationship with painting. "A lot of painters have made etchings, and it seems as if every painter I admire has taken a stab at it," he says. What stands out most in Urban's 17- by

12 THE PORTICO

24-inch print is the vibrant salmon pink colour. "I wanted this kind of luminous colour that I associate with watercolour. We wound up rolling the colour over the plate, and that creates a transparent colour, so you're getting the white underneath as you do in watercolour, giving the effect of luminosity." The first graduate of Guelph's MFA program, Urban has gone on to become one of Canada's best-known contemporary abstract painters. His work has been shown in more than 50 solo and group exhibitions at galleries around the world, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal and the Shanghai Art Museum. Through his work, which ranges from boisterous to ornate, he investigates the traditional language of his chosen medium and experiments with its terminology. Urban says he drew inspiration for the University of Guelph Press piece from artists Ben Nicolson and Piet Mondrian.

Art Centre and the University of Toronto. Her work is based on early landscape drawings, predominantly by early modern European masters. She's fascinated by what she refers to as the "grammar of pictorial illusionism" found in these works. "In my own work, I'm interested in drawing attention to this grammar- the dots, dashes and curlicues that allow the artist to create the impression of, say, fields or trees to form a recognizable image." Using six colours and six images to create her 22- by 30-inch silkscreen of a landscape was "ridiculously ambitious for a firsttimer," says Tap, but the end result was worth all the hours spent experimenting in the studio with Ash. "There's a lightness and airiness to the colours that now seems to fit with the markmaking;' she says. "You can distinguish each layer, and the overlapping colours create new colours. The two yellows are creating a third, deeper yellow, and where these overlay the

"The image is of a fallen tree that's abstracted and sectors off in a rectangle in an asymmetrical way to create an imbalance or an energy that I find attractive."

pale blue, bits of green start to come through, although no green has been printed." Having professional artists work alongside students in U of G's printmaking studio has been an invaluable pedagogical encounter, says Kissick. "Part of the idea is to build a certain exchange between students and artists who are working at a very high level in the profession the students are studying, using the same equipment and processes. It shows that printmaking is an intriguing and still vital way of making images for contemporary artists, and it underlines that what our students are learning is relevant." Kissick plans to offer a University of Guelph Press Portfolio to U of G alumni and the general public each fall. "By the end of five years, there will be 15 University of Guelph Press pieces. It will be a fantastic collection of contemporary

Silkscreen an ambitious experiment Tap says she was thrilled to be asked to participate in the first portfolio, partly because it enabled her to work in a form of printmaking new to her. "Because my manner of painting involves working in layers, I'd been thinking for awhile that I'd like to experiment with silkscreen," she says. Tap's paintings have been exhibited extensively across Canada and internationally since 1990 and are included in numerous public and private collections, including those of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Edmonton Art Gallery, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Macdonald Stewart

Canadian art." â&#x20AC;˘

SHE FOLLOWED HER DREAM AND ACHIEVED GREATNESS

----t-1

ACK IN THE l950s,Gwendolyn(Peters)Tonge was a young home economist working in Antigua. She happened to read a brochure about Macdonald Institute and thought: "I would like to attend that school." And so she did, but it wasn't easy getting here. Tonge began her career as an unpaid teacher-trainee in a village school. She eventually gained housecraft training in Barbados and later studied home economics at the University of Puerto Rico. She taught home economics, but wanted to improve her skills. When she came across that Macdonald Institute brochure, she set her sights on coming to Canada. First turned down for a government scholarship, Tonge was eventually offered a scholarship provided by two wealthy Antiguans who were impressed by her work with low-income families. They sent her to school, but not in Canada. She went instead to Cornell University. At Cornell, Tonge told two classmates about her desire to attend Macdonald Institute. They secretly wrote to Prof. Margaret McCready, then principal of

the institute. Even though McCready had never met Tonge, she wrote a letter to the minister of education in Antigua to ask permission for Tonge to transfer to Guelph. What a surprise when Tonge received a letter advising her to report to Prof. McCready in Canada. Tonge graduated in I959, returned to her family in Antigua and began a career that has earned her recognition far beyond the borders of her island homeland. She worked as a home economist to improve the quality of life throughout the British Caribbean. She was president of the Caribbean Association of Home Economists, published the first collection of Antiguan recipes and hosted a television cooking show for more than 40 years. She has also been a strong advocate of women, retiring only last year as the prime minister's commissioner for gender and special adviser to the minister of health and social improvement in Antigua. Tonge has received the Queen's jubilee Medal and the Order of the British Empire and is a Member of the British Empire.

~ ~

S ~

~ ""

Winter 2005 13

story by Lori Bona Hunt â&#x20AC;˘ photography by Pat Croteau

girlsp ~ken

sa sIt a "It's like everything in the world that can possibly go wrong WILL go wrong for a teenage girl." These are words of wisdom from a 17 -year-old girl. She'd been asked to describe what it's like to be

a teenage girl. She has a lot to say: "It's tough. It's hard. There are

a lot of demands. Adults don't see. I don't think they remember." But her message registered with Heather Holland and jessica Hein. The 2002 graduates of Guelph's women's studies program have been hearing similar things from girls all across Canada. The two are interviewing and surveying girls of all ages and backgrounds about their experiences, challenges and hopes growing up. They're asking them about everything from school and friends to body image and sexuality to fami ly and creativity. Holland and Hein are listening, learning and, perhaps most important, remembering. After all, it was their own memories of stumbling through their teenage years that inspired all this. "This" is a mu lt i-faceted province-wide project called GirlSpoken: Creative Voices for Change. Taking advice from girls and young women, GirlSpoken produces progressive materials and lists of resources, community-based workshops, a travelling art exhibit, antho logies of writing and artwork by girls, and an interactive web page where girls and young women post artwork, poetry and stories. Hein and Holland plan to use the information from the surveys as a basis

THE PORTICO

for further developing the website and for creating a book to be published next year. "The goal of Gi rl Spoken is to use art and writ ing as a tool fo r self-expression and discussion and to build up girls' self-confidence and self-esteem, so they can address the challenges they're facing in their lives," says Ho ll and. She and Hein started the ambitious project while still students at U of G. They, along with classmate Lori Scotchko, were working on a fourth-year project about adolescent girls and self-esteem . It included remembering their own experiences, reviewing literature and interviewing program providers about what it was like to work with girls. "We were inspired by the things we faced as teens;' says Hein, who grew up in the tiny Ontario town of Lively, where she says there weren't any girl-specific programs available and she didn't have many female mentors outside her family. "We also wanted to fill that gap we saw in the li terature, knowing there wasn't a lot out there for teen girls." They put their thoughts, bits of advice and stories down on paper and produced a small

homemade magazine (d ubbed a "zine") for girls. It was such a hit with girls, with many of the agencies that serve girls and with members of the women's studies program that the trio decided to produce a second zine. This time, they solicited writings and artwork fi-om girls and young women in Guelph. "We wanted to create open spaces for girls to explore and wr ite about issues important to them," says Holland. One of the contributors was U of G student Sarah Ferber, a theatre and sociology major who had picked up that first zine on campus. "It was so creat ive and had such great information for girls that I kept it. So when I saw a poster in downtown Guelph asking for submissions for the second zine, I was really excited." As a teenager in Hamilton, Ferber drew, made art collages and wrote poetry and stories, but didn't have anywhere to publicly display or promote her work. She sent Hein and Holland a collage she had made in high school and a poem. The collage appeared on the cover of the next zine, and the inside cover featured the poem.

us A newsletter for alumni of the College of Biological Science â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2005

DNA bar-coding centre receives $3M Z

OOLOGY PROFESSOR Paul Hebert has received $3 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to establish the world's first centre for high-volume DNA bar-coding. The grant to Hebert is one of the largest research awards a single U of G faculty member has received from a non-government agency. Allocated over three years, the money will help support studies at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, which is being constructed on the west side of the Gue lph campus. "We are building th e first-ever production line for DNA bar-coding, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation award has p layed a critical role in making this possible;' Hebert says. He was the first scien ti st to propose th at a short DNA sequence from a gene found in all animals can be used to identify species. just as retail bar codes allow the quick identification of millions of items on store shelves, so will DNA bar codes allow the rapid identification of species, he says. The technique relies on analyzing a portion of a mitochondrial gene (cytochrome c oxidase I or COl), which plays a key role in cellular energy production. It has already led to the discovery of new species of birds, butterflies and fishes. Hebert believes that,

Prof. Paul Hebert

in about 20 years, the technique could enable completion of a catalogue of the estimated 10 million species of animals on the planet, of which only 1.2 million have been formally identified over the past 250 years. DNA bar-coding has several advantages over traditional identification methods, he says. It requires only a small sample of tissue and it works for identifying organisms at different stages of their life, such as the eggs and larvae of insects. It can also help resolve problematic classifications, such as when only

remnants or fragments are ava ilable - when birds fly into aircraft, for example. The new Biodiversity In stitute of Ontario, which Hebert wi ll direct, will bring together researchers interested in DNA bar- ~ coding and will provide the facilities and ~ equipment needed to conduct analysis on ~ species from around the world. The facility ~ has also received support from the Canada g Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario

Innovation Trust and the Natural Sciences ~ and Engineering Research Council. ~

WHAT'S INSIDE

UNIVERSITY o/GUELPH

DEAN's MESSAGE ...................... . ........ . . . ...................... .2 RESEARCH ROUNDUP ............ .. ..... . ... . ..... . .. .. . ..................... .J TEST YOURSELF .................. . ................................. . .... -4

Zygote Plus

Winter 2005

Dean's Message

E ARE NOW WELL INTO THE academic year, and the newest influx of st udents has settled in. Admission into our undergraduate programs remains robust. Although last year's "double cohort" is now flowing through the second year, our intake this year remains high. We have 1,150 first-year students in the B.Sc. program, 85 per cent of whom will enter the biological disciplines. Clearly, the life sciences at Guelph remain popular, attracting high-quality students who are drawn by the excellence of our courses, our faculty and the faci lities we can offer. In terms of facilities, the first phase of the science complex was completed on schedule, and the new teaching laboratories were up and running in the first week of classes in September. This was a remarkable achievement in an extremely tight time frame, and it provides a wonderful learning environment for our students. At the time of writing, the Chemistry and Microbiology Building is being demolished. This wi ll take about five months, and when it's completed, construction will begin on Phase 2 of the science complex. When the whole facility is open in 2007, there will be 375,000 square feet of laboratory and office space for teaching and research, representing one of the largest projects ever undertaken on a North

LOOK WHO'S TALKING

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u Rl NG T H E FA LL s EM EsT E R, CBS hosted a number of distinguished visiting lecturers. The annual Roy C. Anderson Memorial Lecture in Parasitology was delivered Oct. 21 by Nobel Prize winner Rolf M. Zinkernagel, head of the Institute of Experimental Immunology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His topic was "Antiviral Immunity and Vaccines." Zinkernagel was co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells. The Anderson lecture honours the stellar research career of the late zoology professor Roy Anderson, who died in 2001.

American campus. Even at this stage, the benefits are apparent. This is true for our students and for our ability to attract highquality faculty. The college is currently recruiting 12 new faculty, and the outstanding opportunity presented by the science complex is clearly proving a magnet. As I indicated in a previous newsletter, the college has undergone a major transformation to form three departments: Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB); Organismal Biology, Ecology and Evolution (OBEE); and Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences (HBNS). Prof. Terry Graham will continue as chair of HBNS, and I am delighted to announce that Prof. Chris Whitfield has been appointed chair of MCB and that Prof. Moira Ferguson will

Debbie O'Connor, senior associate scientist in integrative biology at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, spoke Nov. 8 on "Folate Biosynthesis in the Large Intestine: A Complementary Approach to Improving the Folate Status and Colonic Health of Humans." Her visit was hosted by the Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences. Kelly Munkittrick, B.Sc. '80 and M.Sc. '83, holds a Canada Research Chair in Ecosystem Health Assessment at the University of New Brunswick and is associate director of the Canadian Rivers Institute. He spoke on campus Nov. 22 as the Marcel Naseer Ali Memorial Lecturer in Aquatic Biology. The annual lecture series is named

Zygote Plus 2 Winter 2005

chair OBEE. These are all outstanding individuals who will help provide great leadership in the college. Another exciting development is the planned Biodiversity Institute of Ontario that is being built on campus. The Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust have committed $12.5 million to the project. Led by Prof. Paul Hebert, this new centre will provide a focus for biodiversity research and is capturing the excitement of rediscovering the natural world. It is already developing a high international profile. Hebert and his colleagues have attracted more than $3 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and $4.5 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council for the "Bar-Coding of Life" project. This unique project, which involves the coupling of a vast biological germ plasm collection and molecular biology, is revolutionizing approaches to species identification and is gaining worldwide attention. As always, there is much to be proud of in the College of Biological Science- not the least of which are our alumni and students. I hope you will share in the sense of excitement that is occurring within CBS. Michael Emes, Dean

for the late son of M.A. Ali, a fish biologist who retired from the University of Montreal. Munkittrick's talk, "Using Fish Populations to Assess the Health of River Systems: It Seems So Simple," was sponsored by the Axelrod Institute of Ichthyology and the College of Biological Science. Bjarni Kristjansson, M.Sc. '0 I, of H6lar University College in Iceland, spoke Nov. 23 on "Diversity and Rapid Divergence of Icelandic Sticklebacks." This year's recipient of the Brock Doctoral Fellowship, he is returning to U of G this winter to pursue a PhD. CBS alumni are always welcome at college presentations. For news of upcoming lectures, visit www.uoguelph. ca/cbs.

Research Roundup PLANTS AND FUNGI

PREVENTING TYPE-2 DIABETES

THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK SHELTERS

Left to right: Lewis Melville, Prof. Larry Peterson,

BESE MALES ARE AT A HUGE risk for type-2 diabetes- the most common form of diabetes in Canada- but human biology professor Terry Graham has found they can change their insulin sensitivity with only I 2 weeks of moderate exercise and a small reduction in daily calories. Graham and graduate student Heather Petrie found that obese males aged 20 to 35 who began walking for about an hour every other day and eating the equivalent of two fewer slices of bread a day increased their insulin sensitivity by 60 per cent. Their research was published in the A111erican

Hugues Massicote

journal of CLinical N11trition.

apartments the most coveted and expensive? Where did bedbugs live before there were beds? A new book by members of the Cliff Ecology Research Group in CBS points for answers to the age-old use of rock shelters by humans. The Urban Cliff Revolution argues that cliffs and rock shelters have played a vital role in the origin, evolution and development of the entire human habitat. The HY ARE PENTHOUSE

LANT SCIENTISTS and home gardeners alike will get a close-up look at a mostly hidden aspect of plant life in a new book by CBS researchers.

Mycorrhizas: Anatomy and Cell Biology, published by NRC Research Press, uses text and images to examine the main kinds of symbiotic partnerships between plants and fungi that sustain nearly all plant species. The book caps a lifetime of research for botanist Larry Peterson, a University professor emeritus. It was co-authored by Guelph alumni Lewis Melville, B.Sc. '96, Peterson's longtime research associate, and Hugues Massicotte, M.Sc. '85 and PhD '89, a professor at the University of Northern British Columbia. A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Peterson has published more than 200 papers on root-fungal interactions and is the editor of the Canadian journal of Botany. Nearly every plant on Earth needs to partner up with fungi for optimum absorption of nutrients, disease resistance, drought tolerance and protection against some toxic metals. In turn, the plant provides a ready carbon source for the fungi. Understanding this relationship is critica l for researchers trying to solve problems in agriculture, forestry and environmental restoration. Peterson's lab has the most comprehensive collection of photographs of mycorrhizas worldwide. The new book includes some 300 images taken through light and electron microscopes.

Prof. Doug Larson authors- botany professor Doug Larson and research associates Uta Matthes, Peter Kelly, jeremy Lundholm, PhD '03, and john Gerrath- conclude that we are primitive species as dependent on cliffs and rock shelters today as we have been for the past million years. Throughout human evolution, cliffs and their associated rock shelters, caves and scree slopes have provided safe refuge from harsh natural environments, including daytime heat, frigid nights, competitors and predators, says Larson. When humans started making dwellings, they copied the features of caves, he says. And they weren 't alone. "Roughly half of the species around us are specialists of steep rocky habitats," says Larson. "There's something about the nature of rock that attracts both the creatures we hate- like cockroaches, bedbugs and rats -and the things we can't live without, like most of our food plants."

Zygote Plus 3 Winter

2005

Prof. Terry Graham "Twelve weeks was all it took to decrease their insulin levels, making them more sensitive to insulin so they don't have to produce as much of this vital hormone to regulate the body's blood glucose," says j! Graham. "That means if obese individuals ~ can either exercise or achieve weight loss ~ -< through diet, they can fairly quickly induce ~ insulin sensitivity." ~ z Obese individuals have a resistance to ~ insulin and require higher levels of the hor- ~ )> mone to adjust their glucose levels, putting ~ them at great risk for type-2 diabetes.-;::; Although it is preventable, type-2 diabetes ~ accounts for 90 per cent of the diabetes in ~ -< Canada. Those with the disease can't pro- s;: duce enough insulin to regulate the body's ~ blood glucose and they often have to take ~ drugs to help manage blood sugar levels. ยงl

contin11eri on page 4 ~

continued from page 3

FROM MICROBES TO FOOD

HEN ONE HIGH-PROFILE research group closes, another one opens- or so it must seem to microbiology professor Terry Beveridge. For the past 14 years, he's been a member of a nationally funded group- and for the past five years, director of its Ontario wing- studying the workings of a variety of disease-causing bacteria. Established in 1989 as one of the first federal Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network (CBDN) has brought together- virtually at leastsome 50 researchers from across Canada to study pathogenic microbes and their attendant diseases. Beveridge, who holds a Canada Research Chair in the Structure, Physical Nature and Geobiology of Prokaryotes, was named

major themes. One of the largest themes, led by physics professor john Dutcher, involves researchers investigating the structure, dynamics and function of foods and biomaterials. Beveridge and Dutcher already collaborate on studies of thin film polymers and bacteria on surfaces, including foods. Learning more about how bacteria congregrate to form these biofilms- generally as polymer coatings- will help in developing safer foods, says Beveridge. Their research might provide new ideas for making foods, conferring properties such as flavour or tex ture, or preventing food spoilage.

UNRAVElliNG

The disease can cause loss of balance, impaired speech, extreme fatigue, double vision and paralysis. Harauz hopes to refine current and promising treatments to repair damaged nerves and prevent the recurrent attacks that erode the natural insulator coating the body's electrical wiring. His group is collaborating with researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

TEST YOURSELF

AWN LARSON, ACADEMIC assistant to the dean of CBS, provides this question from the Biology News Network, an electronic magazine for first-year biology students:

MOLECULAR SECRETS

INDING A WAY TO REPAIR nerve damage caused by multiple sc lerosis (MS) is the goal of molecular biologist George Harauz. He has spent much of the past decade studying the structure of proteins that make up the myelin sheath, the insulation protecting nerve fibres in the central nervous system. With recent funding from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and the Canadian l nstitutes of Health Research, he is now studying how that insulation is first stripped away and then parDawn Larson

What are the chances of seeing a polar bear walking across johnston green? Probably pretty slim, but how do you know that? Why wouldn't a polar bear be in Guelph? Are they just too lazy to walk here? To see if you'd pass the e-zine quiz question, visit http://www. uoguelph.ca/ theportico/news.shtml.

Prof. Terry Beveridge

director of the Ontario node of the CBDN

15 in 1998, succeeding his colleague Prof. Chris lll

S Whitfield, a longtime member of the net~ work.

Beveridge estimates the network has pro~ vided more than $7 million to the Univer~ sity over the past 14 years to support the ~ research of principal investigators, gradu~ ate students, post-docs and technicians. ~ Even as that funding wound down this I ~ spring, he was turning his attention to relati'ยง ed research under the new NCE in ~ Advanced Foods and Materials announced in in fall 2003. Led by Prof. Rickey Yada, Food ~ Science, this network brings together scieni5: tists from across Canada to study three

Zygote Plus Prof. George Harauz

tially repaired in people with the disease. An estimated 50,000 Canadians have MS, the most common neurological disease affecting young adults. Although the causes of MS are still unknown, most researchers believe it's an autoimmune disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the myelin sheath.

Zygote Plus 4 Winter 2005

Winter 2005 Published by the College of Biological Science Contact: Mary Feldskov Tel: 519-824-4120, Ext. 52904 Fax: 519-767-2044 E-mail: mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca

Heather Holland, left, and Jessica Hein

"Sharing my work and having someone put the effort into printing and circulating it was a huge self-confidence thing for me, a phenomenal experience," Ferber says. As graduation approached, Scotchko made plans to travel the world, while Hein and Holland went looking for help to take Gir!Spoken a step further. They received support from several community agencies and approached Carol Kauppi of the School of Social Work at Laurentian University. Kauppi loved the idea of gathering additional material to produce girl-focused programs and resource guides. She agreed to become GirlSpoken's director, and Laurentian became the lead organization. Hein and Holland also applied for and

received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. They now co-ordinate GirlSpoken full time from Ottawa. In November 2003, they helped organize a first-time national conference in Montreal, and GiriSpoken workshops have been held in several Ontario communities, including a series with First Nations girls and a new series conducted in French to reach Francophone girls. GiriSpoken's website at www.girlspoken.ca is a virtual gallery of writings and artwork posted by girls and young women, and Hein and Holland are currently promoting a travelling art exhibit called "Making Her Mark." "The exhibit grew out of all the submis-

sions we'd been receiving from girls," says Hein. "The creativity of these young women is immense, and we realized the power behind their work."

25 and going strong The women's studies program at U of G marked its 25th anniversary in September. The Guelph program was founded in 1979 by psychology professor joanna Boehnert and is currently co-ordinated by Prof. Dawn Cornelio, Languages and Literatures. The BA program has grown into a broadly interdisciplinary program drawing on faculty from 14 disciplines in three colleges. For more information, visit the website www. uoguelph.ca/wstudies/index.shtml. â&#x20AC;˘

Winter 2005 15

Geoff Worthington while Premila Sathasivam takes a blood sample.

eet Geoff Worthington, thirdyear U of G student and research study subject par excellence. He's a great asset to human biologists and nutritional scientists at Guelph, eager to serve science by volunteering for numerous studies in nutrition and exercise, even undergoing muscle biopsies while riding on a stationary bicycle. So conscientious has he been that the environmental sciences student has been advised not to volunteer himself for any more biopsy studies. He's already undergone what investigators consider to be a reasonable number, 10 on each thigh. Not that he- or any other willing subjects- need worry about running out of opportunities to serve science. More U of G investigators in human health, nutrition and exercise physiology are calling for study volunteers than ever. Scan the bulletin boards outside the main office of the Department of Human Biology an d Nutritional Sciences (HBNS) on the third floo r of the Animal Science and Nutrition Building and you'll find a research study to fit almost any taste: hyperoxia, metabolic syndrome, low lighting and obstacle avo idance in children, topical skin gel, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, exercise training, fitness and nutrition, supplements. Then there are studies being conducted elsewhere around campus, incl uding the Huma n Nutraceutical Research Unit (HNRU) in the Powell Building, the School of Engineering and the departments of Food Science, Psychology, and Family Relations and Applied Nutrition. AU point to the depth and breadth of human health research conducted at U of G, m uch of it funded by agencies interested in supporting and promoting preventive health care, from nutrition to fitness.

When Premila Sathasivam joined HBNS as a techn ician in 1985, she helped a couple of facu lty members run a handful of studies each year. Now, about six faculty are running multiple st udies at any given time, all with more sop histicated eq uipment and more advanced ana lysis . She oversees the department's human tes t ing labs, wh ich includes doing blood work, orga nizing use of equipment from treadmil ls to exercise bicycles, and helping researchers establish testing protocols. Growth has required the department to hi re an other tech nician for the same duties in the HNRU, with its own bulleti n board postings. Alt ho ugh much health research today occurs at the level of tissues or individual cells or even single genes, HBNS chair Prof. Ter ry Graham says it 's still important to look at how things work in a warm, breathing human body. "Until one conducts studies with h uman subjects, no one can be confident about how applicable the findings are to humans," he says. Ask Worthington to enumerate his study stints and yo u gli mpse a sli ce of th at

research . Far from objecting to t he occasional discomforts of serving as a study subject, he finds th e whole view o f research from the subject's perspective to be an interesting one. The 20-year-old has taken part in an average of two studies per semester, not just in HBNS projects but also in biomechanics research in the School of Engineering and marketing studies in the College of Social and Applied H uma n Sciences. In the HNRU, for example, he took part in a study by a pharmaceutical company looking to test a plant sterol product for use in preventing colds. The HNRU is called on regularly to help external organizations and companies conduct clinical trials. That help can range from finding volunteers and doing the testing to protocol design, approval and analysis. For the cold-prevention research, interim HNRU director Maggie Laidlaw was asked to help provide 120 volunteers as half of a two-site study. From January through March, subjects took pills daily or twice daily and recorded cold symptoms. It turned o ut the medication didn't work. Laidlaw also recruited Worthington for a

by Andrew Vowles â&#x20AC;˘ photography by Grant Martin Winter 2005 17

three-week trial for another company testing the effect of flax on blood levels of fatty acids. Again, there was no effect. But that doesn't negate the value of the testing, she says. "A no-effect result is still worth publishing:' Other assignments have been more rigorous, notably those muscle biopsy studies that involved half-day field trips to the Health Sciences Centre at McMaster University. There, U of G researchers work alongside medical professionals who carry out the requisite muscle and blood sampling. Through these studies, HBNS professor Lawrence Spriet and PhD candidate Trent Stellingwerff are learning more about the effects of hyperoxia- increased concentrations of oxygenon muscle metabolism. Understanding the role of skeletal muscle in metabolism of fat and carbohydrates may help not just athletes but also people who have diabetes or are recovering from disease or injury. "A lot of fat is stored in muscle;' says Spriet. During two visits to a cardio-respiratory research room at McMaster this fall, Worthington underwent various procedures: allowing a resident anesthesio logist to thread catheters into the femoral vein in his groin and into an artery in his wrist, breathing through a mouthpiece held in place with headgear, and allowing a doctor to make four incisions in his thigh (under local anesthetic) to permit biopsies. He had to cycle for 40 minutes, pausing every 10 minutes to accommodate a biopsy. Just before the biopsy, blood samples were pulled from the catheters and blood flow data recorded. Then the researchers swarmed around the subject, supporting him on the bike as he lifted his ankle on to a stool. Stellingwerff says the team has managed to perform the entire procedure- opening the surgical tape, collecting the muscle sample, and replacing the padding- in just 35 sec-

18 THE PORTICO

onds before getting the subject's foot back into the pedal straps for the next round. "It's like a pit crew;' he says. Stellingwerff stresses that, for studies such as this, investigators are first required to get ethics approval from U of G and McMaster, then must obtain informed consent from every subject. Following the cycling trial, the team members disconnected the paraphernalia, dressed Worthington's incisions and let him recuperate with a snack before the 40minute ride back to Guelph. For a day or so, his thigh ached as though he'd had a charley horse. Researchers offer their study subjects only modest reimbursement to ensure that "volunteers" bring a deeper commitment to the project. Like Worthington, many find themselves caught up in the spirit of the research enterprise. Stellingwerff says about half of his subjects ask him to send along copies of the pertinent research papers- "and many of them aren't in science to begin with." From Sathasivam's point of view: "We can not conduct research on human subjects without a 100-per-cent commitment from the subject, the students and the faculty conducting the study." Putting their muscles where their mouths are, many researchers have put themselves through this and other experimental procedures. Stellingwerff has undergone about 17 biopsies. Graham figures he's donated 10 to 15 grams of muscle tissue in some 70 biopsies, starting in the 1970s during post-doctoral work at the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre in Denmark. "I used to be seven feet tall," he jokes. More seriously, he adds: "I would never ask a subject to take part in a procedure I wouldn't do myself." In one of his earliest trials during his first

year, Worthington worked with PhD candidate Veronic Bezaire on a resting muscle biopsy trial. Along with Spriet and HBNS proessor Arend Bonen, she is studying how a fat transporter protein found in skeletal muscle is regulated, information that may help other researchers manipulate the protein to treat obesity. Worthington was also a subject in a study conducted by Graham, H BNS professor Lindsay Robinson and graduate student Mark Dekker on the effects of caffeine on insulin resistance, especially critical for people with diabetes or obesity. For their study, which began about a year ago, they gave caffeine pills to subjects, then measured oral glucose tolerance by having patients drink sweetened fluids and submit to blood sampling. In a related study, Graham and graduate student Danielle Battram are examining the impact of caffeine on glucose and insulin metabolism in people left partially or totally paralyzed after spinal cord injuries. Helping out with that study reminds technician Sathasivam about the "human" side of human biology research and underlines just how difficult glucose and insulin management must be in those individuals. The overall health and nutrition impli cations of these projects often hit a personal nerve with members of the research team and their human subjects. Sathasivam says she was totally inactive before joining HBNS, but now runs regularly four or five times a week. If anything, serving as a research subject has similarly strengthened Worthington's personal fitness ethos. Not a big fan of exercising on a stationary bike, he says he cycles everywhere and runs several times a week for 60 to 90 minutes at a time. He has even run in half-marathons and placed fifth overall in a 10-kilometre Thanksgiving Day run held this fall in Guelph. â&#x20AC;˘

MENTORING STUDENTS â&#x20AC;˘

u or g

ALUMNI EVENTS â&#x20AC;˘

NETWORKING

ALUMNI MATTERS

"It might be hard for you to believe that so many relationships, foundations, life-altering events will be tied to this campus, to this very University- but I assure you they absolutely will." With those words, Lisa Butler, BA '93 and MA '95, captured the attention of Guelph's first-year students at a special invocation ceremony held on campus Sept. 8. It's an annual event to welcome new students and provide inspiration for their academic careers at U of G. Butler, a search consultant with Manulife Financial in Waterloo, talked about her own experiences at Guelph and how her studies, faculty mentors and fellow students contributed to "life-altering events" in her life. "My arrival at U of G 15 years ago went something like this: My parents pulled around back of Lamb ton Hall -car packed to the rafters with various items I would never use- coming to a stop at the back door, where, instantly, young men in red orientation volunteer shirts opened all the doors and shouted, 'Get to know me! Hi, I'm Pablo, and I'm Paul. Get to know us!' They proceeded to unpack our car at lightning speed and lead my parents and me up several flights of stairs to my double room in Lambton. The 'Get to Know Me!' phrase was carried on throughout the week, and my parents remember and recite the experience of

No stone unused It turns out the portico wasn't the only thing saved from the 1929 demolition of the original farmhouse on the U of G campus. Limestone blocks from the Frederick Stone

arriving at U of G to this day." Butler studied politics and drama, and participated in student government, drama productions and residence life. She met a professor whose confidence in her encouraged her to complete a master's degree. She met international students who gave her the

desire to travel. She learned there's always someone willing to help you find your way... at U of G and in life. "You never know where your road may lead, and that is part of the excitement:' To read Butler's complete address, visit http:/ /www. uoguelph.ca/theportico/alumni.shtml.

Political science grad Lisa Butler sparked enthusiasm among this group of first-year students. From left: Julia Forrester, Seth Gerry, Ashley Ireland, Kathy Lee, Butler, Christine Farag, Phoebe Leung, Amy Meekes and Jon Spenceley.

house were purchased by then professor Reginald Ozburn, Entomology, who used them to build his own home on University Avenue. He hired OAC students to move the stone. That house was purchased from the professor's

widow in 1988 by Ron MacDonald, B.Sc.(Agr.) '8 1, and his wife, Mary Ellen, B.A.Sc. '80 and M.Sc. '85. They say they first admired the house when they were students and walked by it on the way to class.

Winter 2005 19

or g ALUMNI

MATTERS

Mentor online hare your career expertise with students by filling out an online mentor profile. It's one of the many features of the U of G Alumni Online Community at www.olcnetwork.net/uoguelph.

Hall of Fame Inductees 2 004

Bob Brooks, BSA ' 51 - Builder Tony Calverley, DVM ' 52 - Football Janet-Lesley (Beatty) Cottrill, B.A.Sc. '83 - Cross-Country/Track and Field Stuart Henry Phoenix, BSA '38 Football, Wrestling Lynne (Forsyth) Rawson, B.Sc. '95 Soccer jedson Tommy - Football 1994/1995 Women's Rugby Team The varsity careers of these athletes are highlighted in the online version of The Portico: www.uoguelph.ca/the portico.

Coming to a city near you!

WEST COAST GR A D S

ALuM

N I receptions were held in late October in Victoria and Vancouver. More than 100 West Coast grads met with Susan Rankin, director of alumni affairs, and Joanne Shoveller, vicepresident (alumni

affairs and development). Special thanks to two grads who helped plan the events: Nicole Blom, B.Comm. '94, who is sales and catering co-ordinator at Georgian Court Hotel in Vancouver, and David Houghton,

B.Comm. '75, secretary-manager of the Union Club in Victoria . Enjoying themselves in Vancouver are, left to right: Laura Hilliard, BA '96; Tracy Shaw, BA '90; Catherine Pulkinghorn, BA '91; and Loree Lawrence, BA '86.

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February: Guelph

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20 TH E PORTICO

Rally the Guelph grads at work How many University of Guelph graduates work in your office or business? Do you rally around the water cooler or use e-mail to talk about good times at U of G? If you've got the most grads or the best tale about U of G spirit in the workplace, we'll treat all of you to coffee and send a special U of G gift pack. Send an update form (see page 25) for each Guelph graduate in your workplace.

Please reply by Feb. 18 to: Mary Dickieson, Communications and Public Affairs, UC Level 4, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N 1G 2W!; fax: 519-824-7962; e-mail: m.dickieson @exec. uoguelph.ca.

UGAA opts for facelift THE

ALUMNI AssociATION

(UGAA) is about to undergo reconstructive surgery that will make its governing body look more like the alumni it represents. So says UGAA president Bill Summers, B.Sc.(Agr.) '82 and M.Sc. '84. He's led a three-year review of the organization's structure that will culminate in a special membership meeting Feb. 16. The current UGAA board will put forward a series of bylaw changes to restructure the organization, including both the executive committee and the board of directors. "The principal change will ensure the future selection of directors who can fulfil the mandate of the alumni association and maintain the vitality of its mission;' says Summers. "We need to ensure that our directors will have the skills, the motivation and a clear understanding of their role in the UGAA." With clear objectives, UGAA directors will be more engaged and more interested in taking the next step to serve on the executive committee, he says. In recent years, the association has found

JAN. 28 •

g_~~~~lJYAlumni ASSOCIATION

it increasingly difficult to recruit volunteers for executive positions. Summers says that's partially due to the way directors have been selected- they've been appointed to the UGAA board as representatives of a constituent group. When their primary interest is to represent another organization, directors are often unsure of their role and may not be motivated to contribute full y, he says. A copy of the proposed bylaws and the final report of the new governance model can be found at www.alumni.uoguelph.ca/association. A general meeting to ratify the new structure and approve by-law changes is scheduled for Feb. I 6 at 6:30p.m. in the OVC Lifetime Learning Centre. If you're unable to attend the general meeting, you can exercise your vote by signing and returning a proxy (ava ilable on the website) to the UGAA secretary/treasurer at Alumni House, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2Wl.

Oh, what drama!

FEB. 19 •

MARCH

2 •

MARCH 19 AND 20 •

APRIL

AND

2 •

APRIL 29 •

The fall2004 student production of Black Snow welcomed a number of drama graduates back to the George Luscombe Theatre (formerly known as the Inner Stage). After the performance, the alumni group enjoyed a reception and tour of the library's theatre archives. Grads from all Guelph programs are invited to attend future student productions. The 2005 schedule includes: • The Vic March 8 to 12 Written by Leanna Brodie Directed by Ric Knowles Design by Magi Oman • Conversations on Love and Death March 29 to April 2 Directed by Kim Renders Design by Jerrard Smith For ticket information, call the drama program office at 519-824-4120, Ext. 53147.

JUNE 24 TO 26 •

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Winter 2005

CAREERS •

FAMILIES •

LIFE EXPERIENCES •

MEMORIES

university of guelph Careers nights open doors

hen she attended the School of Hospitality and Tourism Man-

agement careers night last February, Magali Jacquet, B.Comm. ' 04, discovered a new opportunity that led her to a crash course in food -service consulting. After hearing Scott Legge, B.Comm. '86, describe a new men-

U of G Wedding Bells Ring

Magali Jacquet

When Barb ra Winfield, BA 'oo, married

ed 26 other guests who attended U of G,

Don Walsh, B.Comm. '98, June 19, 2004,

many of whom also met their mates dur-

it was truly a University of Guelph affair.

ing their time here.

Barbra is the daughter of Ralph Winfield,

If there were more than 33 Guelph

BSA '62 and MSA' 64, and Joan Thomson

grads at your wedding, we'd like to hear

Winfield, B.H.Sc. '64. Barbra's sister, Karen,

about it! Or tell us how U of G played a

B.Sc. '98, was maid of honour, and Dan's

central role in your wedding day. Send sto-

cousin Andrew Walsh, MA 'o2, was best

ries to Mary Dickieson at m.dickieson@

torship program being launched by

man. Elaine Moffett, BA 'oo, was a brides-

exec.uoguelph.ca or through regular mail

the Foodservice Consultants Society

maid. The wedding took place on the Win-

to Communications and Public Affa irs, Uni-

International (FCSI), she applied and

field farm near London, Ont., and includ-

versity of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1.

was selected as the first student participant in the program, with Legge as her host consultant. She spent 10 days at l.T.D. Consulting Group in

A 40-year tradition continues

Guelph learning just what food-service consultants do. " She was charged with trying to absorb as much as possible in the short time frame, with the hope that the experience would open her eyes to the opportunities available fo r a future career as a consultant, equi pment sales representative, equipment contractor, service agent or equipment manufacturer, all within the food-service industry," says Legge. He says he enjoyed )acquel's enthusiasm and hopes to participate in another session of the FCSI Educational Foundation's Mentorship Program.

22 THE PORTICO

UELPH GRADS HAVE been holding a winter reunion in Flor ida for more than 40 years. Pictured at the 2004 reunion are, from left: Gus Hostrawser, BSA '61; Florida committee co-chair Marcia Brown, B.H.Sc. '60; and Lyle Rea, DVM '62. Join them in 2005 on March 2 at Maple Leaf Estates in Port Charlotte. Gather at 10 a.m. for a social time, followed by lunch at 12:30 p.m. The Baker Trophy will be presented to the class with the most attendees. For more information, contact Mary Feldskov at 519-824-4120, Ext. 52904, or mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca.

THE PORTICO Editor, Mary Dickieson m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca 519路824-41 20, Ext. 58706

GRAD NEWS UPDATES alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

U OF G ALUMNI ASSOCIATION alumni@uoguelph .ca www.alumni.uoguelph.ca

ALUMNI AFFAIRS Director, Susan Rankin srankin @uoguelph .ca College of Arts, Deborah Maskens dmaskens@uoguelph .ca CBS/CPES, Sam Kosakowski alumni@uoguelph.ca CSAHS, Laurie Malleau lmalleau@uoguelph .ca

OAC '68 hits the links

OAC, Carla Bradshaw cbradsha@oac.uoguelph.ca OVC, Elizabeth Lowenger

OAC '68 held its annual golf day on June

appeared in the Summer 2004 issue of

lowenger@uoguelph.ca

12 at the Collbe Hills Golf Club, followed

the U of G alumni magazine . "Our class

Events/Communications,

by a barbecue hosted by John and Joan

was the first 'frosh' class to register in the

Jennifer Brett Fraser

Alderman on their Lakeside, Ont., farm.

'new' University of Guelph," says Alex

A highlight of the day was reminiscing

McDonald . "As a group, we would like to

about the photos and stories in the arti路

thank staff writer Rachelle Cooper for the

cle "1964 (THEN) to 2004 (NOW)" that

well路written and documented article."

jbrett@uoguelph.ca Chapters, Mary Feldskov mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca

DEVELOPMENT College of Arts, Deborah Maskens dmaskens@uoguelph.ca

Blue coats 1n uniform

CBS/CPES, Katherine Smart smart@uoguelph.ca CSAHS, alumni @uoguelph.ca

OVC CLASS OF 2008 received blue lab coats and an official welcome to the veterinary profession during the annual blue coat ceremony held in September. Mark Spiegle, DVM '76, past president of the Co llege of Veterinarians of Ontario, right, brought greetings to the class, which includes his son, Matthew. Deborah Stark, DVM '82, Ontario's assistant deputy minister of agriculture and food , presented the lab coats on behalf of the Ontario and Canadian Veterinary Medical associations. "Students come in ready to practise veterinary medicine as individuals, but there's a whole other set of responsibilities and obligations they take on as

OAC, Paulette Samson

psamson @uoguelph.ca OVC, Laura Manning lmanning@ovc.uoguelph .ca Student Affairs, Susan Lawrenson slawrens@uoguelph.ca

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ALUMNI ONLINE COMMUNITY www.olcnetwork.net/uoguelph.ca

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS Job postings, Jan Walker

members of a profession;' she said. "For example, there's an expectation that veterinarians, as a group, will speak out about animal welfare and the ways that animals interact with the environment."

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U OF G WEBSITE www.uoguelph.ca

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Winter 2005 23

The OAC Class of 1948 held its 56th reunion in 2004 with spouses and friends at Lake Muskoka. Everyone enjoyed a cruise on the

Wenonah II, a replica of a 1907 passenger steamship. Pic-

tured left to right are: Norm and Norma Martin, Henry Davis, Dorothy Snider and Isabel Moote.

1940 • John Eccles, BSA '40, and his wife, Florence, marked their 63rd wedding anniversary with the dedication of an oak tree on campus. The tree was planted outside the Eccles Centre, a student centre built in 1990 to honour his 35 years of service to

Florence and John Eccles

OAC and the University. From 1946 to his retirement in 1981, Eccles served successively as dean of men, director of public relations and director of residences. A noted slowball pitcher and aliround athlete himself, he also coached golf, curling and basketball teams. He was president of the OAC Alumni Association in 1974/l 975. A large party of family members, friends and University officials attended the ceremony.

erinarian, both to entertain readers and to benefit a cancer research fund he initiated in 1994. Established as a memorial to his first wife, Barbara, who died in 1991, the research fund has supported co-operative breast cancer studies at U of G and McMaster University. Graham's autobiography first appeared as a private publication for family and friends, but has been expanded and published by Essence Publishing for a wider audience. It tells the story of his life growing up on an Ontario farm and his experiences as a veterinarian in Toronto. Copies are available at the University Bookstore. Order online at bookstore.uoguelph.ca; or call 519824-4120, Ext. 53715. • Ken Hammill, BSA '51, is one of Guelph's most active citizens.

Ken Hammill with Cindy Lindsay,

1950

left, of the Guelph Community

• Blake Graham, DVM '51, recently published Sow's Ear to

Foundation and Sue Bennett, Uni-

Silk Purse: Autobiography of a Vet24 THE PORTICO

versity of Guelph.

The former vice-president and general manager of Blount Canada Ltd. has served on city council, given countless hours of volunteer time to his alma mater, supported the development of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, and contributed his expertise to numerous community organizations and charities. It's no wonder Hammill was selected by the Waterloo Wellington Fund Raising Executives to receive their 2004 Community Philanthropy Award. In recent years, he has supported Guelph efforts in hospital redevelopment and chaired both a provincial task force on Highway 6 expansion and the 1993 YMCA-YWCA capital campaign. Currently, he chairs the citizens' group Friends of Guelph, the College Heights Advisory Committee and the Guelph Community Foundation, which he initiated in 2000 to provide a way for caring people to perpetuate their charitable interests and strengthen the community. • Otto Radostits, DVM '59, recently received the Order of Canada for his contributions to science. He taught at the Ontario Veterinary College from 1959 to 1964 and at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon for the next four decades. He served as chair of Western's Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, contributed to several renowned textbooks on large-animal medicine, and is a prominent advocate of biosecurity practices among livestock owners to prevent the spread of disease. • James Saunders, DVM '50, admits to turning 80 on Oct. 25, 2004, and says he has finally retired from veterinary practice. He lives in Parksville, B.C. • Don Whillans, BSA '50, sent some information from his personal chronicle, Behind These Ivy Walls, that describes strong fam-

ily connections to the campus beginning in 1917. That was the year his father, Horace, enrolled at the Ontario Agricultural College. Horace graduated in 1921 and worked in OAC's dairy department from 1923 to 1925. His wife taught down the road at the Macdonald Consolidated School (now the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre). Don graduated in 1950 with his twin brother, Ken. A former mayor of Brampton, Ken died in 1990. Don studied entomology and worked in the Arctic for three years before turning his career to education, eventually serving as a high school principal. He and his wife, Lois, saw their daughter, Deborah Whillans)ellen, graduate from Guelph in 1979 with a B.Comm. in hotel and food administration. The Whillans, who live in Cobden, Ont., remain active in alumni activities and have attended many Florida alumni reunions.

1960 • John Allin, ADA '67, met his wife, Anna, when they were students at U of G, although they grew up in neighbouring rural Ontario communities. They shared farm life and family life in Orono with their children, David, who is now an AZ transport driver, and Tanya, BA '01, who continued her education at Durham College and is now an addiction cow1seUor at Lakeridge Health in Oshawa. Anna Allin enjoyed a 31-year career as a teacher, retiring in 2001. She died of breast cancer Nov. I, 2004. • Robert Lee, MA '68, has travelled the world as a trade commissioner for Canada, but he's still interested in his family's rural roots in Ontario's Huron County. His great-great-grandfather settled in Goderich Township in 1835, and his U of G history thesis was about the Canada Company's involvement in Huron County. Lee took a

leave of absence from his job as director of science and technology for International Trade Canada to turn the thesis into a book. The Canada Company

and the Huron Tract 1826-1853: Personalities, Profits and Politics was published by Natural Heritage Books in August. • Anne (Heslop) Simmons, B.Sc. '61 and M.Sc. '68, lives in Victoria, B.C., and recently retired from full-time work as a dietitian after "an enjoyable 43-year career and raising three wonderful, healthy sons."

1970 • Patricia Belanger, B.A.Sc. '75, works with a community organization in Verdun, Que., as an employability counsellor, giving sessions in English and French to help unemployed clients find jobs and careers. • Andre Bordeleau, BA '79 and MA '84, lives in Pointe-Claire, Que., and is a lecturer at Planetarium de Montreal. A former member of Canada's national rifle team, he is married to Deborah Martin, who also attended U of G. Their son, David, was born Feb. 26, 2003. (Hinchcliffe) • Cinnamon Combs, B.A.Sc. '73, of Toronto

1s director of research and development for Boston Market Corporation, representing the company's 630 locations in the United States. • Beth (Lindvik) Crawley, B.Sc. '76, lives in Cranbrook, B.C., with her husband, Doug, and teenage sons, Trevor and Tim. They moved to the east Kootenay region from Abbotsford in 1996 when Doug took a new job at the Kootenay Trout Hatchery. After 18 years as a stay-at-home mom and hockey-practice driver, Beth is launching a new career as a teacher's assistant, working part time at a local school. • Paul Fralick, BA '72 and M.Sc.

The members of TURKEY Rhubarb are, from left: Gerry Dion, Dale Behnke and Paul Fralick.

'78, continues to teach in the early childhood education pro-

gram at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont., but he's enjoying musical success with a band called TURKEY Rhubarb. The trio takes a fun approach to traditional folk tunes and sings in English, French and Spanish. They recently released their third album, Soggy Mittens, Tingly Toes. Fralick can be reached at TURKEYrhubarb@cogeco.ca. • Peter Gibbs, M.Sc. '73, is a senior lecturer in physics and electronics at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. In August 2004, he flew to Canada to swim across Lake Ontario. His time was 18 hours and 40 minutes from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Toronto's Leslie Street Spit. He asks if any other U of G grads have done this crossing and refers other marathon swimmers to tl1e website www.soloswims.com. • Mary (Kromak) Hermanovics, B.A.Sc. '72, taught secondary school math and science before retiring last summer. She has moved from Dryden, Ont., to Cambridge, Ont., with her husband, Ed, and daughter, Kristine. Mary is looking forward to becoming a grandmother in February, when her son,

Edward, and his wife, Catharine, are expecting. • Steve Hoare, BA '71, has spent most of his career in Australia, where he now runs a small financial management business in Fadden. He earned a master of science degree in animal health economics through Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands in 1995. In 2003, he ended a 30-year career with the Australian government, where he held a range of economic/industry portfolios, including his last position as assistant (strategic analysis) to the CEO of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. • Linda Hutsell-Manning, BA '75, has published the second book in her time travel series for children. Published by Coteau Books, jason and the Deadly Diamonds whisks jason and his friends, Charlotte and Squid, to 17th-century Luxembourg, where they find themselves dealing with a diamond-smuggling ring and Luxembourg's legendary mermaid, Melusina. For more information, visit www. lindahutsellmanning.ca. • Christine Karcza, BA '73, is a project manager for disability

GRAD NEWS UPDATE FORM Name

Degree & Year _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Address

City

Prov./State _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Postal Code _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Home Phone _ _ _ _ _ _ __

E-mail

Fax

Business Name

Business Phone

Occupation Grad News Update _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___

Send address changes and Grad News to: Alumni Records, University of Guelph, Guelph ON N1G 2W1 Fax: 519-822-2760, E-mail: alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

Winter 2005 25

initiatives with RBC Financial Group in Toronto. In March 2004, she received a public service award from Massey College at the University of Toronto. A member of the college's Quadrangle Society, she was recognized for her work in championing the cause of people with disabilities. • Thomas Kopf, BLA '78, is principal at DT) Design Inc., a planning and landscape architecture firm in Boulder, Colo. He recently published a new book called Building Community, which is available at www.builderbooks.com. • Kathy (Rettie) Parker, B.Sc. '76, is project manager for the Micro Business Development Centre, a venture that helps new business start-ups in the East Parry Sound District of Ontario. She lives with her husband, Martin, and sons, Alex and

Andrew, in South River. Their older children, Melanie and Mike, are attending university and college in London, Ont.

1980 • Pascale Dennery, B.Sc.(Agr.) '89, is technical assistance director at Solar Cookers International in Sacramento, Calif. She married Arvern Lofton Oct. 2, 2004. • Jitka Janecek Dunbar, BA '86, is a secondary school teacher in Port Elgin, Ont., and says she enjoys spending time with her children, Adrienne, 12, and Victor, 6, and their puppy, Penny. Her e-mail address IS Portia445@hotmail.com, and she looks forward to hearing from her friends in psychology, sociology and the sciences. • Bruce Hobin, M.Sc. '88, is executive director of the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists and received the University of Saskatchewan's Award for

Distinction in Public Service and Extension in October. The award recognizes his commitment to extending the university's expertise to the wider community. • Donna Jakowec, B.Sc. '86, lives in Ottawa with her husband, Jonathan Morris, and their twoyear-old son, Desmond. She is an evaluation officer with Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency. • Carol McAulay, B.Sc. '80, received an honorary degree from the University of Western Ontario in September in recognition of her dedicated leadership in the community. She has been a member of Western's Board of Governors and Senate and served on the advisory boards of Mcintosh Gallery and Brescia University College. She was recently a volunteer for Campaign Western and has also served on the Council of Chairs

of Ontario Universities and the National Association for University Board Chairs and Secretaries. During her student days at U of G, McAulay was president of the Central Student Association and treasurer of the Ontario Federation of Students. • Elaine Pilgrim-Susi, B.A.Sc. '89, is an elementary school principal with the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. She lives in Ancaster, Ont., with her husband, john, and three children, Michael, Nicholas and Sarah Caitlin, who was born in June 2004. • Andrea Pringle, B.A.Sc. '85, says her family relocated back to Ontario from California in 200 l "thanks to the dot-com bust." In the summer of 2004, they moved from Richmond Hill to Aurora, where she is beginning her second year in the "Music for Young Children"

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reaches 78,000 Guelph graduates

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6 months no interest and no payments OAC on installations

To place your business ad, contact

Scott Anderson 519·827·9169.

987 Yo rk Road , Guelph

836-7060

No neal ro rrnvel to Toronto or the Big Box Stores TOLL FREE 1-877-836-TILE (8453)

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THE PORTICO

email@ceramicdecor.on.ca

thea ndersondifference@ roge rs. com www.uoguelph.ca/a dguide

business. She teaches from a home studio and says she's discovering a lot about learning styles, family dynamics and how rewarding a teaching career can be. She also teaches her two sons, ages six and four. • Rory Radford, BA '83, has been promoted from major to lieutenant-colonel and named commanding officer of the Third Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment. • Heather Robinson, B.A.Sc. '83, is as close as the telephone for U of G friends and clients in her

Heather Robinson lifestyle coaching business. She lives in Worcester, Mass., where she's been working as a fitness instructor and personal trainer since 1994, and launched Ready Set Go in October 2004. Certified by the Lifestyle Coaching Institute, she also holds group fitness and personal training cert ifications from the American Council on Exercise. In addition to her Guelph degree, Robinson has a master's in public health from Boston University. Contact her at 508-756-6299 or heather robinson@charter.net. • Boris Utria, M.Sc. '82, is a senior economist with the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and co-chair of the bank's energy and poverty group for Africa. • Diane Walker, B.Sc.(Agr.) '85 and DVM '89, practises at the Algonquin Animal Hospital in Nepean, Ont. She wrote to The Portico to thank those who

helped establish the Mark Terhune Memorial Scholarship Fund at U of G in memory of her brother, a 1989 agriculture graduate who died in 1995. She writes: "It is great to have a continual gift in Mark's honour, as he loved Guelph and it helps us to know his name is remembered. Please continue in the fight against cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma."

1990 • Andrew Anderson, BLA '97, recently accepted a partnership position at pgm Design Associates in Toronto with founding partner Patrick Morello, BLA '94. The company provides landscape architecture and urban design consulting services in Canada and abroad. Anderson brings experience in sustainable design and ecological practices to the firm, complementing Morello's existing portfolio of urban design and corporate and recreational planning project work. • Ronda Badger, B.Sc. '96, is a certified orthotist and works for the Custom Orthotic Design Group Ltd. in Mississauga, Ont. She was married July 10, 2004, to Peter Eikelboom, and they live in Guelph. • Margaret (Taylor) Brown, BA '98, lives in Guelph with her husband, Richard. She is a compensation specialist in human resources with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. She is also a new mom, with a baby born in October 2004. • Laura Carter, B.A.Sc. '95, is a child-protection worker with the Sarnia-Lambton Children's Aid Society. She has two children, Joshua, 5, and Ayleah, 3. They live in "a beautiful home on the beach near Sarnia." • Tania Davies, B.A.Sc. '97, is an elementary school teacher in London, Ont., but is taking a year off to care for a new baby.

She and her husband, Jamie, welcomed Nolan Richard June ll, 2004. • Susan (S teel) Edwards, BA '9 1, has lived in four provinces since graduation and is about to move again to the United Kingdom, where her husband, Graham, will be working with the British air force. In addition to caring for their three sons, she plans to pursue a master's of education at the University of London. She asks Guelph friends to contact her ASAP at my3sons@ns.sympatico.ca, so she can stay in touch. • Cheri (Haley) Harris, B.Sc '97, is the communications officer for the City of Barrie. Married

Cheri, Greg and baby Haley Marie Harris. in 2000, she and her husband, Greg, will celebrate the first birthday of their daughter, Haley Marie, Jan. 24. Cheri would love to hear from U of G friends at gregandcheri@sympatico.ca. • Chris Henschel, B.Sc. '95 and M.Sc. '98, recently celebrated his fifth anniversary at the Wildlands League, a chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, where he works to protect Ontario's boreal forests. He has helped create new protected areas in Ontario, has improved forest policy and practice, and has increased participation in the development and application of a certification standard for well-managed forests under the Forest Stewardship Council.

• Peggy Hoar, B.Sc. '94, has undergone a career change after earning her B.Ed. from Mount Saint Vincent University. She is teaching science, chemistry and physics in grades 10, 11 and 12 at Arm brae Academy in Halifax, and lives there with her husband, Ryan Burkitt. She continues to support him in the operation of their graphic design agency and property management firm. Contact her at phoar@accesscable.net. • James MacDonald, BA '98, and Heather Bonner, B.A.Sc. '00, were married in Guelph July 24, 2004. After a honeymoon in Hawaii, they moved to

james MacDonald and Heather Bonner. Hong Kong to pursue their careers. She earned an education degree from Nipissing University and is teaching kindergarten at the Delia School of Canada; he has a master's degree in journalism from the University of Western Ontario and is working with CNN. • Annie Malton, BA '95, is engaged to Dale Prokopowich. They're planning a September wedding in Toronto, where she works in sales. She would like to hear from Guelph friends at amalton@sympa tico.ca. • Jeffrey Manwell, B.Sc. '92 and PhD '96, is a senior patent examiner with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in Ottawa. His wife, Christine Mao- Manwell, gave birth to their first child,

Winter 2005 27

Courtney Huei-Lin Mao Manwell, April27, 2004. • John, ADA '87, and Sheryl McNiven, BA '94, welcomed a third son, William Grant, June 29, 2004. His older brothers are Everett and Alec. The McNiven family lives on a farm near Orillia, Ont., where John is a field sales manager for Syngenta Seeds Canada Inc. and Sheryl teaches elementary school for the Simcoe County District School Board. • Eric Olson, ADA '94, is a farmer and john Deere salesman at Kentown Limited in Comber, Ont. In 2002, he suffered a brain tumour, but says: "Since then, I've been fine and happy with my wife, Debra, and our three girls, Amanda, 7, Sidney, 5, and Abby, 2. Thank you to everyone who sent their best wishes when I was sick." • Tim Rodger, B.Comm. '91, and Laura (Beukeboom) Rodger, DVM '96, recently

Tim Rodger

opened Simcoe Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ltd. in Simcoe, Ont. They live in Port Dover with their children, Jane and Willian1, and Laura works in a veterinary practice at the Dover Animal Hospital. They would like to thank all alumni who attended the grand opening of the dealership. They can be reached at tim@simcoe chrysler.com or 1-800-413-8608. • Sandra Stewart-Fearnside, B.Comm. '98, is front-office manager at the Hilton Garden

28 THE PoRTICO

Inn in Mississauga, Ont. She's also the mother of two daughters, Chloe, 2, and Ashleigh, born june 17,2004. • Lori Gagne Thibault, BA '91, is newly married, lives in Port Colborne, Ont., and teaches high school in Grimsby. But since May 2004, she's been learning the ropes as a new mother to Maya Grace. • Robyn-Leigh Watts, B.A.Sc. '93, is an elementary school teacher in Kingston, Ont. She and her husband, Rob, have three sons, Colin, Ryan and Ian David, born Aug. 29, 2004. • Dirk Werber, M.Sc. '99, spent five years working for the Robert Koch-Institute, Germany's federal institute of infectious disease epidemiology. In October 2004, he began a position with the National Public Health Service for Wales in Cardiff. He is a fellow of the lOth cohort of the two-year European Program for Epidemiology Training. 2000 • Karen Blair, BA '03, is a graduate student at Acadia University in Kentville, N.S. She is doing research on the impact of social network support on relationship well-being and health, and is looking for participants from all parts of Canada and the United States. For more information on her online research project, visit www.klbresearch.com. • Ian, B.Sc. '01, and Jane (Reid) Crawford, BA '00, are the proud parents of Jamie, born April4, 2004. They live in Elmira, Ont., and welcome contact from friends at jane@stasis.org. • David Crum, B.Sc. '04, completed his honours degree in statistics with distinction and is now enrolled in a master's program in biostatistics. And he just turned 19. Although few of his classmates knew his age, he

versity of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. In September 2004, she received the Social Science Presentation Award from the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine. • Karen Hough, B.Sc.(Agr.) '04, is on a one-year assignment with the Mennonite Central David Crum

enrolled at U of G when he was only 14, after being named valedictorian of his high school class. He's from Elora, Ont., and the son of Kristine Nelson, BA '78, formerly a psychological consultant to the local school board. • Carlos Daza Donoso, B.Sc. '03, says being an international student at U of G was the most rewarding experience of his life. He completed a degree in food science and is now working for the leading company 111 Ecuador in the vegetable fats and oils industry. He co-ordinates the IS0:9001 certification of the company's 6,000-hectare African palm plantation in northwest Ecuador. It's the first plantation in the country to have this certification, and Donoso's focus is on maintaining sustainable growth and developing better working conditions for the almost 700 macheteros who work at the plantation. He sends greetings to all his U of G friends. • Jason Dunkerley, BA '03, of Hamilton, Ont., won a silver medal at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens in the men's I ,500 metres for the visually impaired. He and his guide, Greg Dailey, entered the race as reigning world champions; they also hold four silver medals from the Sydney Games in 2000. • Caroline Egan, M.Sc. '01, is completing a PhD in health, sexuality and culture at the Uni-

Karen Hough

Committee in Brazil as a rural community worker. She is from Napa nee, Ont., and has worked previously as a landscape techmnan. • Janneke Jorgensen, B.Sc. '04, will be using her degree in nutritional science to help others as she spends the next year in Zambia as a volunteer health-care worker with the Child Hope Project. The organization works to improve the health and quality of life of Zambian children, including many orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She is based in Zambia's Southern Province, and welcomes inquires about her work at childhope zambia@hotmail.com. • Jennifer Murray, BA '04, jumped into the business world by starting a dog bakery and boutique called By Amelia in Paris, Ont. She specializes in home-baked, all-natural "pawsitively scrumptious treats" for dogs of all breeds. • Joel and Sharmon (Hall) Pegg, both B.Sc. '00, were married in June 2002 and welcomed their first child, Joshua Michael, Aug. 19, 2004. They live in Guelph.

• Josh Silvertown, PhD '04, has been selected to participate in a one-year leadership program with Action Canada, a joint government/business venture that recognizes and cultivates the leadership potential of young Canadians. While completing his Guelph PhD in biomedical sciences, Silvertown was a mem-

ber of the Graduate Students' Association, University Senate and Board of Governors. Off campus, he volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters, helped implement science and computer camps in Guelph and Yellowknife, and founded an international scientific newsletter. He is currently doing post-doctor-

al work at the Ontario Ca ncer Institute in Toronto. • Whitney (Bolam) Wilson, BA '0 1, and her husband, Jeff, are delighted to announce the arrival of their son, Andrew Jeffrey, Aug. 17, 2004. They live in London, Ont., and welcome greetings to wjwilson@porch light. ca.

Whitney and Andrew Wilson

PASSAGES Pierre Agnes, BA '92, in 2004 Gregory Allen, BSA '49, Oct. 26, 2004 Anna Marie (Scott) Allin, BA '69, Nov. 1, 2004 William Baldwin, BSA '40, July 26, 2004 Susan Barnes, BA '99, August 2003 Kenneth Beaubien, B.Sc. '74, in 2004 David Bee, BSA '51, Sept. 20,2004 Walter Bialy, BSA '62, March 5, 2003 Oliver Brandt, BSA '38, Aug. 2, 2004 William Bremner, ADA '47, in 2004 Harvey Brown, BSA '63, Aug. 10,2004 John Brubaker, BSA '49, Aug. 19,2004 David Burgess, ADA '58, June 24, 2004 John Campbell, DVM 'SO, April 14, 2004 Allan Corey, DVM '56, June 30, 2004 Stephen Crumley, M.Sc. '76, Aug. 28, 2003 Jean (Campbell) Davidson, DHE '33, Aug. 27, 2004 Gerard DeVries, ADA '48, in 2004 Jack Doan, BSA '37, in 2002 John Eadie, ADA '59, Sept. 30, 2004 Gerald Ferguson, BSA '61, July 29, 2004 Allen Francis, BSA '49, July 14,2004 Gerald Gleeson, B.Sc. '78, Oct. 13,2004 Helen Goodrow, DHE '36, Aug. 1, 2004 Keith Graham, BSA '45, July 28, 2003 Donald Gray, BSA '47, July 18,2004 Katherine Harvey, B.Sc. '80, in 2004 Ross Hay, BSA '45, Aug. 9, 2004 Akira Hikichi, BSA '51, May 19,2004 Howard Horton, BSA '34, September 2003 Sidney (Mervin) Howden, DHE '31,

date unknown Clifford Howse, M.Sc. '71, April 9, 2004 Alexander Hunt, BSA '46, Nov. 5, 2004 David Inksetter, BSA '51, Aug. 7, 2004 Graham Johnston, BSA '47, Aug. 13, 2004 Terry Kadwell, BA '99, in 2004 Charles Kelly, BSA '36, july 25, 2004 Bonnie (Latendresse) Kerr, BA '72, Aug. 16, 2004 Jean (Robins) Lamont, DHE '40, October 2003 Kenneth Lantz, BSA '45, Oct. 15, 2004 John Lloyd, BSA '44, July 5, 2004 John Loveys, B.Sc. '71, july 26, 2004 Nelda (Miles) MacKenzie, DHE '29, Nov. 17,2001 Giovanni Malito, M.Sc. '87, Oct. 19, 2003 Raymond Markus, DVM '63, Oct. 27,2004 Thomas McNeely, BA '80, June 15, 2003 Douglas McNevin, BSA '46, April 22, 2004 Johan Minnema, ADA '98, in 2004 Kate (Pratt) Moggach, BA '69, Sept. 12, 2004 David Montgomery, B.Sc. '70, Nov. 4, 2004 Francis Norton, BSA '38, April 4, 2004 Lewis O'Callaghan, BSA 'SO, Aug. 28, 2004 Louis O'Neill, BSA '41, Sept. 21, 2004 Arvis (Haberer) Oxland, DHE '47, July 11 , 2004 Daniel Pause, BA '97, August 2003 Robert Rhodes, ODH '98,

Aug. 28, 2004 Robert C. Roy, B.Sc.(Agr.) '73 and M.Sc. '75, June 15, 2004 Calvert Russell, BA '69, in 2004 Henry Sage, ADA '48, June 25,2004 Edward Said, H.D.Let. '95, Sept. 24, 2003 Winton Schneider, BSA '51, July 8, 2004 Doug Simpson, B.Sc. '80, May 25, 2004 Donald Smith, BA '80, in 2004 Kenneth Stafford, BSA '49, )an . 8, 2001 Joan (Kerfoot) Storey, DHE '37, June 4, 2004 Marjorie (Reynolds) Carlson, DHE '34, June 26,2001 Nicholas Goldschmidt, H.D.Mus. '84, Feb.8,2004 Josephine (Cooper) Sargeant, DHE 'SO, April 24, 2004 Daniel Siatkowski, B.Sc. '02, Oct. 14, 2004 William Stitt, MBA '01, Nov. 21, 2002 Robert Taylor, ADA '53, Oct. 13, 1004 William Whiteside, DVM '47, Nov. 28, 2003 David Willison, BSA '62, Aug. 21, 2004 FACULTY Robert Forshaw, Animal and Poultry Science, Sept. 12, 2004 Victor Matthews, Languages and Literatures, Nov. 28, 2004 Jack Tanner, BSA '57 and MSA '59, Crop Science, Nov. 21, 2004 Benjamin Teskey, BSA '49, Horticultural Science, Nov. 23, 2004 Send deceased notices to Alumni Records at alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca.

Winter 2005 29

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