Guelph The Portico Magazine, Winter 2012 by University of Guelph

RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: THE PORTICO MAGAZINE, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, GUELPH, ON N1G 2W1

Grads who made the most of Guelph’s top scholarships

PUBLICATIONS MAIL 40064673

WINTER 2012

the

portico UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

ALUMNI

HEALTH & DENTAL INSURANCE

We made a list. If you’re paying for any of these medical bills out of your own pocket, you need to take a look at the Alumni Health & Dental Plan. The plan can help you save on both routine and unexpected health care expenses. Best of all, if you apply before March 31st, you’ll pay 2011 rates for an entire year. Call 1-866-842-5757 or visit our new website at healthplans101.ca/guelph where you can compare the available plans, determine which one best fits your needs, get quotes and apply online.

Underwritten by:

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

Exclusions and Limitations apply. Manulife, Manulife Financial, the Manulife Financial For Your Future logo and the Block Design are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and are used by it, and by its afﬁliates under license.

contents the portico • winter 2012

3 — president’s page • BetterPlanet update — 8 • grad news — 28

in and a ro u n d the university ine art professor Christian Giroux wins a Sobey Award, the Gryphons win three CIS championships and PhD student Christopher Charles wins the hearts of Cambodian villagers for an idea that improves their health. On campus, a retrofit turns the old botany and zoology building into an environmental hub.

— 10 — cover story

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM GIVES U OF G AN EDGE After 25 years, the President’s Scholarship program is still building a student body that champions leadership qualities as well as high marks.

Guelph neuroscientist Mark Fenske turns research into practical tips for helping people deal with everyday problems.

on the cover

PHOTO BY DEAN PALMER

Portico online More U of G news at uoguelph.ca/theportico

lumni get together across the country for networking, family fun and hockey. The BetterPlanet Project charts campaign progress, and the University of Guelph Alumni Association looks for ways to serve and engage Guelph graduates.

— 20 — TRAIN YOUR BRAIN

1997 President’s Scholar Rich Appiah takes on Toronto as an employment lawyer and advocate for human rights.

alumni matters

— 22 — HELPING FARMERS HELP THEMSELVES Rebecca Hallett is a specialist in pest management and the inventor of a smartphone app that helps farmers decide how to control soybean aphids.

Gold medal magazine The Portico won the 2011 award for “best magazine” at a Canadian university from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education.

Winter 2012 1

portico

the

Winter 2012 • Volume 44 Issue 1

Editor Mary Dickieson Assistant Vice-President Charles Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc. Contributors Susan Bubak Lori Bona Hunt Wendy Jespersen Shiona Mackenzie Teresa Pitman Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. ’84 Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 Direct all other correspondence to: Communications and Public Affairs University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/

You Remember U of G So Do Your Future Customers

The Portico magazine is published three times a year by Communications and Public Affairs at the University of Guelph. Its mission is to enhance the relationship between the University and its alumni and friends and promote pride and commitment within the University community. All material is copyright 2012. Ideas and opinions expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of the University or the editors. Publications Mail Agreement # 40064673 Printed in Canada — ISSN 1714-8731 To update your alumni record, contact: Alumni Affairs and Development Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 519-822-2670 E-mail alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

• Promote your business in The Portico • Reach more than 93,000 educated consumers • Three issues per year, insert opportunities

2 The Portico

For advertising inquiries: www.uoguelph.ca/adguide/ Scott Anderson Tel: 519-827-9169 Fax: 519-827-9174 Email: theandersondifference@rogers.com

TEACHING EXCELLENCE ATTRACTS EXCELLENT STUDENTS s a young professor arriving at the University of Guelph in 1988, I faced the challenges of finding a place for myself on campus: developing a research program in biomedical sciences while preparing course material and establishing a teaching style that respected my students and reflected my own learning experiences. A demanding university student myself, I had been known for walking out of a lecture if I didn’t think I was going to get something out of it. So I’ve always expected my students to be demanding of me and I`ve tried to make every class worth their while. It wasn’t just the reputation of Guelph’s veterinary college that brought me here. I was also attracted by the University’s obvious interest in students as individuals. One year before I arrived, U of G had established its high-profile President’s Scholarship program to recruit top students who might also become campus leaders. Through this signal program, the University was effectively saying: “We want to attract students with outstanding personal attributes and motivation, and we will focus our undergraduate program on helping them realize their potential as future leaders in society.” I’ve had the privilege of teaching many President’s Scholars. As an administrator, I’ve also helped extend the program to the Lincoln Alexander and Pamela Wallin Chancellors’ Scholarships. In celebrating the 25th year of this most successful awards program, we also reaffirm our commitment to its principles. For me, student engagement is the key to Guelph’s undergraduate experience and its learner-centred objectives.We want learners to pull information toward themselves rather than have it pushed onto them by professors. Active learning encourages students to explore, question and experiment as they discover answers for themselves and develop insights and problem-solving skills. I am a big fan of Guelph’s first-year seminar program with its small classes taught by professor mentors. Having always been passionate about learning – wanting to know the how and why of everything – I want to ignite that same passion in my students. As a teacher, I succeed when I’ve helped each student learn to the best of their ability and when those students commit to using their education to improve lives, their own and those of others. Focusing on learners brings challenges: limited resources, competition for top students and faculty, the cost of new technologies, generational changes in the way our students learn and continued changes in the

the president’s page

PHOTO BY JASON JONES

knowledge-based workplace that awaits them. We motivate ourselves to overcome challenges by continually trying to do better: demonstrating that we value teaching; tailoring teaching strategies to students’ learning styles; creating research opportunities for students; and helping students learn outside of the classroom through volunteering, travel and group work on realworld problems. Such experiences motivate students to learn more and to use what they’ve learned. A quarter-century after these scholarships were introduced, we are still upholding U of G’s reputation as a university where self-motivated students thrive.You’ll see the proof of that reputation as you read stories of several Guelph graduates who were President’s and Chancellors’ Scholarship recipients. They were the kind of students we meet more often at Guelph these days – the kind of students I’d like to teach myself. Hopefully, none would feel compelled to walk out of my lecture. Alastair Summerlee, President

Winter 2012 3

in around &

PHOTO COURTESY CHRISTIAN GIROUX

Art Prof Wins Sobey Award

Daniel Young, left, and Christian Giroux with their sculpture Mr. Smith, 2011.

ro f. C h r i st i a n G i ro u x , School of Fine Art and Music, shares the 2011 Sobey Award for contemporary art with his collaborator, Daniel Young. Established in 2002, the $50,000 award highlights contemporary art and the country’s best young artists. In its citation, the

jury said, “Young and Giroux reflect a curious world where digital interfaces have become an inextricable part of our lives.” They use consumer goods and industrial components to create sculpture and installation pieces. One of their competition entries was a film of diverse lighting

fixtures bought from a “big box” hardware store. Their other works use pieces of furniture or ductwork twisted into playful forms. Giroux and Young created Reticulated Gambol, a permanent fixture in the new Lee Centre Park in Scarborough, Ont. Another exhibit shown at parks, beaches and boardwalks around Miami invited visitors to enter and explore an eight-foot-high “molecule” called Fullerene. A U of G professor since 2004, Giroux has exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows at Hunter College in New York, AceArt in Winnipeg and the PowerPlant in Toronto. He has been an artist-in-residence in Berlin and Paris. Last year, he received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to create Ontario’s first digital haptic lab in Guelph’s School of Engineering. Here, artists and engineers can visualize and design functional components and complex forms for 3D construction using prototyping tools.

Gryphons Dominate CIS Fall Season h e U n i v e r s i ty o f G u e l p h athletic program enjoyed an outstanding fall season. As the only program to win three Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) team titles, Guelph captured the CIS championships in men’s cross-country, women’s cross-country and women’s rugby. The Gryphons also captured a CIS bronze in field hockey. Guelph has won an impressive number of CIS team championships in recent years and has become one of Canada’s most successful programs, says director of athletics Tom Kendall. “Our goal is to be nationally competitive in all our sports, and our achievements this fall are a testament to the commitment of student-athletes, coaches

PHOTO COURTESY CANADIAN INTERUNIVERSITY SPORT

4 The Portico

Lady Gryphons hoist the CIS rugby trophy.

and staff who contribute to the overall success of our programs.” Guelph also received several CIS indi-

vidual awards: three coach of the year awards, four player of the year awards and 15 all-Canadians.

the

university MULTICULTURALISM HELPS IMMIGRANTS ADJUST nspired by her own experience as an immigrant from Iran, psychology professor Saba Safdar looks at how Iranian, Indian and Russian immigrants adapt to their new lives in Canada, the United States and several European countries. She says immigrants who feel supported by the local population and their own immigrant communities tend to adapt more easily, as do immigrants who can speak the dominant language. “That support could come as official support such as community services for immigrants.” But she also points to school programs that help immigrant children adjust and national immigration policies that favour multiculturalism over assimilation. Because of Canada’s multicultural policy, “immigrants can choose to integrate, assimilate or separate, depending on a number of factors,” says Safdar. She adds that immigrants here report less discrimination, easier adjustment, and fewer physical and psychological problems than their counterparts in the U.S., the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. “But this doesn’t mean that immigrants in Canada do not have any problems. They still have a number of issues: low level of employment, not having employment that matches their expertise and issues surrounding language difficulties.”

Christopher Charles began his research travelling by boat between Cambodian villages to collect blood samples needed to document the problem of dietary iron deficiency.

Good Idea Leads to Happy Ending

PHOTO COURTESY CHRISTOPER CHARLES

cent of daily iron requirements and increases the body’s iron stores. Charles has spent almost three years in Cambodia since starting a 2008 summer research position with Research Development International, an NGO whose researchers study dietary iron deficiency. That problem affects about 3.5 billion people worldwide. Charles says he simply couldn’t leave when he saw that a preventable problem was affecting so many people. The iron fish project became a master’s thesis in population medicine; now working on a PhD, Charles is overseeing a larger study on nutrition.The happy ending is being realized in Cambodian villages where people report feeling better and having more energy. Most are still using the fish they received in 2008. Referring to the iron fish, Charles says: “The smiles have faded a bit, but they still seem to be working.”

Prof. Saba Safdar

PHOTO BY SUSAN BUBAK

hristopher Charles, B.Sc. ’08, began his graduate work in Cambodia, travelling by boat from village to village to find a solution to a widespread problem of iron deficiency. The people couldn’t afford red meat, iron pills or new iron cookware that would leach the element into food, and the women refused his suggestion that they add a lump of iron to their cooking pots. But he didn’t give up. After a few tries, he moulded the metal into the shape of a smiling native fish species considered lucky in village folklore.“People liked it,” says Charles. The fish is thrown into the pot with the day’s drinking water, along with a squeeze of lemon juice (vitamin C helps iron absorption in the gut). Made from scrap iron from a nearby factory, the fish cost $1.50 each to make. Lab studies have shown that the drinking water provides about 75 per

Winter 2012 5

in & around the university

PHOTO BY ROSS DAVIDSON-PILON

Environmental Hub Opens, Honours Lincoln Alexander

c ut t i n g - e dg e , $33.6-million envi-

A ronmental teaching and learning hub

that honours the University’s chancellor emeritus officially opened Nov. 11. A former lieutenant-governor of Ontario, the Hon. Lincoln Alexander was appointed U of G chancellor in 1991 and served for five terms. He attended the opening of Alexander Hall along with government and University representatives. “I am honoured to have this building named for me and very proud to be a member of the University of Guelph community,” he said. To retrofit the building (formerly the Axelrod Building), U of G received federal and provincial funding under the Knowl-

edge Infrastructure Program intended to enhance post-secondary infrastructure. The revamped 130,000-square-foot Alexander Hall houses faculty and students from a variety of campus units, including Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Fine Art and Music, and Environmental Design and Rural Development. The building showcases innovations and Eshar and will support research greenDavid technologies, to improve air, water and soil quality. By replacing many units currently housed in portables or older greenhouses, the building will help reduce the University’s deferredmaintenance costs and improve energy efficiency.

UNIVERSITY PLANS NEW RESIDENCE U of G is developing plans for a new student residence on campus. The building will provide amenities requested by today’s University applicants and allow the University to reconfigure its oldest residence building, Macdonald Hall. “This will help us with our recruitment process,” says Brenda Whiteside, associate vice-president (student affairs). “Because many of our buildings on campus are older with more traditional floor plans, they don’t provide for the increased desire for privacy that many prospective students are requesting.” She says the University will review options for a new residence, including the possibility of a private-sector partnership with a builder that would provide the capital for the new residence or for altering other facilities. A committee will determine future residence needs, the location of Guelph's all-female residence community, and the configuration of the planned new residence before the University issues a call for proposals. Built in 1903, Macdonald Hall will continue as a dormitory until a new student residence is built. Macdonald Hall could then be altered to provide academic space for the College of Management and Economics (CME). The long-term plan includes raising money to construct a new building in the parking lot across from Macdonald Hall for CME classrooms, student clubs and meeting space.

CAMPUS MASTER PLAN UNDER REVIEW he University of Guelph’s campus master plan is getting a makeover. Since the master plan was last reviewed 10 years ago, the campus has seen extensive changes, says Don O’Leary, vice-president (finance and administration). “We’ve experienced student growth, new buildings and facilities, and changes in academic programs, all of which affect how the University needs to function now and in the future.” The University’s original master plan

6 The Portico

was completed in 1964. Updates to accommodate growth and change have occurred about every five years. The last review was in 2002, during a building boom that saw the addition of the Science Complex and the Rozanski Hall classroom cluster. More recent changes include additions to the Thornbrough Building, renovations of the newly named Alexander Hall, expansion of the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, removal of the former textile building, and

expansion of the University Centre bus loop. Guiding the master plan review will be a steering committee with representatives from academic, administrative and student groups. Its chair is Kevin Golding, chair of the physical resources and property committee of the Board of Governors. The review will likely take a year to complete and will involve stakeholder consultations with departments and individuals across campus as well as graduates.

Read U of G daily news at www.uoguelph.ca

NOTEWORTHY

PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

They’re All Heart

U of G heart researchers, from left: Profs. Todd Gillis, Tami Martino, Glen Pyle, John Dawson and Ron Johnson. Missing from the photo is Prof. Jeremy Simpson.

ix Guelph researchers have launched one of the few groups worldwide looking at cardiovascular disease all the way from single molecules to animal models. By joining forces, they hope to learn more about what causes cardiovascular disease and tackle a leading cause of death in Canada. They share equipment and students, collaborate on grant proposals and work together on research projects. • Looking for causes of congestive heart failure, biomedical sciences professor Glen Pyle has married his physiological studies of heart signalling and cellular mechanisms with the expertise of Prof. John Dawson, Molecular and Cellular Biology, in heart muscle proteins. They’ve published studies on genetic mutations causing dilated cardiomyopathy (“weak heart”) in dogs and hope this research will teach them more about heart failure and how to prevent or reverse damage in people. • Animal models also help biomedical sciences professor Ron Johnson study what happens during heart attacks and subsequent heart failure, particularly the role of veins in cardiovascular disease.

• Prof. Tami Martino, Biomedical Sciences, studies how circadian rhythms affect heart disease. She's published a paper with Prof. Jeremy Simpson, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, that shows how time of day alters effects of ACE inhibitors for treating hypertension and congestive heart failure. • Integrative biologist Todd Gillis works with Pyle to analyze how proteins work in the heart. They’ve looked at what happens when heart muscle thickens, a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes. • And Gillis is collaborating with biochemist Dawson to insert animal genes into bacteria to make heart muscle proteins for research. Learning how genetic mutations alter those engineered proteins can help in understanding heart disease. Says Dawson: “We’re one of the few groups in the world that can make these muscle proteins.” • Simpson uses animal models to study what goes wrong at the molecular level to cause heart failure and works with Johnson, Martino and Gillis on the heart and vascular system.

• On Oct. 15, U of G presented honorary degrees to Justice Dennis O’Connor, associate chief justice of Ontario, and Marian Horzinek, professor emeritus in virology and viral diseases in the faculty of veterinary medicine at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. O’Connor served as commissioner of two of the most important public inquiries held in Canada — Walkerton, Ont., and Maher Arar. Horzinek, a pioneer in veterinary virology, has mapped several important viruses. • English professor Daniel Fischlin worked with student research assistants and members of the Guelph IT community to develop Romeo + Juliet: The Shakespeare App. Designed to deliver literary classics to the digital generation, the Shakespeare app is available for iPads, iPhones and iPods. • Prof. Sylvain Charlebois, associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Management and Economics, spoke to the House of Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food in October. An expert in food distribution and safety, he discussed Canadian food security, food prices, consumer demand and global markets. • Guelph PhD students Nathan Lachowsky and Marina Neytcheva are recipients of Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, the most prestigious doctoral awards in Canada. Lachowsky, B.Sc. ’10, studies HIV in at-risk populations in Canada and New Zealand; Neytcheva wants to learn about species persistence in temperate forests to help protect biodiversity. • Prof. Alison Duncan, Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, is co-inventor of a nutritional labelling program implemented by Loblaw in September. Guiding Stars ranks foods according to nutritional value to help people make healthy choices while grocery shopping.

Winter 2012 7

The Better

POETRY MAKES OUR WORLD A BETTER PLACE Griffin Poetry Prize winner and U of G English professor Dionne Brand was the first guest in a new U of G speaker series that highlights the many ways faculty, staff and students are making a difference. She discussed how poems and novels promise a better world – an apt topic for Brand, who is Toronto’s poet laureate and the recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, the Trillium Prize for Literature, the Pat Lowther Award for Poetry, the Harbourfront Festival Prize and the Toronto Book Award. Scan the QR code to find a one-hour podcast of Brand’s poetry reading and her thoughts on how literature guides us to a better world.

8 The Portico

PHOTO FROM CANADIAN ROSE SOCIETY

BPP Gifts Make Students a Priority

June Laver

he BetterPlanet Project campaign has received numerous gifts from graduates and friends who choose to support scholarships and bursaries. It’s a winwin for U of G when those awards not only provide financial assistance to students but also encourage study in areas central to the University’s strategic research goals. A gift that funds a scholarship is often a poignant reminder of a donor’s own experience at Guelph, a satisfying career or sometimes even a missed educational opportunity that created a determination to help others. I June Laver, DHE ’40, met her late husband when they were students at Guelph. One of Canada’s most prolific rose hybridizers, Keith Laver, BSA ’40, developed and named a deep yellow miniature rose for his wife. The Laver family ran a successful nursery business, first in Mississauga, then in Caledon, Ont., where Keith hybridized and introduced more than 80 varieties of miniature roses; the “June Laver” rose remains a garden favourite. Keith died in 2010. Now the Keith and June Laver Endowment Trust Fund will

encourage others to become innovators by providing two $10,000 annual awards to graduate students studying environmental issues in horticulture. I Mark Leonard, B.Sc. ’80, is funding four annual scholarships for non-business students enrolled in a new certificate program offered by the College of Management and Economics. Named for retired business professor Bill Braithwaite, the certificate offers five courses in business training and is expected to draw future entrepreneurs from computing to landscape architecture. It’s just the kind of program that might have attracted Leonard, who took a few business courses with Braithwaite while completing a physical science degree. Today he heads Constellation Software Inc. in Toronto. I The new Dr. and Mrs. K.F. Gregory Scholarship Fund will recognize exceptional academic performance by students in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB). Ken Gregory says he wanted to give back to the University where he spent 34 years as a professor, including five years (1981 to 1986) as chair of the former microbiology department, now part of MCB. The fund should provide the equivalent of two semesters’ tuition each year to an undergraduate and/or graduate student. I A gift from the estate of William Hunter is creating a bursary fund after his late wife, Elizabeth Maud (Shier) Hunter. She was unable to fulfill her own dream of a college education because her mother died suddenly just weeks before Elizabeth was to enrol at Macdonald Institute. She gave up her dream to assume her mother’s responsibilities on their farm. But Elizabeth Hunter always expressed a wish to help other young women from Brock County attend the University of Guelph. Her husband’s bequest honours that wish by creating an endowment fund to provide three $4,500 bursaries each year.

Planet Project DONOR WALL CELEBRATES BPP PROGRESS donor wall recognizing gifts to The BetterPlanet Project conveys a message to students who pass it daily in U of G’s busiest classroom building. “The Rozanski Hall installation is an evolving symbol of the issues and needs being addressed as we look to create change and make the world a better place,” said president Alastair Summerlee during unveiling of the display last fall. The event marked campaign gifts of more than $110 million. The University’s goal is to raise $200 million by 2014. “The BetterPlanet Project is transforming the ways that donors give,” said Joanne Shoveller, vice-president (advancement). “It has broad appeal to a wide range of supporters who are making a commitment to help U of G increase its research capacity and enhance student learning.” More names will be added to the mosaic this spring.

PHOTO COURTESY JOHN CLAPP

Legacy gift looks to the future of agriculture

retired; they ran the farm until 1983. John studied crop science at OAC and graduated in 1969, fulfilling the interrupted dreams of his grandfather. He worked for the Ontario Ministry of Environment, earned an MBA and joined the federal Department of Industry,Trade and Commerce in the agriculture division, later moving to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. John served overseas in Australia, China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. John and his wife, Joyce Reeves, recently announced a will bequest to support U of G food research and knowledge exchange. Their gift will also help fund student awards for experiential learning, specifically travel opportunities. “The University of Guelph set me on a lifelong path of growth and curiosity that has impacted every aspect of my personal and professional well-being,” explains Clapp. “Joyce and I are delighted to make this donation because it recognizes the value we place on the University’s educational platform while it honours my family.”

PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

ohn Blake Clapp can trace back his family connections to the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) more than 100 years and his farming heritage even further. It’s no wonder that he holds deep respect for the agriculture sector and for OAC’s ongoing efforts to support Canadian food producers. He is honouring his family’s legacy through a planned gift to the OAC Food Leadership Trust, a fund that supports food-related research and teaching. Focal areas include nutrition, health, food quality and safety, the food supply chain and sustainable food production. These were areas of interest familiar even to Clapp’s grandfather, Alva, who enrolled at OAC in 1910. Although illness prevented him from graduating, Grandfather Clapp’s Guelph education served him well as he and his wife ventured into business.“They ran a general store, post office, farm and small stockyard,” says John. Alva exported cattle to England in the 1930s. John’s parents, Blake and Betty Clapp, established a farm equipment business and eventually took over the farm when Alva

President Alastair Summerlee recognizes a gift from the late Mona Campbell by presenting a book of appreciation to her daughter, Sara Band, left, and her husband’s niece, Barb Stone.

Winter 2012 9

hen the President’s and Chancellors’ Scholarship presentations were held in September, it marked the 25th year of the University’s most prestigious entrance awards and brought the

10 The Portico

total number of recipients to 299. Established in 1987 as President’s Scholarships, the program was enriched by the designation of two Lincoln Alexander Chancellor’s Scholarships in 2002 and two Pamela

Wallin Chancellor’s Scholarships in 2009. The 11 scholars of 2011 launched balloons, celebrated with their parents and learned how their predecessors distinguished themselves as academic achievers and out-

STORIES BY SUSAN BUBAK, TERESA PITMAN, MARY DICKIESON AND ANDREW VOWLES PHOTO BY GRANT MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY

standing student leaders at U of G. In the following pages, we profile a few President’s and Chancellors’ Scholarship recipients. Some say the scholarship changed their lives. Many cite the importance of having a

faculty mentor. All express their gratitude for the financial relief provided by the full-tuition scholarship and praise the donors who have supported the program. In each story, we discover how their con-

tributions as Guelph graduates have achieved the University’s 1987 goals for the President’s Scholarship program: to attract outstanding students and help U of G graduates become leaders in society.

Winter 2012 11

1987

PRESIDENT’S SCHOLARSHIPS President’s Scholarships honour these distinguished University leaders and supporters whose generosity helped launch the annual awards program. I Ingrid Franklin and her late husband, Cecil Franklin, H.D.Sc. ’88, a former chair of the Board of Governors. I The late Charles Humphrey, former president of Hart Chemical Company Canada Ltd. I Patrick Lett, B.Sc. ’71 and M.Sc. ’75, who funded 18 scholarships in the name of football coach Dick Brown. I The late Jack Longstaffe, a former executive with Renfrew Electric Company Limited in Toronto. I The late Burton C. Matthews, BSA ’47, was honoured in 1988 when President’s Council members endowed a scholarship to recognize his achievements as U of G president. I The late Kathleen and Fred Metcalf; he was president of Maclean Hunter Ltd. and a U of G adviser. I Rol-land Farms Limited, recognizing the generosity of Hank, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’65, Peter, Arthur and Eric, ADA ’93, Vander Pol and their families. I The late Lillian Stewart Usher, DHE ’34.

1988

1989

“The President’s Scholarship program encourages students to be well-rounded contributors to society.” Rich Appiah, 1997 Scholar

he President’s Sc h o la r s h i p program was introduced in the mid-1980s to rave reviews from high school principals who welcomed the opportunity to nominate their students with

12 The Portico

outstanding personal characteristics as well as high marks. In the first year, 185 applications were received from across the country; that number has since grown to 300. The scholarship was also welcomed by

1987 Harry Stoddart is the seventh generation of his family to farm in Ontario since his ancestors emigrated from Ireland in 1819. “My passion for agriculture started long before I came to Guelph,” he says. “There was never any question in my mind that I was coming to Guelph for agriculture.” After earning both B.Sc.(Agr.) and M.Sc. degrees in agricultural economics, Stoddart purchased his parents’ farm near Lindsay, Ont. He’s changed the farm over the years from hogs to cash crops to certified organic production and now focuses on grass-fed beef and lamb. He’s also a management consultant with more than 20 years of experience and an associate of the George Morris Centre, an agricultural think tank in Guelph. Stoddart met his wife, Silvia, B.Sc. ’95, at U of G and says one of the benefits of receiving a President’s Scholarship was making lifelong friendships with other recipients. 1988 Lindsay Tomlinson came to Guelph with the dream of becoming a veterinarian. After her first year of studies, she was accepted into the DVM program. She graduated in 1995 and spent three more years here to earn a D.V.Sc. in anatomic pathology. “During veterinary school, I enjoyed solving problems and uncovering the answers. I wanted to be the person who found the answers.” Tomlinson’s career has included two years at North Carolina State University as an anatomic pathologist and work at Bristol Myers Squibb. She is now an associate research fellow at Pfizer Inc., working on a variety of projects designed to promote human health. “Much of our understanding in human health research comes from work with animal models, making understanding of comparative pathology key,” she explains. “And it is also true that, if something benefits people, it may also benefit animals.”

U of G donors and championed by the late Burt Matthews, who was University president from 1984 to 1988. He helped raise $1.1 million for scholarship programs, including several endowed President’s Scholarships,

1989 From an early age, Crystal Dumitru knew she wanted to be a teacher. “When I came home from school, I would make everybody in my family do homework,” she says. She now teaches English and drama at Glendale Secondary School in Hamilton, Ont. In her first year at U of G, she auditioned for plays and became interested in playwriting. After graduation, she went to the National Theatre School of Canada for playwriting and attended teacher’s college at Brock University. She recently completed a master’s degree in education at Brock, specializing in genocide studies in non-traditional classrooms. Two years ago, Dumitru was among a group of 30 teachers who visited Rwanda. She met people who had lived through the genocide and vowed to share their stories with her students. Last summer, she travelled to Germany, Poland and Ukraine to study the history of the Holocaust. 1990 Like most kids, James Beecroft wanted to be a veterinarian when he grew up. Unlike most kids, he actually became a veterinarian and, several years later, an emergency room physician. Making the transition from treating pets to people was a relatively easy one for Beecroft, DVM ’96, who was able to apply his veterinary background to human medicine. After he and his wife, Jatana, settled in Simcoe, Ont., he practised veterinary medicine for seven years before enrolling in medical school at McMaster University. He graduated in 2006 and spent an extra year studying emergency medicine. Beecroft says veterinary and emergency medicine appealed to him for the same reasons: the immediacy of receiving a patient, performing tests, making a diagnosis and providing treatment in a fast-paced environment. “You could be seeing a 95-year-old person one minute, then turning around and seeing a three-

and established the President’s Council as an important vehicle for donor recognition. In turn, President’s Council members honoured him at retirement by funding the Burton C. Matthews President’s Scholarship.

1990

month-old baby, and then, all of a sudden, a car accident victim comes in.” He says that’s what makes his job in a hospital emergency department in St. Catharines, Ont., both challenging and rewarding.

1991

1992

Succeeding U of G presidents – Brian Segal, Mordechai Rozanski and Alastair Summerlee – have continued high-level support for Guelph scholarships and bursaries. U of G donors have established many new awards,

1991 Meeting a President’s Scholarship donor was a life-changing experience for Harry Frielink. As a public administration student, he attended a dinner for scholarship donors and recipients. “I ended up at the same table as Stanford Reid, who founded the history department at the University of Guelph; he was also a Presbyterian pastor. That’s when I felt called upon to become a pastor.” Frielink was so inspired by Reid that he changed his major to history a week later. Now a pastor at the Exeter Christian Reformed Church in Exeter, Ont., Frielink preaches twice a week and provides pastoral counselling for individuals and families. He often deals with people struggling with addiction, depression and thoughts of suicide. “Reading the Scriptures, it’s full of people who have been through real-life problems,” he says, adding that he also refers people to seek professional help. 1992 Kevin Belluz grew up on a farm and started his career in the greenhouse industry before deciding to start his own farm. Belluz Farms in Thunder Bay, Ont., is a family operation that is open to the public. Besides growing produce and crops, the Belluz family operates a greenhouse business that is now becoming certified organic to supply vegetable transplants to Ontario and Manitoba growers. The farm includes forested and natural areas, wildlife gardens and beehives. “It’s about using the best of the old techniques and the best of the new technology. It’s the combination of those two things that’s going to prove itself in the long term to be the most sustainable way to live on this planet.”

including several as part of the current BetterPlanet fundraising campaign. In the last 15 years, U of G has increased spending on student financial assistance more than six-fold to a total of $28.9 million in 2010/2011.

Winter 2012 13

1993

CHANCELLORS’ SCHOLARSHIPS Chancellor emeritus Lincoln Alexander was honoured on his 80th birthday in 2002 with the establishment of two scholarships designed to enhance student diversity at U of G. The Lincoln Alexander Chancellor’s Scholarships are presented each year to entering students who have the qualities required of President’s Scholars and are aboriginal, persons with a disability or members of a racial minority. These criteria recognize Alexander’s 1968 election as Canada’s first black MP, the first black chair of the Workers’ Compensation Board and the first visible minority named Ontario’s lieutenant governor. The Pamela Wallin Chancellor’s Scholarships were established in 2009 to recognize Wallin’s tenure as U of G chancellor. Geared to her career achievements in journalism and international affairs, the scholarships acknowledge outstanding students who have an interest in international relations. Appointed to the Senate in 2008, Wallin chairs the national security and defence committee and serves on veterans’ affairs, anti-terrorism and foreign affairs committees.

1994

1995

“The scholarship was a sign to me that U of G was the right school for me: a place that valued diversity and creativity along with high

Claire Humphrey, 1993 Scholar

14 The Portico

1994 Christianne “Kirsty” Bell wanted to study a variety of languages at U of G, and that’s exactly what she did. She took French, German, Greek and Spanish, and studied abroad in Nice during her third year. “When I finished at Guelph, I didn’t want to stop being a student,” says Bell, who took a year off to teach English in France and later received an MA and PhD in French at the University of Toronto. Today, she’s a French professor at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. “Learning a second or third language helps people understand their own language better,” she says, adding that language study also provides insight into other cultures. She studies the representation of visual arts in literature, specifically Québécois novels, and their effect on plot and character development. 1995 There’s an app for practically everything, and Tyler Huehmer uses mobile and spatial technologies to develop apps for a variety of public- and private-sector clients.

academic standards.”

of G recruiters say the President’s Scholarship program raised Guelph's profile among Canadian high schools and made the University a more appealing choice for students. “These

1993 Claire Humphrey was born to write. “Even before I knew the alphabet, I would dictate stories for my mother to write down,” she says. Now a published author, she describes her recent writing as “fantastical,” blending magic with the supernatural. She is also a volunteer review editor at Ideomancer, an online speculative fiction magazine, and works as a buyer for Indigo, Chapters and Coles. She fills the bargain shelves: “My job is to find great books at great prices,” says Humphrey. In high school, she joined the Canadian Forces as a reservist. Receiving a President’s Scholarship marked a turning point in her life. Without it, she says she would have stayed in the Army and never would have been inspired by English professors Janice Kulyk Keefer, Thomas King and Daniel Fischlin, “whose contagious passion for Shakespeare still echoes with me.”

scholarships are brilliantly designed,” says Serge Desmarais, associate vice-president (academic), who currently chairs the selection committee. “They ensure that the best and brightest students in Canada will think

about the University of Guelph.” What convinces those students to apply, however, is Guelph’s reputation for providing a quality student experience. Desmarais points to a University-wide emphasis on

“We associate geography with data to create location-based intelligence that provides a different perspective on information that you might not otherwise think of in a spatial context,” says Huehmer, director of a research and development lab at a leading technology consulting firm. His clients include the United States Department of Defense, the Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Governments can use apps to warn the public about an impending natural disaster. Spatial technologies can help governments to co-ordinate relief efforts. Other applications include analyzing past infrastructure failures to prevent future problems. After completing his Guelph degree in resource management, Huehmer attended the Centre for Geographic Sciences in Nova Scotia. 1996 Winning a Rhodes Scholarship after graduating from U of G seemed like a dream to Allison Bachlet, but her studies at Oxford were both a pleasure and a challenge. “My research was emotionally hard, as I was working with very, very ill children,” she says. Her disillusionment with what the medical system could provide was one of the factors that motivated her to become a naturopathic doctor. She now practises in Hawaii at the Manakai O Malama Integrative Health Clinic. “I work with kids and families on preventative medicine and have patients ranging from newborns to 93 years old,” she says. She is especially interested in clinical nutrition, pediatrics and mentalemotional wellness. “I am so thankful for the amazing education I received at Guelph. So many people and professors really helped me and encouraged me each year and every step of the way.”

1996

1997

1998

1997 One of the most active student leaders in his time, employment lawyer Rich Appiah

innovative teaching and cutting-edge research, as well as ongoing improvements to student services, academic programs, library resources, facilities and financial aid. The impetus for the President’s Scholar-

ships dates back to a 1983 report from the registrar’s office that showed Guelph was lagging behind in the recruitment of Ontario’s top students. The average entering mark for U of G students that year was 73 per cent,

says the best part about attending U of G was the friends he made. He made those friends while serving as president of Interhall Council and as a member of Senate and the Central Student Association board of directors. He organized the inaugural “Last Lecture” at U of G. Each annual event features a student, faculty and alumni speaker who help graduating students celebrate and reflect on their experiences at Guelph. As a law student at Osgoode Hall, Appiah became interested in employment law and says it’s a good match for his extroverted personality. “I love working with people.” Now practicing at Israel Foulon LLP in Toronto, he specializes in wrongful dismissals and human rights concerns in the workplace and counsels companies and organizations seeking advice on performance management issues. Still committed to serving his community, Appiah sits on the board of directors of Delisle Youth Services, a Toronto-based organization that supports young people with special needs. 1998 Growing up in a small town in Tanzania, Hanif Jamal’s father wanted to become a doctor, but he didn’t have the opportunity to follow his dream. Instead, his son made both of their dreams come true. “From a young age, he would always educate me about being a doctor and motivated me to expose myself to medicine by volunteering at hospitals,” says Jamal, who works at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in Oakville, Ont., where he provides primary and acute care. “As a physician, I have the unique opportunity to share in the myriad life experiences of my patients and see the resolve of the human spirit when it is challenged,” he says. “The privilege of being able to aid patients through their illness experience and celebrate their recovery is the part of my job that gives me the most satisfaction.”

while the system average was 76 per cent. Today, more than 93.5 per cent of Guelph’s first-year students bring high school averages of 75 per cent and above, placing U of G well above the average for Ontario universities.

Winter 2012 15

1999

PRESIDENT’S AND CHANCELLORS’ SCHOLARS I 299 scholarships awarded in 25 years I Current value: $26,000 over four years, plus I $6,000 summer research assistantship I 13 scholars have won the Winegard Medal, U of G's top undergraduate prize I 6 won the Vaughan Medal for service on Senate I 2 President's Scholars have received Rhodes Scholarships to Oxford University I 3 scholars work on campus

2000

1999 Broken bones. Car accidents. Caesarean sections. It’s all in a day’s work for Chris Elder. But his patients aren’t people: they’re cats, dogs and every other animal. Since 2006, he has specialized in small animal emergency and critical care services at Alta Vista Animal Hospital in Ottawa. Elder was drawn to veterinary medicine because of its focus on caring not just for pets but also for their owners. “People spend so much time with their pets, they become their children,” he says. “They rely on them for so many things: for comfort, for companionship.” He chose to specialize in emergency medicine because it combines a variety of veterinary fields. And the learning process never stops. “Every shift provides a new and exciting challenge, which I found really appealing,” he says. “There’s always something new that will surprise you in emergency medicine, no matter how much experience you have.”

“My U of G President's Scholarship was front and centre on my application to medical school. The honour motivated me to live

2001

up to the expectations of the recipients before me who had moved on to very exciting careers.” Hanif Jamal, 1998 Scholar

ntegral to the design of the President’s and Chancellors’ Scholarships are selection criteria designed to shape a student body that reflects the University’s longstanding vision of its role in society.

16 The Portico

“The students nominated for these scholarships are all amazing and incredibly talented,” says Desmarais, “but we look beyond academic achievement to find scholars who have a certain degree of ‘fit’ with the Uni-

2000 “My time at Guelph is unforgettable,” says Frederic Chain, but there are some memories he’d like to forget, like trekking “half-asleep and half-frozen” across snow-covered Johnston Green on his way to an 8:30 a.m. class in War Memorial Hall. Fonder memories include participating in the human anatomy course and his thesis work with Prof. Lawrence Spriet in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences. “The University introduced many new and exciting opportunities,” says Chain, adding that his undergraduate studies sparked his interest in scientific research. For his PhD in biology at McMaster University, he studied duplicate gene evolution and expression in clawed frogs. He went on to a post-doc position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany, where he is currently studying the ecological genomics of sticklebacks, a diverse group of fish.

versity of Guelph.There’s an intangible quality in the Guelph student body that’s hard to describe, but it comes from many years of recruiting students who have a desire to be part of a community of people who care

2001 Elephants never forget and neither, it seems, do pigs. Growing up on a farm in Nova Scotia and taking animal behaviour courses at Guelph inspired Amy-Lee Kouwenberg to do a master’s degree at Memorial University, where she studied the episodic memory of pigs. Now a PhD candidate, she is studying the dietary and breeding habits of seabirds, specifically the Atlantic puffin on the East Coast and the rhinoceros auklet, a nocturnal relative of the puffin that lives on the West Coast. “We don’t know much about these birds when they’re out at sea,” says Kouwenberg, adding that the birds spend only a few months on land to nest. During that period, Kouwenberg collects feather samples and analyzes them for stable isotopes, which reveal what the birds have been eating. She also measures the amount of corticosterone, a stress hormone, to see if stress affects the birds’ ability to lay eggs. 2002 As an undergrad, Cory Hewitt was a member of the varsity wrestling team. “Guelph has one of the best wrestling programs in the country. The coach, Doug Cox, was instrumental in a lot of areas of my life,” says Hewitt. He adds that one of the biggest rewards of his scholarship was getting to know his mentor, engineering professor Gordon Hayward. Hewitt took the biological engineering program with a minor in business administration. He says both programs help in his fast-paced career with Wilderness Tours, where he spends nearly every day leading whitewater rafting trips on the Ottawa River. Hewitt began working at Wilderness Tours when he was 16 and worked his way up from cleaning to sales and marketing director. He now oversees the day-to-day operations of a company that employs up to 170 people in the summer. He also teaches canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking and rock climbing to students in Algonquin College’s outdoor adventure program.

about things happening in the world around them. They aren’t focused solely on their own achievements and initiatives but on what makes a difference on a bigger scale.” President’s and Chancellors’ scholars

2002

2003

2004

become leaders in all aspects of university life, benefiting everyone on campus. “They do more than take part; they start things that improve the University and often the whole Guelph community and beyond.”

2003 For Farah Bhanji, extracurricular activities and international experiences brought learning outside the classroom. “Being a student at the University of Guelph meant that every day, I was exposed to something new.” She signed up for as many extracurricular activities as she could fit into her schedule and spent a semester abroad in Guatemala, where she volunteered as a teacher’s assistant at a school for children who live and work on coffee plantations. The next year she interned in Tajikistan with FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance. After graduation, Bhanji pursued a master of public administration degree in public and economic policy at the London School of Economics. For the past two years, she has worked as a senior procurement consultant in the procurement policy branch of the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. She says her job is all about managing public funds effectively and ensuring value for money spent on goods and services. 2004 Ekaterina “Kate” Smolina immigrated to Canada from Russia at the age of 12 and took full advantage of a Canadian education. She graduated from U of G’s biomedical science program in 2008 with grades as high as 100 per cent and the offer of a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. That same year, she was named a Young Woman of Distinction by the Guelph YMCA-YWCA for her academic achievements and volunteer work, which included trips to India and Costa Rica as well as volunteering with Meal Exchange. Now a PhD candidate in public health at Oxford, Smolina is looking at the impact of heart attacks in England over the past decade. “I am doing a lot of epidemiological analyses, looking at the trends and prognostic factors in heart attack rates of occurrence, case fatality and survival, and how they differ by age group, sex, deprivation category and geographical region.”

He says the programs’ most important legacy may be the fact that the leadership and caring qualities exemplified by these scholars are now the norm and not the exception at U of G.

Winter 2012 17

2005

HOW TO APPLY Applicants to the President’s and Chancellors’ Scholarship programs require a minimum 90-per-cent admission average and must demonstrate superior leadership evidenced through extra-curricular activities, community involvement and volunteerism. Details are available from Student Financial Services at www.uoguelph.ca/registrar/.

2006 “To all those who contributed so generously to student

2005 Katie Clow loved animals since childhood, so it was only natural for her to become a veterinarian. The 2011 DVM grad now works at a small animal clinic in Renfrew, Ont., where she splits her time among surgery, emergency cases and routine appointments in a rural practice. In her first year of vet school, Clow interned at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, an experience that led to international internships at the World Health Organization in Geneva and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Her internships coincided with global outbreaks of avian flu and swine flu, which inspired her interest in global health issues. She plans to go back to school to study public health, specifically diseases transmitted between animals and humans. “I’m really interested in the international aspect, because a lot of diseases that affect people in developing countries are zoonotic diseases.”

development and success at the University of Guelph: thank you. Your continued support enabled each of us to meet our life goals, and you can be assured that we will return the gesture by giving back to the community in our own way.” Farah Bhanji, 2003 Scholar

2011

18 The Portico

2007

2006 Ever since Zoë Barrett-Wood received a President’s Scholarship in 2006, she has been giving back. “The President’s Scholarship is a huge gift,” she says. “It’s given to you with the knowledge that you will give back to the community.” As an undergrad, she started an environmental group with some friends called Tap In. “We started to raise awareness about the issues surrounding bottled water on campus. It wasn’t just about saying bottled water is bad; it was also about reminding people that tap water is safe and we need to protect it.” The group persuaded departments, student clubs and campus eateries to stop using bottled water. Now a research assistant for U of G geography professor Ben Bradshaw, she is looking at the environmental and health impacts of mining on aboriginal communities in northern Canada. The research findings will be used to create educational materials to help aboriginal communities address these concerns.

2007 Yvonne Su is passionate about environmental issues; she came to U of G because of its reputation as a “green school.” But after taking a first-year seminar on “Science, Politics and the Environment,” this Chancellor’s Scholarship winner switched from environmental science to international development and became involved in environmental and political causes on campus. She and several friends initiated the first of more than 40 national vote mobs during the 2011 federal election. Su also attended the International AIDS conference in Mexico and the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen. She’s one of only four Canadians to receive a 2011 Mackenzie King Memorial Travelling Scholarship, which took her to Oxford University in England. There she’s starting a master’s degree in refugee and forced migration, studying the problems of island and coastal nations losing their land because of climate change.

2008

2009 Receiving a Pamela Wallin Chancellor’s Scholarship brought tears to Rachael Vriezen’s eyes. “When I found out, I cried tears of joy,” says Vriezen, now a third-year student in economics and international development. “I always wanted to come to Guelph. It’s where I was meant to be.” As the scholarship’s first recipient, Vriezen was honoured for her numerous academic and extracurricular achievements, including mission trips to Kenya, Tanzania and Peru. “I love learning about development,” says Vriezen. “Economics gives it that practical edge.” She adds that studying economics and

2009

international development gives her the background to understand how global markets affect developing countries. In 2010, Vriezen was among the first group of students selected from 1,300 applicants nationwide to participate in The Next 36, a business competition for young entrepreneurs. Now she has her sights set on a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.

2008 Isdin Oke is fascinated by nature, but it’s the things he can’t see that fascinate him even more. “There’s a lot of interesting things that exist in nature that we really don’t understand in terms of how they’re constructed at the molecular scale and the nanoscale,” says the fourth-year nanoscience student. He spent last summer working in the lab of biology professor Doug Fudge, where he studied the slimy secretions of the hagfish. But even as a high school student, Oke was already doing research at U of G with plant agriculture professor Gopi Paliyath. They looked at ways of extending the shelf life of fruits by slowing the ripening process, using snapdragon flowers as a model. The research earned Oke a Top 20 Under 20 award from Youth in Motion in 2009. Oke was also president of the CPES Student Council, belonged to the campus emergency First Response Team and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in El Salvador.

2010 During his first week at Guelph, Danny Liang joined the U of G chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). He co-led the group’s advocacy team and collected about 1,500 signatures for a petition to increase Canada’s for-

2010

eign aid commitments. He also works on EWB’s fair trade group, which is trying to get U of G designated as a fair trade campus. Receiving a President’s Scholarship introduced Liang to a group of elite students at U of G who have become his friends and roommates. “The network that the scholarship provides is a huge asset,” he says. Liang has already received advice on graduate school and career options in biomedical engineering through a previous scholarship recipient. “A lot of the scholars have done things that I would like to do in the future, so it’s great to have these people around and ask them: ‘How did

you do this?’”

PHOTOS COURTESY MEGAN BARCLAY, SUSAN BUBAK, SAM COATS, AARON COBB, ROSS DAVIDSON-PILON, SHANNON LEPERE, DEAN PALMER, BEVIN REITH, ANGELO VALLE, ANDREW VOWLES AND FEATURED SCHOLARS

2011 U of G’s newest President’s and Chancellors’ Scholars celebrate the program’s 25th year. From left: Ontario students Carolyn Gibson and Mara Goodyear, Bracebridge; Laura Weber, Winterbourne; Michael Osmond, Ottawa; Thomas Shoniker, Orillia; Tahirih Rowshan-Lips, Almonte; Caden Depatie and Joel Gretton, Oakville; Jenifer Truong, Guelph; Halifax student Rebecca Wolff; and Yiu Lun Edmund Leung of Richmond Hill.

More information about these scholars and the history of the President’s and Chancellors’ Scholarship programs appears in the The Portico online at www.uoguelph.ca/theportico.

Winter 2012 19

Train your brain for success Neuroscientists translate research to help people develop their own brains hat better way to start a conversation with Guelph neuroscientist Mark Fenske than by sharing a lame-brained moment? Earlier that day on campus, I had mixed up one prof with another – a bit of embarrassment that I’d managed to laugh off with an “out of context” excuse. Hardly had I finished relating the anecdote when Fenske nodded and said: “The butcher on the bus.”You fail to recognize your butcher when he’s not behind the meat counter. Or you have trouble placing your professor outside of the lecture hall. Or maybe the professor fails to recognize the server at a restaurant, something that occasionally happens to Fenske while dining out with his wife: “She says, ‘I think the waiter must be one of your students.’” Plenty of people these days are recognizing Fenske beyond the classroom and well beyond the University of Guelph campus. Perhaps you know him from his author photo on the 2010 book The Winner’s Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success. Coauthored with Harvard Medical School psychologist Jeff Brown, the book has sold 15,000 copies in Canada and the United States, and has been translated into 11 languages. Or maybe you’ve caught his regular “Better Brain” column in the Globe and Mail. Or perhaps you’ve heard him speak at various engagements, from invited gigs with business leaders, teachers and judges to guests at the U of G president’s dinner last fall. At one event in Toronto, former prime minister John Turner asked him to autograph his copy of The Winner’s Brain. “There’s an appetite for learning about the brain and how this might be helpful for you,” says Fenske, recalling a judge who told him how she’d used his earlier discussion of meditation to help deal with cancer. How does that make him feel? “I get excited. That’s fantastic; that’s what I want to hear.” What explains the popular interest? Part of it stems from recent advances in understanding how the brain works, he says. “We have learned so much about the brain. We have probably learned more in the past few decades than in the 150 years before that.” It also reflects advances in tools such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography used to probe that organ between our ears. People get excited about seeing images of their brains, Fenske says, glancing at his own MRI scan taped to his office window. “We are able to look at and get information from the brain in ways that were not possible before.” His own probing – in his research projects and in his newspaper

20 The Portico

columns – often looks at what he calls “the battle in the brain,” a lifelong struggle in your head waged between immediate emotional impulses and longerterm goals. He says that how we allocate our attention can help determine which of these brain signals wins the competition to drive our thoughts and actions. Any witness to an accident knows how an emotional scene can attract our attention. But what about the opposite: Might our paying attention to something – or actively tuning it out – affect our emotions? His research suggests just that, by showing that what is ignored or otherwise inhibited by the brain’s attention and motorresponse systems becomes effectively devalued. That points to a possible avenue for treating people for anything from dietary and weight management issues to gambling and drug abuse. Since joining Guelph’s Department of Psychology in 2007, Fenske has delved into these questions in his cognitive-affective neuroscience lab in the basement of the MacKinnon Building. He’s hardly alone there. PhD student Asma Hanif had read about his work while studying in India. “There have been years of research on how emotions affect attention,” says Hanif. “I was interested in the reverse: If you attend to something, how does that affect your emotional response?” In her studies with undergrad volunteers responding to computer images, she has found that manipulating attention can improve self-regulation and mood. Outside of the lab, she looks for ways to apply her lessons. Keeping an eye on the big picture – accepting that doctor-

From left: Asma Hanif, Mark Fenske and Anne Ferrey, with MRI scans of Fenske's brain.

al degree – instead of getting tangled in myriad details might help her stay on track, and stay happy, while writing her doctoral thesis. Similar studies by Anne Ferrey, another doctoral candidate in the lab, examines how cognitive inhibition can reduce unsound motivational impulses, which might ultimately suggest ways to treat people with dietary or drug abuse problems. Why her interest in the brain? “It’s the most interesting thing there is,” says Ferrey. A former psychology undergrad at the University of Alberta, she moved from consumer psychology to cognitive psychology during her master’s degree at the University of Wales-Bangor. “What could be cooler than the human brain?” Fenske was a post-doc in Wales with the same supervisor, Jane Raymond. Earlier, he had studied at the universities of Lethbridge and Waterloo. Moving to Harvard Medical School after his post-doc, he worked with cognitive neuroscientist Moshe Bar before joining the faculty there. Fenske had considered becoming a clinician, but decided he could benefit more people through research and teaching. That’s partly why he came to Guelph, where he’s teaching undergrad courses in research methods, memory, cognitive neuroscience, and motivation and emotion. He had also known other researchers at U of G. “People are doing cutting-edge work here in a highly collegial setting.” He’s also developing ties with the Ontario Veterinary College, whose MRI scanner would be useful for his human neuroimaging studies. He’s also keen to reach more people through writing – and not just scholarly articles published in journals like Hippocampus or Cognition. Whether it’s through books – he is now working on his second – or his newspaper column, he aims to translate science for readers to help them best care for and develop their own brains. Readers tell him they enjoy his columns, covering such topics as the value of hunches, how to avoid distractions and brain-boosting physical exercises. One of his most popular pieces was about why good ideas spring up in the shower. Suiting actions to words, he says many of his best ideas come during downtime, perhaps during yoga class or during his thrice-weekly runs with the family dog. Seems there’s merit in paying attention, but not too much. I

STORY BY ANDREW VOWLES PHOTO BY DEAN PALMER

Winter 2012 21

Prof uses science to solve problems for Ontario growers and developing nations

STORY BY LORI BONA HUNT PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

of G professor Rebecca Hallett always wanted to be a scientist. Growing up, she explored the outdoors, collected insects, entered science fairs and never balked at the bulls’ eyes, sheep brains and other specimens that her physiologist father stored in the refrigerator. But she didn’t want to be just any scientist. She wanted to be the kind who makes science simple and practical, the kind who uses know-how and discoveries to help ordinary people help themselves. It was a philosophy she developed early and solidified during a research trip to India as a university student. There she saw how problems that might seem insignificant to Westerners could harm people’s lives and livelihoods. She also discovered that simple, affordable science could make a tremendous difference. Since then, she’s had little interest in research purely for the sake of knowledge. “I want what I do to have practical use,” says Hallett, a Guelph environmental sciences professor since 1998. “I’m more interested in how people can make use of the information. I want to use science as a way to help solve problems.” A specialist in plant-insect interactions, invasive species and pest management, Hallett is especially interested in finding solutions to reduce reliance on insecticides. Her latest research combines science and practicality to help Ontario’s soybean producers deal with an invasive pest that threatens the industry: soybean aphids (Aphis glycines). She has developed a smartphone application that helps farmers decide quickly and easily whether to spray to control soybean aphids, based on the prevalence of natural predators. It works like this. In the field, a farmer looks for insects and consults a smartphone app to see whether the bugs are natural enemies of the soybean aphid.The app includes high-quality colour photographs of aphid predators like lady beetles and parasitic wasps. After counting the numbers of predators and aphids on a random selection of soybean leaves, the farmer punches in the numbers. In crunching the numbers, the app accounts for everything from the pest-predator ratio to the changing weather. It then tells a farmer whether to spray or not, or whether to wait and test again in a few days. “If there are enough natural enemies in the area to

keep the aphid population down, no spraying is required,” Hallett says. For example, one lady beetle can eat up to 100 aphids in a day. Knowing whether it’s time to spray is crucial, because it’s not economical for growers to spray more than once per season; acting too soon or too late is no good. Soybean aphids, though tiny in size – less than 1.6 mm – and nearly translucent, can do a lot of damage. “So you want to time it properly if you have to spray,” Hallett says. “And if you don’t have to spray an insecticide, it can help protect the aphid’s natural enemies.” Without enough lady beetles and other predators, soybean aphids can overwhelm plants, causing premature flower drop, stunted stems and fewer seeds. Prolonged exposure to dense aphid populations can lower crop yields significantly – by 50 per cent in some places. In 2004, the tiny pests managed to wipe out a significant chunk of eastern Ontario’s soybean crop. That’s worrisome because Ontario grows about two million acres of soybeans annually, three-quarters of Canada’s total production. The crop has also become a critical agricultural export for Canada, worth well over $1 billion annually. Insect damage is a fairly new concern for Canada’s soybean farmers. “Historically, soybean farmers didn’t need to worry about too many insects, but then Aphis glycines came along.” Originally from Asia, the invasive aphids surfaced in North America in 2001 and soon made their way into Ontario. Farmers have been counting natural predators to help determine whether to spray their fields for the past several years. But until now, the process required a lot of hands-on calculations, usually while sitting at a desk. “Now they never need to leave the field.The app does all of the calculations, behind the scenes. It’s very user-friendly,” Hallett says. The app debuted in the fall; farmers may download it free at: www.aphidapp.com. It’s currently available only for the BlackBerry, but Hallett hopes to adapt it for other devices. She’d also like to include site-specific temperature forecasts and other details such as whether nearby farmers had opted to spray. Ultimately, she hopes the app will stress the powerful role insects can play in controlling soybean aphid populations, and reduce or even eliminate insecticide use.

Hallett worked on the app with environmental biology PhD candidate Christie Bahlai, B.Sc. ’05 and M.Sc. ’07, and alumna Tracey Baute, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’95 and M.Sc. ’99, who is now a field crop entomologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). Funding came through the Knowledge Translation and Transfer program, a new initiative under the University’s partnership agreement with OMAFRA that supports the application of research results. “I’m interested in helping growers address issues,” says Hallett, especially when nature can help out. Hallett studied botany and biogeography at the University of Toronto before heading to Simon Fraser University for graduate studies in entomology and chemical ecology. For her graduate research in Indonesia, she devised a natural way to help deal with coconut rhinoceros beetles and Asian palm weevils that were wiping out palm trees, damaging the economy and spreading to other parts of the world. “In the United Arab Emirates, people had no idea the infestation was happening until there was a windstorm and their date trees fell over,” Hallett says. She devised a mass-trapping program using pheromones to lure both types of beetles. Her research led to mass production of synthetic versions of the pheromones, which are now sold all over the Middle East and Southeast Asia. As an undergrad, she worked in India to help mustard seed and oil seed producers solve pest problems. She returned there before beginning graduate school and had hoped to go back after her studies. But after Indonesia, she came to Guelph.Years later, she runs a research lab with about a dozen students and post-doctoral researchers. She plans to return to Southeast Asia and to her palm weevils during her next sabbatical, and hopes one day to resume international development-related research. She’s influenced by the parting words of a scientist she met in India. “He said to me: ‘Rebecca, go and do your graduate work and then come back and help these people; they need you.’ That has stayed with me.” Historical Note: Soybeans were first grown

in Canada in the mid-1800s, with growing trials recorded at the Ontario Agricultural College in 1893. I

Winter 2012 23

u of guelph Baby Food Business Takes First Steps h e n s h e s ta rt e d her own baby food company, Jenn Clark made her twoyear-old son, Jack, the official taste tester. If a new flavour combination such as sweet potato, pear and chickpea passed his test, chances were that other babies would like it, too. “He was definitely my first customer,” says Clark, president of First Food Organics, which makes frozen, organic baby food. Disappointed with what she found on grocery store shelves, she started the company in October 2010. “What I found on the market just wasn’t adequate,” she says. “It’s important to me that our products are organic, full of flavour, and have different textures and ingredients.” She researched organic baby food companies and found a niche in Canada. Clark wanted to make organic baby food for her son, but she also wanted the convenience of buying it when she didn’t have time to make it herself. “Our baby food is as close as you can get to homemade because we make everything by hand in small batches,” she says. “We peel it, bake it, blend it and freeze it just like you would at home.” The company website lists retail outlets that carry her products: www.firstfoodorganics.com. Baby food doesn’t have to be bland, says Clark, who adds spices like cinnamon, oregano and coriander to her recipes. Some are inspired by her favourite celebrity chefs. One popular choice – savoury squash and quinoa – is based on a spicier version of a recipe by British chef Jamie Oliver. To make the recipe more baby-friendly, she

alumni Jenn and Jack Clark

PHOTO COURTESY FIRST FOOD ORGANICS

24 The Portico

toned down the spices by removing the dried chili and used less garlic. Early exposure to fruits and vegetables gets babies hooked on healthy eating habits as they get older, says Clark. When she decided to start her own business, she purchased a commercial kitchen that once belonged to a catering company in Aurora, Ont., and took over the building’s lease. Lacking a food science background, she took courses at the Guelph Food Technology Centre, where she learned about food safety and consulted with industry experts. After graduating from Guelph with a bachelor of commerce degree in 2001, she worked in marketing for several years and used those skills to start her company. Clark’s second child is

now testing recipes created with her sister, Andrea Firmin, B.A.Sc. ’05, who also works at First Food Organics. A registered dietitian, Firmin reviews the nutritional content of each recipe and develops ideas for upcoming products, such as a pear, prune and spinach combination for babies who need extra fibre. Customers can also contact her via the website with dietary questions. Despite the challenges of running her own business, Clark says she has never been happier. When people ask her what she does for a living, she never gets tired of saying she’s the president of her own company. “It’s a neat feeling that still gives me butterflies in my stomach.” BY SUSAN BUBAK

matters Milestones Demonstrate BetterPlanet Impact

u e l p h a lu m n i often tell me that their alma mater is a special place. And their degree of commitment differs from that of alumni of other universities. Guelph graduates know about our areas of specialty – food, environment, communities, and animal and human health – and they are committed to the vision of The BetterPlanet Project. I want to share some examples of the University’s progress. In 2011, we reached the midpoint of The BetterPlanet Project’s $200-million goal. Although there is still work to be done to reach our financial goal by 2014, the University has recently celebrated many milestones and accomplishments that demonstrate the impact and promise of The BetterPlanet Project. Last month, we opened Alexander Hall, a cutting-edge, $33.6-million environmental teaching and learning hub that honours U of G’s chancellor emeritus, Lincoln Alexander. The Department of Athletics also celebrated the opening of its new state-of-the-art Gryphon soccer complex, a $7.2-million project that includes two artificial turf fields, a practice field and a natural-grass rugby field. Our students also demonstrate the spirit of The BetterPlanet Project and inspire pride. Following the global hunger summit at U of G last February, another student initiative in September set an unofficial world record by packaging nearly 160,000 famine relief meals in one hour.The meals were sent to schoolchildren in Somalia and Haiti. Our students also organized a “vote mob” to promote participation in the 2011 federal and provincial elections. The effect was viral, with groups across

Campus Community Gives Back In fiscal 2010-2011, campus donors gave a total of $620,530 to the University of Guelph. Faculty, staff and retiree gifts were designated to teaching and student support, equipment, facilities, research and unrestricted campus-wide initiatives. Joanne Shoveller, vice-president (advancement), says these results demonstrate the campus community’s commitment to supporting student success and building the ever-increasing profile and reputation of the University of Guelph.

PHOTO BY ROSS DAVIDSON-PILON

Canada copying U of G and young voters turning out in record numbers. As I meet and talk with alumni on campus and across the country, I continue to hear the same messages of pride in the University’s vision and the impact that our students and alumni make. Thank you for maintaining a connection with your alma mater and for applauding our achievements along the way. With your support we will continue to focus on the University’s key strengths, advance our efforts and find solutions to the challenges facing the world today. Joanne Shoveller Vice-President (Advancement)

UGAA Board Call for Nominations If you would enjoy volunteering as a director or committee member of the University of Guelph Alumni Association, we’d love to hear from you. UGAA is governed by 10 directors elected from among alumni. Nominate yourself or another grad for the board of directors; submit nominations online at www.alumni.uoguelph.ca by April 30. For other alumni volunteer opportunities, call 519-824-4120, Ext. 56544, or send email to ugaa@uoguelph.ca.

Winter 2012 25

alumni matters Alumni in Vancouver

Get to Know Your UGAA

ancouver-area alumni joined U of G president Alastair Summerlee for a reception at the Four Seasons Hotel on Nov. 3 to reconnect with classmates and to learn more about The BetterPlanet Project. Alumni guests included, from left: Marena Brinkhurst, B. Sc.(Env.) ’10, Sarah White, BA ’10, and Zack Daly, B. Sc.(Agr.) ’10.

our University of Guelph Alumni Association (UGAA) is governed by a 10-member volunteer board dedicated to representing and serving a diverse family of nearly 100,000 – and counting – alumni around the globe. UGAA was established in 1966, two years after the formation of the University of Guelph. Our membership includes all graduates of degree and diploma programs offered by the University’s past and current colleges, campuses, faculties and schools. This includes graduates of the regional campuses of Kemptville, Ridgetown and Alfred, and grads of the University of Guelph-Humber. With each convocation ceremony, we celebrate the arrival of new members to the alumni family. The UGAA mission is to strengthen the University of Guelph. We do this through a number of outreach and communication

PHOTOS BY WENDY JESPERSEN PHOTO BY SONIA MANCINI

Day at the Zoo Alumni and families gathered Oct. 1 for a fun-filled day at the Toronto Zoo. Pictured here are Debbie Noorland, BA ’04, right, with her daughter Isabel and friend Cameron Edmunds.

ALUMNI DIRECTORY IN THE WORKS taying connected to your alma mater and to your classmates, friends and colleagues is important to U of G alumni, says Jason Moreton, executive director (advancement). “Many grads have told us that an alumni directory is an important benefit we should offer, so we’re partnering with Harris Connect to assist us in pulling together a directory.” Located in Chesapeake, Va., Harris is the only company in North America that provides Canadian universities and schools

PHOTO BY LISA WOODCOCK

26 The Portico

strategies that support alumni involvement and create awareness of University activities. UGAA also offers a portfolio of exclusive member benefits and services. Besides functions involved with running the board’s business operations, several UGAA working committees directly address the organization’s key strategic goals: Alumni engagement – To build alumni loyalty through ongoing involvement in the life of the University and by enhancing alumni membership services and benefits; Student outreach – To instill lifelong loyalty to the University by nurturing meaningful relationships between students and the UGAA; Honours and awards – To run the UGAA awards program to effectively recognize and celebrate outstanding alumni. I encourage you to volunteer for the UGAA board or for any of our committees; contact us anytime at ugaa@uoguelph.ca. Board nominations are due April 30, and nomination forms are available online at www.alumni.uoguelph.ca. The annual general meeting will take place on June 16 during Alumni Weekend, and all alumni are invited to come out to learn more about UGAA, share ideas or get involved as a volunteer. C. BRADLEY ROONEY, ADA ’93 AND B.SC. (AGR.) ’97 UGAA PRESIDENT

with print alumni directory services. “They have successfully partnered with many other universities in Canada,” he says. Most U of G alumni have already received a postcard or email from Harris Connect asking to verify their contact information. Moreton says only consenting alumni will have their contact data in the directory. “If you wish to be a part of the directory, please contact Harris Connect at 1-888-869-0760. If you would like to purchase the directory, you will have an opportunity to do so when speaking with a Harris representative.”

Find more U of G alumni news and events at www.alumni.uoguelph.ca

U OF G EVENTS

Intramural Hockey a Long-Standing Tradition Seeing things differently at TEDxGuelphU.

OAC ’71/72 in white, the “Grey Blades,” and OAC ’81 in red competed at the 2011 intramural alumni hockey tournament hosted by the Department of Athletics.

with an alumni organizing committee made up of team representatives, they ran the tournament for 12 years until passing the reins to Brad Stephenson, BA ’86. Stephenson guided the tournament for seven years. At its peak, more than 30 teams participated, including four teams in the women’s division. Now organized by Dave Trudelle, B.Comm. ’07 and U of G intramural supervisor, the tournament will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. Trudelle hopes to attract many of the original teams, such as OAC ’71/72, ’81, ’84, ’85, ’87, ’88 and ’89, along with teams from the 1990s and the 2000s. Trudelle says the Department of Athletics acknowledges tournament participants over the years for their generous contributions to the fitness and recreation program. In the 1990s, tournament organizers directed proceeds toward the purchase of spectator seating in the Red Rink. Since then, proceeds have been used to purchase intramural hockey sweaters and to support the Golden Whistle Award for the most dedicated intramural referees. The 2012 tournament will be held Nov. 10 and 11. Contact Trudelle for information at trudelle@uoguelph.ca.

PHOTO BY SAM KOSAKOWSKI

he 24th annual intramural alumni hockey tournament took place Nov. 12 and 13, with 16 alumni hockey teams representing grads from 1971 to 2009. The intramural tournament began in 1987 as the brainchild of then intramural co-ordinator Bill Clausen, now U of G’s athletics facilities manager. OAC ’81 was one of four teams in the first tournament; the others were OAC ’79A, Bio Sci and Engineering.They played in what students called “Pigmy Gardens,” a former ice surface since turned into the west gym in the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre. Bill Bearss, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’71 and M.Sc. ’74, was instrumental in launching the OAC ’71/72 team in 1991, along with Dwight Greer, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’72, now team manager. Bearss points out that sons, daughters and in-laws (all Guelph grads) now play. “It is a great weekend for trading stories with fellow alumni and celebrating a common passion for our alma mater,” says Bearss. The same pride echoes through other teams. Steve Naylor, B.Sc. ’83, plays on the OAC ’81 team with sons Matthew, BLA ’11, and Jamie, a current U of G student. Credit for much of the tournament’s success goes to Brian Tapscott and Mike Van Beek, both B.Sc.(Agr.) ’81. Along

Feb. 12 • Student-organized TEDxGuelphU conference runs 4 to 9 p.m. in Rozanski Hall: Perceiving Past the Paradigm. Find out more about the live event and simulcast at www.tedx guelphu.com/. Feb. 15 • Florida Alumni Winter Excursion. If you live in Florida or vacation there, join U of G for a tour of Port Manatee. Reserve a spot with Bert Mitchell at 941921-6426 or bro@tenell.net. March 7 • Florida Picnic. Join U of G grads in Florida at in Port Charlotte. The fun day starts at 10 a.m.; $20 fee per person includes lunch with dessert and wine. Reserve before Feb. 29 with Lyle Rea at 941505-0183 or WLRea@comcast.net. March 24 • President’s and Chancellors’ Scholars 25thanniversary reunion at U of G. March 2012 • Ontario Veterinary College 150th-anniversary exhibit opens at Guelph Civic Museum. For more information about OVC’s history and anniversary events, visit www.ovc150.ca. May 6 to 9 • OVC Global Development Symposium will explore interdisciplinary approaches to improving public health and food security; visit www.ovc150.ca. June 15 and 16 • Mark your calendar for Alumni Weekend. June 16 • UGAA annual general meeting at U of G. Nov. 10 and 11 • Intramural hockey tournament. Hit the ice and celebrate the tournament’s 25th anniversary. For details, contact Dave Trudelle at trudelle@uoguelph.ca. For more information on these and other U of G alumni events, visit www.alumni.uoguelph.ca.

Winter 2012 27

university of guelph

grad

great guelph grad

How Sweet It Is ove over, maple syrup. Ice syrup is coming to a pancake near you. Used as a condiment or cooking ingredient, ice syrup combines the sweetness of ice wine with the consistency of maple syrup. Its creator says ice syrup could be the next big Canadian food export. “I think ice syrup will become a global product and, hopefully, reach icon status like maple syrup or ice wine,” says Steve Murdza, ADA ’82, owner of Niagara-based Sweet & Sticky Inc. A second-generation grape grower, Murdza and his wife, Vivian, B.A.Sc. ’83, also run a vineyard called Coyote’s Run in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and she co-ordinates the wine store run by Niagara College. Murdza found himself in a sticky situation 10 years ago when he began experimenting with the idea of ice syrup. The first prototype, made by a maple syrup producer, tasted like concentrated prune juice. Doubting the marketability of such a product, he brought his idea to the Guelph Food Technology Centre (GFTC) at U of G, where it turned into liquid gold. Making ice syrup is similar to making ice wine, and that’s exactly how ice syrup came to fruition. Pressing grapes at his vineyard for up to 40 hours at a time gave Murdza ample opportunity to think of other uses for ice wine. “When you’re pressing these grapes, it’s a very slow process,” he says. The consistency of the juice depends on the temperature of the frozen grapes. The juice is more viscous at -10 C, resulting in a more syrupy liquid. “It trickles out and it takes a while,” says Murdza. “As it comes out, it actually drips and looks like a syrup.” The sugar content, measured in

PHOTO BY CHERYL THIESSEN

28 The Portico

Pressing grapes for ice wine inspired Steve Murdza to make his first bottle of ice syrup.

degrees Brix (°Bx), is between 40° and 48°, giving it the sweetness and consistency of a syrup. When tourists visited his vineyard and watched him press grapes, they often said, “That looks like syrup.” So he decided to make syrup. “My goal was to keep all the pristine flavours of the ice wine, because it has such an incredible flavour profile.” In 2001, he took his grape juice to a maple syrup producer. “We poured all the juice I had into a kettle and we

boiled it down and caramelized it just like you do with maple syrup.” But concentrated prune was not the taste he’d hoped for. The following year, he pressed more grape juice and brought it to the GFTC. The juice was frozen at -35 C to -40 C, but the sugar content didn’t reach 66° to 68° Bx, which is necessary to kill any bacteria or yeast in the juice. When the juice reached 52° to 55° Bx, Murdza didn’t want to cook it because it would caramelize, so they placed it in

news an evaporator.That’s when he hit gold. “It was a beautiful gold colour, just like ice wine, and had the colour of the Vidal grape. It was a nice nectar syrup and had this huge taste profile, which was bigger than ice wine because it’s double concentrated. If you take juice from ice wine at 35°, 36° or 37° Bx, you lose at least 50 per cent in the process to make ice syrup. We took it to about 68° Bx.” There’s no added sugar. “We wanted to keep this product all-natural.We wanted to keep it as a gourmet product.” After a hiatus during which the Murdzas established Coyote’s Run Estate Winery, Steve returned to the ice syrup business three years ago. The ice wine market had begun to level off as the recession took a toll on high-end food products. Ice syrup hit store shelves in January 2010. It’s now available in about 100 Canadian retail outlets and is sold in 12 countries. Murdza’s achievement was recognized last summer when he received the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence.

1960s Bruce Bowman, BSA ’64 and M.Sc. ’66, retired in 2006 after 37 years as a research scientist at the Agriculture and AgriFood Canada research lab in London, Ont. While managing the research component of the Canada-Ontario Green Plan in the mid-1990s, he launched a website to preserve program information and reports. After the Green Plan wrapped up in 1997, he continued to archive environmental programs and reports generated in Ontario. I

A self-described “foodie guy,” he says ice syrup can be used in virtually any dish. “Because it has this unique sugar-acid balance, the only thing I can compare it to is a balsamic [vinegar], but it’s much more versatile.” Unlike balsamic vinegar, which is fermented, ice syrup contains no alcohol. “You can use it in pastry, savoury, fruit, desserts, salad dressings and dipping sauces. The acid seems to help clean the palate and even though it’s 68° Bx, it doesn’t taste overly sweet. It adds a lot of complexity to a dish.You only need a small amount to get the impact because it’s so concentrated.” Ice syrup has already made its way into the kitchens of world-renowned chefs like Susur Lee, whose photo appears on the box. Murdza’s website – www.icesyrup.com – offers Lee recipes such as Gorgonzola-stuffed poached pear and chicken liver foie gras pâté with drizzles of Vidal ice syrup. Murdza is busy spreading the word about ice syrup through product demonstrations, food shows, and tweets

Now housed on the Conservation Ontario server, the website includes almost 550 documents dating from 1970 to 2000.You can access the Ontario AgriEnvironmental Archive at www.agrienvarchive.ca, along with the companion ManureNet site, a repository of manure and nutrient information. Bowman welcomes input from readers. I Allan Johnson, BSA ’64 and M.Sc. ’66, was honoured in November by the Canadian International Motorcycle Heritage Museum Foundation for

about food and wine pairings. He says 35 to 40 per cent of people who taste it actually end up buying it. “But if it just sits there on the shelf, people don’t know what it is. Our goal is to educate everybody about what it is, what it can do, how unique it is and how Canadian it is.” Ice syrup is currently available in red (Cabernet Franc) and white (Vidal). Grapes are often picked in January, and the syrup is bottled at the GFTC. Murdza is toying with the idea of making ice syrup from peaches or pears, and says the horticultural education he received at Guelph provided him with a background in small fruits as well as credibility in the industry. “People can only trust you if you have a background in what you’re doing. If I hadn’t gone to Guelph, I probably wouldn’t be doing this.” He and Vivian share the U of G connection with their business partner, Donald Ziraldo, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’71, founder of Inniskillin Wines. STORY BY SUSAN BUBAK

his contributions to documenting and preserving Canada’s motorcycling history and heritage. He received the award at the annual Motorcycle Hall of Fame reunion in Mississauga, Ont.

1970s David Allen, BA ’72, was recently elected to the board of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Arts Guild as a memberat-large. He says those who know him will appreciate the irony of that. He has owned

Beddall Bookbinding Conservation and Restoration in Victoria, B.C., since 2000, repairing antiquarian books and constructing leather-bound memorial books and enclosures. I David Beckerson, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’76 and M.Sc. ’79, moved from Guelph to New Brunswick in April 2010. He has retired but recently became director of communications and fundraising for the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada based in Moncton. I Barbara Chance, BA ’74, longtime editor of the U of G

Fall 2011 29

Hockey Day draws 100

At the puck drop, from left: Chris Belan, captain of the current Gryphon men’s hockey team; Hugh Mitchell, captain of the 1978/79 team; Scott McKenzie, captain of the 1979/80 team; and a member of the visiting UOIT team.

PHOTOS BY KYLE RODRIGUES

Alex MacNicol of Milan, Ohio, assistant coach of back-to-back championship hockey teams in the 1970s, sports his prototype helmet from the era to join a shinny game. ore than 100 guests, mostly former varsity players and coaches, attended Hockey Day in Gryphonville Nov. 18. The event celebrated the 1978/79 and 1979/80 Gryphons, who were backto-back Ontario University Athletic Association champions. The teams were recognized on ice with a ceremonial puck drop as the current men’s varsity team hosted the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Gryphon alumni later attended a banquet that honoured the championship teams, along with donors and recipients of hockey scholarships, past Jack Pos MVP winners, and the Walter Rickard Memorial Rookie of the Year winners.

30 The Portico

newspaper At Guelph, has retired after 26 years at the University. I Lawrence Cornett, BA ’70, is retired and lives in Picton, Ont., but keeps busy writing for the online magazine County & Quinte Living, volunteering at the Regent Theatre wine bar and working with organizers on the Millennium Trail. I Charles Erion, BA ’71, and Tricia Siemens, BA ’75, retired in February 2011 and sold their bookstore, Words Worth Books, in Waterloo, Ont., to two of their staff. The independent bookstore opened in 1984. Siemens and Erion, who continue to live in Waterloo, have three children and five grandchildren. I Rod Hodgson, BA ’78, of Hudson, Que.,was transferred in March from public works to town planning and engineering after almost 30 years on the road. He says he’s now working in an office, “enjoying it and using my degree in urban geography and history all the time. It’s great.” I Carol-Joy Kaill, BA ’75 and M.Sc. ’85, works in adult education at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. She also owns the Inner Sun Yoga Studio (ersunyoga.ca) and is married to Alex Walker, BA ’90.They have three toddler grandchildren, whom she describes as “a great joy.” I Bob Krul, BA ’77, writes: “Sold my shares in a company I led in Winnipeg and started a specialty retail operation called Cornelia Bean Ltd. (www.corneliabean.com) with my wife, then began another company to supply her operation and many other specialty retail shops across Canada with unique equipment for tea, coffee and chocolate.” Krul was also recently appointed hon-

orary Dutch consul for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Manitoba, and is developing contacts for business partnerships between Dutch and Canadian companies in biomass development, logistics, agriculture, water management and architectural design. I Ken MacLeod, B.Comm. ’74, would like to touch base with other HAFA ’74 grads and perhaps plan a get-together for their 40th anniversary in 2014. Classmates can contact him at rockiefrenchie@hotmail.com. I Jan Main, B.A.Sc. ’72, of Scarborough, Ont., says she’s looking forward to her 40-year class reunion June 16, 2012. She is a home economist, caterer and teacher and the author of five cookbooks on topics such as lactose-free cooking, freezer recipes and calcium-enhanced cooking. I Alex Westerhout, B.Sc. (Agr.) ’79, operates Westerhout Poultry Inc. in Clinton, Ont. In October 2010, he was elected as a councillor for the Municipality of Central Huron.

1980s Linda (Popp) Bossi, B.Sc.(H.K.) ’83, retired from the Canadian Forces in August 2010 and now heads the human systems integration section of Defence Research and Development Canada’s centre in Toronto. I Paul Dederer, BLA and BA ’84, owns Quinn’s of Tweed Fine Art Gallery in Tweed, Ont. He opened the gallery after closing his design/build landscape firm in Kingston and travelling for two years to write about and photograph the world. I Jessica Ernst, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’80 and M.Sc. ’82, received the 2011 Woman of Courage Award from UNANIMA International, a United NationsI

I Maureen Horne-Paul, B.Comm. ’82, operates the Saraswati Cancer and Naturopathic Care Centre in Picton, Ont. At the Quinte Business Achievement Awards in October, the centre was named best new business of the year. After graduating from U of G, HornePaul completed a doctorate in naturopathic medicine at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto. She practised in Kingston for 15 years before starting her business in Prince Edward County in 2009.

MARRAKESH ON CANVAS

Elizabeth Hutchinson, BA ’87, a full-time artist who lives in Carrying Place, Ont., is hosting an artist’s retreat in Morocco in March with friend and artist Margaret Owen. Both are graduates of the New York Academy of Art. They and 12 guests will spend seven nights at a Marrakesh resort, where Hutchinson will offer daily drawing and painting classes; she stresses that experience is not necessary. Her work is part of prominent collections in Canada and the United States, including Guggenheim Asher Associates Inc. in New York, the P.E.I. Council of the Arts Exploration Collection and the U of G Print Collection.You can view her work and learn more about the Moroccan retreat at http://elizabethhutch inson.wordpress.com. I Karen Krossing, BA ’88, had her fourth novel for teens published in September with Orca Book Publishers. Details are on her website: www.karen krossing.com/books/the-yoyo-prophet. I John Lake, BA ’85, celebrated his 50th birthday last summer by obtaining his private I

Catching up after 32 years

ive consumer studies graduates from FACS ’79 got together in Mississauga, Ont., Nov. 3. From left: Marg (Nauta) Walton of Stoney Creek, Ont.; Laila Rylandsholm-Gurr of Coquitlam, B.C.; Barbara (Berst) Cooper of Mississauga; Lesley Brooks Kiir of London, Ont.; and Lillian (Alkok) Lennox of Toronto. Lennox says they were disappointed when classmate Arlene (Bolam) Cameron of Oakville, Ont., was unable to attend. “We had a great visit and agreed — after some wine — that we hadn’t changed a bit.”

pilot’s licence. “The University of Guelph looks great from the air,” he says. When not flying, he works for Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants, helping businesses improve and optimize telecommunications services. I Helen Leitch, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’81, M.Sc. ’86 and PhD ’93, is working for the World Bank as senior agriculture specialist based in New Delhi, India, site of the bank’s largest agriculture program. India ranks in the top one or two for many of the world’s key agricultural commodities and has the largest number of livestock. I Janine Marson, BA ’85, is an award-winning professional artist who worked in Toronto for 12 years before returning home to Huntsville, Ont., with her son, Jon. A full-time picture framer at North Art Supplies, she is also an art instructor with Muskoka Arts and Crafts and the Huntsville Art Society.

Marson has been selected to paint three murals for the local Group of Seven outdoor gallery in Huntsville and often donates her time and talent to support her community.View her work at www.janinemarson.blogspot.com.

PHOTO BY ILRI/MACMILLAN

MAUREEN HORNE-PAUL

The centre is the only naturopathic in-patient treatment centre for addictions in Canada, says Horne-Paul, who is also opening a nutritional supplements store in Picton. For more information, visit www.saraswatispa.ca.

PHOTO COURTESY LILLIAN LENNOX

accredited NGO, for her efforts to hold companies accountable for environmental harm done by “fracking” — the hydraulic fracturing used to blast open oil, gas and coal formations. A scientist with 30 years of petroleum industry experience, she received the award and delivered a lecture during the UNANIMA conference held in New York in October. I Guy Gilron, M.Sc. ’88, was recently appointed vice-president, environment and community relations, at Cardero Coal Ltd. in Vancouver. The immediate focus of his work in developing and implementing policies is the Carbon Creek metallurgical coal deposit located in the Peace River coalfield of northeastern British Columbia. He was previously director of environmental science for Teck Resources Limited.

JOHN MCDERMOTT AT AN ILRI WORKSHOP IN NAIROBI.

John McDermott, DVM ’89 and PhD ’90, has been named director of the new CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) program on agriculture for improved nutrition and

Fall 2011 31

health, part of the International Food Policy Research Institute. He played a key role in developing the program proposal while serving as deputy director general and director of research at the International Livestock Research Institute. McDermott has worked in livestock development and animal and public health in developing countries for more than two decades as a professor, researcher and manager. He also taught veterinary epidemiology at U of G for 20 years. I Deborah Paskus, B.Sc.(Agr.) â&#x20AC;&#x2122;89, received the inaugural Larry Paterson Award in June at the 2011 Ontario Wine Awards.The honour recognizes the efforts of someone who has demonstrated innovation in the vineyard. Paskus developed the famed Temkin-Paskus Chardonnay in the 1990s.

Tamby Pillai, BA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;84, says his four years at Guelph â&#x20AC;&#x153;made me more confident and mature and were definitely an eyeopener.When I got back to my country (Malaysia) in July 1984, I was able to discover a wide range of business opportunities.â&#x20AC;? He has worked at advertising agencies and golf and recreation clubs, and runs his own events consulting company: www.prproject.com.my. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thanks a million, U of G! You gave me the confidence and motivation.â&#x20AC;? I William Shotyk, B.Sc. (Agr.) â&#x20AC;&#x2122;81, has returned to Canada after 22 â&#x20AC;&#x153;enjoyable and productive yearsâ&#x20AC;? in Europe. He earned a PhD at the University of Western Ontario and worked for 10 years at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and for 12 years at the University of Berne in SwitzerI

land. In October, he became the first Bocock Chair for Agriculture and the Environment at the University of Alberta. I Steven Tsambalieros, AMPHI â&#x20AC;&#x2122;86, was recently appointed president of The Steritech Group in Canada. He brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience to the position, having served as president of Second Cup International, chief operating officer (COO) of Second Cup Ltd. in Canada, and president and COO of Swiss Chalet. He is also a director of Second Harvest, sits on the policy advisory board of U of Gâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, and is a director of the Ontario Hostelry Institute. I Jan Christiaan Vanderkop, BA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;86, of St. James, B.C., recently became a great-grandfather. I Tim Westacott, MA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;83,

says heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involved in several businesses, mainly energy and renewables. I Jennifer Willson, B.Sc. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;85, recently moved from Charlotte, N.C., to San Antonio, Tex., to work as director of research and development for Boral Industries, a major reseller of fly ash in the United States, the largest brick manufacturer in the country and a major manufacturer of clay roof tile.

1990s I Kim (Smith) Barrett, B.Sc. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;96 and M.Sc. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;02, and Glenn Barrett, B.Sc. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;92, welcomed their second child, Naomi Erin, Aug. 11, 2010. They live in Hamilton, Ont., with Naomiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s big brother, Graham, born in 2008. I Nicole Darlaston, BA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;94, recently joined Sheridan College as a career support specialist in

RRecruit ecruit Guelph Guelph LLet et us help with your your recruiting... recruiting... t 1PTU Co-op full-time BOE QBSU UJNF KPCT 1PTU Co-op full-time BOE QBSU UJNF KPCT t .BOBHF ZPVS SFDSVJUNFOU QSPDFTT POMJOF t .BOBHF ZPVS SFDSVJUNFOU QSPDFTT POMJOF

PPost ost a job no now: w:

w www.recruitguelph.ca ww.recruitguelph.ca (519) 824-4120 x52323

32 The Portico

30years 1981-2011

the faculty of liberal arts and access. I Kristyn Dunnion, MA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;95, is a self-professed â&#x20AC;&#x153;lady punk warriorâ&#x20AC;? and the author of the novels Big Big Sky, Missing Matthew and Mosh Pit, as well as a newly published collection of short stories, The Dirt Chronicles. She also performs â&#x20AC;&#x153;creeptasticâ&#x20AC;? art as Miss Kitty Galore and is the bass player for the dykemetal band Heavy Filth. She lives in Toronto. I Rebecca Kendall, BA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;99, along with her husband, Paul Kendall, BA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90, and their daughters, Taya, 11, and Eden, 8, moved from Guelph to Los Angeles in 2010. She previously worked at U of G in Communications and Public Affairs, earning a 2010 Prix dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Excellence award from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education for newsletter

REBECCA KENDALL

writing and editing. She recently earned a post-graduate certificate in public relations from Ryerson University and is now director of communications for the UCLA International Institute, the focal point for international activity at UCLA. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life in Los Angeles has been incredibly rewarding,â&#x20AC;? she says. I Sean Kerr, B.Sc.(H.K.) â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90, is a chiropractor in Collingwood, Ont. He is married to Sarah Crabb, B.A.Sc. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;94, and

they have two daughters, ages eight and four. I Mady MacDonald, BA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;94, worked in Toronto for nearly 10 years in medical publishing, then decided to take a break and travel. That journey led her to Egypt, where she worked for more than six years as a scuba instructor and tour leader. She recently returned to Canada to launch Yoga Travel Canada in Vancouver (www.yogatravelcanada.com). She writes: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life looks good, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good to be home.â&#x20AC;? I Helen Maffini, B.Comm. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;93, works in Australia and has a new website to help parents and teachers develop childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotional intelligence: www.emotional-intelligenceeducation.com. I Aref Nayed, PhD â&#x20AC;&#x2122;94, is ambassador to the United Arab Emirates for Libya and

spokesperson for the Libya stabilization team, a group formed through presidential decree to deliver safety and stability in Libya. I Robert Noble, B.Sc.(Agr.) â&#x20AC;&#x2122;96, has been promoted to vice-principal at Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School in Toronto. I Elaine Vida, ODH â&#x20AC;&#x2122;96, is a horticulturist and a landscape designer with Brackenrig Landscaping in Port Carling, Ont., and writes for CottageCountryNow.ca.

2000s I Julian Brass, B.Comm. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;06, was named one of Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hottest young entrepreneurs by the Globe and Mail. He is CEO and founder of Notable.ca, an online resource and lifestyle guide for young professionals in the Toronto area.

0DNH \RXU OHJDF\ D EHWWHU SODQHW )RU LQIRUPDWLRQ RQ EHTXHVWV DQG SODQQHG JLYLQJ SOHDVH FRQWDFW 5RVV %XWOHU DW H[W UEXWOHU#XRJXHOSK FD RU YLVLW ZZZ DOXPQL XRJXHOSK FD

Fall 2011 33

Lisa Feldstein, BA ’07, was called to the Ontario bar and is now practising at the health law firm Dykeman Dewhirst O’Brien LLP in Toronto. She advises health-care organizations of all sizes, including hospitals, long-term-care facilities, regulatory colleges, clinics and small businesses. She has also developed expertise in alternative dispute resolution and teaches negotiation at Osgoode Hall Law School. Feldstein would love to connect with Guelph alumni in law and health care. Contact her through LinkedIn or at lf@ddohealthlaw.com. I Jennifer (Hajt) Hider, B.Sc. ’00, developed the Naked Nursing Tank to help cover her post-partum midriff while breastfeeding. She discovered a need for this product while nursing her own two children and partnered with her friend Carrie Charles to develop the tank top using environmentally friendly bamboo fabrics. The tops are sold in baby stores and online at www.nakedtank.com. I

PHOTO COURTESY LYNN FISCHER

DOUGLAS HOPWOOD I Douglas Hopwood, DVM ’05, and Mijanou Lamoureux, DVM ’06, are both working in veterinary practices in Ottawa. They were married Oct. 9, 2010, and welcomed their son, Landon Martin, Sept. 16, 2011. I Laura (Hendrick) Judson, BA ’06, is a public relations and communications officer at Parks Canada’s Coastal

34 The Portico

B.C. Field Unit. After leaving U of G, she earned a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Western Ontario.

LOUISE KENT

Louise Kent, BA ’02, was named a 2011/12 fellow by Action Canada; the position involved a series of six intensive four- to five-day working conferences across Canada. Action Canada fellows undertake the program in addition to their regular work or studies. Kent is the director of youth programming and engagement at Free the Children. She has directed the organization’s music label, has facilitated hundreds of leadership events locally and overseas, and has become a wellknown speaker for Me to We. She recently released two fulllength albums: The Small Things and Courage. I Kristen Martyn, B.Sc. ’07, recently co-hosted a wildlife documentary for OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) that aired in November. Her segment in “Alien Invaders” followed her adventures catching snakes in the Florida Everglades. The show looked at invasive species that have damaged and sometimes destroyed environments worldwide, including humans, and how society reacts and overreacts to these invasions. Martin is an avid birdwatcher who has birded all over North America, the Caribbean and Central America, but her speI

cialty is the study of reptiles and amphibians. She cites a favourite memory of watching an eastern massasauga rattlesnake give birth. I Erica Mitchell, DVM ’09, has settled in the Ottawa area after a summer working in Thunder Bay, Ont. She is an associate at the Greenbank Animal Hospital in Nepean, has three cats and enjoys hockey, spending time at the gym and travelling. She was one of four recent veterinary graduates who participated last spring in the National Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners’ review of forms being used in the current testing cycle. I Lee Mizzi, BAA ’09 (media studies), is operations manager at True North Records/Linus Entertainment in Burlington, Ont. She started at the company as a Guelph-Humber student intern and was offered a fulltime position at graduation. She is in charge of all operations for True North, the oldest independent Canadian record label. I Theresa Nguyen, BBA ’08 (accounting), recently earned her CMA designation. I Anthony Rinella, BBA ’08 (small business management), was named one of Toronto’s hottest young entrepreneurs by the Globe and Mail. He founded software company SkedX.com, which works with retailers and food-service companies. He says his grandfather was his entrepreneurial inspiration. I Andrew Roberts, B.Sc. ’07, has developed a new app that takes the guesswork out of barbecuing. For the Ottawa food scientist, the invention of Professor Steak was stimulated by necessity. “I was cooking a big thick steak one day and realized I had no idea how long to cook it,” he says. Roberts developed the app with programmer Howard Song; it asks

ANDREW ROBERTS

users to enter the steak’s thickness and desired level of doneness from rare to well done.The app does the rest, calculating the cooking time while illustrating what’s happening inside the steak with an animated cartoon. “Based on the thickness, the temperature and how well you want it done, it calculates how the heat is transferring through,” says Roberts, “and it’s going to tell you exactly how long to cook it.” I Jon Spenceley, B.Comp. ’09, says he continues to work at a job with Freshbooks that allows him to make people happy. He’s also working towards his goal of being referred to as a “gentleman buccaneer” and has developed an affinity for fine rum. I Angela Szameit, MA ’02, has opened a psychotherapy office in the Healing Arts Centre in Guelph. She works with adults and children aged four and up, providing individual and group counselling. She has also offered public workshops and has written and published a book titled Marissa and Friends, No Way for children aged two to six. It’s the first in a series she’s writing to support the Free the Children charity. I Margie Taylor, M.Sc. ’09, is a former CBC Radio host and producer, a journalist and the author of two novels. She came to U of G as a mature student to earn a master’s

degree in capacity development and extension. She lives in Guelph, where she appears weekly on U of G’s campus radio station, CFRU-FM. She recently published 60 Is the New 20: A Boomer’s Guide to Aging With Dignity, Grace and What’s Left of Your Self-Respect; the book is available on her website: www.margietaylor.com. I Julia Vandepolder, BA ’09, won the Founding Chairman’s Award at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition in July and completed a four-week residency at the Vermont Studio Centre. She has been continually exhibiting at public and private galleries across Ontario. At a show called “Backhouse” at the Telephone Booth Gallery, she exhibited paintings that investigate abandoned and collapsing urban and rural architecture. She maintains a full-time studio at the Alton

“It’s a great tool to get connected with our old pals.”

2010s Caitlin Blake, R.Dip.(Vet.) ’11, works at Firth Veterinary Hospital in London, Ont., where she uses an MLS cold laser to reduce inflammation and pain in therapies for pets. She says she hopes the technology will eventually become part of the veterinary technology program at U of G’s Ridgetown Campus. I David Collings, B.Sc. ’11, is working at a winery and deciding if he wants to become a winemaker. I Poonam Pabla, B.Comm. ’11, is completing a master’s program in industrial relations. I Nicholas Schmitz, BA ’10, plans to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces as an aviation systems technician. He writes: “Though my degree I

JULIA VANDERPOLDER

Mill in Caledon, Ont., and samples of her work can be seen at www.altonmill.ca. I Narinder Verma, MBA ’09, recently moved from Canada to the United States to become plant manager at Coca-Cola Refreshments in Warrenton, Mo. “My MBA at U of G has taught me a lot to be proud of,” he says. He adds that he’s excited to know that the U of G Alumni Association is publishing a new directory.

was in business administration, the principles learned, as well as the practical experience gained in the classroom, will undoubtedly give me an edge when in the field, where the ability to direct a team towards a common goal in a timely fashion is essential.” I Melissa Yule, M.Sc. ’10, spent 10 months of 2011 cycling from Turkey to India to explore nature and spread a message of conservation along the ancient Silk Road. She completed the 10,000-kilometre expedition with longtime friend Kate Harris. They’re sharing their journey as a documentary film and multimedia website: www.cyclingsilk.com. Yule holds a Guelph degree in international development and has worked as a researcher at the International Development Research Centre.

Impact of Giving Thank you to the 16,316 alumni and friends, corporations, associations and foundations who made gifts to the University last year. Your support continues to make a difference. Please visit the Impact of Giving Report online at www.uoguelph.ca/impactofgiving to read stories about how support has made a difference at Guelph.

Fall 2011 35

PASSAGES Wayne Alexander, B.Sc. ’74, March 25, 2011 Donald Arscott, BSA ’47, July 24, 2011 Dennis Auld, BSA ’64, June 14, 2011 Dean Axelson, DVM ’60, Oct. 4, 2011 Murray Beldam, BSA ’34, June 6, 2008 Gordon Belfry, BSA ’63, Aug. 12, 2008 Hugh Best, DVM ’47, Nov. 14, 2011 Frederick Bowland, ADA ’53, Dec. 23, 2010 Nicholas Boyadjian, BA ’81, Oct. 9, 2011 Damian Braet, B.Sc. ’02, Sept. 12, 2011 James Cameron, M.Sc. ’66, Sept. 11, 2011 Ottis Campbell, ODH ’91, June 4, 2009 Margaret Carruthers, B.A.Sc. ’75, Aug. 30, 2011 Timothy Carter, B.Sc. ’75, July 31, 2010 Carl Cayer, BA ’69, Sept. 3, 2011 Lorraine Clark, BA ’78, Sept. 8, 2011 Raymond Cormack, DVM ’49, Nov. 22, 2011 Earle Coutts, BSA ’50, March 6, 2011 Florence (Trebilcock) Cragg, DHE ’41, Sept. 15, 2011 Philip Crosthwait, ADA ’34, Nov. 3, 2009 Carman Darling, ADA ’48, Aug. 17, 2011 Johan Dormaar, BSA ’57, Feb. 2, 2011 John Douglas, BSA ’49, Jan. 21, 2010 Dean Dusty, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’87, January 2002 Betty (Speight) Edwards, DHE ’42, June 17, 2011 Douglas Eidt, BSA ’50, July 10, 2011 Franklin Flowers, DVM ’49, Nov. 2, 2011 Gerald Fuller, BSA ’50, March 13, 2011 Christopher Garriock, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’76, Aug. 17, 2011 Guy Giddings, DVM ’59, Aug. 13, 2011 Michael Gilhooly, BA ’77, Jan. 18, 2009 Roland Goodman, ADA ’55, Aug. 5, 2010 James Hanna, BSA ’49, May 11, 2008 Timothy Hayhurst-France, MSA ’60, Aug. 20, 2011 John Hill, ADA ’62, March 17, 2011

36 The Portico

George Jackson, BSA ’49, Oct. 12, 2011 Albert Jonas, DVM ’55, Dec. 5, 2010 Knute Keire, B.Sc. ’70, April 20, 2011 Alma (Plastow) Kelly, DHE ’37, Aug. 16, 2011 Blair Kelly, DVM ’57, Dec. 12, 2011 Abe Kidd, DVM ’42, Aug. 15, 2011 Theodore Knight, ADA ’49, Jan. 1, 2010 Carl Krose, BSA ’63, Nov. 2, 2011 Roger Larocque, ADA ’64, Feb. 20, 2009 Gerd Lutte, M.Sc. ’81, May 30, 2010 Yvonne (Romanick) Lutz, B.A.Sc. ’72, May 20, 2011 Peter MacKinnon, ADA ’50, Jan. 6, 2010 William MacLennan, BSA ’51, in 2011 Donald Maus, ADA ’52, Sept. 30, 2009 Louise (Brand) McArthur, B.Sc. ’70, July 28, 2010 Daniel McCartney, B.Sc. ’82, Dec. 1, 2010 Terence McGarragle, DVM ’77, Nov. 10, 2011 Edward McIntosh, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’68, July 14, 2010 John McIver, MSA ’64, Aug. 2, 2011 David McLean, BA ’97, date unknown John McLean, DVM ’54, Nov. 9, 2011 Carol McPherson, DHE ’54, Aug. 29, 2011 Murray McRae, BSA ’49, Sept. 26, 2011 John Mitchell, ADA ’56, May 19, 2010 Kevin Morishita, B.Sc. ’79, Nov. 18, 2011 Mary (Manning) Murray, DHE ’49, Sept. 15, 2011 James Mustard, H.D.La. ’96, Nov. 16, 2011 Irwin Nelson, ADA ’48, Feb. 18, 2010 Donald Ostler, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’69, July 29, 2010 Patricia Page, H.D.Lett. ’90, Jan. 14, 2010 John Parks, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’65, October 2011

David Pelletterio, BSA ’57, Oct. 6, 2011 Roy Peters, ADA ’47, Feb. 10, 2009 Ritchie Pilgrim, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’70, March 3, 2011 George Rolfe, BSA ’50, Jan. 14, 2011 Dale (Glover) Smith, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’78, July 15, 2007 Frances (Pettit) Smith, DHE ’41, Nov. 9, 2011 Lorne Stephen, DVM ’52, Oct. 22, 2011 Roy Stephenson, BSA ’50, Nov. 14, 2010 Christopher Surridge, BA ’92, May 4, 2011 Anna (Culp) Troup, DHE ’35, Sept. 15, 2009 Francis Veroni, DVM ’55, Sept. 30, 2011 Richard Visser, ADA ’67, Aug. 7, 2011 Richard Vollans, B.Sc. ’95, Oct. 23, 2011 Muriel (Young) Wallace, DHE ’41, Jan. 17, 2008 Conrad Walsh, DVM ’63, April 16, 2011 Ralph Watt, DVM ’60, Aug. 3, 2011 Bernard Wilson, ADA ’69, March 26, 2007 Gordon Witteveen, BSA ’58, Dec. 16, 2010 Lawrence Woods, B.Comm. ’74, June 1, 2011 John Wosik, BSA ’61, Aug. 18, 2011 Rodney Wright, ADA ’55, Oct. 21, 2011 Richard Yoshimura, BSA ’60, May 10, 2011 Isabel (Goddard) Young, DHE ’38, July 15, 2011 FAC ULT Y Calvin Chong, Department of Plant Agriculture, Nov. 26, 2011 Bruce Hunter, Department of Pathobiology, Oct. 19, 2011 Peter Southwell, School of Engineering, Dec. 14, 2011 To honour alumni who have passed away, the University of Guelph Alumni Association makes an annual donation to the Alumni Legacy Scholarship.

How can I reward myself and help my alma mater?

Get the BMO University of Guelph Alumni Association MasterCard.* ®

Reward yourself with 1 AIR MILES reward mile for every $20 spent or 0.5% CashBack and pay no annual fee1. ®†

Use the card and help support the University of Guelph at no additional cost to you. Apply today at bmo.com/guelph or call 1-800-263-2263.

1 Award of AIR MILES reward miles or CashBack rewards is made for purchases charged to your account (less refunds) and is subject to the terms and conditions of your BMO MasterCard Cardholder Agreement. ® Registered trade-marks of Bank of Montreal. ®*Registered trade-mark of MasterCard International Incorporated. TM†/®† Trademarks of AIR MILES International Trading B.V. Used under license by LoyaltyOne, Inc. and Bank of Montreal.