meg O’Mahony in Uganda | The latest on our centennial | Alumni News
the uts alumni magazine | spring 2009
Hockey Stars
Winning the Memorial Cup in March 1919 marked the beginning of a rich tradition of hockey at UTS
due south
Why some UTS grads head stateside
Alumni dinner Class acts
Former NHLer Andre Hidi ’77 and UTS’ first female Varsity hockey player Jennifer Archibald ’08
Upcoming UTS Events
Mark Your Calendars
President
George Crawford ’72
Music Nights
(416) 499-9000
Friday, April 24, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
5:00 p.m.: Junior Café Bleu. 7:00 p.m.: Junior Music Night
6:30 p.m.: Senior Music Night. 9:00 p.m.: Senior Café Bleu
Junior Music Night
UTS Alumni Association Board of directors vice president
Peter Neilson ’71
Senior Music Night
(416) 214-5431 past president
Tom Sanderson ’55
Contact: Judy Kay, jkay@utschools.ca, (416) 978-6802
(416) 604-4890
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Treasurer
Annual Art Exhibition and Reception 4:00–8:00 p.m. in the UTS gym For more information, please contact jlemoire@utschools.ca
Bob Cumming ’65 (416) 727-6640 Honorary President
Michaele Robertson (416) 946-5334
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
UTSAA Annual General Meeting
Honorary Vice President
6:00 p.m. in the UTS library Contact: alumni@utschools.ca
Rick Parsons
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Don Borthwick ’54
(416) 978-3684 directors (705) 436-3452
Annual Alumni Golf Tournament
Gerald Crawford ’52
11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. at St. Andrews Valley Golf Club Contact: Peter Frost, Peter_Frost@canaccord.com, (416) 867-2035
(905) 271-0445
Rob Duncan ’95 (416) 809-2488
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Annual Alumni Dinner
Peter Frost ’63 (416) 867-2035
5:30 p.m. Reception, 7:00 p.m. Dinner – both at UTS Special Anniversary Year Celebrations: 1939, 1944, 1949, 1954, 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004 All years are welcome! Join us in the afternoon for the inauguration of the UTS Hall of Fame; this year, we’ll be honouring contributions to UTS sports. RSVP to (416) 978-3919 or alumni@utschools.ca.
Sharon Lavine ’84 (416) 868-1755 x224
Bernie McGarva ’72 (416) 865-7765
Vallabh Muralikrishnan ’00 (416) 359-0159
– and wants your latest compositions! Every year for over two decades, Twig Tape has auditioned, recorded, mixed & produced a compilation of original works by UTS students and alumni.
Designed by
kevin lee
Your submission can be sent electronically to twig_tape_producers@ utschools.ca or mailed or dropped off as a CD at the UTS main office addressed to Judy Kay at: The University of Toronto Schools, 371
Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M5S 2R7 Alternatively, we can record your song at UTS between Monday and Friday after school – please email us. Submission Deadline: May 1st.
Nick Smith ’63 (416) 920-0159
Jennifer Suess ’94 This year, you will be able to access works of music featured in previous Twig Tapes online. If you have had a song released on a past TwigTape and don’t want it reissued, please contact us at twig_tape_producers@ utschools.ca
(416) 654-2391
Phil Weiner ’01 (416) 868-2239
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Contents
IN SHORT 2
Bits & Pieces
4
Upcoming alumni & school events
the root | spring 2009
Noteworthy UTS tidbits
Remembrance Day
11 Centennial Notebook
Calendar of Events
Photos from November’s service
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Reports
News and announcements about exciting Centennial events.
13 Due South
President’s Report
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Principal’s Message
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UTS Board Report
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Looking forward to our Centennial
Why do some UTS grads choose to attend university in the USA rather than in Canada? Is there really a brain-drain to south of the border?
Advocating for system change in Canadian schools
18 UTS Wins the Memorial Cup!
Guaranteeing the future success of UTS
UTS defeated the Regina Pats 90 years ago to become Canada’s Junior Hockey Champions and win the inaugural Memorial Cup.
Advancement Office 10
23 Alumni News
Foundation Report
Supporting UTS in good times and in bad Ensuring future support at current levels
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All the latest in the lives of your classmates. In Memoriam and tributes to the lives of several distinguished alumni and staff. On the cover: Former UTS hockey stars Andre Hidi ’77 and Jennifer Archibald ’08 take to the ice at Varsity Stadium. Read all about UTS’ proud hockey history starting on Page 18.
28 Annual Alumni Dinner
A four-page photographic record of the 2008 Alumni Dinner.
Our thanks to this issue’s contributors: Copy: Don Borthwick ’54, George Crawford ’72, Bob Cumming ’65, Martha Drake, Caroline Kolch, Bob Lord ’58, Lily McGregor, Carolyn McIntyre, Jennifer Orazietti, Michaele Robertson, Diana Shepherd ’80, Bill Saunderson ’52, Luke Stark ’02 Photography: Cover, Remembrance Day, Alumni Dinner: Victor Yeung
University of Toronto Schools Alumni Association 371 Bloor Street West, Room 121, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R7 Phone: (416) 978-3919 Fax: (416) 971-2354 E-mail: alumni@utschools.ca Web: www.utschools.ca/alumni | Published Spring and Fall, The Root is available to all alumni, parents, and friends of UTS. Contact us at the above addresses to receive a copy or to change your address. This issue is also available at: www.utschools.ca/alumni/alumnimagazine.aspx
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Editor: Diana Shepherd ’80 Design: Eye-to-Eye Design Ad Design: Eye-to-Eye Design, Rob Duncan, Kevin Lee Printed by: Thistle Printing Ltd.
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Bits&Pieces A compendium of noteworthy UTS tidbits.
Renowned educator Dr. Avis Glaze appointed to the UTS Board of Directors
She was a supervisory officer for 23 years in the Catholic and public school systems in both rural and urban Ontario. She taught at faculties of education and has worked as a Researcher at the Ministry of Labour. Chosen by the Canadian government to assist with educational reform in South Africa, she has served as Chairperson of the Harry R. Gairey Scholarship Fund – an initiative that provides opportunities for outstanding black students to attend university. Her role in establishing the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat and in launching its ambitious program of work is the crowning achievement of a long and distinguished career in education. Dr. Glaze has completed two Masters of Education Programs – one in educational administration and the other in guidance and counseling – as well as a Doctorate in Education. She has won numerous awards, including the Order of Ontario, the African Canadian Achievement Award, the Distinguished Educator Award, the Pace Setter Award, Educator of the Year, as well as a number of honorary doctorates for her outstanding contribution to education.
UTS is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Avis Glaze to the UTS Board of Directors. Dr. Glaze was appointed to the UTS Board as an independent Director in August of 2008. Dr. Glaze has recently retired from her post as Ontario’s Education Commissioner and Special Advisor to the Minister of Education, and head of Ontario’s Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat (LNS). A well known change agent and a mentor to many Ontario educators, Dr. Glaze spent 38 years in education, with a total of 28 years at the elementary, secondary, community college, and university levels in Ontario.
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Alumni at UTS UTS is pleased to welcome alumni back to UTS, many of whom work with students and make important contributions to the school community. Marina Jiménez ’82, award-winning senior writer for The Globe and Mail, wrote a feature on UTS entitled “Excellence Under Fire” for the January 24, 2009 issue of the newspaper. Anthony Lee ’86, volunteers his time at UTS, teaching Japanese Taiko Drumming to a student group. Denise Jaworski ’01 visited a World Issues class on January 20, 2009 to speak about HIV/AIDS and Aboriginal Canadians. Denise is currently in second year medical school at Uof T, and has spent a few years as a researcher in an HIV/AIDS research facility in Toronto. Mitchell Wong ’05 hosts
a music improvisation workshop every Thursday after school with UTS music students. Anthony Chiu ’05 holds MIDI music lab workshops for UTS students. Alumni are vital to the UTS Athletics program: Matthew Fruchtman ’05 is UTS’ Assistant Wrestling coach, Jeremy Weisz ’05 is a UTS Baseball coach, and Brad Wentworth ’04 is an Ultimate Frisbee coach.
Branching Out! The UTS Branching Out Alumni Mentoring Program is rolling along – literally! On February 10th, mentors and mentees joined Branching Out program staff at the Bathurst Bowlerama for an evening of conversation, bonding, and bowling. The event was intended to foster fellowship between the program’s participants [continued on page 6]
Branching Out participants and staff enjoy an evening of bonding and bowling.
Meg O’Mahony teaches in Uganda Canadians deliver environmental education.
U
TS Science teacher Meg O’Mahony traveled to Uganda in July 2008 to deliver an environmental education workshop for Ugandan teachers. She and two fellow Canadian teachers participated in this two-week pilot project by the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) of Canada. Meg was joined by Emma Roche from Royal St. George’s College in Toronto, and Alison Eliott from Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario. In Africa, Meg and her fellow teachers worked with JGI Uganda to prepare and deliver workshops on cooperative learning techniques, nature interpretation, and general environmental education. Uganda faces huge environmental challenges such as deforestation, agriculture intensification, and other human threats to endangered primates such as chimpanzees and mountain gorillas. Working with Ugandan teachers who have large class sizes and limited resources challenged Meg and her peers to be creative in passing on their skills. It was a wonderful twoway learning experience. The Canadian teachers built relationships with the Ugandan teachers that will allow classes in both countries to correspond, discuss world issues, and implement ideas for action. Meg and her fellow teachers documented their experience on a blog at: www.jgiteachertraining. blogspot.com/ “What an exciting opportunity for all of us – to make global connections, share ideas, gain experiences, and create friendships,” said Roche before their
departure. “And then to learn that although our classrooms have unique differences, in so many ways, we are working towards the same goals.” In addition to paying all their own expenses, the teachers raised more than $6,000 to cover the cost of the workshop. As part of her efforts, Meg sold biodegradable plates, cups, cutlery, and napkins. The JGI is a global nonprofit organization that empowers people to make a difference for all living things. JGI Canada supports wildlife research, education, and conservation, with the primary goal of ensuring the survival of great ape populations through community-centred conservation activities in Africa. The Institute also promotes sustainable livelihoods and nurtures new generations of committed, active citizens around the world.
Here are a few excerpts from the team’s blog: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by Meg O’Mahony For me, I felt they [the Ugandan teachers] really started to come out of their shells once we started the experiential education techniques. I think everyone learns well by “doing” and this group opened right up with this style of teaching/learning. It is tricky for them to utilize experiential learning in their classes when they have 60 or more students, tiny rooms, and almost no resources... What I loved most about this teaching was seeing teachers get excited about the new ideas. These teachers pursue this career for the love of it. Saturday, August 23, 2008 by Meg O’Mahony
Left: Meg O’Mahony (far right) and two other Canadian teachers travelled to Uganda as part of a Jane Goodall Institute Canada pilot project that assists in delivering environmental education training to Ugandan teachers. Above: The 22 Ugandan teachers who attended the workshop. It is clear that there is a great need for environmental education training for Ugandan teachers and that the JGI teacher training workshops are an effective means of providing this. The Ugandan teachers were really grateful for the opportunity to attend the workshop and ...many teachers are now keen to try integrating environmental issues into subjects beyond science and social studies. An important step in building a culture of conservation in youth. Tuesday, July 8, 2008 by Emma Roche A neat outcome of the conversation was that the students learned about wind energy. I was listing a few ways of making renewable energy when a boy put up his hand to ask how we can get electricity from the wind. I described the turbines and used a nearby tree as a scale to demonstrate how tall they can be. The students exclaimed with eyes huge with amazement and there were many thrilled voices chattering about the idea.
From Uganda to Canada Here are a few messages, in their own words, from Kasubi Primary School students to their Canadian counterparts: ✒ “My name is Mwebaze Junior Daniel. I am 14 years old... I would like you to conserve the environment by planting trees, flowers which will control soil erosion. In Uganda I am also doing the same. When I do this, I get many things like rainfall, shade, fruits and also I am a member of Wildlife in Uganda. I conserve the environment because I like animals.” ✒ “My name is Ssekandi Edrine. I am 14 years old. I’m interested in playing football and planting trees in our compound because they provide us with shade and they make the compound to look nice with fresh air.” ✒ “My name is Matovu Michael. I am 12 years old. Please I would like to know more about your climate in Canada. My best diet is meat and rice. My best colour is green. Is your climate as cool as ours in Africa?”
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[continued from page 4] and connect mentoring pairs with their peers. Strikes, spares, and the occasional gutter ball were music to the ears of Luke Stark ’02, one of the program’s founders. “Bowling is a lowpressure way to bring the mentoring pairs together to do something that’s active, relaxed, and convivial,” Luke observed. “Plus, going bowling is practically a UTS tradition; there have been Cuspidor and House bowling events for at least the last 20 years.” The 2008/09 Branching Out program is already shaping up to be a success. The program’s pairs of young alumni and S5/ S6 students met for the first time in November, and many pairs have reported having stimulating meetings and discussions since. Thanks to the hard work of Program
Coordinators Jennifer Orazietti of the Office of Advancement and Carole Bernicchia-Freeman of UTS Student Services, monitoring and evaluation of the mentoring pairs has produced plenty of good feedback, which will be used to improve the program. One of the challenges for Branching Out this year has been the difficulty in finding young alumni in medical professions to act as mentors. “We have lawyers, teachers, engineers, artists, and business people who are extremely busy and who also act as mentors,” points out Jennifer. “We really need young alumni involved in medical professions to consider being mentors next year as we have a huge demand from UTS students wanting to go into that field. Considering the small time commitment, mentoring can be a truly rewarding experi-
ence for young alumni.” “2009/10 is UTS’ Centennial year,” enthused Luke, “and Branching Out is a great example of the new things that the school is doing to celebrate and bring together its community. I’d love to see more mentoring pairs than ever next year.” Alumni from the classes of ’84 to’99 who are interested in becoming a mentor next year, or who would like more information about the program, should get in touch with Alumni Affairs Officer Jennifer Orazietti at jorazietti@utschools.ca as soon as possible. Erratum In the article “House Proud” in the Fall 2008 issue, The Root mistakenly stated that the first female Lewis Literary Rep was Beth Steinhauer ’78 in the 1976-77 school year, when it was in fact Jane Helleiner ’78. Stephanie Hansen ’78 was the Althouse Athletic Rep in 1976-77, not 1977-78 as stated in the article. Our sincerest apologies for the errors.
Basketball Photo: Marcus Lindström; istockphoto.com
2009 Alumni B’ball Tournament
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Eight eager teams arrived bright and early at the Upper FEUT gym on February 7, 2009 to compete in the 3-on-3 Alumni Basketball Tournament. This fun, spirited tournament brought out alumni teams from many years, as well as a student team. Teams battled it out all morning in the Round Robin, which advanced Team Farb ’98 and Team Harris ’03 to the finals. The head-to-head match for the coveted trophy was both intense and close, but in the end Team Farb ’98 pulled through with a score of 16–14. Congratulations to (from left to right): Norman Farb ’98, Linus Yung ’98, Joseph Crampton ’98, th e root : t h e ut s a lu m n i m a g a z i n e
The Keys
Ga llery
Exhibiting this fall
Kasper Podgorski ’04
Future Exhibitions Kim Lee Kho ’81 Baillie Card ’05 Margaret Krawecka ’96 Adele Madonia ’03 Emma Jenkin ’03 Olivia Mapue ’04
and Eric Barnhorst ’98 for a wellearned win! Team Farb ’98 has already agreed to come back next year to defend their title. Thanks to all the alumni and students that came out to play in February; we hope to see you |
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all back on the court next year. As well, a big thanks goes out to Physical Education teacher Garry Kollins and student score-keepers – Alice Wang and Bertie Zhang – for making this tournament possible.
More information about the Centennial Art Exhibition is coming soon. Watch for an update from the Centennial Art Committee.
The Keys Gallery is located in Room 107A at UTS. If you would like to exhibit, contact Ann Unger, retired staff, (416) 932-1963 or e-mail aeunger@sympatico.ca for further information.
President’s Report
Looking Forward to our Centennial And there’s still plenty to do for those who want to lend a hand!
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his is a busy time of year for the school and for your Alumni Association. Alumni volunteers and your Association Board have been occupied on many fronts. In this report, I’ll touch upon some recent events, and I’ll discuss the work that is underway to plan future events and budgets for your Association. The UTSAA enjoys organizing annual events that bring alumni together. The 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament took place on February 7th, and a date has been set for George the 2009 UTSAA Crawford ’72 Golf Tournament. president, UTSAA Unfortunately, the school did not ice a hockey team this year due to the loss of too many players to graduation. As a result, we will not be having our Alumni/School Hockey Game. Hopefully that event, and the school team, will return in future years. Our 2008 Annual Alumni Dinner was held on October 24th, and plans for the 2009 Dinner – also to be held on October 24th – are underway. We have benefited from the superb organizing skills of Rob Duncan ’95 and his team for several years, and Rob is to be congratulated and thanked for the outstanding leadership that he has given each year. At our last Alumni Board meeting, Rob outlined a new theme for the 2009 Dinner – mark your calendars for another enjoyable evening!
Your Alumni Association is involved in many of the Centennial activities being organized by the School. The Centennial program is ambitious, involving multiple events and a variety of activities. Many of your fellow alumni are participating on several planning and organizing committees, and I thank them for volunteering their time and skills for what should be an exciting series of events. Financially, your Association is sound. This year’s Annual Fund campaign has been successful – especially when we consider the financial downturn that occurred around the time of our annual mailing! The Annual Fund receipts will allow us to increase the Bursary Fund once again, to support various School and Alumni Activities, and to provide special gifts to the school. A 2008 special gift provided some travel expenses, at short notice, to the UTS “Reach for the Top” Team to travel to Edmonton where they represented Ontario in the Canadian Championships. Gifts such as these are timely, support the School, and are recognized and appreciated by the “future alumni” at UTS. As part of our annual budgeting cycle, we are working with UTS, through the Alumni Liaison Committee, to establish our respective budget for 2009 and the support that we will be given by the UTS Office of Advancement. We appreciate the organi-
zational and logistical support provided by Martha Drake and her staff. The annual meetings of the Alumni Association and Board will take place shortly after you receive this edition of The Root. At those meetings, new Board members are elected, the slate of officers is decided, and the direction of the Association for the upcoming year is discussed. If you are interested in serving on the Alumni Board, please contact me at gvc1@rogers.com. As always, I welcome all comments and feedback. My two-year term as President of your Association is coming to an end. I have been both inspired and motivated by the enthusiasm and dedication that so many alumni give to UTS. The last two years have seen many changes at the school, and I have tried to keep you all informed about the new structure at UTS, and the resulting Memorandum of Understanding between the UTS Board and your Association Board. That Memorandum confirms the ongoing roles and financial foundation of our Association, helping to ensure that we will continue to serve the interests of the alumni and to support UTS. It has been an honour and a privilege to have served the Association during these changing times!
The Centennial program is ambitious, involving multiple events and a variety of activities.
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Principal’s Message
If Not Here, Then Where? Focusing on what it means to educate our children to be successful in their own era.
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n my last article for The Root magazine, I wrote about the case for UTS. This article follows and expands upon those thoughts. Since the last issue, we have launched our strategic plan, Building the Future, and we have witnessed world events – both economic and geo-political – taking a sharply negative turn. It’s likely that we already live in a different world than the one in which the thinking and writing of our strategic plan took place. Some will see only a negative impact on UTS’ hopes Michaele for the future in Robertson the shocking ecoPrincipal, UTS nomic downturn of October and November 2008. And indeed, it would be naïve not to anticipate that fund-raising targets and timelines will have to be reassessed. But in this article, I want to engage your attention on another topic – one equally critical to the school’s future as well as to our future as a nation. We are witnessing what Fareed Zakaria, writing in The Post American World, calls the rise of the rest: the upsurge in the economies of China, India, and Japan, fuelled by a huge, highly educated and technologically
literate population, most of whom speak English. These countries, along with small and less prosperous countries such as Bangladesh, are already making the kinds of changes to their schools about which Canadian educators can only preach. They seem to have seen what skills will help their people, and ultimately their countries, to prosper. In our country and in our province, we have seen the same things; we network and share information about these important issues in education, but we are hard pressed to point to a single systemic effort to do anything about them. If we do not take some serious action now, Canadian schooling in the not-too-distant future will not be able to compete with the quality of what these reformed models of schooling are capable of producing. UTS cannot initiate system change in Canadian schools, but it is one of the best sites to participate in that change – and it must do so. This is a school with great energy, lots of talent, terrific relationships between and among teachers and students, and a proven record of educating Canadian leaders in a stunning array of fields. Our plan, Building the Future, commits the school to educating its high-achieving students to lead in their respective future fields. Our Vision and Mission clarify our aspirations and our areas of focus. We are reviewing our program, rethinking our diploma
This is the real purpose of education: making possible lives of dignity, service, and accomplishment.
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requirements, and planning to launch a summer institute – and all of these initiatives are focused on what it means to educate our children to be successful in their own era. UTS faces two equal challenges. The first is to find the support in its community of alumni, parents, and friends that will continue to make it accessible to students who qualify to enter. The second is to ensure they have an education for this century that will allow them to restore the planet to health and harmony. This is the real purpose of education: making possible lives of dignity, service, and accomplishment. What better place to make that a reality than here?
UTS Board Report
Facing the Challenges of Tomorrow The UTS Board is exploring every option to guarantee the future success of the school.
T
his issue of The Root celebrates the 90th anniversary of UTS’ magnificent win of the Memorial Hockey Cup against the Regina Pats, and it ponders why some of our UTS graduates choose to attend university south of the border while others choose to remain closer to home. We are now a few months away from our centennial year – a remarkable milestone. This is a time to step back and reflect on how much the school has changed, and on the directions it may or may not take over the next Bob Lord ’58 10, 50, or 100 chair, UTS years. It is also a time to celebrate our successes – and, above all, our perseverance. For regardless of the changes imposed on us through the years, we have managed to stay on course and remain the school of choice for high achieving and truly gifted students. In my last article, “More Milestones for UTS” (The Root, Fall 2008), I indicated that the University of Toronto had signaled to us last summer that it did not wish to redevelop the 371 Bloor Street West site for its own use, and it had invited UTS to submit its own proposal for redevelopment of the site. This was followed by some useful discussions with senior staff at the University. Since then, however, there has been a deterioration of the economy, which has had an impact on
all capital projects being considered by the University. Consequently, we do not expect any rapid outcome from these discussions. In the meantime, we remain very much committed to the redevelopment and long-term occupancy of 371 Bloor, and we are intent on continuing our dialogue with the University towards accomplishing that objective when it is prepared to do so. Further, we will work towards enhancing our capital expenditure capacity to ensure that we are ready to move forward with rebuilding UTS when the time is right. The Board and its committees are working thoughtfully and methodically with Principal Michaele Robertson to plan for the future educational challenges of tomorrow and to explore every option to guarantee the future success of the school. To that end, we have worked very hard to ensure that the school is capable of operating on a “stand alone” basis. We are very gratified that our current financial projections for the next four years show that, even after Uof T’s direct subsidy comes to an end in our next fiscal year, we will have a comfortable surplus that will grow in subsequent years. The process of converting our systems from Uof T’s and setting up our
own systems was an especially complex process, which required a significant investment of staff resources. However, I am pleased to report that our human resources, payroll, and financial reporting systems are running smoothly. As anticipated, our partner, the Uof T, agreed to meet its obligation to UTS with respect to the school’s reported deficit as determined by Ernst & Young as at June 30, 2006. We are on target to be in a position to fully fund our own operations by 2010. We also remain committed to expanding the bursary program although – like many other non-profit organizations – we are challenged by the current economic environment. Moving forward, as always, our efforts will remain focused on our most important mission: to ensure that UTS continues to be the school of choice for high achieving students. On their behalf, please accept my assurance that we will continue to communicate important steps in the planning process as well as our progress in accomplishing the objectives described in our strategic plan, Building the Future.
...we remain very much committed to the redevelopment and long-term occupancy of 371 Bloor, and we are intent on continuing our dialogue with the University towards accomplishing that objective...
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Advancement Report
Hope in the Face of Recession Alumni, parents, and friends have always stepped up to support UTS in good times and bad.
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ne look at the news makes me want to hibernate. Newspapers are filled with tales of financial woe, and UTS is not immune to the global and national economic meltdown. That being said, I have two sources of hope during this recession. The first is our Centennial, which is shaping up to be a magnificent celebration. By the time you receive your next issue of The Root, we will be well into our Centennial celebrations. More than 100 volunteers are working diligently on the Martha Drake final plans for our Executive Director, 100th anniversary, UTS office of advancement and we all look forward to welcoming you back to UTS during 2009 and 2010. Be sure to read the “Centennial Notebook” for ways in which you can participate and to find events to attend! My other source of hope is the financial support that has continued to come from alumni, parents, and friends of UTS. This year, some donors wrote notes with their gifts explaining that they had been affected by the recession but still wanted to support the school. Thank you for your continued support! It has never been more needed. Last month, the mother of a UTS graduate visited our office to handdeliver a donation for the UTSAA Annual Fund. Along with the gift, the mother delivered a story that I think is
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worth passing along. According to the mother, her daughter had completed five happy years at UTS when the student’s father was suddenly laid off from his job. At that moment, the family went from a position of financial comfort to one of distress; with no money for tuition, the family faced the reality of having to move their child away from UTS to finish Grade 12 elsewhere. This is where you, our donors, entered the picture. Thanks to the support of UTS alumni and friends over the years, UTS was able to provide this family with a full bursary for their daughter’s final year. The daughter worked three jobs during her final year at UTS to help support the family, and graduated to go on to university where she finished top of her class. The mother said that, because of UTS’ support during their time of need, the family was able to cope. Proudly showing me photos of her daughter, the mother also said that she and her husband will continue to support the school for the rest of their days in appreciation for the support shown to them. In these harsh economic times, this story serves as a poignant reminder of why we come together to support UTS. The opening declaration of the UTS mission statement reads: “We admit stu-
dents on the basis of academic and overall performance and we are committed to making financial accessibility a reality for all UTS students”. This year, we were able to fulfill our promise. Nineteen percent of our student body received bursaries with 8% on full tuition support. This translates into almost $1-million awarded to UTS families during the 2008-2009 academic year. With the gloomy economic forecast and the cost of tuition increasing by necessity, we are focusing our energy on strategies to remain committed to our mission. Elsewhere in this issue of The Root, you will hear from Bob Lord, Bill Saunderson, and Michaele Robertson on the work of the Board, Foundation, and Schools. At the very centre of our planning is the knowledge that we have been blessed with a proud community of alumni, parents, and friends who have stepped up to support UTS in good times and bad. Thank you to those who have chosen this year to make your first gift to UTS, to those of you who have maintained or increased your level of support, and to those of you, affected by the recession, who gave what you could to UTS. Together, we will keep UTS accessible.
With the gloomy economic forecast and the cost of tuition increasing by necessity, we are focusing our energy on strategies to remain committed to our mission.
Centennial Notebook Mark your calendar!
Centennial year will launch UTS into its second century of excellence. More details to come in the Fall issue of The Root.
Initiatives
The UTS Centennial is coming up fast! 2009–2010 will be filled with exciting events to celebrate this milestone, so be sure to mark these dates in your calendar:
H.J. Crawford Award
Events
The H.J. Crawford Award was created to commemorate UTS’ Centennial. H.J. “Bull” Crawford was UTS’ first Headmaster (1910 –1923). Crawford truly set the tone for UTS with his powerful personality, fine academic background, and high ideals.
& Opening Reception: October 1, 2009 To officially begin our Centennial, a formal reception, hosted by Principal Michaele Robertson, will be held at UTS. During the reception, the inaugural H.J. Crawford Award (see “Initiatives” for more details) will be presented to one distinguished member of the UTS community. RSVP to (416) 978-3919 or alumni@utschools.ca.
This award will honour and acknowledge an individual or a group that has made a significant contribution to the advancement of UTS through commitment, dedication, and volunteerism, or one that has contributed to our greater society through other significant lifetime achievements. The winner will be presented with the award at the Centennial Opening Reception at UTS on October 1, 2009.
& Annual Alumni Dinner: October 24, 2009 This year’s Alumni dinner will take place on Saturday, October 24 at UTS. This event has a Centennial twist: we’re introducing the UTS Hall of Fame. On Saturday afternoon, everyone is invited to attend a Hall of Fame awards presentation; this year, we’ll be honouring contributions to UTS sports. RSVP to (416) 978-3919 or alumni@utschools.ca.
Submit your nomination for this award by June 1, 2009 through the UTS website by going to www.utschools.ca and clicking on “UTS Centennial”.
School Song Contest
& Speakers Panel: February 2010 A political panel discussion relevant to the future of UTS. Date and panelists TBD.
After one hundred years of doing covers, UTS is long overdue to sing its own song. Write your song or lyrics, choose your musical style, choose your format (manuscript, mp3, CD, etc.) and send in your submission by May 1, 2009 to centennialmusic@utschools.ca. Submissions will be posted to the UTS website.
Photo: jan rihak; istockphoto.com
& Centennial Music Gala: April 2010 A musical evening for alumni at the end of UTS’ Music Week, with winning music compositions being played from the Centennial Music Composition Competition (see “Initiatives” for more details).
By popular vote among the UTS community, finalists and an eventual winner will be selected by June 2009. The winning entry will then be arranged for band, strings, choir, and whatever else is deemed appropriate, and will be premiered at the Centennial Student Kick-Off event in September 2009.
& Homecoming Weekend: May 28-30, 2010 All alumni are invited to come back to UTS for the Centennial Homecoming Weekend. Year Reps are encouraged to organize their own class get-together or pub night on Friday, May 28. On Saturday, May 29, UTS will host an Open House extravaganza, which will welcome alumni back to the school to reminisce with classmates and teachers. The Open House will feature decade rooms with UTS memorabilia, various demonstrations in the gym, pool, and auditorium, as well as a Centennial Art Exhibition (see “Initiatives” for more details). The focal point of the day will be a ceremonial cutting of the cake – shaped like UTS – accompanied by a rousing round of “Happy Birthday”! Activities will continue until 4:00 p.m. Spread the word to your classmates – a party is only as good as its guests!
Centennial Music gala: composition Competition The Centennial Music Committee invites you to be a part of the Centennial by submitting a musical composition. One winning composition will be selected for each of the following groups: Senior Strings, Choir, Symphonic (Senior) Band, and Stage Band (standard instrumentation for all ensembles). The selected compositions will be performed at the Centennial Music Gala in April 2010. Composers will receive a $1,000 honorarium per selected composition. & Criteria:
& Centennial Gala: October 16, 2010 Held at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel, this elegant end to the
• All compositions must be playable by UTS students
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Show Your School Spirit in Style!
Sweatshirt $45
• Compositions should be 5-8 minutes in length ou may submit one or more compositions for • Yeach ensemble lternate orchestrations or concerti will not be • Aconsidered Please include a full score of the composition with either an orchestral or midi realization recording if available (CD, audio cassettes or mp3 formats). If parts are available, send them as well. Please include your name, composition title, phone number, address, e-mail address, and anything else you think the committee should know, along with your score (for judging purposes, do not write your name on the score) by January 4th, 2010. Submit compositions to centennialmusic@utschools.ca or to the attention of Judy Kay, UTS, 371 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 2R7.
Centennial Art Exhibitition: May 29-30, 2010
Hoodie $50
Also Available: Keychain $5; Lapel Pin $15; Silk Tie $35
prices include tax. Shipping extra ($5 local).
To order, contact the Office of Advancement: Phone: (416) 978-3919 email: alumni@utschools.ca
UTS artists are encouraged to submit works for the Centennial Art Exhibition to be held during the Homecoming Weekend on May 29-30, 2010. Contact centennial.art@utschools.ca for more details on the exhibit and how to submit your work.
Art Commission To commemorate UTS’ Centennial, the Centennial Art Committee is commissioning a work of art and invites alumni to submit proposals for the commission. The work of art must be portable and its creation must somehow involve and engage current UTS students. To indicate your interest in submitting a proposal, email centennial.art@utschools.ca by April 30, 2009. Formal proposals are due on June 5, 2009. A jury will select the winning proposal, and the artist selected will receive a $5,000 honorarium towards the project.
Volunteers needed In order for our Centennial to succeed, we need your help. We are currently looking for volunteers to collect UTS memorabilia and create decade displays for the various Decade Rooms for our Homecoming Weekend. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, or if you have UTS memorabilia that you would like to be displayed, please contact Jennifer Orazietti, Alumni Affairs Officer, at jorazietti@utschools.ca or (416) 946-7012.
As a not-for-profit organization, UTS is looking for giftsin-kind or sponsorship opportunities that fit well with our Centennial Events and Initiatives. With thousands of alumni returning to UTS for Centennial celebrations, this is a great opportunity for your company or business to gain valuable exposure. If your company is interested in contributing to the success of our Centennial, please contact Martha Drake, Executive Director, Advancement, at (416) 946-0097 or mdrake@utschools.ca.
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Photo: jan rihak; istockphoto.com
Sponsorship Opportunities
Due South Flag: Claudio Divizia; Leaf: Olivier Blondeau; istockphoto.com
Why do some UTS graduates choose to attend university in the USA rather than in Canada? Is there really a brain drain of our best and brightest to south of the border? by diana shepherd ’80
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ccording to Open Doors 2008: International Students in the United States (a report published by the Institute of International Education), 29,051 Canadians headed south to attend university in the USA for the 2007-2008 academic year – up 2.7% from the previous year. In fact,
Canada is the number-five country of origin for international students in the US; the top four countries are India (94,563), China (81,127), South Korea (69,124), and Japan (33,974). Through their expenditures on tuition and living expenses, 623,805 international students contributed more than $15.5 billion to the US economy during the
2007-2008 academic year. Clearly, higher education is big business in the USA. Let’s narrow our focus. Of the 2,095 students who graduated from UTS between 1982 and 2008, 253 (an average of 12.08%) chose to attend an American university. The percentage of graduates heading to the US has flucs p r i n g 2009
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tuated from year to year – from a high of 21% in 2003 (the “double cohort” year) to a low of 4.62% in 1983. Last Fall, The Root polled 100 alumni who had graduated from UTS between 1980 and 2007, and who had chosen to obtain at least their undergraduate degree from a US university. The purpose of the survey was to find out why they had chosen to study in the US – and, in retrospect, whether they believed they had made the right decision. Although largely positive, their answers were all over the map, from “absolutely the right choice” to “a huge disappointment – and a gigantic waste of money”.
why do south? According to our survey, the reasons for choosing a US school haven’t changed much over the years. Although each choice was personal – reflecting the individual’s talents, personality, and specific field of study – there were common threads running through the responses.
outstanding in their field As you might expect, the number-one reason cited for leaving Canada was that a specific US school was generally acknowledged as either the best or the only place to pursue a particular area of study. “I chose University of California Berkeley since they have facilities that were not matched by any Canadian grad schools at the time (and even now),” says Joanna Lai ’98, who is currently a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley. “The field I picked for grad school requires advanced semiconductor micro/nanofabrication facilities, and UC Berkeley is one of the best schools in [this area]. There are no Canadian companies that succeed or can survive in this competitive field.” Alison Noble ’80 completed her undergraduate degree at University of
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Michigan because the school offered a top-10 Engineering program; they also offered her an athletic scholarship that covered all tuition, room, and board for four years. After completing her B.S. in Computer Engineering, Noble chose to obtain her MBA from Harvard Business School because of its reputation: “It was the number-one ranked business school at the time,” she remembers. She thinks that HBS is a great choice whether or not the student is planning to return to Canada after graduation. “Harvard grads call telling prospective employers that you are a HBS grad ‘dropping the H-bomb’. It opens many doors.” Noble thinks that “you get more bang for the buck” attending a US school for graduate work than for undergrad. “Canadian undergrad programs are excellent – at least as good if not better than their US counterparts – and they are much more reasonably priced,” she points out. “If it weren’t for the athletic scholarship, I would have done undergrad in Canada and grad in the US.” Al-Hafeez Dhalla ’03, chose Duke University for both undergraduate and graduate work “because of its ranking/ reputation, and in part because it is one of the best schools in the world for my field – biomedical engineering (BME).
At the time, I was convinced that elite American schools were far ahead of even the best Canadian schools. I’m not sure that I believe that anymore, but it’s a little late to transfer to McGill,” concludes Dhalla, who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in BME at Duke.
different country, new experiences In the survey, the other main reason cited for choosing a US university was the opportunity to see the world from a new perspective: to live abroad, studying with and learning from nonCanadians. “I felt that Canada was a very sheltered country and I wanted to experience more of the world and meet different people rather than ending up… always being with the same people from Toronto,” says Evelyn Choi ’02, who holds a B.Sc. in Design and Environmental Analysis – Interior Design from Cornell University. A designer at the New York City offices of Yabu Pushelberg (an interior design company), Choi thinks that “because the US is attractive in so many ways to the rest of the world, top leaders in all fields are willing to visit universities, so the opportunity to meet influential and passionate people is much higher.”
Percentage of Grads Heading South The percentage of UTS graduates attending an American university has fluctuated from year to year – from a high of 21% in 2003 (the “double cohort” year) to a low of 4.62% in 1983. Year
Percentage
2008 . . . . . . . . . . . 10.58% 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.75% 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00% 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . 12.90% 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . 10.64% 2003*. . . . . . . . . . . 21.00% 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . 13.54% 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.07% 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . 14.08%
1999 . . . . . . . . . . . 18.42% 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.33% 1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.11% 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.76% 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.70% 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.33% 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00% 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.39% 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.96% 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . 12.68%
1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12% 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33% 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.76% 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.71% 1985 . . . . . . . . . . . 14.06% 1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.86% 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.62% 1982 . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.94% Average . . . . . . . 12.08% * the “double cohort” year
“ US schools are much more deeply rooted in the ‘liberal arts’ ideal: an education at a US school is much broader and less focused than an education at a Canadian school.” – Solomon Douglas ’92
Derek Chiang ’96 puts it more strongly: “Torontonians as a whole should not be so myopic – they should explore the world.” However, he adds a word of caution to this statement. “Considerable student debt from a private school may not be worth it for an undergrad degree.” Chiang, who holds a B.Sc. from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, did not expect to return to Canada after graduation because of a lack of specialized biotech sector job opportunities. Since 2005, he has been a postdoctoral fellow in cancer genetics at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. “I think both US and Canadian schools have a lot to offer, and I chose to attend a US school mainly because I wanted to have a new, exciting experience,” says Janice Wong ’04. “I wanted adventure, and to see what things were like in the US. Yale also has the international prestige that Canadian schools might not have; while I do not feel comfortable with the elitism in the US, this prestige opens a lot of doors and opportunities, and also attracts the very best students and professors from around the world.” She believes that attending a top US school is a “lifechanging, eye-opening experience,” and advises UTS grads to “choose the school where you think you will grow most as a person.” After completing her undergrad, Wong has returned to Canada to study medicine (Uof T, Class of 2012) – despite receiving eight MD/ Ph.D. admission offers and one MD
acceptance from top medical schools in the US. “This is a popular path because Canadian medical schools are much cheaper than US medical schools, while offering excellent training and research opportunities,” she explains. “Additionally, the Canadian health care system seems to be the better one in which to work.”
small classes, big variety Small class size and academic variety were also listed as reasons for attending specific US universities. “I was drawn to Stanford by its smaller size and also by the greater diversity of course options,” says Julie Mak ’91, who ended up completing a double major in Biological Sciences and German Studies. “Coming from a small school like UTS, I think it was easier to transition to Stanford – which has 1,600 students per year – than it would have been to enter a larger school. In terms of academic variety... part of the requirements for an undergraduate degree are to complete at least one course in a number of diverse areas (science, engineering, psychology, English, etc.). Stanford offers courses of different credit levels, so you can take three or four heavy academic courses and complement them with some lighter options – such as once-a-week sports or foreign-language conversation classes. I am so grateful to have been able to explore so many different topics.” “Unparalleled financial resources
and a small, exclusive student body are an unbeatable mix,” says Liang Hong ’02, who is currently an interest-rate derivatives trader at JP Morgan in Tokyo. Hong, who “overloaded on two majors (EECS and Management)” at MIT, adds that: “Between the marble columns and Frank Gehry manifolds, the caliber of the faculty and classmates at the top US schools is on a plane above. MIT was a great experience, but it was my six years at UTS that put me on this path and made everything possible.” “US schools are much more deeply rooted in the ‘liberal arts’ ideal: an education at a US school is much broader and less focused than an education at a Canadian school,” says Solomon Douglas ’92, who holds an S.B. in mathematics and an S.B. in music from MIT. “Canadian science undergraduates take a lot more classes within their field and a lot fewer classes outside of their field than American science undergraduates. I feel that this is a major advantage to American schools.”
the cost Almost all the alumni surveyed identified the high cost as being the major downside of attending an American university. Recent UTS grad Stanley So ’07 offers this advice to students considering following his footsteps to the south: “Think about why you may feel that a US school is necessary. Don’t underestimate Canadian education. In my case, the program I sought was only available in the US, so that made the decision an easy one. But if you choose to go to the US, make sure that the institution you wish to attend actually offers something that Canadian schools don’t, and make sure it is worth the extra $30,000 a year you will probably be paying.” According to Open Doors 2008, the primary sources of funding for international students were personal and family funds (62.3%), and funding from a US
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“It is an unfortunate urban myth that you need to be wealthy to enroll at the top American schools.” – Arik Motskin ’01
College or University (25.9%). A few of the UTS grads polled by The Root received full or partial scholarships from the US institution they attended; most, however, had to find other ways to foot the bill. Many of the respondents mentioned that the top US schools are very generous with need-based financial aid – even to international students. “Pecuniary concerns should not deter any qualified student from applying,” says Liang Hong. “Don’t avoid applying to the best schools because you think you can’t afford it!” advises Arik Motskin ’01. “It is an unfortunate urban myth that you need to be wealthy to enroll at the top American schools. While they generally
Top 10 U.S. universities The most popular American universities for UTS Grads from 1982 to 2008:
1. Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) 2. Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) 3. Princeton University (Princeton, NJ) 4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) 5. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
6. Yale University (New Haven, CT) 7. Columbia University (New York, NY) 8. Brown University (Providence, RI) 9. Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA) 10. Boston University (Boston, MA) 16
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do not have merit-based scholarships, they have incredibly generous needbased financial aid. Harvard offered need-based financial assistance (unlike Canadian schools), without which I wouldn’t have been able to attend. In fact, attending Harvard cost my family less than going to a Canadian school. Shocking but true.” According to Umut Ulge ’99, “The top US schools offer fantastic educational opportunities but are expensive.” He thinks that it’s much easier to find science funding in the US than in Canada, but warns that: “the science funding advantage is partly (or perhaps, mostly) dependent on becoming a US resident, which requires going through the INS to get a Green Card – this is not trivial. It may be possible to enjoy this advantage as a post-graduate: graduate from a Canadian school, apply to US Ph.D. programs, and establish residency during graduate school.”
advice to current students “Don’t just go to the US because you assume it’s better,” says Ran Wei ’06, who is currently in her third year at the University of Pennsylvania. “Canadian schools are excellent. However, many American schools are unmatched in certain disciplines, and will have professors, peers, and alumni to match their schools’ reputation. Do your research, find out what makes your target schools special, and decide whether it’s worth spending a house’s worth of after-tax money to get it,” Wei concludes. “If you do choose to go to the US for college, see about testing out of
some of the courses (i.e., calculus, physics, chemistry),” says Umut Ulge. “UTS prepares you extremely well in these subjects, and taking them over is a waste of time (or a free pass to have fun in first year, depending on your outlook).” Ulge notes that his first year at Cornell was essentially a repeat of S6. “There are standard ways for American students to skip required freshman courses if their high school courses covered the material. It requires tests to place out of the classes. But most of those tests need to be taken during high school (like the AP tests) or before the first year starts. I didn’t know about these, and I lost the opportunity to test out of those useless classes.” Michael Heung ’92, who is currently the Medical Director of the Acute Dialysis Program at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), attended Boston University as part of the SevenYear Accelerated Medical Program. His advice to UTS students is to focus on what they hope to get out of a US compared to a Canadian school. “In the US, Canadian schools such as Uof T or McGill are fairly well-known and recognized. Internationally, however, there is no substitute for going to a Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton etc.,” he says. He suggests the student carefully consider his/her future plans before settling on a school. If the student intends to return to Canada after completing a US degree, he/she should be aware of potential obstacles ahead of time. “For example, medical training requires additional exams, and may require additional training if you choose to do a residency in the US.” Finally, Michael highly encourages UTS students to reach out to alumni who attended the institution they’re considering, or who have experience in the student’s planned field of study. “I wish I had better understood the major differences in medical training between the US and Canada before coming over – although it probably wouldn’t have changed my decision,” he concludes. lR
UTS Foundation
Dear Friends & Donors Ensuring future support continues at current levels.
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ecent turmoil in the financial markets and the large decline in share prices are a concern to all. With the drop in the securities markets, the Foundation’s portfolio lost 9.8% for the trailing one year period ending December 31, 2008; this loss was smaller in comparison to other portfolios mainly due to our conservaWilliam J. tive asset mix Saunderson ’52 between stocks chairman, UTS and bonds. foundation The Foundation’s investment portfolio is monitored by a Board of Directors with significant expertise in the financial markets. While some Foundations have rebalanced their portfolios to reduce their exposure to equities, the UTS Foundation believes that our asset mix remains appropriate for our current and long-term requirements.
We anticipate that financial markets will be slow to recover and that this situation may continue well into 2009. Our main challenge is to preserve the accumulated capital while helping needs-based students. Our endowments are expected to provide future generations with the same level of economic support for programs and services that they provide today. We believe that while economic conditions remain uncertain, our portfolio is well diversified and is not unduly exposed to high risk. Over time, the markets will recover and the market value of our portfolio will improve accordingly. Many donors have recently supported UTS with new annual gifts to help top-up entrance scholarships and bursaries for our students. We are grateful for their generosity as we strive to continue to meet our commitments to support our students.
Help make a difference
for tomorrow’s uts students! If you would like to designate a specific bequest to UTS or receive information on planned giving, please contact Martha Drake, Executive Director, Advancement at (416) 946-0097, or mdrake@utschools.ca
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UTS Wins the Memorial Cup! 1919 UTS team embarrasses the Regina Pats 29–8 in a two-game series. by don borthwick ’54
Photo: Marcus Lindström; istockphoto.com
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ES, it’s true! Ninety years ago, UTS was Canada’s junior hockey champion. Winning the inaugural Memorial Cup – emblematic of junior hockey supremacy – was the culmination of a spectacular season. Despite being the underdog in each series, the UTS team fought through several playoff series with southern Ontario teams on their march to the championship. In the school’s first decade, hockey, rugby, and track and field were the predominant sports. The two outdoor rinks behind the school were constantly busy. The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) was the reigning hockey organization in the country, and OHA teams had been participating in national senior, intermediate, and junior hockey championships since the 1890s. In those days, local club teams and high schools were the main competitors for this junior championship. UTS competed in the Prep School Division – one of more than 40 teams in various divisions in the province. In 1918, UTS had won the Prep Division. This foreshadowed our triumphant journey the next year, which began by winning the Prep Division again. The team then proceeded through the playoffs beating Lindsay (17–9), Aura Lee with Lionel “Big th e root : t h e ut s a lu m n i m a g a z i n e
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Train” Conacher, and Cornwall (13–3), before meeting Woodstock in a very controversial two-game series in the Ontario finals. The first game was played on slushy ice in Woodstock. Led by Bill and Frank Carson (brothers who went on to play in the NHL), the home team won by four goals: 5–1. In the second game, held at the Arena Gardens on Mutual Street, UTS’ competitive spirit fought back and we won by five goals (7–2), finally taking the series 8–7. The Woodstock coach, William Breen, claimed his players’ underwear and equipment had been sabotaged – smeared with pepper and itching powder – and that “Their skates had been meddled with.” Could it have been that, with UTS the underdog in the series, the bookies were taking a lot of betting action on the series – and maybe being a bit “hands-on” with “support” for the UTS team?! TS became Eastern Canada champions by beating the Montreal Melvilles 8–2 in a sudden-death game to advance to the Memorial Cup finals against the Regina Pats Hockey Club. The Pats, who first stepped onto the ice as a team in 1917, were named in honour of Princess Patricia (Queen Victoria’s granddaughter) and for the Princess Patricia’s
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Canadian Light Infantry Regiment, which was organized at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The Memorial Cup trophy was donated by the OHA in honour of those Canadians killed in the Great War. In his foreword for The Memorial Cup: Canada’s National Junior Hockey Championship (Richard M.Lapp, Alec Macaulay, 1997), Paul Henderson, the hero of the 1972 Canada-Russia series, noted that, “The Memorial Cup is the most storied junior hockey trophy in
the world. The history of the Memorial Cup is the history of Canadian hockey in a nutshell: the story of a system built out of a passion for the game, from the ground up.” In many ways, Henderson’s perspective has reflected the pride of all UTS students who played on the school’s “Senior” and “Firsts” hockey teams over the years – a passion for the game in the tradition of excellence that is UTS. The two-game series was played at the Arena Gardens, the forerunner of the old Mutual Street Arena
made famous by Conn Smythe and the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the first game on March 19, 1919, UTS won an easy 14–3 victory. W.J. (Bill) Finlay, a prominent sports writer for the Winnipeg Free Press, wrote: “travelling at a dizzy pace from start to finish and uncorking team play that was a revelation to western fans, UTS’ nifty young machine cantered through their opponents in such a commanding style... to outclass them from stem to stern.” Does this sound like a familiar refrain echoed
over the years by many vanquished foes of UTS teams? The eastern press called the game “a ridiculous sham”, and the Canadian Press wondered “whether the Pats would default the next game. Maybe Woodstock should replace them!” hree days later, Game Two was just a formality; UTS won by a score of 15–5, becoming the very first Memorial Cup champions. A sideline to the series was that Bill Finlay and another sports writer, the
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cessful hockey tradition that has prevailed at UTS through the years. Off the ice, two icons of professional hockey in Canada were involved with the team: Frank Selke, Sr. and Dick Irvin, Sr. Frank was the manager and Dick helped coaching. It is not known how they became involved with UTS; they were friends of the legendary Conn Smythe, who was coaching at Uof T at that time, so Smythe may have provided the connection. Both men went on to prominent careers in the NHL in the 1930s and 1940s, both with the Maple Leafs and Conn Smythe, and later with the Canadiens. The UTS Coach, Frank Carroll, had previously trained two Stanley Cup champion teams and went on to coach Uof T to an intercollegiate championship the next year. In later years, all the components of the UTS Memorial Cup championship went on to become noteworthy figures in the hockey world – as players, coaches, and managers. No wonder they dominated the Regina team and impressed the press and fans alike! In the 1920s, a number of the 1919 team members and UTS alumni in succeeding years went on to become part of the successful Uof T Blues
“The Memorial Cup is the most storied junior hockey trophy in the world.” —Paul Henderson
championship teams, which won six Intercollegiate titles and several Senior Canadian championships, including the Allan Cup. Uof T’s 1927 Allan Cup championship team became the famous “Varsity Grads” who represented Canada in the 1928 Olympics in Switzerland, winning the gold medal by defeating opponents 38–0. On that 12-player team, there were eight UTS alumni: Joe Sullivan ’20 [goal], Ross Taylor ’20 and Captain Jack Porter ’21 on defence, the Plaxtons – Hugh ’23 [centre], Bert ’20, and Roger ’21 – Gordon Gunn ’21, and Frank Sullivan ’18. Their coach was the man who would go on to become the fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada (and to be honoured with the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize), Lester B. Pearson. Many on the team became doctors and lawyers after their university hockey years. Dr. Joe Sullivan was probably the best known as a leading ear surgeon and professor of medicine at Uof T; he was summoned to the Senate of Canada in 1957. Joe’s grandniece and Frank’s granddaughter, Karyn Sullivan ’95, carried on the family’s athletic tradition at UTS, starring in basketball as a student and later coaching the girls’ basketball team to a City Championship in 2003. In 1920, UTS again reached the Ontario semi-finals, but lost to Stratford and the great Howie Morenz of Montreal Canadiens fame. Gradually, Canadian junior hockey developed well beyond its early popularity at the highschool level, leaving future UTS teams to compete very successfully at the OHA Junior B level. The extracurricular focus on hockey continued in the 1920s and 1930s with numerous teams competing in different leagues; besides the OHA team, there were many students playing for one of our Juvenile, Midget A, B, and C and Bantam A, B, and C teams. In the early 1940s, after winning the Prep Group Division, the Senior team advanced to the provincial Junior B playoffs on two occasions. In 1942,
Memorial cup Photo courtesy of Canadian Hockey League
Toronto Star’s Lou Marsh, were the referees, evidently not uncommon in those days. (Lou Marsh was the legendary writer for whom the Lou Marsh Trophy, awarded annually to Canada’s outstanding athlete, was named.) An interesting commentary appeared in the next issue of The Annals, the forerunner of the Twig, warning that, “an OHA championship team is a danger as well as an asset to the school. These OHA contests are quite too enthralling. They make the boys forget their own privileges on the home rinks and even wear upon the nerves of the masters.” ho were the unknown stars that brought this championship and fame to UTS? Only eight players comprised a team in those days. Jack Aggett ’20 led the team with nine goals in the championship series; many said that Jack was the best centre in the junior ranks. Joe Sullivan ’20, our goalie, was in a class by himself with his cool and uncanny ability to outguess opponents. Duncan Munro ’20 and Langford Rowell ’19 provided an impregnable defense. Dunc went on to have career in the NHL – seven years with the Montreal Maroons and one year with the Canadiens – and captained Canada’s gold medal team in the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France in 1924. Don Jeffrey ’19 matched Aggett’s scoring prowess with nine goals, and together with Steve Greey ’20 on the wings, they could always be counted on when needed. (Don Jeffrey coached the UTS “Firsts” to a very successful season in 1945). Richard Kearns ’19 and goalie Don Gunn ’19 were the only two substitutes. William Baker ’20, UTS’ first School Captain, was the student manager of the team. One can only surmise that their stellar teamwork and individual performances as Memorial Cup champions laid the foundation for the success that each would realize later in their lives; it also cemented for succeeding UTS hockey teams the strong and suc-
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we lost to the eventual champion, Stratford, in a sudden-death third game; in this game, we played against Howie Meeker of Toronto Maple Leafs fame. Leading these strong teams were Chad Bark ’43 and Don Bark ’46, among others. rom 1946 to 1960, the teams prospered under the coaching of Bruce “Nails” Maclean, a Math teacher and a former football and hockey star at McMaster University prior to WWII. His many successful teams played a very disciplined game at both ends of the ice. Upper Canada was a major opponent then, and students of that time fondly remember the outstanding battles at Maple Leaf Gardens during the years when UCC was an OHA Junior B powerhouse. During this period, UTS played in the OHA College group, in the Prep School league against other independent schools, and in the Toronto and District Inter-School Athletic Association (TDIAA) beginning in the early 1950s. The team scheduled numerous exhibition games against all kinds of opposition, including an annual date with Nichols School in Buffalo. Maclean’s coaching culminated in back-to-back championships in 1953 and 1954, the first two years in the TDIAA. Maclean noted that he was able to come in and build on UTS’ well-established and well-known hockey program at that time. He focussed on preparing the teams well for their games through extensive practice – generally three times a week – as well as playing varied and older competition in exhibition games. He helped the players develop a positive attitude, which generated strong performances and the recognition that success came from hard work and extra effort. He believed strongly that, ”One could be better than one thought possible,” and that, “This hockey spirit not only reaped results on the ice, but in the students’ careers and future lives.” Don Fawcett ’50, an outstand-
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mpionship cha Highlights
from the last 90 years of hockey at UTS 1918 OHA Prep Division 1919 Memorial Cup 1920 OHA Prep Division 1928 OHA Provincial & Eastern Canada Finalists 1929 OHA Prep Dividson 1933 OHA Prep Dividson 1942 OHA Junior B Prep Division 1943 OHA Prep Division and Jr. B Semi-Finalists 1946 OHA Jr. B Prep Division 1950 OHA Jr. B Prep Division 1951 Prep Division and OHA College Division 1952 Prep Division
76 season, the team was disbanded. The junior team carried on until 1985, and under Coach Al Fleming and Assistant Coach Tom Boucher, they were Catholic league (TDCAA) finalists in 1975-6. One of the players, Andre Hidi ’77, continued his hockey career after graduating from UTS, playing for Uof T and the Peterborough Petes (Memorial Cup Finalists in 1969-70) in the OHA – both times under coach Mike Keenan (present Calgary Flames coach). Andre went on to play for the Washington Capitals for one year. Al Fleming said that, “Over the years, even though UTS hockey teams were not always champions, the players worked hard to the best of their abilities, always mindful of the great history and tradition of hockey at UTS.” ockey returned to UTS in 2002-3 under the leadership of Athletic Director Jeff Kennedy, with UTS playing in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) league. Each year, the team has continued to improve, and last year, the team’s roster included the first UTS co-ed: Jennifer Archibald ’08, last year’s female Athlete of the Year at UTS. Looking back over 90 years, there is no question that winning the Memorial Cup set the tone for hockey’s lasting participation, pride, and success at UTS. Like UTS’ tradition of excellence in education, representing UTS at the rink created an environment for excellence in leadership. The school’s first Headmaster, H.J. “Bull” Crawford, thought that: “UTS must look to the full development of the young man, physically and mentally.” Hockey continues to deliver this to the young men and women of UTS. Here’s to building R a great Centennial team! l
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1953 TDIAA 1954 TDIAA 1963 TDIAA Finalists 1968 Nichols College Tournament 1969 Princeton Lawrenceville Tournament Finalists 1970 Nichols College Tournament 1972 Princeton Lawrenceville Tournament Finalists 1976 Junior TDCAA Finalists ing football and basketball star, took over from Maclean in 1960, followed by Al Fleming ’54. The teams won the prestigious Lawrenceville tournament at Princeton in 1962-3 and were runner-ups in 1968-9 and 1971-2 and TDIAA finalists in 1962-3 and 1970-1. Several players went on to play hockey at Princeton on scholarships. With the cessation of grade 13 in 1973, well ahead of other Toronto schools, together with the advent of co-education (which halved the male enrolment), it became difficult to ice a competitive senior team; after the 1975-
Don Borthwick was Captain of the UTS Senior Hockey 1954 TDIAA Championship team; as such, he was the ideal candidate to write a piece looking both into the past and towards the future of hockey at the school. He joined the Alumni Board in 1993, and became President of the UTS Alumni Association (UTSAA) from 1995 to 1999. Don took on the position of Executive Director of the UTSAA in 1999, and became the Assistant Director of the UTS Advancement Office in 2007. In June 2008, Don retired from these positions, but continues to be generous with his time and knowledge in support of both UTS and the UTSAA.
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uts Alumni News
Lest we forget... 1 Don Manchester ’44 and Clare Morrison ’44 (foreground) Erskine Duncan ’38 and John Fox ’43 (background). 2 David Morris, actor from History Comes Alive, and Paul Harkison, teacher. 3 Clare Morrison ’44, guest speaker. 4 Mike Ford (singer, guitar and composer), Sarah Shugarman (teacher, violin), Pamela Leung (student, violin), Sinye Tang (student, viola), Ron Royer (teacher, cello).
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5 Cal Wilson ’42. 6 Derek Bate ’44, John Fox ’43, Don Manchester ’44. 7 Naina Gupta, Co-Chair UTS Parents’ Association; Han Yan, School Captain; Rahim Noormohamed, Deputy School Captain; Clare Morrison ’44, guest speaker; David Rounthwaite ’65, UTS Director (Secretary); Michaele Robertson, Principal; Don Borthwick ’54, UTSAA.
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Photo: Anthony Rosenberg; istockphoto.com
Remembrance Day 2008
uts Alumni News Notes on the interesting lives and outstanding achievements of our alumni. James Fleck ’49, renowned Canadian businessman and philanthropist, received the International Angel Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts. The Angel Award is given for an outstanding and lasting contribution to the performing arts that has transcended the boundaries of one country or institution. James currently serves as chairman of both Business for the Arts and the Ontario
Minister’s Advisory Council for Arts and Culture, and has acted as chair or president of half a dozen other organizations, as well as donating extensively to arts institutions and projects across Canada. Hal Jackman ’50 was named winner of the Edmund C. Bovey Award for his outstanding, long-term support of the arts. The award is given by Business for the Arts, a
J. Eric Ford
1931 2009
Dedicated service to his profession, community, and church.
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fter a lengthy illness, J. Eric Ford passed away peacefully on January 15, 2009. Eric graduated from UTS in 1948, and went on to study at Trinity College, Uof T. He enjoyed a long and successful career as a Chartered Accountant with Clarkson Gordon (now Ernst & Young); later in his career, he joined the Sherwood Group (Foster Advertising). For his outstanding career achievements, as well as outstanding service to the community and the profession, Eric was recognized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario as a Fellow of the Institute (FCA). Eric will be remembered for his service as a member of the choir and warden at St. Clement’s Church, as well as his service to the Treasury Board of the Diocese of Toronto. A lover of music and the arts throughout his life, Eric was an accomplished amateur pianist, he sang in choirs and other ensembles from his Trinity days on, and he enjoyed many years in the cast of the spring review of the Arts &
Letters Club. Eric had strong commitments to community service and sat on many boards as chairman – including Delcrest Children’s Centre, Crescent School, the Children Services Review Board and the Canadian Music Centre – as well as participating in fundraising efforts for many charities. He also served as Chancellor of Thornloe College in Sudbury. Eric had a keen sense of the political landscape in Canada and served many years in various advisory roles with the Progressive Conservative Parties of Canada and Ontario, most notably as a personal advisor to Robert Stanfield. He was also a member of the Granite Club and the Albany Club, for which he served the board as member and president over many years. In retirement, he became involved with Living and Learning in Retirement at Glendon College (York University). He is survived by his wife Eleanor (Ashforth), his children Brian, David, and Gail, and his stepchildren Nancy, Jane, and Barbara.
national business association dedicated to increasing partnerships between business and the arts. Hal was recognized for his foundation’s contributions, which have totaled in excess of $12-million, to more than 200 arts and education organizations. George Fierheller ’51 has published Talk of Toronto – Growing Up in a Growing City: The 30s, 40s & 50s (Stewart Publishing & Printing, 2008), a book of reminiscences about growing from a boy to a man during times of huge social change. David Brillinger ’55 received a Doctor of Science honoris causa at the 2008 Fall Convocation of McMaster University. One of his presenters was fellow UTS alum Peter George ’58, President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster.
In January 2009, Peter George ’58 was invested as a Member of the Order of Ontario. This honour recognizes his role as McMaster University’s President and ViceChancellor, as well as his contributions to post-secondary education and the community as an economist and author. Terence Keenleyside ’58 recently published Missing the Bus, Making the Connection, a collection of travel stories and related recipes dealing with universal travel experiences and the small, unexpected moments that are often the highlight of a trip. With humour and insight, Terence explores, in a personal way, the essential character and cuisine of some 20 countries, pairing recipes with tales of his travels. Alan Ruffman ’59, honorary research associate at the Department of Earth Sciences s p r i n g 2009
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JOHN C. SPRAGGE J
1937 2008
A consummate communicator, engaging storyteller, and an excellent listener.
ohn Spragge, Class of 1954, passed away after a long battle with cancer on December 18, 2008. He spent his professional life in broadcasting and communications. His first full-time job (1958-68) was as one of the first Rock & Roll disc jockeys on 1050 CHUM. After a few years with the Radio Sales Bureau and Standard Broadcast Sales, he spent 13 years as Program Director of 1010 CFRB. John completed his broadcasting career at CFCA, CKKW, and CKCO TV. John wrapped up his working life as a public speaker and consultant – addressing meetings, conferences, and conventions across Canada. Throughout his career, John always found the time to use his talents to help those in need: walking in the very of Dalhousie University, is performing collaborative research with the University of Madras in Chennai, India. He and his research team are working on forecasting tsunami threats by studying the patterns
In Memoriam Condolences are extended to the families of these alumni who passed away recently.
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John A. Dickinson ‘30
September 24, 2008
Robert W. Davies ’36
January 20, 2009
first March of Dimes, playing Santa for the Rotary Club, working on restoration projects for summer camps dedicated to children with special needs, and building homes with Habitat for Humanity, to name just a few. Dave Trafford, host of the CFRB 1010 Noon show, remembers John as being “Straightforward and realistic, but not without a sense of humour and a quick smile to put some ballast in the keel. And that was the magic of John Spragge – no matter the format, no matter the audience, no matter the situation, John was the consummate communicator. Sure, he understood how to tell a great story and engage his listener, but, most important, John knew how to make others around him more engaging because he was, first and foremost, an excellent listener.”
of coastal sediment; they will also be doing an in-depth study of the history of tsunamis in the Bay of Bengal. This research and tsunami forecasting ability will lay the foundation for the implementation of Roy Frankel ’44
January 21, 2009
John Gartshore ’44
September 13, 2008
Charles C. Bigelow ’46
November 29, 2008
Dr. Clayton C. Rose ’46
September 16, 2008
J. Eric Ford ’48
January 15, 2009
Donald F. Fawcett ’50
March 7, 2009
George W. Glass ’50
June 25, 2005
David S. Williams ‘50
November 7, 2007
Donald A. Smith ’52
February 8, 2009 February 8, 2009
N. Brock McElheran ’36
September 23, 2008
Donald A. Stewart ’52
John D. McLean ’38
November 14, 2008
Andrew T. C. Griffith ‘54
November 26, 2008
John A. A. Morrison ’41
December 18, 2008
John C. Spragge ’54
December 18, 2008
George Shaw ’42
August 18, 2008
Donald J. Ogner ’60
May 30, 2004
Dr. Cameron G. Hill ’43
August 23, 2008
Douglas B. Dodds ’74
John A. Sarjeant ’43
February 6, 2009
Christopher C. Shaw ’80
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September 14, 2008 October 17, 2008
John will be fondly remembered as an entertainer among his family and friends, and notably for his more than 25 years of weekly News Updates at the Rotary Club of Toronto. In 1985, John was given Rotary’s highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship, as well as a William Peace Award. In 2008, the Rotary Club awarded John a second Paul Harris Fellowship – only the second time in the club’s 96-year history for this to occur. After he retired, John spent a number of years travelling the world, enjoying the activities he loved most, and spending time with the people dearest to him. Partner and best friend to Beverley for more than 50 years, John was the proud father of Suzanne and David, and grandfather to Daniel, Matthew, and Lara. tsunami warning systems and evacuation procedures for future events. David Rounthwaite ’65 joined the Business and Securities Law Group of Miller Thomson LLP as a Toronto partner in January 2009. Peter Allemang, Tim Birnie, John Denham, Steve Marshall, Mark Noskiewicz, and Ian Stock , all Class of 1977, won the Stocker Cup, in a Ryder Cup format golf tournament, against a group of University of Western Ontario alumni. They have played this annual tournament for eight years on courses around southern Ontario and the southern U.S. This year’s tournament was in Pinehurst, North Carolina: UTS won in the fourth game.
uts Alumni News Alumni News
Eric Kert ’80 was promoted to executive tors of NBC’s Lipstick Jungle; they are now (TIFF) cultural Notes onBusiness the and interesting lives anda series outstanding achievementsFilm ofFestival our alumni. vice-president, developing for iTunes. building project. Legal Affairs Noah
of Global Touring and Artist Nation, at Live Nation, the world’s largest live music company. Eric, who was previously senior vicepresident of Business and Legal Affairs for Global Touring, now adds the Artist Nation division to his portfolio. Eric has 18 years of music-industry experience. Rick Marin ’80 and his wife, Ilene Rosenzweig, have moved to Los Angeles to pursue television and film writing. Most recently, they were executive story edi-
Sarah Kramer ’82 was appointed president and chief executive officer of eHealth Ontario, a new provincial agency mandated to deliver clear, measurable, transparent results in improved patient care and safety by harnessing innovation and technology.
has a 25-year history with TIFF; most recently, he was the co-director of TIFF from 2004 until January 2008. In that role, Noah was responsible for the creation of the Vanguard, Future Projections and Mediations programs.
Noah Cowan ’85 was named the artistic director of Bell Lightbox, the much anticipated new Toronto International
Grant Lum ’85 is proud to announce the opening of Athletic Edge Sports Medicine, a multidisciplinary sports medicine and
Donald f. Fawcett
1932 2009
A star athlete, teacher and coach, Don had an uncanny ability to bring out the best in people.
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onald Franklin Fawcett, Class of 1950, passed away on March 7, 2009 at 77 years of age. As a student, he was known for his competitive drive, will to succeed and friendly personality. As a teacher, as well as coach of many teams, he inspired many students to achieve at, or beyond, levels of which they thought themselves capable. After earning degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of California, Don returned to UTS to teach mathematics and physical education – and to coach championship football and basketball teams. In the early ’70s, he left UTS for Uof T’s Faculty of Education, but continued to coach UTS athletes for another three decades. According to former UTS Principal Al Fleming ’54, “During his time at UTS, Don coached football, basketball, hockey, and track and field. While at the Faculty of Education, he continued to coach
UTS football until 1977. During my time as Principal in the ’90s, he came back to coach basketball and tennis. His players will always remember him with tremendous fondness and admiration. He believed in every one of his players, and certainly got the most out of everyone. A most remarkable figure in UTS history – and probably its best coach.” Don’s success as a coach came in part from his success as an athlete. During his long and illustrious athletic career as a student, he frequently made newspaper headlines and won numerous awards for basketball, track and field, football, and squash. Don was inducted into the Uof T Hall of Fame in 1996 as a Sport Builder. Don was a mentor to countless people during his life – particularly to students and colleagues at UTS, the Red Cross, the squash community and the Faculty of Education. He had an uncanny ability to bring out the best in people.
Throughout his life, he demonstrated numerous qualities that established him as an exemplary individual, including intelligence, athleticism, sportsmanship, infectious enthusiasm, humanity in dealing with others, high personal standards and, above all, a constant fortitude that allowed him to overcome obstacles and challenges. He leaves behind his children – Taylor, Leesa, and Dana – and grandsons Joshua Fawcett Weiner, Eli and Jeremiah Bach, and Jonah and Shaw White. The Fawcett family has asked that all donations be directed to The Don Fawcett Award at UTS, which was established in 1988 by the Class of 1962. This award is given to a first- or second-year student who exemplifies many of the qualities that Don himself incorporated into his life, and who has attempted to achieve significant goals in at least three of the following areas: academic studies, music, art, literary activities, athletics, citizenship, and leadership. s p r i n g 2009
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Charles Cross Bigelow
1928 2008
A keen interest in science, politics, and environmental issues.
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harles (Charlie) Bigelow of Victoria passed away on November 25, 2008 of complications following a fall and subsequent surgery. A UTS graduate, Class of 1946, Charlie went to the Royal Military College in Kingston as a member of the Class of the First 100 (2835), receiving a diploma in chemical engineering in 1952. He also received a B.A.Sc. in chemical engineering from Uof T, as well as an M.Sc. in 1955 and a Ph.D. (in physical chemistry) in 1957, both from McMaster University. After completing grad school, he worked in the field of protein chemistry at a number of important institutions – including the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen and The Sloane-Kettering Institute in New York. Charlie started his teaching career at the University of Alberta, then spent a decade workexecutive health facility in Toronto’s financial district. Grant also blogs for “Your Health”, CTV.ca’s heath blog, at http:// healthblog.ctv.ca/healthblog. John Caldwell ’87 and his wife Susan are delighted to announce the arrival of their beautiful baby Katherine, born on October 22, 2008. Their other daughter, Amelia, is slowly getting accustomed to her new role as a big sister for little Katie. Kirsten Fertuck ’94 and Chris Payton ’94 are delighted to announce the birth of their baby boy, James Alexander, on April 8, 2008. James Cowan ’94 and his wife Mary were thrilled to welcome their daughter, Madeline Grace Vallis Cowan, into the world on September 8, 2008. Viktor Pregel ’94 and his wife Katherine welcomed their baby boy, Alexander Thomas, in September 2008.
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ing as a professor of biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario. He was head of biochemistry at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland (1974-1977), Dean of Science at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1977-1979), and from 1979 to 1989, he held the position he loved the most: Dean of Science at the University of Manitoba. On stepping down from the deanship a year before the end of his term – “Always leave before they want you to” – he was named a senior scholar and Dean Emeritus of the university, and later became Provost of University College at the Uof M. Throughout his administrative career, he remained an active researcher and influential teacher. Charlie was politically involved both in and out of universities. In 1972, he was elected president of the Canadian Association
of University Teachers (CAUT). He was also president of the Nova Scotia NDP (1978-1979) and the Manitoba NDP (1982-1984). Charlie’s political awareness and scientific background naturally led him to environmental education. He was very early in his identification of global warming as a real and serious problem and, as the self-declared local expert on the hole in the ozone, he was often invited speak before groups of teachers and other interested parties. He loved the challenge of a good crossword puzzle, and he became a legend the day he declared that the answer to “13 Across” was “rodomontade”. Charlie and Elizabeth travelled extensively, most recently to San Francisco to be in the United States for the historic Obama election. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth (Sellick), and children David and Ann.
Jessica Lee Ware Huff ’95 received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in June 2008. She began a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where her husband Jeremy works. In November 2008, Jessica was honoured at the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America, winning both the Comstock Award for outstanding graduate student achievement and the Snodgrass Memorial Award for outstanding doctoral thesis focused on the subject of evolution or morphology. Jessica and Jeremy are also happy to share the news of the birth of their second daughter, Zora, in July 2008.
Gormley (guitar and vocals), and Andrew Neill (bass and vocals). For upcoming show information, visit www.myspace.com/ daylightfordeadeyesmusic.
Andrew Neill ’97’s band, Daylight for Deadeyes, performed a concert at UTS to a thrilled student and staff audience in December 2008. Formed in 2003, Daylight for Deadeyes is a melodic, hard-hitting rock & roll three-piece band featuring Chris Gormley (drums and lead vocals), Matt
Tegan Shohet ’97, a career lawyer, made her directorial debut with the play Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me at the Berkley Street Theatre Upstairs in December 2008. Her legal experience includes working with the lead Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague; on the
uts Alumni News Alumni News
theatrical side, she has trained with the Notes onofthe interesting lives and outstanding achievements of our alumni. Royal Academy Dramatic Art as well as Soulpepper Theatre. Alex Eddington ’98 was selected for the Urjo Kareda Residency at Tarragon Theatre for its 2008-09 season. The much coveted residency is awarded to emerging theatre artists in Toronto. Alex will be shadowing composers and sound designers on several theatre productions, as well as writing a new play about zoo elephants. Vallabh Muralikrishnan ’00 published his first paper – entitled “Optimization by Simulated Annealing” – in the June/ July issue of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) Risk Review. In November 2008, he also spoke on Portfolio Optimization at the International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers conference. Christopher Kim ’02 has completed the two-year investment banking analyst program at Goldman Sachs and has moved to San Francisco to work for tech private equity firm Francisco Partners.
After graduating from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Computing with a subject of specialization in Software Design, Nick Roberts ’05 will be moving to Seattle in August to begin a position at Microsoft as a Program Manager in Windows Live Search. Andrew Chan ’08, UTS’ 2007-2008 Male Athlete of the Year, is playing on the starting roster of the University of Western Ontario’s Varsity Men’s Soccer team in his freshman year. Alex Poutiainen ’08 was recently featured on CBC News Vancouver in recognition of his stop-motion video entitled “Rise and Fall of the Nazi Dinosaurs”, which has become a hit on YouTube. As a result of this exposure, Alex has been invited to show his video at festivals being held in Barcelona, London, and Sarajevo.
Chris C. Shaw
1964 2008
Math and computer prodigy remembered for his sense of humour, his extraordinary mind, and his dedication to friends and family.
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hristopher Charles Shaw, Class of 1980, succumbed to impossible medical challenges on October 17, 2008. His brilliance with computer software systems, beginning at age 12, was the focal interest in his working life, and his thirst for knowledge and information in his leisure time brought him a large circle of people whose lives he touched in many ways. Chris’s remarkable talents began to show at the age of two: he learned the alphabet in two days, followed by phonics in a week, and was reading by age three. At age six, he could multiply up to eight-digit numbers in his head in a very short time, and had the distinction of beating a Grand Master Chess champion. Chris entered UTS at age ten. He was a founding member of the UTS “Pi and Other Mathematical Constant Memorization Club”, which required memorization of the first 50 decimal digits of Pi; always an overachiever, Chris went on to memorize Pi to 3,000 digits. One of his close friends, John Chew ’81, remembers that Chris “was always finding cool math ideas and toys, and pushing us to do our very best to beat him.” One of these was “The Brain”: a clear plastic cylindrical puzzle with eight black control rods. “In order to unlock it,” John recalls, “you had to be able to move the rods in a particular sequence of 128 moves – which Chris had memorized and could do
in about ten seconds, though it made you dizzy to watch. That sequence is based on the Gray binary code, which has proven to be very useful to me professionally. Every time I use it, I think of Chris and The Brain.” Chris had a lifelong love for these kinds of puzzles. In fact, he could look at the status of any Rubik’s cube and then complete it blindfolded or behind his back in seconds; he often entertained children with tricks like this. Chris accepted the Rene Descartes scholarship award from University of Waterloo; after two years, he left university to earn a living doing computer programming. He travelled extensively while performing contract and consulting work, finally “settling down” at age 40 when he met his life-partner, Shelley Camm. Shelley, who breeds and shows Corgi dogs, introduced him to a whole new world beyond that of the mind. Like all of Chris’s passions, his love for the Corgis was intense, and he dedicated himself to the betterment of the breed, becoming a founding member and vice president of the Ontario Cardigan Fanciers. All who knew him loved his dry sense of humour, his sparkle, his extraordinary mind, and his dedication to his friends and family. Chris is survived by his partner Shelley, his sister Sarah Behan (nee Shaw) ’85, and his parents, Michael and Brenda Shaw. s p r i n g 2009
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The class of
1948 Front Row [L-R]: John Bowden, Bruce Maclean (former staff), Norm Fox (former staff) Second: Hugh AnsonCartwright, Reg Perkin, Fergie Kyle, Meredith Coates, Keith Dalglish
Alumni Dinner Another wonderful evening of reunions, catching up, and much merriment
The class of
1968
Front Row [L-R]: Gordon Deska, Paul Thomson, John Hutchinson, John Collins, Wayne Jones, Paul Burke Second: Matthew Dryer, John Booth, Bruce Gibson, William Barnett, Keiler Mackay Third: Nick Holland, Stewart Wright, Jim Smith, Wayne Maddever
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Illustration: Cheryl Graham; istockphoto.com
2008
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The class of
1973
Front Row [L-R]: John Bertram, Jeffrey Clayton, John Chidley-Hill, Dave Dodds, Nicol MacNicol, John Elford Second: Jaak Reichmann, Bernie McGarva, Bob Hudyma, Don Moore, Ian Kent, Bill Wilkins
1 Ursula Hendel ’88 and Deanne Williams ’88 2 Peter Neilson ’71, and Bernie McGarva ’72 3 Chad Bark ’43, and Derek Bate ’44
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4 Chaim Bell ’88 and Greg Payne ’88
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The class of
1978
Front Row [L-R]: John Robson, Penny Harbin, Laurie Graham, Stephanie Kimmerer, Peeter Reichman, Iva Vranic, Susan Dance, Deborah Berlyne, Seana Evans-Renaud, Christine Crowell Second: Shelley Tepperman, Irene Cybulsky, Ann Pennington, Laurie McLean, Kay Giggie, Allison MacDuffee, Timothy Sellers, Kenneth Kirsh, Ann Louise Vehovec, Victor Nishi, David Allan, John Wilkinson Third: Daniel Gordon, Timothy Evans, Donald Redelmeier, Douglas Rankin, Rodney Northey, John Rose, Susan Reece-Eidlitz, John Visosky, Audrey Marton, Susan Lawson, Monica Biringe
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The class of
1983
Front Row [L-R]: Kathryn Jones, Robin Bloomfield, Elizabeth Turner, Heidi Ragsdale, Beatrice Upenieks, Liz Stefan, Jill Strapp Second: Earl Stuart, Neill May, John Hass, Christopher Bogart, Raina Feldman, Andrew Tremayne, Rafe Angell, Sam Barkin
1 Jim Mills ’58, David Haldenby ’53, Martin Gammack ’53 2 Anne Han ’98 and Eric Tang ’98 3 Irene Cybulsky ’78 and Susan ReeceEidlitz ’78
2
1
3
The class of
1988 30
th e root : t h e ut s a lu m n i m a g a z i n e
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s p r i n g 2009
Front Row [L-R]: Greg McDonald, Rubina Khan, Vanessa Yolles, Kristina Bates, Sujit Choudhry, Anthony Foss, Angie Chan Second: Olaf Weckesser, Deanne Williams, Sue Rauth, Cynthia Hawkins, Sarah Gordon, Ursula Hendel, James Chang Third: Chaim Bell, Peter Furnish, Lenny Karmiol, Carmen Diges, Greg Payne, Cecilia Sun, David McMillen, Jennifer Andersen Koppe, Hilary Jacob
The class of
1998
Front Row [L-R]: Sabastian Kun, Brian Yung, Mark Callan, Stephanie Ma, Elizabeth Ben-Ishai, Ramesh Dharan, Eric Barnhorst, Clarence Cheng Second: Zachary Dubinsky, Anne Han, Siobhan Anderson, Lessa Nosko, Lauren Bialystok, Brian Li, Eric Tang, Victor Rehorst, Nicole Pivnick, Michelle Cohen, Peter Psiachos, Joyce Poon Third: Linus Yung, Alex Eddington, Danny Kastner, Eli Fidler, Chetan Raina, Ian Speers, Monica Lavers, Norman Farb
4 Three UTSAA presidents: Nick Smith ’63, Peter Frost ’64 and George Crawford ’72
4
5 Mark Walker ’07, Doug Peter ’58 and Bob Lord ’58
5
6 Eli Fidler ’98, Mary Collins, Alex Eddington ’98, Clarence Cheng ’98 and Chetan Raina ’98
6
The class of
2003
Front Row [L-R]: Imola Major, Arielle Cheifetz Second: Jeremy Opolsky, Carol King, Michelle Chan, Elsie Lo, Kevin Bao Third: Emily Ross, Jonathan Lung, Gordon Wong, Yvonne Chang
s p r i n g 2009
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t h e u t s a l u m n i m a g a z i n e : t h e root
31
Looking Back
Celebrate
From the
Archives: TOP The UTS Senior Hockey Team (1918-1919) trounced the Regina Pats 14-3 and 15-5 to win the inaugural Memorial Cup. Bill Finlay, sports editor of the Winnipeg Free Press at the time, wrote that: “UTS’ nifty young machine cantered through their opponents in such a commanding style... to outclass them from stem to stern.” right In 1977, a group of Level Two (Grade 10) students engage in “Car Stuffing” – the object of which was to see how many students could fit in a small car. The vehicle of choice for this “sport” was an old VW bug, like the one pictured here.
100 Years! of U TS in 2009
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