PUBLISHED BY lications Mail Agre TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITOR Christopher Petty, mfa'86 ASSISTANT EDITOR Vanessa Clarke PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Adrien * ART DIRECTOR Elisa r—i— BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR Martin Erd, bsc'93, llb VICE-CHAIR Doug Robinson, BCOM'71, llb'jz TREASURER Ian Robertson, BSC'86, ba'88, mba, ma MEMBERS AT LARGE '06 - '09 Gayle Stewart, BA'yfi MEMBERS AT LARGE '04 - '07 Don Dalik, bcom, LLB'76 Ron Walsh, BA^o MEMBERS AT LARGE '05 - 'OS Mark Mawhinney, BA'94 APPOINTMENTS '06 - '07 Louise Tagulao, ba'oz on, ba, mba'o6 BA, MSC'87 SENIOR ADMINISTRATION REPRESENTATIVE '06 - '07 Dennis Pavlich, ba, llb, llm FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE Sally Thorne, BSN*79, MSN'83, phd n Keystone Louman-Gardiner, BA'04, LLB'07 iTiarie Earl, AB, MLA(Sranford) TREK EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Michelle Aucoin C Elisa Cachero A Vanessa Clarke P Gavin Dew F Marie Earl C IKatz * " Macrae Herbert Rosengart Robbin Simao Gayle Stewart Magazine (fc shed three times a year by the UBC Alumni Association and distributed free of charge to UBC alumni and friends. Opinions expressed in the magazine do not spondence to: 6251 Cecil Green Park Road, couver, BC, Canada v6t 1Z1 e-mail to chris.petty@ubc.ca CONTACT NUMBERS AT UBC 604.822.892.1 alumni. association@ubc. ca k Editor UBC Info Line Belkin Gallery Bookstore Chan Centre Frede-;-w—JTU- 604.822.8914 604.822.4636 604.822.2759 604.822.2665 604.822.2697 604.822.2678 604.822.5087 5 Take Note 15 The Big Chair Awaits It's election time for UBC's senior volunteer administrator. By Chris Petty 17 Furniture with a Future When the Chancellor presides over Congregation at UBCO, he or she will be sitting pretty. By Bud Mortenson 19 Sing, Sing a Song Writing a song is one thing. Singing it in public is another. By Carla Elm Clement 22 Manorexia We tend to think of anorexia as a women's disease. Not so. By Vanessa Clarke 25 An Okanagan Gerentopia For Canada's seniors, the Okanagan has become one of the healthiest places to live. By Mary Ann Murphy 28 Grad Profiles Two examples of the UBC talent pool. By Bud Mortenson and Lorraine Chan 30 What it Takes to Win Collaborative research brings people together and solves big problems. By John Corry 40 Cortona and the Tasty Treats of Tuscany Travelling with alumni in the land of Under the Tuscan Sun. By Chris Petty 34 Books 37 Alumni News 42 Class Acts 44 T-Bird News 48 In Memoriam ^y "On your marks, get set. Cover: Waiting by the pool. Cover, opposite: Getty Images Summer 2007 Trek 3 SPRING WEDDINGS, HILLTOP COCKTAILS & VITREOUS DETACHMENT Working at a place like ubc can be quite absorbing. Being around brilliant minds doing world-class work draws one's attention. And the place itself is pretty spectacular. It's a little city with great theatre, music and art, a couple of good restaurants and taverns, and enough services to get you through a week or two without ever having to leave campus. But I don't live here and I have a life outside the university (I like to think) that is interesting and creative in its own right. UBC, however, doesn't stop at the gates. It's hard to pick up a newspaper without reading about the accomplishments of our researchers, the community activism or athletic achievements of our students or the successes of our alumni. Some years ago, the New York Times had a two- page expose on one of our grads who had operated a huge scam fleecing thousands of people out of millions of dollars. UBC grads, it seems, excel at whatever they put their minds to, even on the dark side. That UBC is everywhere came at me from three different directions lately, each one a bit unexpected, and each welcome. The first was at a wedding reception I attended in May. Blissful couple, glorious day, wonderful view from a deck high up in West Van. I started up a conversation with a fellow leaning up against a rail, watching the city far below, and eventually reeled off my shorthand summary of what I do for a living. "Trek Magazine," he said. "I get it. Great magazine. I get two other university mags, but Trek's the only one I read. Loved the story about the rabbit (Spring, 2007). Cover was a bit creepy, though." I laughed and thanked him, and agreed about the cover. And chuckled to myself about how small the world is and how we never really know the impact we have on other people. The next incident came in Cortona, Italy, in June. I was prepared to talk about UBC a bit, since I was on a tour with a group of alumni (see page 40) as the official host, though I wasn't prepared for the intensity. Maybe it was because they were all of an age (over 50), and were reflecting kindly upon those things that shaped their lives, but I found myself more than once sitting out on the patio overlooking the majestic valley that sweeps down the hill from Cortona, sipping cocktails and listening to stories about old professors; tut-tutting over favourite haunts now forever gone; or, in one case, reliving the wistful reminiscence of a long-lost love. One grad was particularly excited about a fundraising project meant to honour his father, who had served as a professor and dean for many years. I was struck by their fondness for UBC and by the sense of pride they felt for their old school. The most recent UBC intrusion on my life came just a few weeks ago. I was driving in my car, minding my own business, when I noticed from the corner of my eye what seemed like a shadow pass over my shoulder. I immediately thought of Twilight Zone terrors, and looked quickly around, but nothing was there. The shadow turned out to be inside my eye, and by the evening I was certain I had a detached retina. Freak out. I called an eye doctor and described my problem (flashes of light, a shadow in my peripheral vision), and she said, "Go to the UBC Eye Centre at VGH. Now." It turns out that the Eye Centre is the place to go for eye problems, and one of the best on the continent. UBC resident Dr. Peter Zakrzewski put me through an extremely stressful series of exams, splashing my eyeballs with stinging dyes and liquids, flashing sun-bright lights on my retinas and generally making me realize how much I take things like my sight for granted. "Vitreous detachment," he said, "fairly normal. The eye's vitreous shrinks over time (read: as you get older!) and pulls away from the retina. Sometimes the fibres that attach the two break away and become big floaters and cause light flashes." Then, without a hint of irony, he said, "Keep an eye on it. If it happens again, come see us." Sure will, Doc. Ubiquitous. Maybe that's what "UBC" should stand for. I Chris Petty, mfa'86, editor 4 Trek Summer 2007 Pierre Berube is looking for clean, affordable drinking water. Water, Water, Everywhere □ Fresh, clean water is becoming an increasingly valued commodity, especially when its supply is threatened. When severe weather affected the watersheds and precipitated an advisory to boil water this winter, Vancouverites were reminded that potable tap water can't be taken for granted. Trust in treatment facilities have been shaken by incidents like Walkerton, when E.coli found its way into the water supply with tragic results. Drinking bottled water or using domestic filters are solutions resorted to by many. But these measures don't address the maintenance of a reliable and safe tap water supply, which is dependent on source, treatment and method of distribution. Pierre Berube, a UBC professor of Civil Engineering, is making a difference to the treatment side of the equation. He is developing a new component for membrane-based water filtration systems to help them work more economically. Available for the past decade, these membrane-based systems are an improvement on their much larger sand-based predecessors and are typically used in municipalities where the supply of water comes from rivers rather than rainfall or snowmelt. Miles of river mean that there are more opportunities for impurities to affect the supply. The membrane system is able to filter out 99.999 per cent of these, but can be prohibitively expensive. "We're very lucky here in the Lower Mainland because our water comes from small, well protected watersheds," says Berube, who took his research further afield, embarking on a project with the City of Kamloops and the company that developed the leading membrane-filtration technology, Zenon (since acquired by ge). He and his team have produced a micro- probe to help optimize membrane filter performance which could translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for communities like Kamloops. Membrane-based filtration systems are comprised of thousands of polymer-coated fibres forming two-metre long hollow tubes about the size of spaghetti. These are placed vertically in tanks through which the source water passes. Suction is applied at one end to force water through tiny apertures in the tube walls, leaving impurities on the outside. Air is applied at the other end, causing bubbles to move up through the tubes, attach to the outside of the tubes and remove the deposits. But it's difficult to ascertain exactly how the process works. "Since we could only measure how pure the water was coming out of the other end, we had no idea which part of the process - the bubble size, flow path or fibre denseness, for example - was contributing to better filtration," says Berube. The microbes his team devised are Teflon-coated platinum. They collect data on water flow, bubbles and other components of the filtration process to allow for an optimized performance and reduction of operating costs. So far, the research suggests that fibres simply bumping into one another may have more bearing on cleaning than the air bubbles. Since aeration accounts for a large chunk of filtration costs, its replacement by this com- Photograph: Martin Dee Summer 2007 Trek 5 take note Professor Berube's water filtration system paratively simple mechanical alternative could bode substantial savings and make membrane filtration a viable financial option for smaller municipalities. Turning the Peptide □ Once our front-line defense against infection, antibiotics are becoming increasingly impotent as resistant strains of bacteria continue to surface. With infections responsible for a third of all fatalities worldwide, another therapy is desperately needed. A collaboration between UBC researchers and university spinoff company Inimex Pharmaceuticals may have already discovered one in the form of a peptide that boosts the body's immune system. "The beauty of this peptide is that it acts on the host to trigger a protective response and doesn't act on bacteria directly. That means it's unlikely bacteria will become resistant to it," says Robert Hancock, principal investigator and Canada Research Chair in Pathogenomics and Antimicrobials. The team refers to its discovery as the innate defense regulator peptide (idr-i), and have researched its effectiveness in combating the superbug vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (vre), Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella. With Salmonella, idr-i provided increased protection against infection if administered before it occurred. Infections involving the first two bacteria were compromised by the peptide, whether administered one or two days before or four hours after infection occurs. The research divulged lower bacteria counts and decreased mortality. The researchers discovered that the peptide stimulates chemokines, chemicals that are active in an immune response. The peptide's other advantage is that it doesn't produce the inflammation or toxicity that is often associated with an immune response. The team thinks the therapy could be used in addition to antibiotics in fighting infections that commonly arise in hospital settings, such as those associated with surgery, or insertion of medical devices. "We now have a powerful new tool that will allow us to stop infection before it starts. It's a new concept in treating infection," says Hancock. The new therapy is timely. Every year in North America 70,000 people die from antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals. Salmonella infects 1.3 million people every year in the us, claiming up to 100 lives. "We're looking at a crisis in 10 years as most bugs will be resistant to most antibiotics. There's an urgent need to develop new tools," says microbiologist Brett Finlay, one of the paper's authors who co-founded Inimex with Hancock in 2001. Cool Catalyst □ It has long been known that the tropics have more bird and animal species than areas with temperate climates. And it has long been assumed that this discrepancy is due to a higher rate of speciation (one species splitting into two) in warmer environments. But research completed by Zoology phd candidate Jason Weir and his mentor, professor Dolph Schluter, director of UBC's Biodiversity Research Centre, is turning this assumption on its head. The team researched the genetic history of more than 600 species present in the Americas over the past several million years. They concluded that speciation was slower in the tropics. "Our analysis shows that new species actually evolve faster as we move towards the poles. It would take one species in the tropics three to four million years to evolve into two distinct species, whereas at 60 degrees latitude, it could take as little as one million years," says Weir. So what accounts for the tropics having more species? Weir says that accompanying the greater speciation rate at higher latitudes, is a greater extinction rate, probably caused by bigger fluctuations in climate. "Even though there is a lower speciation rate in the tropics, the stable environment contributes to an equally low extinction rate," he says. "As a result, more species survive. This could help explain why 6 Trek Summer 2007 Photographs: Martin Dee generally there are more species in warmer climates." Competitive Politics Attracts Voters □ The 2004 general election in Canada saw a voter turnout of just 60.5 per cent, the lowest participation in a national election since Confederation in 1867. Although this decline (since 1988 when voter turnout was 75 per cent) has been across all age groups, it is most pronounced in the younger age brackets. A study by political scientists examining voter patterns in Canadian federal ridings between 1988 and 2004 argues that the decrease in turnout relates to the competitiveness of the political arena. Between 1993, when Kim Campbell's progressive Conservative government was soundly beaten by the Liberals, and 2003 when the Conservative party regained its strength, the Liberals hold on the reins remained relatively unchallenged. "For a long time there was never any real sense that the Liberals would lose an election," says Amanda Bittner, a phd candidate at UBC. "Voters who began coming of age in the 1990s were exposed to a political world in which competition was weak, in which the local result was commonly a foregone conclusion. Only in 2004 was some of that damage repaired." Turnout increased to 65 per cent for the 2006 federal election. But damage in terms of poor turnout among the young electorate lingered. "The first couple of elections are crucial for shaping the habits of new voters," says Bittner. "The evidence suggests that people who start out in a non-competitive political environment don't ever become regular voters. Our models predict that even once things become more competitive, a lag occurs because those who have already been socialized as non-voters don't suddenly start voting. Basically, the cause is structural, and the cure is also structural, but it may never fix the damage that was done for the '90s generation of non-voters." Called Alienation, Indifference, Competitiveness and Turnout: Evidence from Canada, 1988-2004, the research paper challenges the common assumption that low turnout among Canada's young electorate is down to differ ences in generational culture. "The massive decline is so large a shift and it just happens to coincide with a shift in the party system," says Bittner. The research may encourage a rethink on how best to engage young Canadians in national politics. The paper's co-authors are Scott Matthews, who graduated from UBC with his phd before becoming a Political Science professor at Queen's University, and Richard Johnston, former department head at UBC now based at the University of Pennsylvania. Even the Cockroaches are Goners □ DEET-laden insect repellent, pesticides with toxic run-off: is it really worth it just to avoid a few holes in a cabbage leaf or some pesky insects? Anyone who has encountered black fly in the wilds of Ontario, or cases of mosquito- borne West Nile Virus in their local vicinity, would likely argue that it is. But wouldn't it be nice if someone could invent an organic insect repellent that does what it's supposed to but is harmless to humans? This goal, elusive for decades, has been met by a project involving professor of Entomology and Toxicology Murray Isman and Nashville- based botanicals company, Ecosmart. When it approached Isman, the company had already developed an effective and safe insect repellent using common essential oils but did not fully understand how or why it worked. Isman was asked to fill in the blanks and help the company develop its promising new product. He reached the conclusion that the essential oils (including peppermint, rosemary and thyme) block a receptor for a neurotransmitter, octopamine which is present in invertebrates but not in mammals. Octopamine affects metabolism, heart rate and movement in insects. "Basically it has a calming effect on the insect, like its own supply of Valium. Blocking octopamine causes hyperactivity and quickly leads to death," explains Isman. The product is effective against many insects commonly found in households, including cockroaches and pet fleas, and agricultural applications are also possible. The ingredients are non-toxic to fish and break down naturally within 24 hours in water. The new product, also called Ecosmart, is now available in the us. The demand for such products there is growing, to the extent that Walmart has announced plans to phase out 20 toxic chemical ingredients from its shelves. In •11T% Professor Murray Isman helped develop an effective insect repell ellent. ^ Summer 2007 Trek 7 take note Canada, all new pest-control products, even those with apparently benign and familiar ingredients, must first have approval from Health Canada, but Isman is hoping the product will eventually become registered here for use on greenhouse vegetables. Promising Research for New Cancer Therapies □ A discovery by stem cell and cancer researchers at UBC has presented a new approach for research into the treatment and prevention of metastatic breast and ovarian cancers. Metastatic cancers are those that spread from an original disease site to invade other areas of the body. The researchers have learned that a protein called podocalyxin, already noted as a predictor of metastatic breast cancer, plays a previously unknown role in the spread of cancer by changing the characteristics of tumour cells to facilitate their growth and movement from the original site. "We believe we've found a new, important culprit in metastatic breast cancer, which opens up an entirely new avenue of cancer research," says associate professor of Cellular and Physiological Science Calvin Roskelley, co-principal investigator. "The culprit is hiding in plain sight on the surface of tumour cells, so we are now developing 'smart' molecules to block its function. The ultimate goal is to generate new targeted, non-toxic treatments. Very different from the standard 'slash and burn' chemotherapy." The tumorous cells in a cancerous growth are bound at the site by adhesion molecules. The podocalyxin protein expands the non- adhesive surface area of tumour cells, making it easier for them to break away and cause damage elsewhere. It also causes them to develop structures called Microvilli that enable movement. And it is implicated in the presence of another protein, nherf-i, also believed to play a role in cancer growth and spread. The research team (whose other principal in- Anthropology professor Zhichun Jing studies old civilizations to solve today's problems. vestigator is Kelly McNagny, associate professor of Medical Genetics) plans to use animal models to advance the research and will collaborate with the Drug Research and Development Centre on campus to translate it into new therapies, hopefully available within the next decade. Collapse of Civilizations □ Human civilizations have risen, then fallen, for millennia. Causes behind their collapse have included war, drought, natural disaster, disease, overpopulation, and economic disruption. What clues can we find from the ancient past to inform the sustainability of our modern societies? Assistant professor of Anthroplolgy Zhichun Jing is a specialist in how humans and ecological systems in early China have interacted and is exploring the outcomes of these relationships in terms of a civilization's longevity. He is seeking answers in the Yellow River Valley at the sites of cities that were thriving during the late Shang Dynasty, between 1200 and 1050 BC. "We'll be studying the people's responses and strategies to environmental changes, either climatic or human-induced," says Jing, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Asia-Pacific Archeology. "We'll also be investigating the changing biodiversity." The data he collects will represent 6000 years- worth of Chinese history, from the establishment of urban centres to their eventual decline during China's Bronze Age (2000-771 bc). Gathering information that spans thousands of years will provide a bigger picture than modern data alone. "The archaeological record encodes hundreds of situations in which societies were able to develop sustainable relationships with their environments, and thousands of situations in which the relationships with their environments were mutually destructive," says Jing, who hopes the research will provide useful insights for those trying to create models of sustainability for today's societies. "The long-term perspective may help us better understand and evaluate current environmental debates, interpretations and even policies," he says. China is a case in point, with potentially huge environmental problems looming. Jing hopes research like his will help policy-makers choose far-sighted courses of action and discourage kneejerk responses to the immediate demands of rapid growth. Trek Summer 2007 Photograph: Martin Dee The approach will be a multidisciplinary one, encompassing Archaeology, Geology, Isotope Chemistry and Palynology (the study of pollen and spores). Plant remains, lake sediment and prehistoric settlements will all come under scrutiny. To Buy, or Not to Buy? □ A recent Sauder School of Business study has concluded that, on average, homeowners in Canada's metropolitan areas acquire more wealth in the long-term than do renters, although the latter group may be able to amass as much wealth if alternative investment is conducted with insight and discipline. Variables like housing and rental markets, type and amount of investment, investment fees, and type of mortgage determine the size of the wealth gap between the two groups. "For renters to accumulate the same amount of wealth as owners, they must be extremely diligent savers, invest in a high yield instrument, do so with minimal fees, and have the good fortune to live in one of the cities where the right combination of low rents and/or low house price growth allows them to invest more in a relatively higher return asset," says the study's lead author and specialist in real estate finance Tsur Somerville. Called Are Renters Being Left Behind? Homeownership and Wealth Accumulation in Canadian Cities, the study focuses on nine cities over the period 1979 to 2006 and compares the wealth accumulated by people who paid a monthly mortgage, with that of people who chose to invest the equivalent of a home down payment, plus the monthly difference between rental and mortgage costs. In the case of cities like Toronto and Calgary, with fast-rising house prices and high rents, renters did not have enough income left over for investments that would lead to greater wealth than that of homeowners. Yet in Vancouver, which has the most expensive properties in the country, renters could do at least as well as homeowners if they invested the whole difference in cost between rent and a mortgage payment into the Toronto Stock Exchange and avoided high fees. In Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal and Regina, A Look Back and a Look Ahead Martin Ertl, BSc'93, LLB Chair, UBC Alumni Association With my term as Chair of the Association's Board of Directors coming to an end, I would like to reflect on the past six years and look ahead to the opportunities and challenges the Board faces. When I first joined the Board, our organization was involved in a process of talks that would culminate in the signing of an agreement between the Association and the UBC administration. Former president Martha Piper was dedicated to improved alumni relationships, and VP Students Brian Sullivan stayed with the process through all its permutations, and the Board ensured that the interests of the Association, and of UBC's alumni, were carefully guarded. The resulting agreement and current growth in alumni programs and services are strong testaments to the vision and hard work of everyone involved. Promisingly, UBC President Stephen Toope is committed to developing an even stronger alumni voice at UBC. How a university relates to its alumni is an indication of its maturity as an institution. A young university often has little time for its graduates, focussed as it is on the problems of creation and growth. Later, it awakens to the fact that many alumni want to "give something back" to their alma mater, and begin the process of cultivation for fundraising purposes. Later still, a university realizes that its graduates want to give more than just cash because they have expertise, time and a desire to help the institution - and its current students - in a competitive world. Universities then enlist these experts to help in the machinery of higher education. Only with the wisdom of age, then, does a university understand the real value of its alumni and begin to treat them not as customers but as members of a common community. At UBC, we have reached this stage. It's no longer enough to just solicit our grads' time, talent and treasure. We are now offering value back to our alumni, making sure they know that the benefits of a UBC education did not end when they walked across the stage at convocation. This subtle change in focus hasn't happened at once, but has accrued slowly. It continues to develop with the hard work of both alumni and university personnel. We're now experiencing the happy confluence of an exceptional UBC administration, an energized professional Alumni Affairs staff, and a talented group of alumni committed to establishing strong links between UBC and its graduates. This combination gives us the tools to create the most active alumni community in Canada, and the chance to be as successful in that regard as the best universities in North America. Professor Toope has created a new Vice President Development and Alumni Engagement portfolio, signalling his belief that engaged alumni are essential to the university's success. As engaged alumni, we have a responsibility to be active ambassadors by spreading the university's message and helping build public and government support, which is critical to advancing UBC's educational and research mission. I wish the Board of Directors every success in working with UBC's senior leadership team to build UBC's reputation and to enhance the value of our UBC degrees. I would like to thank Marie Earl and the professional staff at Alumni Affairs for their incredible work over the past six years, and for their tireless dedication to the cause. I would also like to send a special thanks to the members who have volunteered their time and talents to the Alumni Association's Board of Directors. Our Board members have provided inspired strategic guidance to both the Association and the Alumni Affairs office, and have worked to build a stronger relationship between UBC and its almost 250,000 alumni. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as Chair during this exciting time in the history of the university and the Alumni Association. Tuum Est. Summer 2007 Trek 9 take note conditions are even more favourable for renters who invest wisely. But the report concludes that in every city, taking into account all the variables, homeowners acquire more wealth on average than renters. Other factors contributing to these findings include favourable tax policies for homeowners. "It's not that renters cannot build wealth similar to that of owners," says Somerville, "but it requires a level of discipline and sophistication in investing that most North American households have shown themselves unable to achieve. The significant benefit of home-ownership for individuals is that a mortgage effectively forces them to save and build equity through mortgage payments." Ancient Plants □ The origin and evolution of flowering plants poses a puzzle that Charles Darwin once referred to as an "abominable mystery." But some of the missing pieces can now be put in place thanks to an international research project led by associate professor Sean Graham of UBC's Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. The researchers discovered that an ancient aquatic flowering plant, hydatellaceae, has been incorrectly classified as a relative of grasses and rushes. A close study of its molecular structure and dna sequence evidence, however, revealed that the aquatic plant is closely related to the water lily, indicating it has a more ancient lineage than once thought. "For more than a century, scientists have been piecing together the details of the rapid rise and early diversification of flowering plants," says Graham. "Discovering this living plant's ancient heritage makes us re-evaluate our understanding of early flowering-plant evolution. For botanists, this is like finding something you thought was a lizard is actually a living dinosaur." Hydatellaceae range in size but the smallest grow to only one or two centimetres in height. They're typically found in freshwater swamps or pools. The narrow, pointed shape of the leaves had led botanists to classify them as monocots, a group that includes flowering grasses and palms. The work of Graham and Tania Lam is developing rehab strategies for for patients with spinal cord injuries his phd students Hardeep Rai and Jeffery Saarela (the latter now based at the Canadian Museum of Nature) places hydatellaceae in an older botanical line that put down roots more than 135 million years ago. Hydatellaceae are native to New Zealand, Australia and India. As well as receiving support from UBC's department of Botany and its Biodiversity Research Centre, Graham collaborated with botanists from Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden, and researchers based at the universities of Zurich, Harvard, and California, Davis. RoboTherapist □ "The partial or complete loss of the ability to walk is probably one of the most debilitating consequences of neurological damage," says Assistant Professor Tania Lam of the School of Human Kinetics, who is hoping to develop some new rehabilitation strategies for patients with stroke or spinal chord injury. She is exploring body weight-supported treadmill training (bwstt) using a robotic gait device called the Lokomat®, one of only two in Canada and worth $300,000. (Lam earned her post doctorate in Zurich under Professor Volker Dietz, one of the device's original developers.) The Locomat is suspended from a frame over a treadmill and consists of two robotic arms that fit over a patient's legs and feet. The patient is suspended from a harness over the treadmill. The robotic arms use computer-controlled motors to produce a walking motion. The Lokomat has many advantages over manual BWSTT, which requires a number of therapists to stabilize and move a patient. It is also able to measure the position of and force produced by a patient's legs. Lam will supplement this data using software for measuring muscle and joint activity, treadmill speed and amount of patient weight supported. The ability to walk is based on the interaction of neural signals, muscle responses and sensory input. Neurological damage can block 10 Trek Summer 2007 Photographs: Martin Dee neural signals and impinge upon, or destroy, an individual's ability to walk. Although recovery is possible, it's not clear what happens in the nervous system during this process. "My approach is to help augment the activity of the neural circuits through sensory input from the legs," says Lam, who is based in UBC's School of Human Kinetics. The legs' flexor muscles are key to a patient's ability to lift and swing the feet forward during walking. When the muscles aren't functioning properly, stumbling or foot-dragging will typically occur. Lam plans to vary the amount of resistive force applied by the Lokomat during this swing phase. "It would mimic the feeling of walking under water to give sensory input to flexor muscles," she says. She will gather data to see if this method produces any improvement in muscle function. During her research, Lam will take advantage of links with the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (icord). New Directions in Teaching and Learning Stephen Toope, President, University of British Columbia The university is one of our society's oldest institutions. Outside of organized religions, no other institution has shaped our world as significantly or as thoroughly. At their best, universities create and propagate knowledge, challenge norms, provide for the free flow of new ideas and serve as bastions of academic freedom and intellectual integrity. They also act as storehouses for the accumulated knowledge of humanity. UBC is one of Canada's best examples of such an institution: it creates economic opportunity through both pure and applied research; it provides an analytical context for social and cultural development; and it trains new generations of professionals to protect and advance society. Using the available tools of measurement, we can say that UBC has become one of the world's leading research universities. Recent literature suggests that the teaching methodology employed by most postsecondary institutions has not kept pace with the high level of excellence we expect from our research endeavours. As educators, we have a profound responsibility to our students and to society. In addition to providing the opportunity for our students to become competent in their disciplines, we must help them develop skills in problem solving, critical analysis and effective communications, and make sure they understand the interconnected, interdisciplinary nature of the issues facing our world. At UBC, we have introduced initiatives aimed at making our undergraduate teaching and learning experience as exceptional as our research. Dr. Lome Whitehead, chair holder in the department of Physics and Astronomy and former Vice President Academic and Provost, has been appointed University Leader of Education Innovation. In this new position, Dr. Whitehead is expected to achieve a significant improvement in how a large university delivers undergraduate education. I am optimistic that the result will be a much enhanced teaching and learning experience. Some of our recent initiatives, collectively known as Student Horizons in Education (shine), focus on training faculty in best-practices teaching techniques and put greater emphasis on teaching in hiring and advancement considerations, shine initiatives also include the integration of community service into the regular curriculum through the Learning Exchange; a Senate approved, online teaching evaluation system; and faculty based strategies to disseminate research related to increasing student-teacher connections at the course level. Other strategies involve post-doctoral fellows in the research, design and delivery of undergraduate courses, under the supervision of selected professors, focusing on methods and ideas for teaching excellence. These and other initiatives were key in attracting Nobel laureate Carl Wieman to UBC. As director of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, he is attempting to revolutionize science education at UBC, and will create new standards for measuring teaching effectiveness. In the past two decades, research into the cognitive processes of learning - from how and why people learn to the impact of technology on learning - has created a new impetus to develop teaching methodologies based on that research. Dr. Wieman is dedicated to creating these methodologies for the science classroom and refining them for science educators at all levels. What better time or place to make major advances in the quality and effectiveness of higher education? With our immensely talented faculty and motivated student body, we have an opportunity - and a responsibility - to maintain the essential role of the university in today's society: the creation of thinking, enlightened and active citizens who can make our world a better place. Summer 2007 Trek 11 take note T. Todd Jones reared two leatherback turtles for conservation research. Energizer Turtle □ Scratching their heads over which animal could best represent the longevity of a make of battery, advertising execs eventually plumped for an energetic (and some might say annoying) bunny. Did they even for one minute consider the leatherback turtle, the obvious animal analogy for their product? In open water, this animal is hard-wired to keep on swimming, and swimming, sometimes as far as 13,000 km to reach a nesting location. That's an impressive enough feat not to require any drum-beating. But ironically, the very characteristic that singles the animals out and supports their procreation may also be contributing to their demise. "Unlike the other six species of sea turtles, which forage along the coast or in the reefs, leatherbacks, named after their rubber- textured, 'soft' shells, have no concept of barriers or boundaries," says T. Todd Jones, phd candidate in UBC's Zoology department. "If you keep them in a tank, they would keep swimming into the walls or diving to the bottom." This makes the turtle notoriously difficult to rear in captivity, and so comparatively little is known about them from research to apply to much-needed conservation efforts. Leatherbacks, which have existed on this planet for more than 100 million years, now number only 40,000 specimens, and in less than 10 years could become extinct in the Pacific Ocean. The main reason for the demise is human fisheries activity. Dead turtles are often the collateral damage of these practices. Jones has come up with an ingenious method of keeping turtles that has allowed him to rear two healthy specimens for two years (and counting). This is the first time more than one turtle has been raised to this stage of life in captivity. The idea is a very simple one in concept. He has fashioned a turtle harness from rubber hosing and fishing line that attaches to another line across the top of the turtle pool. Wearing the harness means, effectively, that the turtles swim on the spot. "As far as they're concerned, they're swimming freely in the ocean," says Jones, who may need to buy a bigger tank if his success continues. Adult leatherbacks can grow to the size of a small car and weigh up to 550 kg. At the moment, the specimens weigh about 30 kg. Another contributing factor to the turtles' survival is a diet Jones devised for them. "They eat jellyfish almost exclusively, which is quite different from all other sea turtles," says Jones. "We blend human grade squid and vitamins with gelatin to create jelly-strips that are similar in consistency to jelly-fish." Rearing the leatherbacks is labour-intensive and relies on a number of undergraduate volunteers. But the rewards are worth it. Jones has already managed to establish some facts about maximum growth rate and has concluded that the species can reach sexual maturity at as young as seven years so long as food is plentiful. "We now know the amount of energy it takes for a leatherback to reach adulthood," says Jones. "If we continue to over-use, over-fish and contribute to global warming, there simply won't be enough resources in the ocean for them to sustain themselves and survive the population decimation due to fisheries practices." Chapfallen □ In Canada, four times more men than women commit suicide, yet far fewer men seek help from health professionals when struggling with depression. UBC professors John Oliffe (Nursing) and John Ogrodniczuk (Psychiatry) want to find out why. "We want to learn about young men's experiences of depression and identify what works and doesn't work for them in terms of getting help," says Oliffe. "The answers will help create more effective, gender-relevant interventions." The researchers suspect that some of the discrepancy in reporting depression among males may be down to common societal notions of masculinity. "Society says men are supposed to be robust - to risk rather than promote their health to demonstrate physical and sexual prowess. They tend to operate on a performance-based model of health," says Ogrodniczuk. Another (related) reason might be avoidance of the mental health label. "There is also a stigma associated with having depression, with implications for attracting a partner and for success in work and study. So some men might not want the diagnosis," he says. The highest incidence of suicide in males 12 Trek Summer 2007 occurs in the under 30 age group. Unacknowledged or untreated depression means symptoms might become more severe and may lead to negative coping tactics, such as violent behaviour, drinking alcohol to excess, or suicide attempts. Initially, the researchers plan to study a group of 15 male college or university students diagnosed with (or complaining of) depression, with other subjects joining as the work progresses. They want to find out how depression is manifested in young men, what the subjects' experiences have been in terms of available mental health services, and how they cope with depression. They hope the results of this pilot will start to inform new approaches for helping males who suffer from depression. The two professors plan to seek funding for a larger project to examine the same age group in the general population. The pilot study is being funded by the BC Mental Health and Addictions Network. Secrets of the Scablands □ If you use Google Earth to zoom in on eastern Washington State, you'll see that thousands of square kilometers are accounted for by the Channeled Scablands, a huge area of terrain characterized by deep canyons called coulees. Geologists have established that this phenomenon was formed about 15,000 years ago in a matter of days by an Ice-Age flood of catastrophic proportions, when the force and volume of water was such that it eroded solid bedrock and permanently fissured the landscape. Less agreement exists as to the source of the water, but UBC Okanagan professor Robert Young is examining new evidence that suggests southern Okanagan, then covered by a lobe of the massive Cordilleran Ice Sheet, played no small part in the drama. Scars left on Washington's eastern landscape and other evidence tell scientists that a huge wall of water moved across the state from the northeast at a speed of about 120 km/hr, leaving 40-metre gravel bars in its wake and the 25,000 km-square scablands. Although existing theories suggest that glacial Lake Missoula in Montana burst its ice dam and caused the flood, Young is skeptical. Not Just A Number Marie Earl, Associate Vice President, Alumni Affairs; Executive Director, UBC Alumni Association Tim Louman-Gardiner, BA'04, LLB'07, lopes across the stage at the Chan Centre, sporting his trademark ear-to-ear grin, having just earned his second UBC degree. Before shaking Chancellor McEachern's hand, he pauses to receive congratulations from me and Vice President Students Brian Sullivan. We're proud as punch. I first met Tim at a UBC Board of Governors meeting. He was serving as a student representative on the Board and I had just clapped him on the back and called him "low hanging fruit." I was making a case for treating students as lifelong community members during their time on campus, rather than trying to win them back years after they have left. Tim not only didn't take offense, he came to work for us the following summer. He brought the passion he has for most things in life to the task of redesigning our graduation activities to be more "welcome to the family" than a "goodbye and good luck" ceremony. His enthusiasm enlivened our work place and we benefited from his two cents on our programs and learned how he expected to progress from beer (young man's beverage of choice) to wine (for middle aged sophisticates) to whiskey (grey hairs' delight) as he aged. Tim remains involved as a non-voting member of the Alumni Association's Board of Directors, joining Kevin Keystone (past President of the AMS) and AMS VP Administration Sarah Naiman. This trio is helping us think through how the new alumni centre's design and programming can best complement the SUB, and how to strengthen our connections with existing students. They don't hesitate to debate the merits of new categories for alumni (such as "associate" status for those who didn't quite graduate), or the myriad of other issues that come before the Board of Directors. Attracting UBC students to join our ranks as workers and in governance roles has been of immense value to Alumni Affairs. Geography student Alex Burkholder writes for this magazine and kept a blog on our website, organized the storage room, manned reception, and researched notable figures in UBC history for our staff retreat. He and then-student Gavin Dew, BA'06 (now our Alumni Relations Officer for Students & Young Alumni) came into our orbit as members of our alumni affinity business process re-engineering project team last summer. Mari Takeda, a fourth-year chemistry student, organizes gatherings worldwide for incoming UBC students, which she has branded UBC Bound! Marlisse Silver-Sweeney, a fourth-year Creative Writing student, is helping to plan Alumni Weekend activities for this September. These three students are all fearless at the microphone during karaoke sessions as well. Having had the opportunity to work with and learn from these students, it breaks my heart when I hear (all too often) in alumni focus groups, "I was just a number at UBC." If we allow this to happen, we're the ones losing out. So if you have a chance, check out the website blogs Alex and Kevin will write while on exchange (in Australia and Paris, respectively); hire a UBC student during the summer or through one of the co-op programs; or serve as a mentor to a student in your discipline. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be the richer for it. Summer 2007 Trek 13 take note "Models of dynamic hydrology suggest that floodwaters from the Missoula Basin alone were insufficient to fill the Scabland Coulees, much less do all the work required to produce the incredible landscape in the region," he points out. Young thinks that huge volumes of Okanagan meltwater flooding south is a likelier scenario, perhaps precipitated by a volcanic explosion. "The Okanagan and surrounding uplands are part of dramatic landscapes, including landforms carved into bedrock like the Channeled Scablands," he says. "Features such as water-eroded channels that can go uphill, and streamlined landforms caused by fluids flowing turbulently at high velocities, all suggest huge flows came out of the Okanagan Valley and drained south into the Columbia drainage." Young thinks the water probably had more than one exit point, and as well as draining south, made its way into Lake Missoula and under the Purcell ice dam to the north of the lake, helping account for the massive volume of water that rampaged across terrain that already would have received a battering from the north. The idea of sub-glacial reservoirs being implicated in massive flooding is one that is often refuted, but newer evidence lends credence to the hypothesis. "Movement of large water volumes of meltwater beneath the Antarctic ice sheets have been reported by several researchers in the last few years," says Young, "and in Greenland, gigatons of water on top of ice sheets have been observed draining through the ice very quickly - in as little as 48 hours." In Iceland, meltwater flooding from ice sheets is a common phenomenon. Add to that a sub-glacial volcanic explosion, and the flooding is greatly intensified. To back his theory up, Young points to evidence of volcanic activity just north of the Okanagan. "Many of the deposits and volcanoes there bear tell-tale marks of sub-glacial eruption, including pillow basalts on mountainsides and flat-topped volcanoes. Volcanologists studying the region indicate that three volcanoes erupted sub-glacially during the last glaciation." Taking Stock □ Gambling, alcohol, and tobacco. Associated with a tendency for unhealthy excess, all three are more or less frowned upon by today's society. But if you suffer no qualms about sharing in the profits from the associated industries, then you may stand to do quite well on the stock market. Conversely, investors who decide to avoid these industries and their "sin stocks" stand to lose out. These are the findings of a joint analysis conducted by professor Marcin Kacperczyk of UBC's Sauder School of Business and Professor Harrison Hong of Princeton University, who were exploring the impact of social morals, traditions and laws on the stock market. "While sinful stocks aren't necessarily good for the soul, they do deliver higher returns," says Kacperczyk. "Our analysis associates social norms with significant price effects. Sin stocks are under-priced and outperform comparable stocks." The study also shows that public institutions such as universities, pension funds, religious organizations, and banks are often more subject to public scrutiny and criticism, and hence more likely to avoid such stocks. Individual investors, mutual funds and hedge funds can take advantage of this reluctance and enjoy the higher performance of sin stocks. Kacperczyk and Hong explored the history of tobacco stocks to see if their theory held up. They found a correspondence between the sliding value of tobacco stocks and the tobacco industry's fall from grace after serious health concerns were linked with smoking. Although defense industry stocks were not included in the study, Kacperczyk thinks it merits some attention. "It's interesting to note that defense isn't necessarily a sin in the United States," he says. "So the next step would be to see how defense stocks listed in the United States differ from those in Europe, where the industry is more likely to be frowned upon by the general public." The full study can be read on Sauder's website at www.sauder.ubc.ca. Street Youth □ The results from a survey of 760 street youth aged 12 to 18 from across BC suggest most have a strong will to succeed in society, despite overwhelming disadvantages. A third of the youth attend school and a third reported holding down legal jobs. "Many of the findings may be surprising to communities," says principal investigator Professor Elizabeth Saewyc from UBC's School of Nursing. "These youth have faced shocking levels of rejection and violence, both within their families and on the street. But despite having the odds stacked against them, most of them are amazingly strong and resilient, working hard, attending school, and looking for opportunities to improve their lives." Saewyc worked on the survey with Vancouver's McCreary Centre between October and December of last year. The centre conducted a similar one in 2000 and has been able to compare the results. Aboriginal youth account for a growing proportion of street youth. In Vancouver, for example, this proportion rose from 37 per cent in 2000 to 65 per cent. Also over represented are gay, bisexual and lesbian youth (one third of females and one tenth of males). More than a quarter of the subjects had been exposed to alcohol or marijuana before they were 11, often before they became street youth. Many had experienced or witnessed sexual abuse and violence both in their families and on the street. Detailed findings can be found at www.mcs. bcca. When asked what they needed, youth from all areas of the province pointed to affordable housing, safe shelters, job training, work experience and education. The researchers also recommend more resources for struggling families and Aboriginal organizations, and easier access to treatment for substance abuse and mental illness. "Youth have the same rights as anyone else to live in an environment that is healthy, safe and nurturing," says Saewyc. A follow-up study on marginalized and street-involved Aboriginal youth, in consultation with Aboriginal communities, began in May. ■ Take Note is edited from material that appears in other publications, including UBC Reports. We thank those reporters and Public Affairs for allowing us to use their material. 14 Trek Summer 2007 The Big Chair Awaits Allan McEachern completes his term as UBC's Chancellor this year. As the university's senior volunteer administrator, the person in the big chair wields considerable influence. But for now, it's alumni who have the power. We nominate - and elect - the man or woman who takes the seat. by CHRIS PETTY When you walked across the stage on your graduation day, the man (or, if you graduated between 1961 and 1966, the woman) who tapped you on the head (or shook your hand) and said, "I admit you," was the Chancellor of UBC. For most of us, that was likely the first time we entered the orbit of UBC's only elected senior administrator. The Chancellor might not be a visible part of the university's day-to-day machinery, but he or she plays a big role behind the scenes. The Chancellor is a senior ambassador, a wise and trusted advisor to the president, the Board of Governors and the Senate, serves as the liaison to various UBC constituencies and is a tireless worker for the good of the university. As current Chancellor Allan McEachern says, it's the best bad paying job he's ever had. He gets $1 a year. But the most compelling thing about the Chancellor is that UBC's alumni get to decide who gets the job. As spelled out in the BC University Act, any group of seven alumni can nominate an appropriate person for the position. Each of UBC's 250,000 alumni then have the right to vote. By exercising this right, alumni provide an important service to the university, and have a significant voice in how it is governed. The Chancellor is an integral part of the university's administrative structure. He or she is a member of the Board of Governors and of the university's two Senates. The Board of Photograph courtesy UBC archives Summer 2007 Trek 15 UBC Alumni Association Chancellor Nomination Committee The Alumni Association's Board of Directors appoints a committee to select a nominee for the position of Chancellor. Members of this committee are selected from a cross-section of UBCs constituent groups - alumni, faculty, staff, students and community members - and are challenged to select a candidate who reflects the values, aspirations and goals of the university, and who can represent the university to the broader community. The current members of the committee are: Doug Robinson, BCom'71, LLB'72. Committee Chair. Professional mediator. Vice Chair, Alumni Association Board of Directors; member of the Wesbrook Society and Big Block Club. Gayle Stewart, BA'76. Committee Vice Chair. Member, UBC Alumni Association Executive Committee and chair of the Governance Committee. Political Science master's degree candidate (2008). Bonnie Bates Gibbs, BA, MBA. Staff/UBC Okanagan Representative; Associate Director of Public Affairs, UBC Okanagan; member, UBC Board of Governors. May Brown, BSc, MPE'61, LLD'87, OCB, CM. Community Leader. Athletics Hall of Fame, Builder, 2007; Alumni Lifetime Achievement award recipient 2000; faculty, School of Physical Education, UBC 1947-55. Marie Earl, AB, MLA. Ex-Officio. Executive Director, UBC Alumni Association/Associate Vice President, Alumni. Brendon Goodmurphy. Undergraduate student representative. 4th year faculty of Arts. VP Academic and University Affairs, Alma Mater Society. Kelly Heed, BA'62. Community Leader. Vice Chair, Colliers International Vancouver; advisor to Alumni Centre Planning Committee. Lauren Hunter, BA'OO, MA'02. Graduate student representative. Past student rep., UBC Board of Governors; past VP Academic and External, UBC Graduate Student Society, 2006. Miranda Lam, LLB'02. Community Leader. Lawyer, McCarthy Tetrault. Past Chair, Volunteer Vancouver; member, UBC Alumni Association Governance committee; Outstanding Young Alumna award recipient, Faculty of Law, 2007; Outstanding Future Alumna award recipient, UBC Alumni Association, 2002. Kyle Mitchell, BCom'65, LLB'66. Past President, UBC Alumni Association. Partner, Ray & Berndtson; member, Sauder School of Business Faculty Advisory Board. Dennis Pavlich, BA, LLB, LLM. President's Representative. Professor of Law, UBC; Chairman, Great Northern Way Campus Ltd., 2007; member of the Board, UBC Properties Investments Ltd. Sally Thorne, BSN'79, MSN'83, PhD. Faculty representative. Professor and Director, UBC Faculty of Nursing. Governors manages all UBC's properties, finances and business affairs, appoints the president, deans, head librarian, professors and other faculty, sets their salaries and defines their duties. The two Senates (the Vancouver and Kelowna campuses have separate Senates) are responsible for all matters academic, from admission requirements and course examinations to curriculum, degree-granting and the awarding of scholarships and bursaries on their respective campuses. The Board and the Senates work closely together, and, as is the case in any large governance structure, most of the hard work and decision making is done in the various committees they create to deal with specific areas of concern. The Chancellor is an ex-officio member of all these committees. The following represent some of the more common questions we get from alumni about the function of the Chancellor and how he or she is elected. What is the role of the Chancellor at UBC? The Chancellor's role is not spelled-out in the University Act, which says only that "The Chancellor is to confer all degrees." In practice, however, the Chancellor takes on considerable responsibility. He or she is a full voting member of the Board of Governors, which means reading and absorbing inches-thick documents concerning issues that come before the bi-monthly meetings of the Board. The Chancellor is an ex-officio member of every Board committee, and is expected to become more deeply involved in those where his or her particular expertise can be of benefit. The Chancellor is also an ex-officio member of both Senates, sits on most vice-presidential search committees and represents the university at town hall meetings in the Okanagan and Vancouver. He or she also attends all graduation ceremonies, shaking the hand of every graduate who crosses the stage. At the spring convocation ceremonies this year, the Chancellor attended (and spoke at) 23 ceremonies, and shook the hands of nearly 6,000 graduates. The Chancellor's term is three years, with a limit of two terms. How are nominees for the position of Chancellor selected? Any group of seven members of UBC's convocation (President, Chancellor, alumni, faculty members and all persons whose names have been added to the roll of convocation by the Senate) can put forward a nominee for the position. If more than one person is nominated, the registrar holds an election, notifying all members of the convocation and supplying them with candidate information and ballots. Why does the Alumni Association select a nominee, and why does it recommend that nominee to the voters? The Alumni Association's Board of Directors has traditionally put forward a candidate for the position of Chancellor. This nominee is selected by a special committee appointed by the Board (see sidebar). The committee is charged with finding a candidate who can best serve the university's goals and aspirations, and who typifies the high calibre of the university's graduates. Once selected, the candidate is endorsed by the Association and recommended to voters as the candidate most likely to provide the greatest value to the university. As a service to alumni, the Association publishes positive information on all candidates, and supplies space in Trek Magazine for election ballots. How does the election take place, and how can I vote? The Office of the Registrar will declare nominations open from 8:30 am, Friday, October 12, 2007, until 4:30 pm, Friday, December 7, 2007. Candidate information and ballots (if necessary) will be printed in the Spring 2008 issue of Trek Magazine and will be available online. The deadline for receiving completed ballots will be 40 days after the spring issue is mailed (actual dates will be announced in the Fall 2007 Trek Magazine). Results will be announced as soon as they are tallied. I Our Fall 2007 issue will contain an interview with outgoing Chancellor Allan McEachern. For more information, call our offices at 604.822.3313. To view the University Act, visit www.qp.gov.bc.calstatreglstat/U 196468_ 01.htm. FURNITURE WITH A FUTURE by BUD MORTENSON When the Chancellor presides over Congregation at UBCO, he or she will be sitting pretty. Long before he planed away a single wisp of wood, notched the first tenon or sanded clouds of ruddy dust from the cherry grain, Dennis Weidman could see the finished object in his mind. He knew the chair he was creating would need lasting strength to withstand the passing of time, and stately elegance to warrant a place in memory. Functionally, it's just a chair. But, oh, what a chair: this is the chair from which the Chancellor of UBC will preside over Congregation ceremonies at UBC Okanagan. "I thoroughly enjoyed it and consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to do this," he says, standing with pride beside the completed chair in his well-appointed workshop. "I'll never again build one like it." Papa's Shop - the name applied by grandkids and proclaimed on a small wooden sign over the entry - is tucked into a grove of Ponderosa pines in Okanagan Centre, BC. Overlooking Okanagan Lake, the property is in orchard and vineyard country just a few minutes' drive north from UBC Okanagan. It's an idyllic place to think through an important project, and a fitting origin for a chair destined to take its place in Okanagan history. The chair's requirements were complex. It needed significant presence and appeal, strength and style. "I don't know how many hours I sat just pondering and doing mental planning," says Weidman. "I wanted the lines to give it flow, but without it being either too spindly or too bulky." The just-right result is a combination of subtly curved rails connecting functional panels and arms and legs, some forms softened by the hint of a swale, others flared more overtly. "A lot of it is design as you go," says Weidman. "When you're doing a one-off like this, you use your mind - visualizing, trying options - to make sure you get the structural strength you need, and the visual lines as well." Early in 2007, Weidman was engaged by Alanna Vernon, manager of UBC Okanagan's Ceremonies and Events office, to craft the chair in time for the June 8, 2007, Congregation ceremonies. He began with a set of general specifications - approximate height, dimensions of the seat - and a sketch of a framework. "It needed to be about five feet high, with a regal kind of look, substantial and with good lines," he says. From there, Weidman's experience and imagination took over. Almost every piece of wood is painstakingly fastened with strong but entirely hidden mortise-and-tenon joinery. "I have a tendency to over-design for the sake of structure," he says, pointing to the absence of struts or braces between the chair's legs as evidence of a design that works without buttressing. "As I was putting it together, I had it dry-fitted - no glue - and it was solid," he says. "It wasn't going to move. That assured me it didn't need any reinforcing. It was a challenge and I know I've accomplished that. There are really only a few screws. The rest is all wood joinery." The selection of cherry wood has great significance to the Okanagan, where cherry orchards are found in abundance. "It's all cherry," Weidman says, "except for a few dowels, and they're maple." After assembly, the finely grained surfaces were sanded, stained lightly with Danish oil, and finished with five coats of tung oil. He estimates he spent at least 200 hours in the shop, from rough cuts to smoothing on the final coat of finish. "Someone building chairs from a pattern might wonder about that, but a lot of testing went into this," he says. "The backrest was mocked up with mdf (medium density fiberboard), the legs were rough-cut and tested. This evolved, versus just coming from a pattern." Evolution indeed. In a way, that's how Weidman found himself crafting beauty from wood in the first place. "I worked in the corporate world for many years and I had a plan that I was going to be self-employed when I reached 55," he says. That plan accelerated suddenly one day 16 years ago. "When I reached the age of 50,1 lost the job I'd had for 29 years. It came as a bit of a blow, but not being one to look back I said, 'let's see what I can do with this.'" Over the years he had gathered tools and experience. Now, he realized, he had been granted that most happy convergence of vocation and avocation as a gainful future emerged from the woodwork. He began making furniture, cabinets, and anything a client might want him to create. Photograph: IStockPhoto Summer 2007 Trek 17 And he really does mean create, not build. "I got to the point where I knew I could do this, enjoy myself, and give people what they wanted. I really like being able to work with people, develop ideas and then put them into a piece of furniture or cabinetry. To create something that started from nothing gives me great satisfaction." Weidman looks forward to the day when, perhaps, one of his grandchildren might attend a UBC Okanagan congregation, crossing the stage in front of the Chancellor's chair to accept a UBC degree. And who knows? He might still be creating fine furniture then. "As long as I have the physical and mental wellbeing to do this," he says, "I don't see myself retiring because I really enjoy what I'm doing." I Bud Mortenson is Communications Coordinator for UBCO's Public Affairs department. UBC Chancellors UBC's Chancellors represent an interesting variety of BC movers and shakers over the years. From newspapermen and industrialists to politicians and judges, these community leaders have all had a strong connection to the university and a commitment to its growth and success. Francis Carter-Cotton (1912-1918). Vancouver newspaper publisher and politician, part of the Royal Institution that created the McGill University College of BC Robert E. McKechnie (1918-1944). VGH physician, politician and administrator, active in the creation of UBC. Eric W. Hamber (1944-1951). Timber entrepreneur, BC Lieutenant Governor, member of UBC Board of Governors. Sherwood Lett (1951-1957). Distinguished service both world wars, corporate lawyer, first AMS president Albert E. Grauer (1957-1961). Rhodes scholar, president BC Electric, chair, VGH Board of Trustees. Phyllis Ross (1961-1966). Top-level civil servant (economics), key economic advisor during WWII, member Board of Governors. John M. Buchanan (1966-1969). CEO BC Packers, past president, Alumni Association Allan M. McGavin (1969-1972). President McGavin Bakery, Olympic rower, senior volunteer in athletic organizations. Nathan T. Nemetz (1971-1975). BC Supreme Court Justice, Ubyssey editor, many judicial commissions, past president, Alumni Association Donovan F. Miller (1975-1978). Director, Canada Permanent Mortgage Corp., VP Canada-Japan Society (hon), past president, Alumni Association John V. Clyne (1978-1984). Lawyer, chair, Maritime Commission, Board of Governors, CEO MacMillan Bloedel, Great Trekker. W. Robert Wyman (1984-1987). Chair, BC Hydro, chair, Finning, chair, World of Opportunity Campaign Leslie R. Peterson (1987-1993). Lawyer, BC Minister of Education, chair, Board of Governors, senior volunteer many charities. Robert H. Lee (1993-1996). President, Wall and Redekop, chair, UBC Properties, member, Board of Governors, many volunteer chairs. William Sauder (1996-2002). Chair, Sauder Industries, many board memberships, chair, Board of Governors. Allan McEachern (2002-). Lawyer, Chief Justice BC Supreme Court, many judicial councils, legal scholar. For more information on the beginnings of UBC, visit www.library.ubc.ca/archives. 18 Trek Summer 2007 Photograph: Bud Mortenson Sing, Sing a Song by CARLA ELM CLEMENT Flaying on the interface between writing a song and singing it in public is a daring, nerve-wracking game. What makes a song lyric sing? What is "libretto"? How do words and music string together? These three questions were in my head last summer as I made my way to meet Meryn Cadell, Juno-nominated songwriter and instructor of the UBC Creative Writing course, Lyric & Libretto. I love listening to music and secretly sing along, but only when I'm all alone. I thought, Photograph: IStockPhoto Summer 2007 Trek 19 why not try my hand at creating a few of my own songs? How hard could it be? Cadell's course follows the workshop structure, just like other Creative Writing courses: creative criticism from instructor and students alike. But would I have to sing? I wanted Cadell to calm my fears about taking his course and having to be musical without any training, about having my voice break in front of a classroom of peers. Maybe I wanted him to confirm that the course wasn't for me. How could it be? I'd only ever studied clarinet in grade school. Hardly sufficient. Cadell was quick to point out that my fear of performance is common. "There doesn't have to be a performative element," he said. And although performance is encouraged - by the song writer or by someone else singing the songs - it's not required. I felt relieved. Cadell explained that lyric and libretto are two points on a continuum, different degrees of "the words that go with the music." While a song lyric may be a few minutes long, a libretto may be made up of a number of songs for a number of distinct characters. Libretto literally means "little book," and includes spoken dialogue, sung lyrics, even stage directions for the performance. It isn't exactly synonymous with musical theatre or opera, though most operas include the "little book" and the musical score, working together. In terms of genre, lyric and libretto are more akin to screenplay than poetry or fiction "because it's about real time," Cadell told me. "It's about creating something that unfolds and you make decisions about what listeners hear and when they hear it. It's the unspooling of a story." Now I was intrigued. No pressure to perform and a new genre to explore. I signed up. For the first half of the year, Canadian folk icon Shari Ulrich sat in for Cadell. In her first class we discussed performance, and I quickly ended up in a panic. Although I knew performance was only encouraged, I shared my concerns with the class: how I'm not comfortable with it, how I have no musical training, how I'm afraid. My classmates were great, and a few of them even admitted they felt the same. It's fine, they said. Fine, I repeated to myself. I wasn't sure how to begin writing my first song. What would it be about and how would it start? As with other kinds of writing, a headline in a local newspaper triggered my imagination. The headline read: "What's On Your Mind?" I imagined a conversation between a woman and man. I imagined a cafe where they were sitting. And then I started to hum a tune. Words came and I sang them out loud - alone in my room - and jotted them down. It sounded fine, catchy, even. But would it hold up in class? On the day that my first song was set to be workshopped, I was acutely anxious. I found a seat in class and didn't feel like chatting with anyone. When my turn came, I put the cassette in the stereo and pressed play. There was my voice on the tape, tentatively singing With the success of such movies as Music and Lyrics, and the mega TV- hit American Idol, which this past season included an online song-writing contest, generations of kids are growing up exposed to the close scrutiny of performance. That same scrutiny seems to be turning towards the mechanics of the song itself. my newly written song in my living room with my husband on guitar. As the class listened, I kept my face towards the window, away from them. My tinny voice warbled and the guitar hummed. The song came to an end and the class applauded. As I walked back to my seat my hands were shaking, and I joked about it. Everyone was supportive and we quickly turned to the text. To familiar ground. I relaxed. By November, I'd set up Garage Band - a low-end recording studio software - and discovered how to overlay tracks and build harmonies. I felt something change in me. I began to hear melodies in my head. I began to dream songs that I frantically scribbled down once awake. The more I sang and wrote the more sense the melodies made. This was where the chorus should go, and there the bridge. At two in the morning, as my husband slept, I clicked "Record" in Garage Band and quietly hummed my song over and over into the built-in mic on our Mac. I was hooked. The power of Garage Band - or the power of performance - is nothing new to Carla Gillis. She took four years of Lyric & Libretto with Cadell, and has performed many of her own songs. Originally from Halifax, she had considerable success with her all-girl rock band, Plumtree, now defunct, and currently performs with two local bands, Bontempi and Bells Clanging. Her master's thesis is a book about touring as part of Plumtree. "You discover your strengths when you take these classes. Now I realize I'm pretty good at harmony. And part of that is simply having Garage Band to play with." She also values the power of collaboration, something she experienced in one of Cadell's discontinued courses, Libretto Laboratory. She and three other students collaborated on a libretto called The Slowly Building. "It was like an apartment building and it featured different tenants and each tenant had his or her own story," she says. "And there was a caretaker who fixed things and linked everybody together." To come up with the melodies, the four would form a circle around a mic and one classmate, Russell Wallace, would lead them all in song. "We would just have to improvise and start singing off the top of our heads and, you know, I was terrified at first. But it ended up being really fun," Gillis says. Russell Wallace, a member of the Lil'wat First Nation, recently released a solo CD called Through the Cracks, a collection of songs generated out of Cadell's Lyric & Libretto class. He began performing as a child with his mother, Flora Wallace, in the missions in downtown Vancouver where she would volunteer and sing. "When I was five or six I wanted to get up on that stage and sing with her," he says. "My mom would sing anything and everything." Through a program at Banff let by Sadie Buck, a traditional singer from 20 Trek Summer 2007 Six Nations, mother and son were inspired to form a singing group, Tzo'kam. In 2000, Flora Wallace was awarded the Keeper of Traditions Award at the Aboriginal Music Awards. Although she died in 2005, Tzo'kam still performs regularly in schools and within the community. Russell Wallace often recalls Tzo'kam's very first performance: opening for Buffy St. Marie at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 1997. "It was kind of scary singing on the stage with Buffy St. Marie. It was a big audience," he says. "But we survived. No eggs were thrown that day." Cadell returned to class in January, and we learned the word "scansion," or the rhythm of the words when sung. We learned that in many songs the chorus often states the song's thesis. And that although the mechanics of the song are important, so is the performance of it. Cadell insisted the song needs to be heard in the air. Sung by the writer or by someone else and listened to, as a way to help edit the song. Cadell also co-teaches Interdisciplinary Projects (an exploration of improvisational performance under the direction of Bob Pritchard) and Lyric Forms in Creative Writing, a lecture course exploring songwriting from Leonard Cohen to Stephen Sondheim. Cadell's courses have come along at the right time, considering the success of such movies as Drew Barrymore's Music and Lyrics, and TV's American Idol, with franchises around the world. This past season, Idol introduced an online song-writing contest for fans: write a song, have it win the contest and the newly crowned Idol will sing it during the finale. Generations of kids are growing up exposed to the close scrutiny of performance, and that same scrutiny seems to be turning towards the mechanics of the song itself. At the end of the year Cadell organized a final performance showcase at Havana Restaurant on Commercial Drive. I built up my courage and signed up to perform. It was a risk I wasn't happy about. But, with Cadell's support, I felt safe enough to take it. Gillis appreciates Cadell's philosophy of performance. "You can sit in your room and write but that next step is getting it out to the public," she says. "That's what he's all about." During sound check at Havana I had a moment of intense doubt. My mouth was dry, my heart was racing and my voice was all over the place. I simply needed to trust it would be fine. In the surreal moment in the darkened audience before it was my turn on stage, I knew there was no turning back. I got up. I stood in front of the mic. I started my song. A classmate, Martin, played along on his guitar in the front row. I hit most of the notes I'd worried about, and it sounded solid. The crowd applauded and then it was over. All that unnecessary worry. Everyone performed well. Little mistakes happened here and there - forgotten chords and words - but it didn't matter. We did our best, my classmates and I. We love music, and we sing. I Carla Elm Clement is a writer based in New Westminster. Her favourite seventies game show was Name That Tune. UBC w IT'S YOUR WORLD As Canada's Global university, the University of British Columbia has a diverse, exciting and rewarding selection of ways to connect to your UBC world. For more information, please call (604) 822-9629, 1-S00-SS3-30SS or visit us at www.alumni.ubc.ca/world Join TrekConnect Travel and learn -with Alumni Affairs and Continuing Studies Language and Arts courses Voluntour -with Youlead and make a difference Visit a UBC International net-work including the Asia Pacific office Support a Co-op or Learning Service Project -with Go Global Find volunteer opportunities with International students and Opportunity Watch Fly -with American Airlines® and British Airways®, and help UBC students study, -work, and lead projects overseas Summer 2007 Trek 21 MOREXIA by VANESSA CLARKE "The bottom line is I am 5' 9" and feel fat, despite weighing only 75 pounds. Just for the record, I am white, American Jewish, and 25 years old. What sets me aside from most other anorexics is that I am male." Paul Gallant and St. Paul's Hospital resources to help males suffering from eating disorders. So writes Michael Krasnow in the introduction to his 1996 book, My Life as a Male Anorexic. It describes in frank terms the friendless years he spent consulting specialists, suffering depression, being hospitalized, running away in a bid to starve himself to death, devising intricate tricks to sidestep intervention and feeling guilty about the massive toll wreaked on his family by all this. Despite diagnosis and treatment, Michael Krasnow died the year after his book was published. Depending on their age, people thinking of eating disorders might recall singer Karen Carpenter, whose death from heart failure associated with anorexia nervosa in the early '80s brought that disease to mainstream consciousness in the West, or Princess Dianna, whose famous 1993 speech on the subject was made "on very good authority." (Her own, we guessed.) Or to the fashion industry, with its seeming predilection for size zero female models and heroin chic. Although the majority of individuals with eating disorders are female, research suggests that males account for an increasing proportion of cases. The idea that disorders like anorexia are female illnesses, however, persists. Another common misperception is that eating disorders are just a product of modern society and its ubiquitous images of unrepresentative beauty and unattainable body-types. But eating disorders aren't new and neither are eating disorders in males a recent phenomenon. English physician, Richard Morton is generally credited with the first medical description of anorexia nervosa in the late 1600s (although the term itself was not coined until the 1800s). One of Dr. Morton's first documented cases was that of a 16 year old boy. Despite these centuries of recorded history, it was only a little over a decade ago that Michael Krasnow wrote: "Although concern about anorexia is growing, there is still a large unawareness, especially about male anorexia, and this is the major purpose of my story: so that other men with this problem will realize they are not alone. My parents and I could not pick up a book and read about male anorexics. For all we knew, I was the only man in the world with anorexia. My parents did not know how to deal with me or even what to think. We had no one to whom we could turn." Today, the level of awareness about eating disorders in men has increased, somewhat, with celebrities like Elton John and Dennis Quaid going public with their private battles. But some experts, such as Paul Gallant, Mfflc'95, feel that current stats on the number of men with eating disorders are probably conservative - in part due to a reluctance in males to come forward - and that current methods for diagnosis and treatment tend be skewed towards women. Gallant is operations leader for Mental Health Provincial Programs at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, where he has been based (originally as a recreation therapist) for more than 15 years. Latterly, his attention has been focused on the Eating Disorders program, which he now co-leads. He noticed a gender- based discrepancy in reporting patterns. "I didn't know why we didn't see more males at the clinic," he says. "I expected to see at least one in ten going by the stats. So I decided to look into it further." Gallant is now a Human Kinetics phd candidate at UBC, exploring coping mechanisms and access to treatment in men with eating ograph: Dreamstime Summer 2007 Trek 23 disorders. His dual role as researcher and leader means he is able to put theory into practice and is conducting a series of focus groups with male subjects who have reported or been diagnosed with an eating disorder. He hopes this will help inform new approaches for identifying males with eating disorders and provide them with the most appropriate treatments. So far, his project has been small scale because so few men have come forward. He is now looking for 20 more men with eating disorders to help him continue his research. He suspects that common misperceptions play a large part in discouraging men from seeking help. Straight men with an eating disorder might be put off seeking treatment not only because eating disorders are commonly associated with women, but also because there is a perception that if males are susceptible to eating disorders it is because they are gay. "If you did a study across the country, most people would guess more gay men had eating disorders per capita than straight men," says Gallant. "But it's important to stress that the majority of men with eating disorders - about two thirds - are straight. It's important to explain the statistics and their implications. We want to encourage as many men as possible to disclose and come for treatment and not feel stigmatized." Left without diagnosis and treatment, eating disorders can have alarming consequences. Many people who develop them can also develop very serious physical repercussions, such as osteoporosis, types of arthritis, or internal system failures. At 10-20 per cent, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of mental illnesses, and although there are no figures on comparative mortality based on gender, men face specific risk factors based on their body types. "More attention is paid to eating disorders now because of the deaths related to them," says Gallant. "We don't know if the mortality rate is higher for men or women, but we do know that men with anorexia, for example, have a tighter timeline in terms of getting treatment. If you're a male with an eating disorder at a severe level, there's a finer line between changes in Body Mass Index and when there could be consequences to your health, because men are already leaner." And because they are naturally leaner, weight loss may be less noticeable in males. Eating disorders are complex conditions with a variety of causes, and are often accompanied by other conditions such as depression or schizophrenia. "That can make them a lot more complex to treat and difficult to recognize," says Gallant. Compounding this problem for male sufferers are some of the diagnostic criteria used by physicians. Gallant says these are sometimes geared towards the treatment of females, which could explain why men tend to be overrepre- sented in the ednos diagnostic category (Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified). This is a sub-clinical diagnosis meaning that a patient meets most of the criteria for a diagnosis, for example bulimia, but don't meet the full criteria as laid out in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (which includes a category about menstruation). It depends which criteria a doctor chooses to use. Gallant prefers the slightly different set offered by The World Health Organization. These include a category on endocrine function, for example, which covers erectile dysfunction - a potential consequence of eating disorders in males. Eating disorders can be the product of many factors, including physiological. "Most people would agree there's a certain biological predisposition to developing an eating disorder," says Gallant. There is also a large psychological component. Common childhood experiences of sufferers including bullying at school, a critical adult, or worse forms of abuse. Feelings of guilt often go hand-in-hand with a disorder: "Eating disorders never only affect one person. They affect everyone around that individual," he says. The traditional stiff-upper-lip stereotype of masculinity might mean men are less open about their emotions. "They are more prone to mask them with alcohol or drugs. Substance abuse probably is higher in men with eating disorders than women," says Gallant. Men may also have an easier time covering up their problem behaviour. "There's some consensus that men may compensate with over-exercising, and may purge less. Men may be able to mask their disorder a little better through sports and athleticism," says Gallant, who points to the world of professional sport as having a concentration of cases. "Ironically, you'd be surprised at how many people from elite sports suffer from eating disorders. Not a well publicized fact, especially if the athletes are stars. They may actually perform quite well for some time and then crash." Gallant will be presenting a talk on eating disorders in males to Human Kinetics and Coaching Science faculty at UBC to sensitize them to the danger signs. He feels that an essential part of his team's job is to raise awareness. The Eating Disorder Program at St.Paul's is the provincial leader for treatment and standards, and it has links to other agencies across the province such as Jessie's Hope and the Eating Disorders Resources Centre. "We broadcast video- and tele-conferences to rural and remote communities where we have representatives. Our partners are interested in developing the expertise to treat men. We may be the provincial centre for excellence, but we also want to offer expertise in other communities helping to identify both males and females with eating disorders and offer help on how to work with them." Any man or any women can apply to the treatment program if they've first been seen in their own regional or community program. The demand for treatment services outweighs resources and there is a detailed case by case review process based on strict criteria. The inpatient program has a wait list of six months. There are also a number of day programs and a follow-up clinic for medical monitoring. "We want to build from the ground up," says Gallant. "We're sending out a message that we're open to men and want to learn more about how we can help them. According to the literature, needs and treatment modalities may be quite similar, but we're trying to find out what it's like from the male's perspective and what sort of treatment they might want to access. They will realize they're not the lone man in a treatment program full of women, as is often the case. As word gets out, we're hoping enough men will come forward." If you are interested in participating in a research focus group, please contact Jane Har- bottle, Research Coordinator, 604.682.2344 ext: 62524. If you'd like to receive more information about treatment through the Eating Disorders Program at St. Paul's Hospital, go to www.stpaulseatingdisorders.ca. I Vanessa Clarke is assistant editor of Trek Magazine. 24 Trek Summer 2007 ,/ AN OKANAG. GERENTOPI by MARY ANN Ml The Okanagan attracts seniors for its weather, ambience and lifestyle. New research shows that it may also be the healthiest place to live in Canada. BC's Okanagan valley is spectacular in every sense: the landscape is stunning, the weather is benign and it offers a range of recreational opportunities found in few other places in the country. Is it any surprise that the region boasts one of the highest life expectancy rates in Canada? A 65-year-old living in the Okanagan has an average age-adjusted life expectancy of 85. And with 18-25 Per cent 0jf its population considered seniors - a percentage the rest of the province won't see until 2031 - the Okanagan is ideally situated as a natural research setting for ageing and related issues. A combination of good genes and an active lifestyle is likely the key to a long and healthy life. International teams of researchers are currently attempting to identify the genetic base of ageing, but with mounting research evidence pointing to lifestyle as the key contributor, where and how you live may be more important than we thought. Conditions in the Okanagan are comparable to those in other areas of the world where longevity, good health and well-being are common. Data from some of the major longitudinal centenarian studies conducted between 1994 and 2007 with multi-generational founder populations in New England, Nova Scotia, Lorna Linda California, Sardinia, Okinawa and Costa Rica show considerable variation in factors such as education, socio-economic status, religion and ethnicity. But other factors are common to all these areas including proximity to a fresh body of water and a veritable fountain of youth located in their own vineyards. More than 100 studies demonstrate that red wine in moderate quantities may be extremely beneficial for health. It is associated with reduced prostate cancer and longevity for men, and reduced heart disease and stroke recovery for both men and women. And it appears that white wine has some of the same anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-ageing and neuro-protective effects. With more than 130 wineries and vineyards in the Okanagan, residents have ample opportunity to consume either the wines or the approximately 15 fresh grape varietals of the region. Lifestyle may have an even greater impact. Mounting evidence suggests physical activity can improve memory and cognitive abilities, prevent cognitive decline and potentially help to restore brain function. As well, emerging brain research is blasting pre-conceived myths about the ageing brain, demonstrating that it can rewire and perhaps even restore itself in ways previously unknown. The way many of the Okanagan's retirees live represents the ideal combination of physical activity, learning and creativity. A 2004 survey by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Center shows that seniors living in Photograph: Getty Images Summer 2007 Trek 25 British Columbia have the highest activity levels in the country, and that seniors in the Okanagan region are io per cent more active than those living in the rest of the province. A healthy diet is also an issue. Many Okanagan families have, traditionally, either farmed or maintained gardens, while many of the senior transplants come from the Prairies where they were raised to be self-reliant in a traditional, active, communitarian and low-stress environment. Sowers and growers clubs, community gardens, and greenhouses are extremely popular in the Okanagan. Few seniors are obese, and you have only to visit the Okanagan to witness the array of four-season recreational activities open to them. Reid Oddleifson, director of the new Kickstart Program which aims to increase seniors' activity levels by 20 per cent, observes that "compared to even five years ago, I see a more active older adult population here. We see a substantial increase in sports like volleyball, Softball and drop-in hockey. The older adult of today wants more out of their lives. The Boomer's demand for public recreation facilities will only increase as they are clearly stating that they want more time in our pools, on our trails and in our gyms." One indicator of the escalating demand for seniors' activity is that many regional ski hills have cancelled their free seniors' ski passes in favour of more modest discounts. As the seniors population grows rapidly in the next decade, the Okanagan will provide us with great research opportunities to learn how we can respond to their shifting needs for recreation and leisure. Two target groups present the highest priority: the currently inactive pocket of Boomers ages 45-64 who, statistically, are far more sedentary than previous generations The seniors population will grow rapidly in the next decade. The Okanagan will provide us with great research opportunities to learn how we can respond to their shifting needs for recreation and leisure. at that age; and the growing over-80 group, who will need resistance and aerobic activity to maintain their health, strength, mobility and balance. Some Okanagan municipalities have responded by increasing the supply of accessible paved trails, expanding community gardens and creating more spaces for cultural activities. Other communities are planning affordable, accessible housing, transportation, recreation and cultural activities for low-income seniors. Innovative ideas and partnerships are needed to access socially isolated seniors, and we need to rethink our approach to outreach and volunteerism. We must be sure to locate services in walkable neighborhoods and construct housing close to those services. We also need to investigate how creative activities may slow the ageing process by working with creative arts groups throughout the valley in music, acting, painting, writing and other arts. Policy makers say that pressures on the regional health care system are mounting, with increasing rates of certain diseases, excessive waits for joint replacement, long ER queues, chronic shortages of seniors' residential care (which tend to tie up hospital beds), shortages of home care and home supports and an ageing health-care workforce. These issues need fair funding and a new emphasis on cost-effective, early intervention and prevention. However, the reality of engaged, active older persons in the Okanagan contests the notion that our ageing population will be a costly and burdensome silver tsunami. Instead, there is a great opportunity for the communities of the Okanagan, with their wealth of retired social capital, to refute these notions. In fact, new research indicates that technology, not ageing, has contributed most to rising health costs. Ninety five percent of seniors never go into formal care. One-third Wally Giebelhaus, now 81, won the Men's 1X (ages 65 to 74) Canadian National Water Ski Championship in 1998, setting a new nationa record. Today, he's on golf spikes more often than water skis, and gets around by bike. His secret to a long life is "Do what you love." 26 Trek Summer 2007 to one-half of health costs occurs at the very end of life. The older adults of the Okanagan have helped create and sustain a robust housing market, have used their sophisticated skill sets to increase the demand and supply of more innovative philanthropy, and can potentially offset regional labour shortages if they choose to keep working. They have become an expanding market for leisure services, creating demands for new business solutions to serve their needs. And, in many instances, they are building those businesses themselves. This generation of seniors is far from being a cohort out of economic control. We should support their generation with research to demonstrate their potential as a demographic windfall. New community-university partnerships can support a long-term research agenda on ageing in the Okanagan with developing programs in Gerontology, Health Studies, Critical and Creative Studies, Human Kinetics and Medicine. UBC is taking the lead in this research, with the Okanagan at its centre. I Mary Ann Murphy, PhD, is an associate professor with a cross-appointment on Ageing and Sociology. She teaches and conducts research at UBC Okanagan. STAYING YOUNG IN THE OKANAGAN Better diets, more physical activity, less stress and an attractive, liveable environment seem to combine in the Okanagan to make life not only qualitatively better, but quantitatively as well. John Nixon is one of the younger 50-ish players in the large, co-ed Okanagan over-50 slow pitch league that stretches from Osoyoos to Vernon. The league boasts competitive and recreational leagues for teams in their 50s, 60s and 70s. A retired air traffic controller, John says "We all realize that activity keeps you going, and that it's better than Advil for taking away your ailments. This league is over-subscribed with older players from age 50-85. On most days out, we have to turn people away." Allistair MacLachlan, 78, is president of the Kelowna Badminton Club, where one-third of the members are over 65. In 1994, Mr. MacLachlan left chilly Ottawa winters behind to "retire to the warmest spot in the country, where housing prices were still reasonable." In the summer months, he plays golf three mornings a week, badminton the other two and "takes the weekends off to rest." Along with a number of other club members, he plays at the Master's level in both Canadian and International Tournaments. Currently, the oldest badminton doubles team in his club is on hiatus, while one of the women recovers from a hip replacement. Dave Cullen, 76, is this year's president of the 20th Annual BC Seniors' Games, the most highly subscribed games in the country with 5,000 members involved in an event that emphasizes participation over competition. He comes from a family line that lives to a healthy old age. In fact, his eternally healthy 105 year- old mother only entered a care home this year, and has willed her body to the major Canadian Centenarian study in Nova Scotia. Dave says that he was a physical wreck when he retired. "My doctor said my blood pressure was so high, I should get on a treadmill. I said I'd die of boredom if I did that!" Now, he is busy every weekday in the winter playing badminton or volley ball, while in summer he spends three days a week playing ball, one on the yard and two helping organize the Senior's games. On the weekend, he takes it easy reading the paper and doing the crossword puzzles. "The aches and pains I had before I retired are gone." He says, "most of the active seniors I know do at least two sports. Sport is also about getting out, communicating and making new friends. What other generation got to ask at age 75, 'what am I going to do with the next 20 years of my life? ' And the good thing about retirement is that you're just there to have fun. No one cares anymore about your status or what you did for a living." Cullen sees a gap in current research knowledge in that "everyone can tell you how healthy, or unhealthy we seniors are. They also like tell you what a drain we are on the medical system. However, what they really don't understand is how active many of us really are!" Lyn Watson and her husband Merv exhibit many of the characteristics of an active ageing population. She is a part-time Bachelor of Fine Arts student enrolled at UBCO, but is also an occupational therapist currently working as a research assistant on a hospital-based UBC study on stroke recovery. She says that when it came to retirement, "I could either walk the dog and watch TV, or think about what I really wanted to do and might have missed out on!" Her husband remains a busy Master's level tennis competitor, travelling away from home about eight weeks a year to compete. In retirement, he developed a newfound passion for genealogy which ultimately led him to self- publish four books on his family history. He also, by happenstance, had an interesting decade- long second career as a Justice of the Peace. He believes that the key to successful, active ageing in the Okanagan is the slower pace of life, the good climate, and the many opportunities to remain active. But despite his sports success, he does not train. He believes his diet and active lifestyle - learning, gardening, daily stretching and brisk walking - are the keys to his vitality. The couple enjoy the occasional bottle of red wine and are active learners and volunteers. They belong to the 600-plus member Society for Learning in Retirement. It was here where Lyn first thought about going back to do her BFA after an instructor at a sketching course complimented her artistic talent. Lyn helps her husband deliver an annual course on South African history, geography, flora, people and modernity. As an offshoot to that course, they now lead annual tours to South Africa. Compiled by Mary Ann Murphy Summer 2007 Trek 27 Grandma Rose was thrilled when granddaughter Viola chose to pursue a nursing degree after her first year of university. "My grandmother's health had been declining for a few years at the time, and when I visited her she kept saying 'I want you to be my nurse,'" says nursing student Viola Rose Brown. "Grandma Rose was always a cheerleader through my years at school. She wanted all her grandchildren to go to school and encouraged us to be focused and dedicated to our studies. When I got into nursing she was so happy." A member of the Okanagan Indian Band in Vernon, 22-year-old Brown graduated this spring with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (bsn) degree from UBC Okanagan's School of Nursing. One of the highlights of her education was a six-week volunteer mission to Western Africa last February and March, learning about nursing in the rural hospitals and clinics of northern Ghana. Grandma Rose passed away just two weeks before Brown left for Ghana, but the support and encouragement over the years from her grandmother and her entire family have given Brown a clear sense of direction in her life: she wants to be a great nurse, and particularly a comfort to Aboriginal patients. "Growing up, my parents taught me the importance of learning the values and teachings of my people's traditional way of life," says Brown. "As a result, I am now very active in my First Nations culture and it is a part of my everyday life. "My involvement in my culture turned into a drive for me to go into the nursing profession. I want to be able to give back to my people and to assist them in improving their quality of "I think it's very important for youth to see that it is possible to achieve great things." living. Often that quality of living is low, and significantly compromised," she says. The Okanagan Indian Band helped her financially through her post-secondary schooling. The entire First Nations community in Vernon also offered tremendous encouragement, she says, adding that she received support for her trip to Ghana from family, friends and com munity members. "I realize who I am today has a lot to do with my community," she acknowledges. "I really appreciate all the support my Band provided. They're the reason I am here." Her immediate plans are to enjoy being a nurse, gaining experience and applying her cultural awareness and nursing skills for positive impact in the health-care system. "I've always found myself to be a nurturer, able to jump in and help when someone is sick or injured," she says. "As a nurse, I'd like to emphasize the importance of being culturally sensitive, and being an advocate for people who need that support." Last year, Brown attended a conference in Prince George aimed at developing a plan to get more First Nations youth into health-related fields. As a new nursing degree recipient, Brown sees an opportunity to share with Aboriginal youth the kind of encouragement she has received. "I think it's very important for youth to see that it is possible to achieve great things," she says. "Now that I've done the work and look back, it's not as hard as you might think, but only as long as you apply yourself. I would like it to be an example for youth that no door is closed to them." I By Bud Mortenson. Originally published in UBC Reports. Trek Summer 2007 Photo: Bud Mortenson GRAD PROFILE: CAMYAR CHAI Friends and family were somewhat puzzled by Camyar Chai's decision to return to school. After all, hasn't he already made it? Chai, 39, is the founder and one of the artistic producers of Vancouver's neworldtheatre, known for original and ambitious plays. Works such as Adrift on the Nile and The Adventures of Ali and Ali and the Axes of Evil plumb the political and social divide between East and West, mixing the forms of theatre and cabaret. His recent film and television acting credits include Douglas Coupland's film Everything's Gone Green, Stargate sgi and the new Chris Haddock series, Intelligence. However, when Chai crossed the stage at UBC's Chan Centre during graduation, it was to receive his Master of Fine Arts degree. "Coming back to UBC gave me the luxury of honing my directing skills and clarifying the kind of theatre I want to make," says Chai. "When you're working and face daily pressures of deadlines, bills, and performances, you just don't have time to ruminate on these issues." Since graduating from UBC in 1993 with a BFA, Chai has performed in 25 theatre productions, produced 14 and directed seven. For his MFA thesis project, Chai directed Bertold Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children. Compared to the open-ended creative process with his own and other new plays, he found a marked difference in directing an established work. "Before I put my own ingenuity on the script, I had to understand what the writer intended." His MFA studies also included technical proficiency in lighting and other design elements "I was using those tools before, but I can do so "My dream for Vancouver is a city that moves toward tolerance and resolving some of the problems we're facing because of it." now with greater subtlety and depth." Chai plans to continue working in Vancouver, concentrating on socially relevant and intimate plays that challenge audiences to think and live beyond their established borders. Chai grew up in London, New York and Tehran, and left Iran at age 11 with his family. They eventually settled in North Vancouver in 19 81. He says he's strongly influenced by Persian poetry and history that emphasizes respect and deference toward others, "looking toward the greater good - which for some is God, the universe or society as a whole. My dream for Vancouver is a city that moves toward tolerance and resolving some of the problems we're facing because of it." This month, Chai will be mounting the first us run of The Adventures of Ali and Ali and the Axes of Evil in Seattle. He'll also be bringing the play for the first time to the Persian community in North Vancouver. The neworldtheatre company is working to gain the rights for a production of My Name is Rachel Corrie, the Royal Court Theatre play about a us activist who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer. It is also collaborating with Touchstone Theatre on a production of Quebec playwright Wajdi Mouawad's Tideline, set in the chaos of Lebanon. Chai is also working at the Carnegie Centre teaching a writing course on political satire. Participants will create a piece slated for 2010 production called The Downtown Eastside Olympics. I By Lorraine Chan. Originally published in UBC Reports. Illustration/self portrait: Camyar Cha Summer 2007 Trek 29 What it Takes to Win The complexities of climate change, cancer and other overwhelming issues can only be understood and, ultimately, resolved with the help of every academic discipline. by JOHN CORRY Lifewriting. Cancer treatment. Sustainability. These three seemingly disparate themes are now intertwined in the life of my mother-in-law, Adelle Castelo. In 2006, at the age of 72, she published her first novel [Tango on a Tightrope), was diagnosed with breast cancer and watched the world begin to embrace, again, the kind of sustainable living she grew up with during the Depression. Following a lumpectomy, aggressive chemotherapy, and radiation, Adelle is slowly recovering and is almost ready to start writing again. Lifewriting has allowed her to reflect on the past and come to understand the story of her life, her generation and the choices she has made. With climate change and an increase 30 Trek Summer 2007 llustration: IStockPhoto in cancer clearly linked to the lifestyle and choices of the baby boomer generation that followed her, I wonder how the story of our generation will play out. Will we be seen as pioneers who led the change that saved the planet? Or will we be seen as its ultimate destroyers? In January 2007, UBC created the College for Interdisciplinary Studies (cfis). It provides the research infrastructure to look at precisely these kinds of multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary societal issues, and to examine how these issues can be resolved through collaborative research. One of cfis's faculty members, professor John Robinson, has spent 30 years addressing sustainability. Based on his experience, he believes that sustainability (and similar kinds of complex problems) requires two different but complementary types of research. Discipline-based, curiosity-driven research, he says, will always be needed as the core of any university research effort to focus on the "long term project of culture and civilization." But this type of research needs to be complemented by an "outer ring of people who want to engage in the community and address specific social issues." Robinson works at cfis' Institute for Environment, Resources and Sustainability (ires), is a lead author on the Fourth Intergovernmental Report on Climate Change, and is spearheading the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, part research lab, part working office and possibly the world's greenest building. "The centre," he says, "is a great example of issues-driven interdisciplinarity at work. We draw on basic research in building science, materials science, physics, thermodynamics of energy use, all in the service of accelerating sustainability." Cancer is growing worldwide and is another pressing issue that is better examined under collaborative lenses. The World Health Organization estimates that malignant tumours were responsible for 12 per cent of the nearly 5 6 million deaths worldwide from all causes, and reckons that cancer rates could increase by 50 per cent to 15 million new cases in the year 2020. I spoke with Ralph Durand, director of cfis' Interdisciplinary Oncology Program recently in his office at the BC Cancer Research Centre. The program brings together 15 graduate students from a variety of fields to study cancer and the combination of treatments needed to tackle the kind of aggressive cancer that Adelle faces. "Cancer," says Durand, "is a disease of the aged, caused by a mutation in the genes." Understanding why these mutations occur, and their triggers - lifestyle, pollution, stress, and toxins - is key to prevention. Durand uses an interdisciplinary approach in his research, mixing and matching different treatment regimes. "Oncology and radiation were competing disciplines 3 5 years ago," he explains. "Today the disciplines work much more collaboratively. In our program, if a lab result doesn't make it in a clinical trial, the students and a principal investigator go back to the lab and try again." But, Durand adds, "one of the most difficult The earth contains about 6.5 billion humans. We continue to grow and destroy our host species with all the qualities of tumourous growth. PROFESSOR BILL REES UBC's School for Community and Regional Planning things is to ensure students report the unexpected results they might consider as negative." The principal investigator might conclude the "negative result" is in fact a new direction, a possible discovery. "It is these unexpected findings that are often most interesting." "Medicine is not a science, it is an art," Durand says, and most successful "when the researchers work collaboratively and are provided a space for serendipity to happen. I'll be eating my lunch and someone will say one sentence and I'll go 'Aha!' and that will spark an idea. Some of the best science is done in the lunchroom." Durand describes the traditional methods of killing cancer cells and the nasty side-effects that survivors like Adelle are facing, and sees new, less harmful genetic therapies emerging that can slow cancer growth. "My vision for the future," he says, "is to relegate cancer to a manageable disease." This is a vision Adelle supports. In the past 11 months, she has been seen by her GP, a chemotherapy oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a surgeon, a host of generous volunteers and a number of specially trained nurses, therapists and technicians - a community of support. "It has certainly been a long, unpredictable journey," she says, "As most oncologists put it, chemotherapy is a process of 'slash, poison, and burn.'" The day I interviewed Adelle, her hair was just starting to grow in again. "I began lifewriting about ten years ago," she says, "and I now realize that this was my attempt to put together the jigsaw puzzle pieces of my life. I could not write creatively during the cancer treatment, suffering from so-called chemo brain, which affects both short-term memory and the ability to concentrate." Dr. Carla Paterson met me at UBC's Centre for Studies in Autobiography, Gender and Aging, a unit in cfis' Centre for Women's and Gender Studies. She showed me the space where graduate students, scholars and community members interact and conduct research on autobiography and lifewriting, focusing on issues raised by gender and age such as those faced by Adelle. The Centre is one of the first humanities projects funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and has leveraged an interdisciplinary network of arts, humanities and science scholars into a diverse range of publications. "For example," says Peterson, "a recent conference, Narratives of Disease, Disability, and Aging, led to the book Unfitting Stories: Narrative Approaches to Disease, D isability, and Trauma," which provides compelling and innovative approaches from different disciplines to understanding Adelle's recent experiences. It is a book that needed an interdisciplinary infrastructure for the collaborative effort to work." Professor Sneja Gunew, outgoing director of the Centre for Women's and Gender Studies, is a firm believer in the value of interdisciplinary research and teaching because "you can see the results when you bring these people together. Ordinarily, you're bouncing up against disciplinary walls. But here you feel liberated and Summer 2007 Trek 31 have a sense of legitimization. It makes a huge difference." It takes time to develop a common language, she says, and the process is risky. "But the result is the freedom to collaborate with others and pursue creative and innovative solutions." Gunew adds that the Food Project is another good example of interdisciplinary work. "We worked with nutritionists and a group of First Nations and looked at how traditional knowledge about food and plants and healing can apply to contemporary health issues like diabetes." Thinking about Adelle, I realize that her life has bridged the Depression, the consumer generation and now a generation facing what might be the biggest issue yet. Professor Hadi Dowlatabadi, jointly appointed in two cfis units, ires and the Liu Institute for Global Issues, has been analyzing climate change for 19 years. "Climate change is a great example of a problem that requires an interdisciplinary effort. It affects health, economies, water availability, ecosystems, trade and most other areas of human endeavour." Dowlatabadi focuses on asking the question: What technological choices do we have for meeting energy demand without compromising the Earth's environmental systems? His integrated assessment of various sustainable technologies helps governments make well- informed policy choices. Dowlatabadi asserts that typical Canadian homes could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent for hot water and space heating, have it pay for itself in less than ten years, and save 40 megatonnes of greenhouse gases - one-fifth of our obligation under Kyoto - at no net cost to the economy, simply by using current technologies such as ground source heat pumps. Providing this kind of real-world, public benefit is why Dowlatabadi is at cfis. "The College is one of the few such institutions in the world that has brought together scholars bridging the gap between the academic and the real world, and that makes cfis a really special place." Adelle was born in one of Canada's toughest economic times. "The world is becoming more and more complex," she says. "We learned the hard way about sustainability, perhaps without knowing that word. 'Waste not, want not' prevailed in my family and permanently affected me," she says. Professor William (Bill) Rees arrives at our interview on his bike wearing shorts. It's the same way he has traveled to work for the past 30 years. He is a professor in UBC's School of Community and Regional Planning and developer of the ecological footprint analysis concept. He was recently awarded the Trudeau Fellowship Prize for the global impact of his research. Rees goes further than Adelle. He thinks our world is becoming "more complex than we can even think," with global issues posing increasing levels of risk as we become less and less able to understand, let alone address, them. Humans are now the leading cause of cli- A tumour the size of a large marble contains about 6.5 billion cancer cells. RALPH DURAND UBC Interdisciplinary Oncology Program mate change according to the recently released fourth ipcc Report. But, says Rees, "climate change is just one of many symptoms of our dysfunctional relationship between the human enterprise and nature. And to understand why that is the case requires the kind of interdisciplinary, even transdisciplinary, orientation of cfis. We may think that we know a great deal in our own discipline, but we may not be able to interpret our disciplinary insights in a meaningful way because we're ignorant of the various insights that it might connect with in other disciplines." "So we need both: deep technical knowledge within each of the disciplines, and people who then withdraw from the discipline and embed themselves in environments such as cfis so that we can make the connections that enable us to confront the problem." The 2003 World Cancer Report explicitly links the global increase in cancer to our choices: The main reasons for the greater cancer burden of affluent societies are the earlier onset of the tobacco epidemic, the earlier exposure to occupational carcinogens, and Western nutrition and lifestyle. Rees draws an analogy: "A well-adjusted parasite is unnoticed by its host. Humans are like maladaptive parasites on the planet, because we continue to grow and we're destroying our host species. In fact, we have all the qualities of a tumourous growth." Cancer and climate change are both complex, global and require the wide (and deep) lens of interdisciplinary research to be understood and addressed. "We have two grand challenges: one to our intellect and our capacity to plan forward to avoid the worst, and the other to recognize that current development is creating a moral dilemma of unprecedented proportions. If we can rise to those two challenges, then, I think, the next 60 years will be perhaps the most exciting times and we'll have a future." "When I listen to my grandchildren speak, I am amazed by how much they know about these issues. It makes me most hopeful that their generation will be one that cares about and will take responsibility for the world." Leaving the interview, I wonder, "Sixty years from now, what life story will Adelle's grandchildren - my children - write? Much depends, of course, on how much my generation pays attention to the interconnections between diverse areas of discovery, so that we can in fact come to understand the very complex and historically compelling problems we are facing, and then make the right personal and policy choices, providing a future for the next generation. I For more about interdisciplinary studies at UBC, see www.cfis.ubc.ca. Grant Ingram, principal of CIS, passed away suddenly on June 13, 2007. To make a donation to the Grant Ingram Memorial Scholarship, please contact Maryn Ellis at 604.822.5345. John Corry is communications manager at UBC's College for Interdisciplinary Studies. 32 Trek Summer 2007 THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA ALUMNI NEWS I SUMMER 2 iby Brian Fernandes The World of Kebabs Anand Prakash, MA'58, phd'6o Whitecap Books, $29.95 Learn how to make Skewered Meat Balls from Japan, Veal Skewers in Marsala Wine from Italy, Meat and Eggplant Kebabs from Iraq, Spicy Mutton Kebabs from Nigeria and Jerk Pork and Pineapple Kebabs from Jamaica. A marine biologist-turned cookbook author, Prakash provides 150 mouth-watering and exotic kebab recipes as well as the cultural history of the kebab. For 20 years, Prakash has traveled the globe, collecting recipes from street vendors, restaurateurs, chefs and food historians. Along with information on grilling, marinating, and meat preparation, each recipe has been tested and retested and is presented in an easy-to-follow format. In this comprehensive guide, Prakash shares simple recipes, anecdotes and insight into the evolution of this global cuisine. Clam Gardens: Aboriginal Mariculture on Canada's West Coast Judith Williams New Star Books, $19.00 Coastal First-Nations are well- known as hunters and gatherers. But now Judith Williams, UBC assistant professor emerita, has uncovered convincing evidence that in addition to fishing and collecting vegetation, native peoples have, since pre-Contact time, harvested clams in special retaining beds built for this purpose. For many years, archaeologists were unaware of the ancient clam terraces at Waiatt Bay on Quadra Island and Williams knew no differently until she was advised of their existence by a Klahoose elder. By talking with other observers of clam gardens in the Broughton Archipelago and conducting her own survey of Waiatt Bay and Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island, Williams has amassed evidence that the rock structures seen only at the lowest tides were used by native peoples for the purpose of cultivating butter clams. The clams were then smoked, dried and threaded onto long strings which could then be traded. According to Williams, the existence of clam gardens might be unique in the world; her research does much to challenge the notion of pre-contact West Coast indigenous peoples and hunters- gatherers alone. The Big Fall Ivan Narayan, ba'o6 Author House, $13.99 Private Detective Gabriel Dixon's world has always revolved around three things: booze, broads and bullets. However, when the door opened one sleepy afternoon, he knew his life would never be the same again. What follows is a fistful of beatings, car chases, dizzy dames that won't quit and Nazi thugs bent on 34 Trek Summer 2007 destroying everything that World War II New York is all about. What Gabriel Dixon doesn't know is that a powerful secret ties everyone he meets together in a dangerous game of twister that leaves a string of dead bodies and broken hearts. The Big Fall is laced with 1940's jargon and is reminiscent of the film-noir detective style movies and novels that defined much of the era where guns were called "heaters" and women were called "dames." True Confessions Renee Norman, BEDE'72, MA'95, PHD'99 Inanna Publications and Education Inc., $17.95 In this award-winning collection, acclaimed poet and writer Renee Norman captures the sensuous and surreal, the serious and the serene and the simple truths about life, love, self and family. True Confessions traces Norman's early beginnings growing up Jewish in Alberta, marrying and raising her daughters, delving into academia, and her journey to becoming an autobiographical writer and poet. The collection is a depiction of women's roles as daughter, mother and grandmother. Affecting Eternity: Origins of the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Education John Calam, BA'48, MED'62 Pacific Educational Press, $24.95 Affecting Eternity is an insider's account of the personalities and debate that shaped the evolution of teacher education at UBC. It is a detailed rundown of the struggle to define education and educators. Spanning 84 years, Affecting Eternity balances upon the deanship of Neville Scarfe who, with his colleagues, established a major university faculty broad in its array of specialization, complex in its divisional and departmental structure, and recognized internationally for its professional accomplishments. This book is for teacher educators, education faculty members and all readers interested in educational and institutional history and the impact that teacher education's conception continues to have on teaching in Canada. Horse: How the Horse has Shaped Civilization J. Edward Chamberlin, BA'64 Knopf Canada, $32.95 Drawing on archeology, biology, art, literature and ethnography, Horse highlights the relationship between humans and horses throughout history - from Alexander the Great to Genghis Kahn, from the Moors in Spain and the knights in France, to the great horse cultures of Native America. From the Ice Age to the Industrial Age, horses have provided sustenance, transporta tion, status, companionship and the ability to establish and expand empires. Included in Horse are stories of horses at work and at play, both wild horses and famous horses in books, paintings and movies. The grandson of Alberta pioneer John Cowdry, Chamberlin has horses in his genes. This Crisis, These Blessings Deirdre Maultsaid, med'oi Trafford Publishing, $19.95 This Crisis, These Blessings is a collection of richly detailed essays on women's experiences of crisis, illness, rape, motherhood, housework and family travel. The essays demonstrate women turning suffering into understanding, grief into poetry and tragedy into renewal. Drawn from her life as teacher, mother, sexual assault survivor or traveler, Maultsaid's fragments and reflections are disturbing, cumulative and unexpected. I Summer 2007 Trek 35 New look, new benefits! UBC The Alumni Card (Acard) is your passport to exclusive benefits and identifies you as a proud member of UBC's global alumni community. UBC community borrower library card, valued at $100 per year Regular room rental discount of 25% at UBC Robson Square Special rates at the University Golf Club Two-for-one admission to the Museum of Anthropology, the UBC Botanical Garden and the Nitobe Memorial Garden Jubilee Travel vacation package discounts UBC Bookstore discount of 10% on selected merchandise Discounts on regular adult tickets for Theatre at UBC Deals with UBC Athletics and the Aquatic Centre Business In Vancouver subscription savings Savings of 30% on Premium Paints and 20% on related supplies at Mills Paint UBC Alumni Affairs John Doe www.alumni.ubc.ca issue Date: 05/23/2007 Visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/rewards for more information. The perks of membership! Alumni Affairs has established relationships with carefully selected companies to provide you with special deals on quality products and services. Help support student and alumni activities at UBC by participating in the following great programs: O Wellington West Clearsight offers full service retirement planning including lower fees, professional advice and a wide selection of products. Home & Auto Insurance TD Meloche Monnex home and auto insurance plans extend preferred group rates and specially designed features for our grads. Small-business and travel insurance is also available. Perso Manulife Financial has served the alumni community for over twenty years, providing extended health and dental, term life and critical illness plans. Credit car More than 12,000 alumni and students use their UBC MBNA Alumni Mastercard which has low introductory rates, 24-hour customer support and no annual fees. Visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/rewards for more information. ALUMNI NEWS Wanted: Arts Letterman Jackets Inter-faculty rivalry is as prevalent as ever among UBC students, and the Faculty of Arts needs some help! Engineering and Science students have letterman jackets that they can wear to inter-faculty events, but Arts students do not. If you have an old Arts UBC jacket lying around that you don't happen to wear anymore, the Arts Undergraduate Society (aus) would love to have it. Jackets will be showcased on the first day of classes at the imagine ceremonies and worn at inter-faculty events. Please contact Stephanie Ryan, AUS President, at 778.855.8574 or auspresident@gmail.com. Reunions During the 2007 May long weekend, more than 100 former residence advisors gathered at UBC Vancouver for a chance to rekindle old football rivalries, tour new - and newly renovated - residence buildings, and enjoy another formal dinner at Vanier's Dining Room. Reports suggest there was also enough time to try the new pub on campus, as well as visiting the old one. Alumni who worked as residence advisors in all residence areas, from all years, were invited to this first advisor reunion. A number of alumni from Ontario and Alberta made the trip and organizers were particularly delighted to welcome an alumna who was a staff member in 1972. For more information about future advisor alumni events, please contact advisor.reunion® ubc.ca. Planning Your Milestone Reunion Did you graduate in 1997, 1998, 1982, 1983, 1957 or 1958? We want to help you celebrate these milestone anniversaries. Contact Marguerite Collins at 604.827.3294 or marguerite. collins@ubc.ca to plan your 10, 25 or 50 year reunion. Class Reunions We're booking reunions for Alumni Weekend and for other times throughout the year. Many of the details are still being pinned down, but here's the line-up so far. Please keep an eye on our website for updates www.alumni.ubc. ca/events/reunions or get in touch with the reunion contact person listed. 60th Anniversary Reunion Class of '47: Thursday, November 22: Brunch at Cecil Green Park House and special convocation ceremony at the Chan Centre. Please keep an eye out for your detailed invitation package late in the summer. Classes of '48 and '49: Date TBC. If you are interested in being part of the reunion planning committee, please contact Marguerite Collins at 604.827.3294 or marguerite.collins@ubc.ca. Applied Science Mechanical Engineering Class of '97: Details TBC. Please contact David Iwabu for more information at 604.574.2860 or iwabu@yahoo. com. The Mechanical Engineering Class of '87: July 14 to 15. Saturday evening boat cruise for grads and guests leaving from Coal Harbour with drinks, dinner, dancing and a live band made up of some "almost famous" alumni. On Sunday there will be a family bbq at a park or beach in greater Vancouver. For more details contact Cathy Strickland at cstrickland@shaw. ca. Civil Engineering Class of '49: Tuesday, September 11. Lunch at Dunsmuir Lodge and a guided tour of the BC Aviation Museum in Victoria. For more details contact Hub Baker at hubbaker@shaw.ca or 250.592.1461. Chemical Engineering Class of '87: August ■ Totem Football, a favourite residence tradition, was relived by advisor alumni during the first residence advisor reunion in May 2007. Summer 2007 Trek 37 + r" | ALUM Nil 4 1^4 UBC di i «£J ^■fll Wk, OKANAGAN \ UNTVtHSITY" ' \ ITIJH COLUMW \ V 5 .1 ■ > t * 1 < » V UBC Convert Last year, UBC's Senate approved the plan to award UBC degrees to eligible graduates of Okanagan University College. More than 2,300 OUC grads are eligible to convert their degrees, and so far more than 400 have applied. Edmonton teacher Stuart Hurd, pictured here, joined other converters at a ceremony on the UBCO campus in June. He earned his BSc at OUC in 1999, and his BEd in 2004. Said Hurd who, with his wife, drove from Edmonton for the ceremony, "The UBC name is far more recognizable, and my institution doesn't exist anymore. So I thought it would be a good thing." OUC grads who convert their degrees receive all services available to other UBC grads, including access to the UBC Library system and connections to UBC's worldwide alumni community. 4 to 5. The class will convene in Vancouver for a reunion weekend. For more details contact alumni@apsc.ubc.ca. Engineering '58: 50th Anniversary, May 2008. Contact Gerry Hildebrand at dgh@shaw.ca or 604.731.1288 or visit the reunion website at members.shaw.ca/reunionS8. Arts Arts One: 40th Anniversary Reunion, Saturday, September 15. Open House, luncheon and a special presentation by Dr. Edward Hundert on Arts One: Surviving the Bonfire of the Humanities. For more information, please contact arts. cap@ubc.ca for more information at christine. lee@ubc.ca or 604.822.9259. Arts and Science Arts and Science '57: Saturday, September 15 - details TBC. Arts and Science '58: If you are interested in being part of the reunion planning committee, please contact Marguerite Collins at 604.827.3294 or marguerite.collins@ubc.ca to plan your 10, 25 or 50 year reunion. Law Law'82, '83, and '97: Details TBC. Law'57: Saturday, September 29 at the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club. Land and Food Systems (formerly Agriculture) Aggies'57 and '82: Details TBC. Aggies'77- 81: Five-year reunion - details TBC. Medicine Med'57: September 7-9. Contact Dr. Hardwick at david.f.hardwick@ubc.ca or 604.822.8584. Med'58: Details TBC. Med'67: Contact Dr. Patrick MacLeod at patrick.macleod@viha.ca or 250.370.2961. Med'82,'87 and '92: Details TBC. Med'97: September 14 to 16, 2007. Please contact Angela Rivers at squamishrivers® botmail.com. Nursing Nursing All Years: September 15. Reunion Luncheon at Cecil Green Park House. Nursing'57: Contact Ethel Warbinek for more info at warbinek@telus.net or 604.538.5066. Nursing'67: Contact Alison Rice for more info at jalisonrice@shaw.ca Pharmacy Pharmacy'57: September 14 to 15. Friday dinner and reception at Cecil Green Park House; Saturday tour of the faculty and Alumni Weekend activities. Contact Gordon Wrightman at 604.936.6184 or gorel@telus.net. Pharmacy'62: Contact Lawrence (Larry) Thorne at Ithorne@shaw.ca or 250.385.3196. Sauder School of Business BCOM'97, BCOM'87, MBA'97, MBA'82: Contact alumni@sauder.ubc.ca or 604.822.6027 for more info. BCOM'57: Tuesday, June 19. Walking tour of campus and luncheon. Please contact alumni® sauder.ubc.ca or 604.822.6027. Forestry Forestry'67: Contact Russ Clinton at russ. clinton@telus.net or 604.541.3655. Forestry All Years: Saturday, September 15. Reunion luncheon during Alumni Weekend. Please contact the faculty at 604.822.8787. Regional Network News Your global UBC alumni network just keeps on growing. There are now nearly 60 contacts and networks around the globe. Fellow alumni are having fun planning events, networking with one another, meeting UBC faculty and staff, and sharing experiences with new UBC students. What have your networks been up to recently? They've joined alumni from other universities at All Canadian Universities events, attended the 1st annual Toronto Great Trekker Alumni Luncheon, shared experiences at the us information sessions for new UBC students, gone ice skating, learned to windsurf, and met UBC's new president. You can be part of the excitement no matter how far away you are from the UBC campus. Get out to an upcoming event or get involved as a volunteer. Do you have a flair for event planning? Writing web content? Organizing book clubs? Fielding questions from and sharing experiences with new students or relocating alumni? If so, why not contact the alumni rep for your region and share your talent. Regional networks are always looking for volunteers. www.alumni.ubc.ca/connect/networks. If you don't see a network for your area, contact your alumni relations managers, Brenda (UBC Okanagan) at brenda.tournier@ubc.ca, Tanya (UBC Vancouver) at tanya.walker@ubc. ca, or Mei Mei (Asia Pacific Regional Office in Hong Kong) at info@apro.ubc.ca. 38 Trek Summer 2007 Photo: Chris Petty Alumni Network Reps ASIA Beijing Richard Liu, BA'93 beijing@alumni.ubc.ca MIDDLE EAST Qatar Tammy McDonald, BED'96 tammym@qatar.net.qa United Arab Emirates Sajida Shroff, BA'90, BED'93 sajida_shroff@post.harvard.edu EUROPE Denmark Kim Christiane Larsen, BA'07 kc_larsen_8@hotmail.com London, England Lee-Ann Rowan, BA'03 leeannr.ubc.uk@gmail.com Upcoming Events Where is the best source for upcoming events? Check out the Alumni Affairs website at www. alumni.ubc.ca. Your reps are all using email to spread the word about events so make sure that we have your email address. It's easy to update at www.alumni.ubc.ca/contact/address.php. 8th Annual Canada Gala & UBC Alumni Reception Friday, October 5 at the Westin Hotel This will be the 8th Annual Canada Gala celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving and the Canada - us relationship. UBC alumni are invited to attend a special, private reception prior to the gala. Mark your calendars for an evening of celebration, reminiscing, and networking. Feel free to join us for the reception, gala or both! More details at www.alumni.ubc.calevents. Focus UBC Receptions Professor Stephen Toope became UBC's 12th president in July 2006. He is traveling to differ ent locations around the globe in the coming year to meet alumni and friends of UBC, like you. Join us to welcome Professor Toope on his first visit to your city. Focus UBC: Calgary Monday, September 10, 2007 Fairmont Hotel Palliser 6:30 - 9:00 pm Focus UBC: Seoul Monday, October 15, 2007 Focus UBC: Taipei Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Focus UBC: Tokyo Thursday, October 18, 2007 Focus UBC: London February 2008 More dates, locations and details will be added. Check www.alumni.ubc.ca/events/focus for updates. I '* ?'' , Mary Southerst thinks SO. A deep concern for animals has prompted her to establish a planned gift to benefit UBC's Animal Welfare Program. Through a bequest in her will, the program will receive funds to help them carry out their mission of improving the welfare of animals internationally through research, teaching and public education. Dr. David Fraser, Senior Professor in the program, appreciates the personal interest Mary shows in animals, and in the program's work to improve their lives. "Mary's gift will help ensure that UBC continues to be a world leader in animal welfare long into the future." To establish a planned gift that will support important programs like Animal Welfare, please contact UBC Gift & Estate Planning at 604.822.5373 or heritage.circle@ubc.ca. THE UNIVERSITY OF UBC BRITISH COLUMBIA www.supporting.ubc.ca Summer 2007 Trek 39 ABOVE: View from the hotel, Cortona; BELOW: Florence from above; LEFT: author and gelati Footsteps worn by history. A medieval walkway in Cortona, Italy. Cortona and the Tasty Treats of Tuscany by CHRIS PETTY I've always heard that the light is one of Tuscany's most compelling attractions. A trick of the atmosphere creates a perpetual haze that softens the landscape and diffuses the colours like a lens smeared with Vaseline. A philistine might suggest that it looks more like smog but no, we're assured, it's always been like that. And sure enough, vistas around Cortona, the town we will live in for eight days, look like the backgrounds of Renaissance paintings with rocky outcrops, cylindrical cedars, Roman ruins and misty distances, soft and angelic. My wife Elizabeth and I are in the land of "Under the Tuscan Sun" with a group of alumni from Canadian universities, UBC included, all part of the Alumni Holiday International program, Alumni College in Tuscany. Talking to other tour members on the first day (sitting overlooking the amazing view from our hotel, sipping a welcoming glass of Tuscan wine), I realize that many of them have the same misgivings we do about travelling in a tour group. Will be we herded like school children or old folks on a day pass? Will we have to walk through endless museums listening to English-as-a-third-language guides speaking about Caravaggio's amazing pentimenti until we scream? Like us, many of them are used to travelling on their own and taking what comes. So we wait and see. Cortona is an ancient city, first built by the Etruscans, added on to by the Romans, beautified by the Medicis, and polished, buffed and upgraded by generations of Italians ever since. They've managed to maintain its historical appeal and, at the same time, ensure that mod cons like electricity, running water and sewers keep it liveable. It stretches up the side of a small mountain giving it an imposing view of any approaching enemy, and of the lush agricultural valley below. The view from our hotel, the San Lucas, is without doubt the 40 Trek Summer 2007 best in town. We take our meals at the hotel, distracted by it. The tour works like this: we get up each morning to a great breakfast of eggs, fresh pastries, fruit, cold meats and all the other things that make up a deluxe continental breakfast. Then, we load up on the bus and head out for the day's adventure. One day we walk the streets of Siena and learn about the Palio, a traditional horse race between the town's competing neighbourhoods. It's run annually around the Piazza del Campo before large crowds and a TV audience. Another day, we visit Perugia with its world famous chocolate, Etruscan gate and Roman aqueduct. Still another day, we visit Assisi, home of the Basilica of St. Francis, one of the most opulent and expansive cathedrals in Italy, and filled with frescos by Giotto. In Assisi, we also visit the church of St. Clare, which contains her undecomposed body (though we couldn't see it that day). And what trip to Tuscany would be complete without a day in Florence, with some of the world's best museums? In spite of the crowds and traffic, it remains one of Europe's treasures. We also spend time at a winery in Montep- ulciano (the wine is superb and the cheese is spectacular), learn how to cook some sublime Tuscan dishes from our hotel's master chef, and wander the streets of Cortona, feeling the pace of Italian life. Our tour director, Jeannette Wong, is a Chinese American from San Francisco, married to an Italian. She's lived in Cortona for 20 years, and her knowledge of the area (and the Italians) is formidable. During our bus rides, she maintains a flow of anecdotes and information that keeps us laughing and interested. She has also arranged professional tour guides for all our outings, and each of them is first rate. At the end of every day, we return to the Hotel San Lucas for another Tuscan eating adventure, a long stroll in the streets of Cortona and a cocktail overlooking a misty moonrise. In the end, we all agree that our trepidations about being in a group tour were unfounded. The days were just packed on this amazing trip, and we got to see things no casual tourists would ever discover on their own. Not only that, we met people from across Canada: like-minded souls, eager for adventure. And we learned lots, too. I For more information on alumni trips, visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/rewards/travel.php Photos: Chris Petty, Elizabeth Minish Summer 2007 Trek 41 CLASS ACTS In the last issue we included a Class Act about alumni G.F. Hartman, D. D. MacDonald, and T.G. North cote contributing a chapter to the book Salmon 2100: The Future of Wild Pacific Salmon. In fact there are two chapters involving these writers: "Human Numbers - The Alpha Factor Affecting the Future of Wild Salmon" by G.F. Hartman, T.G. Northcote, and C.J. Cederholm; and "Salmon in the 21st Century: Managing Human Activities to Achieve Long-Term Sustainability of Pacific Salmon and Steelhead Populations" by D.D. MacDonald, E.E. Knudsen, and CR. Steward. A third chapter, "Wild Salmon in the 21st Century: Energy, Triage, and Choices," is written by Dr. K. Ashley, BSc'76, msc'8i, MASC'89, PHD'02. 1950s On February 22 at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, London, England, Deputy High Commissioner Guy Saint-Jacques hosted a lunch- time reception in honour of Professor Gordon Munro BA'56. Professor Munro is an emeritus member of the Department of Economics at UBC. He is a world renowned expert in the economics of fisheries and fisheries management. The event celebrated the launching of a book Advances in Fisheries Economics, a Festschrift in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of the economics of the fishery. Professor Munro, through his academic research, his teaching of a generation of fisheries economists and his policy advisory work has been instrumental in identifying, promoting and introducing improved fisheries management internationally and, in particular, in Canada ... Constance Isherwood LLB'51 is the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Alumna Award for Lifetime Achievement from the UVic Alumni Association. She was honoured at the Legacy Awards dinner this past November at the Victoria Conference Centre. Isherwood attended Victoria College in 1947-48. After earning her Law degree she returned to Victoria to practice Law, eventually opening an office with her husband. Isherwood has been chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of BC for the past 20 years. 1960s Robert Amedee Cantin ba'6i (Physics/Math) has retired after 45 years in the Southern California Aerospace industry. During his time there, Rob worked as an engineer and scientist for aerospace giants Honeywell, Hughes Aircraft Company, Sikorsky Aerospace, Allied- Signal and Lockheed Martin. He immigrated to the USA in 1962, and despite only having a BA from what is considered (in the usa) as a lesser Canadian University, managed to hold down technical posts at major aerospace companies. During his 20 years with Hughes Aircraft Co. Rob also worked as a contract Scientist at jpl, TRW and McDonald-Douglas. Rob completed post grad work in Canada at the University of Manitoba, the University ofToronto, McGill University and McMaster University. In the USA he also attended UCLA, use, Cal Tech and University of California at Long Beach. From 1957 - 1962, while working towards his degree, Rob taught high school science and math. He and wife Judi live in the Los Angeles area, five miles from the Pacific Ocean, Los Angeles International Airport (lax), Marina Del Rey, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Rob teaches on a volunteer basis at local private schools. He is writing a book of his experiences since 1962 called SO Years in LA ... Although Marilyn (Hobson) Sharp bsc(Agr)'64 is past the traditional retirement age, she is still very involved in the agricultural industry. In 2006, she was elected for her second term as chair of the Agriculture and Food council, and was honoured to receive an Alberta Centennial Medal for her volunteer work. "Life is good!" she says. 1970s Alan Artibise PHD'72 has been named executive dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. "The heart of any university is liberal arts and sciences - English, mathematics, humanities, science and social sciences," he says. "Our college's contribution to a student's education is often providing the foundation for future success, which can be measured in retention and in graduation rates. Alan Artibise, PhD'72 Our focus will be serving our students and their educational needs." Artibise joined asu in 2004 from the University of News Orleans, where he had been dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs. Trained as a political scientist and urban historian, Artibise also is a certified planner and recognized expert in North American urban development. His UBC phd was in Urban History ... Anita Fuoco Boscariol BA'78, LLB'82 is the new Executive Director of The Federal Treaty Negotiation Office (ftno) in BC. FTNO represents all Canadians and federal departments and agencies in the negotiations of comprehensive claims by first Nations in BC. The goal of the BC treaty process is to build new relationships with First Nations, achieve certainty over ownership and use of land and resources, and enhance economic opportunities for First Nations. Anita's husband, Celso Boscariol (BA'77 & llb'8i) continues to practice law as a partner at Watson Goepel Maledy LLP inVancouver ... Jim Thorsell PHD'71 received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Alberta in September 2006 at a ceremony in Edmonton. The citation for the award noted his career as the World Conservation Union's advisor to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, and his efforts to bring almost one million square kilometers 42 Trek Summer 2007 of land and sea under the protection of this prestigious convention. After field experience in 700 national parks in 90 countries Jim now serves on four conservation boards in Canada, Mexico and Ecuador ... Marc Rizzardo BPE'77, mpe'8i, BSCPT'87 has been selected by the Canadian Olympic Association to be the Chief Therapist for the Canadian medical team at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 1980s Rod Chow BCOM'83, mba'86 has had many achievements in magic over recent years. Previously the Canadian National Close-Up Magic Champion, he is now the Society of American Magicians International Champion of Magic. Last summer, in Louisville, Kentucky, he competed against magicians from throughout the world with his signature "Show me the Money" magic act, and won first place. He was featured on the cover of the Society of American Magicians magazine's April issue, which is distributed to magicians world-wide in more than 50 countries. Rod's children are also champion magicians. His son, Nicholas (now seven) was, at age five, the youngest ever winner in the over 70-year history of the Pacific Coast Associations of Magicians. He is now the reigning two-time Pacific Coast and two-time Vancouver Magic Circle junior champion. Rod's other son, Jack, age 10, is a four-time Pacific Coast and reigning two-time Vancouver junior champion. Not to be left out, Rod's wife Sylvia is the reigning two-time Society of American Magicians #95 Best Assistant of the Year. They all perform together in a stellar stage show, The Champion Magic of Rod Chow and Company. In total, the Chow family has won more than 40 magic awards and has been featured on TV and radio and in newspapers and magazines. For further bios, photos and show information, please visit www.rodchow.com. You can find Rod either practicing magic or selling insurance in the narrowest building in the world (as recognized by Guinness) located in Vancouver's Chinatown, where he is a certified financial and insurance advisor/broker and president of Jack Rod Chow, BCom'83, MBA'86 Chow Insurance ... Norman S.W. Williams PHD'83 is principal of nsww & Associates, a high-technology advisory & management consulting firm located in Toronto. He has recently published a book, Take Steps to Realize Your Dream available at www.pdbookstore. com/comfileslpages/NormWilliams.shtml. 1990s Willem Maas BA'95, PHD(Yale) returned from the us last fall to teach political science at York University. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Deborah, son Isaac (one), and daughter Naomi (born April 20). Also new is Maas's book, Creating European Citizens ... Cynthia Yeh BMUs'99 will take on the post of principal percussion with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in June. She has been a percussionist with the San Diego Symphony since 2004. 2000s Andrea MacPherson mfa'oi has two new books out this year: a novel, Beyond the Blue (Random House, Canada) and a poetry collection, Natural Disasters (Palimpsest Press). She taught Creative Writing and English with University College of the Fraser Valley and Douglas College. Visit the author's site at www. andreamacpherson.com ... Jeffrey Vallance bhk'oo recently completed his phd at the University of Alberta and is now working as a research scientist with the Alberta Cancer Board's Prevention Unit in Calgary, Alberta ... Lara Wilson mas'oi has been appointed university archivist at the University of Victoria. During her studies at UBC, Lara was also a graduate research assistant on the sshrc funded InterPAREs 1 Project (International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems). I Join us for wine, cheese and the latest news about your Alumni Association. Special guests Stephen Owen Former mp, UBC VP External and Community Relations David Farrar UBC Provost and VP, Academic UBC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Saturday, September 15, 2007 4:30-6:30 pm Graduate Student Society Ballroom 6371 Crescent Road UBC Campus Vancouver, BC Free Parking is available at the Rose Garden Parkade. Please RSVP at 604.822.3313 or alumni. association@ubc.ca. Summer 2007 Trek 43 World Travelers There will be no shortage of Thunderbird student-athletes travelling the globe this summer as a record number are representing Canada in international competition. UBC swimmers and field hockey players will be in Rio de Janeiro in July for the Pan American Games, while 14 swimmers, including two-time Olympian Brian Johns, will head to Bangkok, Thailand, for the World University Games in early August. Also bound for Bangkok are soccer players Paul Seymour, Michael Elliot, Steve Frazao, Amy Bobb and Anja Sigloch, while several more T-Birds in basketball, volleyball, golf, and track and field are expected to be named to World University Games rosters in the coming weeks. Women's basketball and women's volleyball are currently more intertwined with the national program than ever before, as seven basketball players and six volleyball players have a chance to play for Canada this summer in junior, development or senior competitions. Included in that crop are up-and-coming hoop stars Leanne Evans, Megan Pinske and Devan Lisson, who were recently selected to compete at the fiba U21 World Championships for Women in Moscow, Russia, at the end of June. On the coaching front, women's hockey assistant Nancy Wilson has been named to Hockey Canada's senior women's team staff for 2007-08; Deb Huband is an assistant with the U21 world championship women's basketball team; and Mike Mosher and Derrick Schoof will be assistants at the World University Games in men's soccer and swimming, respectively. Tee 'Birds Take Fifth Straight The UBC women's golf team out-dueled UVic on the final day to win its fifth straight Royal Canadian Golf Association University/College Championship on June 1 in Fredericton. Sophomore Kaitlin Troop, who transferred to UBC from Illinois State, finished fourth overall to lead the T-Bird charge. Two weeks prior, Troop earned Ail-American honours by placing 15th overall as UBC claimed third spot at the naia national championship in California. On the men's side UBC placed sixth at the naia championship, their best ever finish, with sophomore Cory Renfrew earning Ail-American honours by tying for 12th. The T-Birds then finished third at the rcga event. Watson Returns to the Point Canadian senior national team member Carrie Watson, who led UBC to the 2004 CIS women's basketball championship, has been named the new fulltime assistant coach of the Thunderbird 44 Trek Summer 2007 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Steve Frazao, Carrie Watson, Liz Gleadle, Kyla Richey, Max Gordichuck, UBC Women's Golf Team women's basketball program. A graduate of UBC's Faculty of Education, Watson has coached with the Nike Centre for Performance and Basketball bc's regional programs. This summer, she will compete at the Pan Am Games in Rio as well as the fiba Americas Olympic Qualifier in Chile. UBC is the only school in Canada to employ fulltime assistant coaches in a sport other than football, with men's and women's basketball, men's and women's hockey, men's and women's volleyball, baseball and swimming all employing a second fulltime coach to further enhance the development of student-athletes. All In The Family Several UBC teams have announced their recruiting class in recent weeks and many T-Birds To Be have ties to the Point Grey campus. Defenceman Max Gordichuk, one of four Western Hockey League Scholarship players announced by head coach Milan Dragicevic in June, has a famous grandfather in Stu "Gunner" Bailey, a star member of the 1949-50 UBC squad that is enshrined in the UBC Sports Hall of Fame. Men's volleyball coach Richard Schick welcomes Joe Cordonier as part of an impressive incoming group this fall. Sister Emily was an All-Canadian women's volleyball player at UBC and now plays for Canada's senior national team, while sister Liz is a current standout for the Thunderbirds who is expected to have a shot at the World University Games team this summer. Dad, John, was an Olympic rower during his time at UBC. Among Doug Reimer's women's volleyball recruits is junior national team middle blocker Kyla Richey, whose mom, Jan, played for the last UBC women's volleyball championship team in 1978, while men's basketball recruit Nathan Yu is following in the footsteps of brother Jordan, and women's basketball forward Robyn Fashler returns to War Memorial Gym where she was a ball girl for UBC games throughout elementary school. All three of her sisters have academic ties to UBC. In men's rugby, a third Jones brother is entering the mix, as Under-19 world cup team member Harry joins brothers Ben and Charlie as Rockridge Secondary products who have landed at UBC. Field Athletes in a Golden State Mike Mason made every jump count while teammate Liz Gleadle saved her best for last as both Thunderbird student-athletes came away winners from the 2007 naia National Track and Field Championships in Fresno, California, in late May. Mason, a former world Photos: Richard Lam Summer 2007 Trek 45 LU Q GQ FROM L-R: Thunderbirds Football, David Mc junior champion, fought through a knee injury to win his second consecutive naia high jump title with a leap of 2.13 metres. Gleadle, a UBC freshman who recently rewrote the Canadian junior women's javelin record with a 52.36- metre toss, won the event with a 49.29-metre effort on her sixth and final throw. 'Bird Broadcasts The Canada West Conference has reached a three-year agreement with Shaw Communications to broadcast a Canada West Football Game of the Week across Western Canada. UBC will be on TV three times during the regular season: Sat, September 9 vs. Manitoba; Sat, September 29 vs. Saskatchewan; and Sat, October 13 at Manitoba. Thunderbird teams will also be on the radio more than ever, with campus radio station 101.9 CITR FM set to broadcast around 40 events during the regular season. For the first time ever, the entire men's and women's basketball schedules will be available through CITR or webcast at www.gothunderbirds.ca. Rowers hang in at Henley For the first time since 1994, a Thunderbird men's crew travelled to the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in early July and UBC's coxed fours of Kevin Devlin, Tim Love, Graham Harris, Mitch Wilson and coxswain Kristen Kit did not disappoint in the historic Oxfordshire market town of Henley-on-Thames. UBC upset top- seeded Durham University and the University of Exeter to advance to the semifinal round of the Prince Albert Challenge before bowing out to local power the University of London, partly due to an injury to Love. In other events, Thunderbird alums Kyle Hamilton and Ben Rutledge claimed their third Grand Challenge with the Canadian national team eights, while Brentwood College School, featuring incoming UBC recruits Simon Woods and Sebastian Kallos, made it all the way to the final of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge where they were inched out by Shrewsbury School. First held in 1839, the Henley Royal Regatta is one of the oldest sporting events in the world and more than 250,000 spectators line the banks of the Thames for the five-day event. Alumni Weekend Football In conjunction with the UBC Alumni Association, UBC Athletics is hosting the Big Block Alumni & Friends bbq on Saturday, September 15, an event that culminates in watching the Thunderbirds football team tackle the Alberta Golden Bears. The bbq runs from 12:00 - 1:30 pm near the flag pole on the Main Mall plaza and attendees can then be part of the parade to Thunderbird Stadium in time for kickoff at 2:00 pm For rsvp and payment details, please contact Jennifer Wong at jenwong® inter change.ubc.ca or by phone at 604.822.6183. Endowment hits $1 million UBC Men's Basketball recently became the first individual university sport program in Canada to hit the $i million mark in its athletic scholarship endowment thanks in large part to the efforts of David McLean, Chairman and ceo of the McLean Group and a former Chairman of the Board of Governors at UBC. Mr. McLean and wife Brenda host an annual golf tournament in Whistler that benefits Thunderbird men's basketball, an event that sold out again in June of 2007. I Flight of the Thunderbirds By Don Wells Flight of the Thunderbirds traces the 100-year history of Canada's best varsity sports program and the storied athletes who have brought pride - and championships - to the university. The book is to be published in September 2007. For more information, email us at varsityOinterchange.ubc.ca. 46 Trek Summer 2007 UBC The MBNA® MasterCard® credit card Credit you don't have to cram for Apply now for your University of British Columbia Alumni Association MasterCard and join more than 10,000 UBC alumni and students in supporting your Association. Call 1-866-434-5393 for an Instant Decision and quote Priority Code BPFY Monday - Thursday 8 am - 9 pm, Friday 8 am - 7 pm (Eastern Time). Visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/rewards/mastercard.php for more information. mbna MasterCard N MEMORIAM ERRATA The last issue contained an obituary for John Masuhara, BSc'87, Msc'93, that was erroneously submitted to In Memoriam. John called to assure us he is alive and well. We regret and apologize for mistakes and misspellings in the obituary of Rudolf Vrba, which appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Trek Magazine. Dr. Vrba's was not the only successful escape from Auschwitz, as stated. And Ruth Linn's book Escaping Auschwitz: A Culture of Forgetting was not primarily about Vrba's escape from Auschwitz but about how his exploits and memoirs were suppressed by the Israeli academic establishment until this denial of his unique contribution to Holocaust history was raised by Linn in the late i<)8os. A group of UBC academics and other interested individuals are working to establish a Rudolf Vrba Lectureship. It will be a shared one, alternating annually between the department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in the faculty of Medicine and The Holocaust Education Committee in the faculty of Arts. For more information, please contact Cecily Frost (Medicine) at cecily.frost@ubc.ca / 604.822.80yt), or Victoria Auston (Arts) at victoria.auston@ubc.ca / 604.822.5)5514. KEN BALASKI BSF'73 Ken died peacefully at home in Victoria on March 6, 2007, at the age of 57. He leaves Leslie, his loving wife; his children, Jason, Kirsten, Cole, Tara (Mark) and Shawna (Bob); grandchildren Brittany, Caleb, Ayla, Robson and Bryn; his mother, Ruth; six brothers and sisters and their families; and many good friends. Ken's family wishes to thank Dr. M. Barnett and his team for their exceptional care and concern during his Leukemia treatment. Memorial donations may be made to the Hematology/BMT Program, Gordon and Leslie Diamond Centre, 2775 Laurel Street, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mccallbros.com. JOHN EDWARD "TED" COE ba(agr)'54 Ted was born December 26, 1932, in Penticton, BC. A husband, father, brother, uncle and friend, he passed away November 15, 2006, after a brief illness. He is lovingly remembered by his wife, June Bulych, sons Kenny (Pat) and David, daughter Dr. Cathryn Coe ba'oo, and brother Jim of Penticton. Ted was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity at UBC, and graduated with a degree in Agriculture. He went on to build a successful career in the lumber business, where he made many friends and was respected by all of his colleagues. Throughout his life, Ted enjoyed fishing, hunting and the outdoors, and more recently his ranch in the Cariboo. He liked nothing better than pruning his forest, and riding his tractor - preferably with a dog or two by his side. Ted will be greatly missed at the bridge table as well as in the business community. He was a strong supporter of higher education John Edward "Ted" Coe, BA(Agr)'54 and made learning a life-long task. The family would like to extend their sincere thanks to Dr. A. MacCall and the nursing staff at lgh. Donations in his memory may be made to the Lions Gate Emergency Renovation Fund. DR. LYLE MORRISON CREELMAN BASc'36, Dsc'92, oc One of the earliest graduates of UBC's Nursing program and one of its most accomplished, Lyle Creelman died peacefully on February 27, aged 98. During her career, she demonstrated levels of expertise, intelligence, diplomacy and influence that would create an enormous and lasting legacy for the delivery of health care in this country and beyond. During Lyle's early childhood the Creelman family lived in Nova Scotia. Later they moved to Steveston, BC, and Lyle attended Bridgeport High School in Richmond. At first, she ventured into teaching - one of the few career options for women back then. Another was nursing. Interested in pursuing a challenging career that might offer her greater satisfaction, Lyle managed to amass enough money to study for her nursing degree. On graduating she worked in the area of public health for a while before earning a scholarship to take her masters at Columbia University in New York City. Afterwards, she returned to Vancouver to join UBC's School of Nursing, soon becoming director of Nursing. This early career move coincided with the start of wwn, and Lyle was keen to serve abroad. But as an expert in nurse training and public health, she was required to stay at home as essential personnel should the war ever extend to Canadian turf. She was released from this obligation towards the end of the war and joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. She went to Germany as Chief Nurse of the British Occupied Zone and faced what was possibly the most challenging experience of her career, providing care to prisoners in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after their liberation by British troops. For many of the incarcerated, it was too late. Ten thousand were already dead and of those still alive when the British arrived, close to two thirds died soon after. A natural leader and talented communicator, Lyle was able to cross language, cultural and professional barriers and organize nurse training for young women displaced by the war. She stayed in Europe for two years. Back in Vancouver, she once again became involved in public health nursing and was invited to play a leading role in a major study 48 Trek Summer 2007 Dr. Lyle Morrison Creelman, BASc'36, DSc'92, OC into national public health services. The final document that effort produced, which she co-authored with Dr. J. H. Baillie, was highly respected and became a major influence on health policy and practice. In 1949, Lyle was approached to join the World Health Organization (who), then in its infancy, as a nursing consultant in maternal and child health. She became the organization's Chief Nursing Officer in 1954 and stayed on for 14 years. Much of her time was spent in developing countries helping to improve health practices. The concept of helping people to help themselves, and being sensitive to the culture and context of healthcare, were elementary tenets of her approach long before they became common notions. She travelled widely, applying these philosophies on numerous healthcare missions abroad. She retired from the post aged 60, but stayed with who to study maternal and child health services in South-East Asia. Later in life she lived on Bowen Island, then moved to a senior's residence on the Vancouver Mainland. She remained engaged and active until old age. The contributions Dr. Creelman made to nursing can not be overestimated. One of only eight UBC Nursing graduates in 1936, she became a pioneer in the areas of specialized nurses' training, primary nursing care and public health. Among her many degrees and awards, Dr. Creelman received an honorary doctorate from UBC in 1992, the Order of Canada in 1971, and the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada. ANN HERSTEIN ba'66 Ann Herstein, who died in Richmond on December 9, 2006, at the age of 94, was a teacher, a mother, a gifted cook, a convivial hostess, and an astute art collector. She enjoyed an active and eventful life that, during World War II, took her from the Canadian prairie to London, Jamaica, and Washington, DC. Ann's mother, Cissie Brounstein, went to Calgary in December of 1912 to give birth. Ann's father, Isaac Brounstein, was a horse and cattle dealer working in all three prairie provinces. Ann grew up in various towns in Saskatchewan and then attended the University of Saskatchewan for two years. She went to secretarial school, where she learned rapid and accurate typing, a skill that would prove useful throughout her life. She became a secretary in Regina to M.J. Coldwell, one of the founders of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. In 193 8, Ann married Archie Herstein, a general practitioner who had a practice in Pelly, Saskatchewan. Shortly after their marriage, they left for England where Archie would study to become a gynaecologist. However, in England at that time, hospital residents were not allowed to be married, so they could not live together. While Archie studied and worked in Sheffield, England, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, Ann worked in London as secretary for a company that imported agricultural products grown by Jewish settlers in Palestine. Archie graduated in obstetrics and gynaecology in 1940. Ann's contacts in the shipping industry allowed them to get passage on a ship sailing for New York, just before the German bombing of Britain began. Back in Canada, they motored across the country trying to decide where they wanted to live. They chose to settle at the end of the road - in Victoria. Archie set up a general practice and Ann helped in the office. One of Archie's patients was an eccentric artist named Emily Carr who paid her medical bills in art since she did not have cash. Ann and Archie treasured their Carr painting of Victoria harbour. The artist urged them to come to her studio to choose two or three more but, much to their later regret, they did not. Archie joined the Canadian Army as a medical officer attached to a regiment based in Jamaica whose job was to patrol the waters of the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Ann's secretarial skills won her a job working for a British Brigadier-General based in Jamaica. Her duties included acting as a courier on several missions to Cuba and other Caribbean countries. She also worked as a model for a Jamaican couture house. When Archie's regiment was sent back to Canada and Archie was stationed in Ontario, Ann moved to Washington, DC, to take a job at the British Embassy as secretary to the military attache. After the war, they moved to Vancouver where Archie built his medical practice. Ann was busy raising their two children, Ruth and Marc, and being active in the Jewish community. As a member of the National Council of Jewish Women's Vancouver Chapter, Ann was instrumental in producing the famed Council cookbooks in her role as recipe chairwoman. She was celebrated for her skills in the kitchen and as a hostess. The Hersteins' art collection grew to include works by A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris and Victor Vasarely. At the age of 49, Ann resumed her university education at UBC obtaining a BA with majors in English and Psychology. After that, she worked in the field of remedial reading for eight years. Among her other projects was serving as the assistant to Sandra Djwa, a professor at Simon Fraser University, in the preparation of a book on the poet F.R. Scott. "She was enormously helpful to me over a period of almost a decade, keeping me on track and helping with the typing of letters and articles," said Sandra. "My favourite memories of Ann are centred around her house on Cartier or the apartment on Fir Street, looking smashing, greeting all her friends, running from the kitchen to the living room, somehow keeping everything going. Ann was so kind and so generous and so genuinely courteous: a lady." Summer 2007 Trek 49 IN MEMORIAM After Archie's retirement, the couple travelled widely in Europe. Throughout their lives Ann and Archie along with their large group of friends were avid fans of the opera, symphony, and theatre. In her later years, Ann lived in Richmond where she taught ESL. In addition to Ruth and Marc, Ann leaves her grandson, Quinton, of whose musical accomplishments she was especially proud, and her sister, Rita Buckshon. MARJORIE LEVIRS (Lanning) BA'29 Marjorie Levirs, who has died aged 101, helped guide her university basketball team to the finals of the Canadian championship in 1928. Fifty-two years later, she cheered a granddaughter whose university team won the national title that had eluded her. Marjorie Gwen Lanning was born on May 17, 1905, to the owner of a hardware store in Ladner (now Delta), BC. She attended Columbia College in New Westminster before entering UBC, graduating with a degree in home economics in 1929. Miss Lanning played guard on a varsity squad known as the Blue and Gold and, in 1928, the UBC women travelled to Edmonton to face the Commercial Grads for the Dominion title. The visitors held a one-point lead going into the final quarter of the opening game before falling, 40-24. UBC took an early lead in the second game only to lose the game, 24-21, and with it the national championship. The season after her graduation, Miss Lanning's old teammates won the world championship in Europe, and would later be inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. After marrying a school teacher, Mrs. Levirs formed basketball teams for girls at Creston and other interior communities. After retirement, she was a regular at home games of the University of Victoria women's basketball team, which won three national titles from 1980-82. Her granddaughter, Cindy Smith, was a Vikettes captain known for the accuracy of her shot. Mrs. Levirs died in Victoria on January 24. She leaves daughters Ruth Boston and Mary Jean Smith; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by Marjorie Levirs (Lanning), BA'29 her husband, Frank Levirs, and by four siblings. Obituary by Tom Hawthorn. 2007 CTVGlobe- media Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. MERTON RICHARD LECHTZIER bcom'48 The only son of Samuel Alexander and Susan Lechtzier was born on November 12, 1925 in Minneapolis, the home city of his mother. He lived there briefly, and also in his father's home city of Winnipeg, before the family finally settled inVancouver in 1927. Merton's father, Sam, was one of 11 children born to Abraham Chaim and Doba Lechtzier, who immigrated to Winnipeg in May of 1882 from Kamenets-Po- dolsk north of Odessa (then part of the Russian Ukraine). Rhoda, Abraham's eldest daughter (and Merton's aunt) was the first surviving Jewish child to be born west of Toronto in Canada. Merton died at home on December 7, 2006. He was 81. Merton's family was a resident for many years at the Devonshire Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Merton attended Point Grey (Junior High) and Magee before gaining a Commerce degree from UBC. Persuaded vigorously by his father to join the family business (and abandon plans of undertaking post graduate studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts), Merton joined his father at La Salle Recreations in the Wilson Building on Granville Street (still standing across from the Vogue Theatre and back then neighbour to the Dominion Theatre) where he remained until his father's death in 1972. During the 30s, 40s and 50s, La Salle was in the business of outfitting theatres in Western Canada with chairs and carpet. It was also a popular social spot and housed two floors of 10-pin bowling (the largest set up of its kind in North America at the time, managed for a period by Merton's uncle Saul). It also had the only indoor golf course in the country, and was the home of The Young Italian Men's Club, which operated among the pool tables and the soda counter on the third floor. During prohibition, it was also known as a place to get refreshed when things were dry. Mert's father had been in partnership with Sam Brofman in a similar enterprise in the twenties. After the bowling and billiards lost popularity, Merton converted the business into a successful contract carpeting and decorating business. He had adept sales skills and developed an eye for design and decoration. He was the leader in his field in the city for many years. As well as home design, Mert had lifelong sartorial interests. He loved fashion and, like many of his peers, was an original devotee of Playboy and GQ. He thought himself an authority on good taste and grooming, and the only thing better than the latest fashion was the same thing at half price. Many Boxing Days were spent in line in trendy emporiums for the sales at Murray Goldman and later at Mark James. Away from the office, Mert (or Sporting Life as he was nicknamed by friends) was a consummate competitor and athlete. He played lacrosse and later basketball for UBC. In his teens, Mert and old friend Garde Gardom would peer through the fence of the Vancouver Lawn Tennis Club across the street from Mert's family's apartment. Later on, they both joined the club and tennis would become a lifelong passion for Mert until late in his life. The club became the centre of his social life and he developed many good friendships through that association. He 50 Trek Summer 2007 was also a competitor in other pursuits. He loved playing cards and blackjack and was a frequent visitor to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in its heyday in the 60s and 70s. Long before poker gained wide appeal, Mert and his friends would escape the lower mainland for a retreat, often on Vancouver Island, and play poker in their underwear until the dawn (sustaining themselves on beer and pretzels for the weekend). Mert was also a keen crib player, pursuing the game until he could no longer get to the club. The Western world has lost one of its best crib players with his passing. He was also known on occasion to take a wager or two on a football game. Mert also had a lifelong affair with the market and was a talented and successful speculator. He was one of Howe Street's earliest followers and rode the waves though many cycles. Although he could do little else with a computer, Mert developed the basic computing skills in his latter years to continue to be involved in the market and watch with anticipation his portfolio on a PC. While his talent was somewhat less in the garden, that didn't dampen his enthusiasm for horticulture. He was as much or more attracted to the gardening gadgetry that went with it, although many gadgets never left the packaging, or their operation was foiled by the instructions. Beyond everything else however, Mert was a family man. He was very private and happiest at home among the familiar, a creature of routine and tradition, and absolutely and unequivocally devoted to his family, particularly his dear wife of 53 years, Bette. Merton married Dorothy Beatrice Heard (Bette) BA'50 on August 12, 1953, at Beth Israel in Vancouver. After a brief stint in South Granville, they moved to Hudson Street in Shaughnessy in 1955 and remained there for 40 years. Mert and Beebz enjoyed travelling and were among the first wave to discover the pleasures of then exotic Mexico, visiting Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara in the early Sixties often in the company of their lifelong friends. Due to the omnipresence of his parent's faithful maid Emily, who nursed him from birth to his wedding day, Mert was permanently impaired Harry James Marshall, BCom'44 from reaching even modest levels proficiency in the kitchen, and couldn't poach an egg to save his life. But he couldn't be happier than when he was with his family on the patio in the sun, a Myers Rum and coke in one hand and in the other hand in a bag of corn chips. Merton was intelligent, compassionate, an authority on everything, opinionated, argumentative, generous, eccentric, a lousy driver (but the world's best parker), incredibly stubborn, had a wonderful sense of humour and was forever impatient. But he was, above all, these things: a loving husband, father and grandfather. In 2000, when his dear Bette was afflicted with dementia, and although he was ill-equipped to deal with the scale of the problem or care needed, Merton devoted his entire existence to Bette's welfare, forsaking everything to that cause. While it is always a tragedy to lose a father or friend, it was particularly tragic to lose Merton at Christmas as he loved the occasion and the tradition more than any other time of the year and kept the spirit of the season throughout the year. He will be very sadly missed and like all good things in life, he was unique and irreplaceable. Merton is survived by beloved wife Bette; son Matthew BA'78, llb'8i (Victoria), MA'02 (Kingston, uk) of London, England; son Paul bcom'8o, MBA'85 (LBS> UK) and wife Jennifer Dolman of Toronto; daughter Sally BA'85 and husband Jeffrey Rutledge of Vancouver; his six grandchildren, Sam, Adam and Emma Rutledge and Harris, Sasha and Abby Lechtzier; and his sister Donna Korens of McLean, Virginia. MARIAN JUNE CATHERINE LYTHGOE ba'64, MA'69 June Lythgoe (Reimer) was born in Lowe Farm, Manitoba, on January 14, 1936, and died of cancer in Vancouver on March 31, 2006. As a child, she moved with her family to the Fraser Valley and received her early education there. Her undergraduate studies in sociology began a life-long association with UBC as student, counsellor, and administrator. While a graduate student she served as part-time secretary of the Student Christian Movement at UBC, a source of many lasting friendships. In 1956 she married Len Lythgoe, BA,57, a teacher, and high school and church music director. They had two children: Shannon of Nelson, BC, and Garnet in New Westminster. After securing a professional teaching certificate from SFU, June worked successively as a counsellor and admissions advisor at uvic, SFU, and Langara Community College. In 1978 she became a counsellor and assistant to the director of the Office for Women Students at UBC and was director of that office from 1981-1990. Thereafter she served as director of Professional Programs in the Faculty of Education at UBC until her retirement in 2000. Through her work in these positions June had an impact on the lives of hundreds of students, especially women, including many from overseas. While working within bureaucratic structures, June never lost sight of the needs and problems of individuals, a fact often appreciated by lonely or distraught students. Outside the university June was active in the student affairs division of the Canadian Association of Counsellors. She was a volunteer on committees attached to various charitable, musical, educational, and religious organizations and was often in demand as a consultant on conference planning. She chaired the committee on public programs Summer 2007 Trek 51 IN MEMORIAM for the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches held on the UBC campus in 1983. From 1985 to 1989 she headed the Division of Communication of the BC Conference of the United Church of Canada and was a member of the steering committee of the Religious Communicators' Congress, an international ecumenical gathering held in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1990. In retirement in Nelson, BC, (2000-2004) June and Len founded the Amy Ferguson Institute, named for a pioneering music teacher in Nelson, and organized the Nelson Summer Songfest to bring choral concerts and education to the area. To everything she did, June brought a fine intelligence, enormous imagination, energy and generosity, nowhere more evident than in her hospitality to the many relatives and friends who mourn her loss. HARRY JAMES MARSHALL BCOM'44 Harry passed away peacefully in hospital. He will be sadly missed by his loving wife, Sylvia, daughter Roxi, son Craig (Cheryl), sister Anne, brother Ed (Lois) and many nieces and nephews. Harry was born in Winnipeg, grew up in Calgary and came to Vancouver to go to UBC. He met Sylvia at the graduation tea in 1944 and they married a year later. Harry William Henry Lawrence Nobbs, BCom'44 became a very successful and astute businessman. He was a longtime member of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and an avid boater for many years. He was also a past member of the Pennask Lake Fishing Club, where he caught a trout or two. Until a couple of years ago, Harry and Sylvia spent their winters in Maui, which Harry loved. His family thanks the vgh staff who cared for Harry in the last few weeks of his life. WILLIAM HENRY LAWRENCE NOBBS BCOM'44 Bill died peacefully on December 12, 2006, in West Vancouver, after having suffered a brain injury in 1996. He is lovingly remembered by Nettie, his wife of 5 2 years; daughter Leslie (BPE'79, MPE'82), husband Vic Grundy (BCOM'82) and their sons, Ross and Kyle; Son Randy (sfu bbusadmin'8i), wife Leanne (ba'88) and their sons, Brandon, Ryan and Tyler; daughter Sandra (BA'84, llb'88), husband Scott McLean (MBA'89, BASC '84) and their children, Logan and Brett; his sister, Muriel Wallace and extended family and friends. Bill was born in Vancouver on November 4, 1922, and grew up there. He attended Prince of Wales High School, where he first played football. Much later, his enthusiasm for the game saw him cheering on the BC Lions, season after season. In 1944 he earned a degree in Commerce from UBC. While there, he received his Big Block Athletic Award in badminton. After graduating near the end of wwn, he served with the Canadian Army's tank division. Upon return from service, he was employed by Revenue Canada as an auditor until retiring. He had a great appreciation for music in general. In particular, he played the accordion and enjoyed attending the vso concerts. After retirement, he continued to enjoy playing badminton, as well as tennis, learned to sail and went for long walks with his dog, Bailey, also know as "Mr. Muttly." Most of all, he loved spending time with his cherished family. Bill's quiet and unassuming manner, gentle humour, kindness and (during his last years of care) stoicism were hallmarks of his character. Memorial donations may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 150 - 6450 Roberts Street, Burnaby, BC V5G 4E1. John Warren Pearson, BCom'40 JOHN WARREN PEARSON bcom'4o John Warren Pearson of Camlachie, Ontario, formerly ofVancouver, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on March 21, 2007, in his ninetieth year. John was born on December 29, 1917, in Victoria, BC, the eldest child of Oscar and Louella Pearson. He grew up in Vancouver, graduating from UBC in 1940. After service as a captain in the Canadian Army he followed in the footsteps of his father by joining Swift & Co., where he worked for 3 6 years in various cities in the United States and lastly in Wyoming, Ontario. He was a past chairman of the Canadian Feed Industry Association. John will be forever loved and remembered by Shirley, his wife of 63 years; by his son and daughter-in-law, John and Marianne Pearson, and their children Emily and Madeline of Vancouver; by his daughter and son-in-law, Dr. Lee Ford-Jones and Dr. Anthony Ford-Jones, and their children Carrie (Jeff) and Polly of Burlington, Ontario; and by his son and daughter-in-law, Brian and Lesley Pearson, and their children Jennifer and Michael of Newmarket, Ontario. John was predeceased by his brother, Larry, and is survived by his brother, Bill, and sister-in-law Maxine of Charleston, South Carolina, and by his sister-in-law Anne Pearson ofVancouver. A memorial reception was held 52 Trek Summer 2007 in Sarnia, Ontario, on Sunday, March 25, 2007. Memories and condolences may be sent online at www.smithfuneralhome.ca. The family is sincerely grateful to the doctors, nurses and staff of Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital in Petrolia, Ontario, for their compassion and dedication. Sympathy may be expressed through donations to the Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital Foundation (519.882.4325 ext. 2404). STANLEY KEITH TAYLOR basc(chem)'5o Stan (Buck) died peacefully on September 22, 2005, at Vancouver General Hospital surrounded by his family. He was born in Prince George, BC, on February 5, 1927, the sixth child of Harry and Marion (Muirhead) Taylor. He is survived by his wife of 4 8 years, Lilliana (Marcuzzi) BA'53, BED'57; three children Peter (Denise), Margaret (Bob) Caswell and Donald (Andrea); seven grandchildren Michelle (Jar- ron) Veach, Christopher, Charlotte, Gabriella, Francesca, Taylor and Duncan; sister Joan (Everard) Cooper, brother Greg (Marina) and many friends and extended family. Stan had his early schooling in Williams Lake and Kamloops. After graduating from UBC, he had a successful career in chemistry prior to joining BC Tel, eventually becoming Stanley Keith Taylor, BASc(Chem)'50 the Director of Corporate Planning and Economics. Stan enjoyed various outdoor activities; his love and enthusiasm for nature and the mountains has influenced many and has been passed down to future generations. He was an active member of his church, playing the organ for many years. After retiring from BC Tel in 1984, Stan continued to enjoy many outdoor activities and was able to devote more time and generosity to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Serra Club, Epilepsy Society and his church. Memorial donations may be made to the Harry E. Taylor Canadian Indigenous Graduate Prize in Education Fund, Faculty of Ed. UBC 2616 - 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver BC v6T 1Z4 Tel: 604.822.0566. FREDERICK JOHN WALCHLI ba'6o, dule'64 Born April 11, 1934, in Prince George, BC, Fred Walchli - adored husband, father, brother, uncle and friend - died on November 7, 2006, at Lion's Gate Hospital in North Vancouver of complications from myelofibrosis. He is survived by wife June (Breault), daughter Julie, son Stewart and daughter-in- law Ela, sisters Kay Hayes (Williams Lake) and Agnes Holeczi (Prince George), and many brothers and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, grandnieces and nephews who loved him dearly. His parents, Fritz and Marie (Dyck), and sister Rose Walchli predeceased him. Fred graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Arts degree and went on to a distinguished career as a civil servant, working for the City of Kelowna, City of Prince George, BC Land Department, and for 29 years the Department of Indian Affairs, of which he was director general in Alberta and later in BC. Highlights of his career include being made an honorary chief of the Keheewin Indian Band in Alberta in 1976, receiving the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 1977, and serving as chief federal negotiator for the Nishga'a land claim for several years before his retirement in 1990. He derived great pleasure coaching the Forest Hills Little League baseball champions, Stongs; walking his much-loved dogs Nikki, Smokey and Misha in the Capilano Canyon; and being involved in the Federal Liberal Frederick John Walchli, BA'60, DULE'64 Party, serving as president of the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast riding association for several years. A life-long student of Canadian history and avid follower of provincial, national and world politics, Fred loved his beautiful province and country. Fred's family wishes to thank Drs. Richard Horner, Stephen Nantel, and Isnet Tejpar, and the many skilled and caring nurses of the Bone Marrow Transplant Day Care Unit at vgh whom he came to know over his last few months. Memorial donations may be made to the vgh & UBC Hospital Foundation for the Leukemia/BMT Day Care program (855 Wi2th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9 / www.worldclasshealthcare.ca I 604.875.5240). KENNETH WITZKE BASc'83, MASc'84 Kenneth passed away on March 22, 2007, in Sunnyvale, California, at 46 years of age after a two and a half year struggle with cancer. He leaves his wife Amy, son Mark (14), and daughter Claire (11). Ken received a Bachelor of Applied Science (electrical engineering) in 1983 and a master of applied science (electrical engineering) in 1984 from UBC. He also received a masters degree from Stanford University in 1985. Ken was working for Apple Computer as a software engineer at the time of his death. I Summer 2007 Trek 53 M3TH ANNUAL ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS Join us on November 15th, 2007 for an evening of illumination. Celebrate the achievements of outstanding alumni in our community. This year's recipients are: LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Dr. David F. Hardwick, MD'57 ALUMNI AWARD OF DISTINCTION John Turner, BA Hons.,'49; LLD'94 OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNUS AWARD Richard Alexander Van Camp, MFA'03 HONORARY ALUMNUS AWARD Brad Bennett Dr. David & Mrs. Brenda McLean OUTSTANDING FUTURE ALUMNUS AWARD Ravina Bains GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP AWARD Marjorie Ratel, BSN'95 FACULTY CITATION COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD Joanna M. Bates BLYTHE EAGLES VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP AWARD Beverly Field, BA'42 ALUMNI MILESTONE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Sopron School of Forestry s. yahothsh. ohTlsdA? ii ^■■■i ,oin in tne tun witn tne am things Sailing group inside TrekConnect, UBC's networking tool for connecting students and alumni. Visit www.alumni.ubc.ca and click on TrekConnect to sign up! onnect Save the Date for Alumni Weekend From September 14 to 16, hundreds of alumni will be flocking back to campus. Alumni Weekend is now more than just reunions - there's truly something for everyone! Bring your guests, friends and family back to campus and discover all that UBC has to offer. THE SHAKE, THE RATTLE &THE POLE: VANCOUVER'S FOLLOW THE GREEN-BRICK STRIPTEASE PAST ROAD ALUMNI AND FRIENDS WINE TASTING UBC SPORT CAMPS FOR YOUR FUTURE THUNDERBIRD THE AGEING BRAIN ^OHMiiES UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | SEPTEMBER 14-16 WWW.ALUMNI.UBC.CA/EVENTS/ALUMNIWEEKEND From Good...to Great Clearsight and Wellington West join forces Together We're Canada's #1 ranked brokerage For the fourth year in a row. Wellington West has been ranked •I in Investment Executive's Annual Brokerage Report Card and »1 in Report on Business Magazine's annual list of The 50 Best Employers in Canada. i ! tol'ili"!:,1,1. 1 Free Investment Guide Offer Sign up for our free investment e-newsletter, The VlewPoint. and you will receive a free copy of the 2007 Canadian Investment Guide, t www.clearsighi ca/ubt/offer Promo code: 09A0707CIG We're one of the fastest growing With more than 40,000 client accounts and $8.5 billion in assets under management, Wellington West is one of Canada's fastest growing investment f inns. We're NOW accessible across Canada With more than 100 experienced advisors located in 30 branches across Canada, we're now able to accommodate the investment needs and account sizes of all alumni. We're the market leader in affinity benefit programs With a growing list of affinity partners, we're now endorsed by more than 20 leading institutions representing more than 1.75 million alumni. Contact us today to learn more about the Clearsight Investment Program from Wellington West. Find out how the strength of two can make your financial picture look great in 2007. Visit clearsight.ca/ubc/offer 1 (877)464-6104 tsssm UBC CLEARSIGHT INVESTMENT PROCRAM ■ IROH ■ WELLINGTON WES1 •Ofi-*.—Ut«t'jf.-j w—r-itvi i g>