new trail autumn 2009

new trailA u t u m n 2 0 0 9

T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f A l b e r t a A l u m n i M a g a z i n e

GoingGreenThe U of A’s commitment tothe environment goes beyondbeing one of “Canada’s Top30 Greenest Employers”

TIME FOR AN OIL CHANGE?Campus Initiatives To Green TheOil Sands

PLUS:

TRASH TALKINGGreening Edmonton’sGarbage

HERB APPEALA Green Remedy For Feeling Good

GREEN KEEPERSA Six-Pack Of Very Green Grads

Special Inside:

Alumni RecognitionAwards Winners

Win Your Grad Year In$$$$ Photo Contest

TIME FOR AN OIL CHANGE?Campus Initiatives To Green TheOil Sands

PLUS:

TRASH TALKINGGreening Edmonton’sGarbage

HERB APPEALA Green Remedy For Feeling Good

GREEN KEEPERSA Six-Pack Of Very Green Grads

Special Inside:

Alumni RecognitionAwards Winners

Win Your Grad Year In$$$$ Photo Contest

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1new trailAutumn 2009

features

newtrailV o l u m e 6 5 N u m b e r 2

H E R E ’ S H O W T O R E A C H U S . . .E-mail your comments, questions, address updates, and class notes to [email protected] the Alumni Association’s online community at www.ualberta.ca/alumni.

Call the New Trail reader response line at 780-492-1702.

To advertise in New Trail contact Bonnie Lopushinsky at 780-417-3464 or [email protected]

New Trail, the University of Alberta Alumni Association magazine, is published quarterly (circulation:130,000). The views and opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the authors and donot necessarily represent the views of the University or the Alumni Association. All materialCopyright ©. New Trail cannot be held responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs.

S T A Y I N T O U C HOn the Move? To keep receiving New Trail wherever you go call 780-492-3471 or 1-866-492-7516(toll-free in North America) or e-mail your address change to [email protected].

ISSN: 0824-8125 Copyright 2005Publications Mail Agreement

No. 40112326

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses toOffice of Alumni Affairs, University of Alberta,

Main Floor, Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5J 4P6

departments

10 Testate TestamentA pair of U of A grads prepare a will that they can live with

12 Green KeepersSix grads go the extra mile when it comes to going green

16 Shades of GreenTake a trip to Costa Rica with an adventure-guide-in-training

22 Herb AppealA new Alberta plant that may be the cure for what ails you

26 Time for an Oil Change?Now a little good news about Alberta’s oil sands behemoth

36 Trash TalkEdmonton’s winning ways in putting the “use” in “refuse”

41 2009 Alumni Recognition AwardsCelebrating outstanding almuni

2 Your LettersOur readers write to us

6 Bear Country Goings-on around the U of A

9 Landmarks Accolades, honours and othermilestones

50 BookmarksUniversity pages to be proud of

52 Alumni EventsOur alma mater branches out

53 Class NotesKeeping classmates up-to-date

60 In MemoriamBidding farewell to friends

64 Tuck ShopTaking a page out of the past

The phrase “to every-thing there is a sea-son” is probablyremembered by mostpeople as being fromThe Byrds 1965 song,“Turn! Turn! Turn!” (thesong was actually writ-

ten by Pete Seeger and is pretty much a lit-eral adaptation from the biblical Book ofEcclesiastes). In the Bible, as in the song,the words are meant to convey the ideathat there is a proper time and place foreverything, from birth to death, to fade inand fade out, to begin and end.

Such it is that a new season has begunin the life of the Office of Alumni Affairsand New Trail. After 28 years at the helmof the Office, Susan Peirce retired asDirector of New Trail and Executive Directorof the Alumni Association. As of this writ-ing, a successor to the legacy of alumniengagement that Susan has left behindher has yet to be hired, and her office—once a hive of activity— sits strangelyvacant and dark as it waits for a new pres-ence to animate it once again.

At this point, no one knows who will bechosen to fill her shoes and what new ideasor innovations he or she will bring to theposition. So much has changed sinceSusan first took up her job in 1981 thatthe only thing known with any certainty isthat some sort of change will be inevitable,even if it’s only in the personality of theperson taking over the position.

New Trail is also entering its own seasonof change. This issue— our “green” issue— is the first to be printed on ForestStewardship Council certified paper. Theintent of the FSC system is to shift thepaper market to eliminate habitat destruc-tion, water pollution, displacement ofindigenous people and the violence againstpeople and wildlife that can accompanylogging. FSC certified papers contain woodfibre from well-managed forests, post-con-sumer recycled content and other con-trolled, forest-friendly sources.

As well, in the months to come themagazine— that has been evolving in asort of organic fashion over the years thatI’ve been editor— will be freshened upand given a new look as it attempts tokeep pace with the remarkable achieve-ments of the U of A and its alumni who,hand in hand, are heading into a secondcentury of excellence.

Kim GreenEditor, New Trail

B A S E C A M P

On the cover: AnneNaeth, ’76 BSc, ’85MSc, ’88 PhD, U of Aprofessor of Ecology andLand Reclamation, witha Quaking Aspen in hercampus lab where sheis working on a methodto reclaim Alberta landthat has been disturbedby oil sands mining.

See the insideback cover for yourchance to win yourgrad year in $$$$with the AlumniAssociation’s

unbelievably easy(and fun)

Photo Contest!

newtrailA L U M N I C O U N C I L 2 0 0 9 – 2 0 1 0

Executive Committee PresidentJim Hole, ’79 BSc(Ag)Past-President / Vice-PresidentNominating & BylawsHeike Juergens, ’72 BA, ’79 MEd, ’87 PhDVice-President, Alumni EngagementBrent McDonough, ’77 BSc, ’79 BEdVice-President, AwardsDeni Lorieau, ’73 BAVice-President, ScholarshipsJane Halford, ’95 BComVice-President, Student Life Cornell Lee, ’01 BSc(Dent) ’03 DDSBoard of Governors RepresentativesDick Wilson, ’74 BA, ’75 LLBBill Cheung, ’86 LLBSenate RepresentativesKerry Day, ’80 LLBJudy Zender, ’67 BASecretaryStephen Leppard,’86 BEd, ’92 MEd, ’03EdD

Faculty RepresentativesAgricultural, Life&Environmental SciencesAnand Pandarinath, ’93 BSc(Forest), ’00 MBA, ’00 MForestArtsColleen Judge, ’87 BA, ’90 MA, ’99 PhDAugustanaStacey Denham Gibson, ’95 BA (Augustana),’98 LLBBusinessJane Halford, ’95 BComCampus Saint-JeanDeni Lorieau, ’73 BADentistryCornell Lee, ’01 BSc(Dent), ’03 DDSEducationDon Fleming, ’76 BEdEngineeringGlenn Stowkowy, ’76 BSc (ElecEng)Graduate StudiesMarlene Keanie, ’86 BEd, ’01 MEd, ’07 EdDLawBryan Kickham, ’71 BA, ’74 LLBMedicineRichard Fedorak, ’78 MDNative StudiesHeather Taylor, ‘97 BA(NativeSt)Nursing[vacant]PharmacyRose Anne Lawton, ’73 BScPhysical Education and RecreationHugh Hoyles, ’66 BPESchool of Public HealthGrant Frame, ’87 BSc, ’93 MHSARehabilitation MedicineAnne Lopushinsky, ’79 BSc (Speech/Aud)Science[vacant]

Members at LargeTerry Freeman, ’82 BComBrent McDonough, ’77 BSc, ’79 BEd

Academic RepresentativeFrank Robinson

Ex OfficioStudents’ Union PresidentKory MathewsonGraduate Students’ Association PresidentJennifer LandryHonorary PresidentIndira SamarasekeraVice-President (External Relations) Debra Pozega Osburn [acting]Executive Director, Alumni Association[vacant]

Supervising EditorRick PilgerEditorKim GreenAssociate EditorSarah LigonContributing EditorJodeen Litwin, ’90 BScArt DirectorLisa Hall, ’89 BA Advisory BoardDeb HammacherRuth Kelly, ’78 BAJohn Mahon, ’76 BMus, ’83 MBADouglas Olsen, ’86 BSc, ’88 MBA, ’92 PhD

O F F I C E O F A L U M N IA F FA I R SExecutive Director[vacant]Associate Director/Manager, Alumni Education ProgramsRick PilgerAssociate Director/Manager, Alumni BranchesGina Wheatcroft, ’94 BEdExecutive Project ManagerColeen Graham, ’88 BSc(HEc), ’93 MEdFinance and HR AdministratorJacquie ReinprechtCoordinator, Alumni BranchesAndrea Porter, ’03 BComAssistants, Alumni Branches Cristine MyhreCoordinator, Alumni ChaptersJohn Perrino, ’93 BA(RecAdmin)Assistant, Alumni ChaptersVi Warkentin Communications ManagerKim GreenCommunications AssociateSarah LigonAssistant to the DirectorDiane TougasAssistant, Alumni Education Angela Tom, ’03 BACoordinator, Graphic CommunicationsLisa Hall, ’89 BACoordinator, Electronic CommunicationServicesDebbie Yee, ’92 BACoordinator, Alumni RecognitionJodeen Litwin, ’90 BScAssistant, Alumni RecognitionIshani Weera, ’04 BAManager, Marketing and Special EventsTracy Salmon, ’91 BA, ’96 MScAssistant, Alumni Services Ann MilesCoordinator, Alumni Special EventsColleen Elliott, ’94 BEd Assistant, Alumni Special EventsJennifer Jenkins, ’95 BEd Coordinator, Students & Young AlumniChloe Chalmers, ’00 BA

HOW TO CONTACT THEOFFICE OF ALUMNI AFFAIRSWrite to us at: University of Alberta, Main Floor, Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5J 4P6Phone: 780-492-3224 or toll-free inCanada & the U.S. at 1-800-661-2593Fax: 780-492-1568E-mail: [email protected] advertise in New Trail contact BonnieLopushinsky at [email protected] or 780-417-3464.

A U T U M N 2 0 0 9

Faculté FriendI was thrilled to finally see an

article on Faculté Saint-Jean

[Spring 2009, “Campus St.-Jean

—a little Francophone gem”],

and I am sure that my peers

must be as thrilled as I am.

Faculté Saint-Jean is comprised

of a dynamic group of people,

and, as you found out, we are

very much all connected. You

can never underestimate the

power of our connection. There

is a lot going on at my faculty,

and coverage from time to time

will help you discover the rich-

ness and the family atmosphere

it encompasses.

Naaznin Jetha, ’95 BEd, ’07 MEd

Markham, ON

PictureimPerfectOn page five

of the New

Trail Winter

2008–2009

issue you

printed a letter from EverettMcCrimmon, [’51 BSc(Ag)] but

a photo of a classmate accom-

panied it. Here is a copy of the

correct photo from the 1951

Evergreen and Gold.

Sheila M. McLaggan,

’49 BSc(HEc)

Calgary, AB

Editor’s Note: Oops. We did

a wrong head count and inad-

vertently printed a photo of

Walter L. McNary who was in

McCrimmon’s graduating class.

Campaign CorrectionOn page 12 of the Spring issue

there is a listing of donations

associated with Campaign

2008. One relating to CN

donating “$1 Million to estab-

lish the CN Professorship in

International Trade in the

Faculty of Law and the Western

Centre for Economic Research

[WCER] in Business in the

Alberta School of Business” is

incorrect.

CN funding to the School

of Business was allocated to

establish the position of CN

Executive Professor of Canada-

U.S. Trade Relations, working

with the WCER to undertake

activities to promote greater

awareness and understanding of

international trade and eco-

nomic issues, particularly the

importance of the Canada-U.S.

trade and economic relation-

ship. The CN funding of this

position and associated activities

has allowed for the initiation of

a broad range of activities to

enhance knowledge of interna-

tional trade issues at the Uni -

versity for business—and for

government—including staging

a number of conferences, bring-

ing in international speakers,

and preparing research reports,

publications and opinion pieces.

The CN contribution to the

School of Business for this pur-

pose has been well-used in

expanding attention to interna-

tional trade and economic issues

using the WCER as the base of

activities.

Helmut Mach, ’72 BCom,

’77 MBA

(Director, WCER, CN Executive

Professor of Canada-U.S. Trade

Relations)

Edmonton, AB

2 new trail Autumn 2009

Letters

Sweep-StakesA classmate

of mine con-

tacted me

because she

thought one of the people in the

photo [“Clean Sweep,” Spring

’09, pg. 56] looked as if it could

be me. Not, however. I played

broomball for the Aggies from

1969 through to 1973. From

the clothing I think your photo

is earlier than that. To confirm

my memories, I dug out my

Round Up magazines from my

undergraduate years, and in the

last two, 1972 and 1973, there

are broomball photos. We

played on skates but wore our

usual pants, often jeans, and

had bibs with numbers on them

for identification. Somewhere

along the line a number of us

knitted and wore light blue

sweaters (to match the blue on

our graduating hoods) that we

also sewed Ag faculty crests on.

You can see some of these

sweaters in the 1973 photos. If

you have access to these records,

you can look on page 28 in the

1972 edition and pages 33, 34

and 35 in the 1973 edition.

Rosemary (McCormick) Brown,

’73 BSc(Ag), ’74 MSc(Ag)

Caroline, AB

Thanks x 2I very much appreciate receiving

every issue of the University of

Alberta magazine. Thank you

very much for sending me this

excellent publication.

Denis Goodale

(professor emeritus)

Edmonton, AB

New Trail really is a very good

alumni magazine in general. I

am also a McMaster alumnus,

and my wife is a UVic grad (as

well as McMaster and Grant

MacEwan). So we read four dif-

ferent alumni magazines! U of A

stands out for sure.

Paul Zehr, ’98 PhD

Victoria, BC

MemoriesI have just read the Spring 2009

issue of New Trail with the usual

interest. It brought back many

memories, including the fact that

the name of E. A. Corbett [’63

LLD (Honorary)] is maintained

in Corbett Hall. In his role as

Extension Department director,

Corbett used to arrange a week

in spring for young farm chil-

dren—such as me—to visit The

University. He was also note-

worthy for helping to establish

the Banff School of Fine Arts.

The mention of our beloved

organic professor Rube Sandin

reminded me of a conversation he

had with Ray Lemieux [’43 BSc,

’91 BSc (Honorary)]. After he

graduated, Sandin asked Ray

where he was going for post-grad-

uate work. Ray said he had a fel-

lowship with Dr. ________ at the

University of Toronto. Sandin’s

reply was, “If you go there I’ll

never speak to you again. Why

not go to Dr. Purves at McGill?”

Which he did. I was Dr. _______’s

first PhD student, and his ruthless

reputation had spread in the inter-

vening years and Sandin wanted

to spare Ray the experience.

Also, during 1956–57, I was

on sabbatical at Cambridge with

professor Sir Alexander Todd

(later Lord Todd, who won the

Nobel Prize for chemistry in

1957), thus I enjoyed the article

by Joel [’95 BSc] and Lesley

Dacks [’98 BSc] about their time

in Cambridge. While I was there,

Ray Lemieux visited, and we

were invited to “high table” at

King’s College where we were sur-

rounded by pictures of famous

former graduates—quite an

experience! I am also glad that

Ray’s name—as well as that of

Harry Gunning [’83 DSc

(Honorary)], who was a fellow

PhD candidate at the U of T with

me—is attached to the Gunning/

Lemieux Chemistry Centre.

Elvins Y. Spencer, ’36 BSc,

’38 MSc

London, ON


The New Trail I am writing this to

express my regret

and sadness at the

total absence of any

word [in New Trail]

on the death of

Gordon Brown, ’42

BA, on January 1, 2009. Amazing, consider-

ing Gordon was an editor of The New Trail.

In 1998, Gordon donated his collection of

Baedeker travel guides—the largest in

Canada—to the Uni versity. The gift was

received with the proper fanfare, and the

University even published a handsome

booklet titled, “An Exquisite and Rational

Enjoyment: From Early Travel Books to

Baedeker Guides.” Both Gordon and I vis-

ited the University—and the collection—

several times since that donation. Gordon

was extremely proud of his years at the

University and kept in touch with various

departments over the years. In view of the

above, I wonder why not a word was said

about his death?

Francine Brown (Mrs. Gordon Brown)

Victoria, BC

Editor’s Note: We offer our condolences on

the passing away of J. C. Gordon Brown

and regret the fact that word of his passing

escaped our attention. Brown was one of

the distinguished editors of the University of

Alberta alumni magazine that began life as

The Trail before being reborn as The New

Trail, and which is now known as New

Trail. The New Trail began publishing

under that name in 1942, under the editor-

ship of F. M. Salter. Gordon Brown first

appears as editor in 1947 (in 1946 he was

appointed as the first permanent alumni sec-

retary at the U of A). That same year he left

Edmonton for Ottawa to take up a position

at the Department of External Affairs as a

Foreign Service Officer. The Second World

War veteran (he enlisted in 1942 and was

discharged with the rank of lieutenant in

1946,) who was born in Shropshire, England,

would go on to take up diplomatic postings

in such locales as Beirut, Cyprus, Pretoria,

Rwanda, Zambia, Zaire and the Democratic

Republic of Congo. Brown wrote a book

about his experiences in the diplomatic corps

titled: Blazes Along a Diplomatic Trail. He

died suddenly in Victoria, BC, on January 1,

2009, a day before his 87th birthday.

(To view digital archives of The Trail

and New Trail from 1920 to 2006 go to

www.ualbertacentennial.ca/digital_archives

and click on “publications.”

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een


By GeorgeI’ve had a wonderful

response to the recent

article concerning

U of A iconic objects

that have been “lost

and found” [“Forget

Me Not,” Spring ’09, pg. 35]. In

fact, the first e-mail was from my

former boss, President Emeritus

Myer Horowitz, ’59 MEd, ’90

LLD (Honorary).

The most e-mail have come from

three experts on the St. George’s

Banner: Jennifer Salahub; Gail

Sundstrom Niinimaa, ’77 BSc;

and Lucie Heins, ’05 BSc, ’08 MA.

We all wonder if New Trail would

publish an image of the banner

that is still missing in the hopes

that a reader may have informa-

tion that will lead to its recovery.

Ellen Schoeck, ’72 BA, ’77 MA

Edmonton, AB

Editor’s Note: By

request, here is an

archived photo of the

missing St. George’s

banner. If you have

information that may

contribute to its where-

abouts, please contact Ellen at

[email protected].

RepatriatesMy wife, Irene, and I had the

pleasure recently of attending the

U of A’s “Celebration of Philan -

thropy” at the Winspear Centre.

It was a great venue with a won-

derful program. There was an

added highlight for me and that

was having another chat with the

enduring and well-known BillKent, an engineering graduate

from the class of 1931 and the

only U of A celebrant of a 75th

reunion. He’s not only very

interesting, he also travels to

Edmonton by bus from his home

in Langley, BC.

It was our first visit to the

Winspear Centre after returning

from Eastern Canada a few

months ago. And it was espe-

cially meaningful because back in

1951 we attended the honorary

degree graduation banquet at

which Francis Winspear, [’51

LLD (Honorary)], and HarrietWinspear, [’99 LLD (Honorary)],

were the special guests that we

were seated with since I was on

the Senior Class Executive at the

time. Seeing this magnificent

facility for the first time after so

many years was quite something.

I would also like to let you

know that I have saved and

reread New Trail over the years, a

great magazine and a nice

reminder of the “good old days.”

John Basaraba,’51 BSc(ChemEng)

Edmonton, AB

Going to the ChapelI enjoyed the article on Cam -

bridge [Sping 2009 pg. 29], but

it contained two errors in the

section on King’s College. One:

The college chapel at King’s,

although splendid, is not a

cathedral; the cathedral church

is, as noted later, in Ely. Two:

Evensong is a distinct service

and so is not a mass; it is a sim-

ple service and does not involve

bread and wine, the elements of

a mass or communion.

Alexander L. (Sandy) Darling,

’76 MEd

Dundas, ON

MA in Communications and Technology

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magazine. Send us yourletters via postal mail or

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edited for length or clarity.

Letters

Fibre OpticsYears of the agriculture industry

looking at ways to get more out ofthe plant fibre it generates led to

a 2007 provincial report titled: Alberta’sFibre Roadmap: Getting Value from EveryFibre—Making the Most of Alberta’sLignocellulose Resource. From the recom-mendations in this report was born theAlberta Bio-Refining Conversions Net -work (BCN). To be headquartered atEdmonton’s Agri-Food Discovery Placeon the main campus at the U of A, BCNis being directed by David Bressler, aprofessor in the Department of Agricul -ture, Food and Nutritional Science.

Although agricultural scientists hadbeen making steady progress in fibreresearch for some time, it took the reportto galvanize government into action.“The report showed us that gainingmore value from agriculture and forestryfibres can be a new untapped resource,”says Doug Horner, Minister of Advanced

Education and Technology. “We’re nowtargeting some of the products thataren’t currently being used, such as cropand forestry residues or by-products leftfrom animal rendering. In the future, thismay lead to items like fats becomingenvironmentally friendly fire retardants,crop by-products becoming food addi-tives, and forestry pulping waste becom-ing a source of electricity and heat.”

The BCN is jointly funded by theprovincial government ($3 million) andprivate sector partners, including localand international companies ($500,000).The BCN will also be able to access theAlberta Biomaterials DevelopmentCentre, a forest fibre research centre thatwill be sited at both Agri-Food Dis coveryPlace and the Alberta Research Council’sfacility in Vegreville, AB.

The BCN aims to connect experts inthe fields of thermal, biological andchemical science in an interdisciplinaryand inter-agency environment whereresearchers, producers and entrepre-neurs will all work together to find bio-solutions that advance a zero-wasteapproach to the products developed byits participants.

“We’re excited to play the coordinat-ing role, matching disciplines and tech-nologies to solutions,” says Bressler.“The Network will provide access toresearch facilities and also the talentedpeople and experience that multi-part-ner projects like this need to bring newideas to the next stage of development,including prototyping and field testing.”

David Bressler


bear country

In the wee hours of May 4, a female peregrine falcon—thesame one that nested there last year—laid an egg in a nest

atop the Clinical Sciences Building on the U of A campus. Thatinitial egg-laying—captured on camera as part of the PeregrineWebcam Project—was followed by the laying of another eggon May 6 and two more on May 8 and 11, respectively. TheWebcam project is the joint effort of a number of groups,including the Environmental Coordination Office of Students,the Alberta Public Interest Research Group and the U of A’sEngineering and Infrastructure services.

As well as providing interesting viewing, the project is meantto serve as an important component to campus sustainabilitybecause it creates awareness of endangered species that existwithin our immediate environments. The first three all-whitechicks hatched on June 13, followed a day later by the fourth.The birds were later banded—something they, and their par-ents, weren’t too keen on—with red, black, yellow and white

bands. Yellowband was thefirst to fledge (orfly) on July 21, fol-lowed by red band onJuly 24 and black band onJuly 28. Unfortunately, whiteband—who had a very short flight on July 21—disappearedsometime between the evening of July 22 and early morningon the 23rd. Despite an extensive search, white band couldnot be located.

An adult peregrine falcon—a carnivorous raptor—canreach speeds of over 320 kilometres an hour in a dive, mak-ing it the fastest animal in the world. Once endangered due topesticides such as DDT—which caused the female to lay thin-shelled eggs that were easily broken—the birds can now befound on every continent except Antarctica.

Birds of a Feather


Digging holes in the earth to extractthe resources below ground is

not exactly forest friendly. But SimonLandhäusser, ’94 PhD, a professor in the Department of RenewableResources, has been given a five-yearopportunity to see what he can do tohelp re-establish the trees after theland they once grew on has given upits treasures and been infilled onceagain, readied for reclamation. As thenew industry research chair in forestland reclamation (supported byEPCOR, Shell, Suncor, Syncrude andthe Natural Sciences and EngineeringResearch Council of Canada) in theFaculty of Agriculture, Life andEnviron ment Sciences, Landhäusserwill study tree seedling quality, siteconditions and planting techniquesthat provide the optimum conditionsfor the quick regeneration and estab-lishment of a natural tree cover.

Initial research will focus on aspen,which naturally regenerates from itsroot system, but since they’ve beenripped up (literally) by the roots,Land häusser will be looking for robustseedlings that can quickly establishthemselves in this harsh environment.“It’s a stressful environment for aseedling,” he says, “and we don’t havemuch experience in growing aspen yet.Sitting out there in the open with thesun beating down and with limitedmoisture, the seedlings have to bequite hardy.”

Although the forest industry hasbeen re-planting logged land with seed -

lings for decades, their advantage isthat the forest floor is very little dis-turbed. But in the case of open-pitmining such as in oil sands extraction,everything is removed, and the soilhas be returned to the dig andbrought back to life.

“You have to develop a new forestfrom scratch,” says Landhäusser. “Butthe sooner we can provide forest-dependent species with a securityblanket (the canopy from the aspen)the faster we can kick-start the rede-velopment of forest ecosystems onthese disturbed landscapes and createstable forests that will, over time,resemble natural systems.”

Tree LineI think that I shall never seeA poem as lovely as a tree....

Poems are made by fools like me,But only God can make a tree.

“Trees,” Joyce Kilmer

House WorkUof A civil

and envi-ronmental

engineering pro-fessor MohamedAl-Hussein wantsto put the “pre”back in “prefabri-cated” as a way ofgreening the hous-ing constructionindustry. Although the prefabricatedbuilding industry—which prefers torefer to its products as being built“off-site”—has been operating fordecades, Al-Hussein thinks it’s timethat more builders did away with allthat wasteful, arbitrary and ineffi-cient on-site framing, wiring, plumb-ing, drywalling and painting thatgenerates a haze of greenhouse gases.

“All that material, all those trucksand people coming and going everyday,” says Al-Hussein. “Estimatesare that building a home between1,200 and 1,600 square feet gener-ates about 55 to 100 tonnes of CO2,while also heating a home while it isbeing built (to keep temperaturesoptimum, not just for the workers,but for things like drywall com-pound and paint) can generateanother five tonnes of CO2 a month.We think we can cut that in half.”

Al-Hussein and his team have beenworking for the last couple of yearson computer-assisted design andother artificial intelligence softwarethey’ve been developing to streamlinethe house-building process. The“parts” for the house are made in anoff-site factory and then assembledon the foundation that’s been pouredfor the house. The goal is to cut theconstruction time by more than 60percent while reducing home con-struction costs by 20 percent.

“We’ve got it to about 30 homes a month and capacity to go to 40 or45, though demand for new homeshas slowed a bit recently here,” saysAl-Hussein.

Seeing GreenSeeing GreenJames Thorsell, ’62 BSc, ’09

LLD (Honorary), was recentlyon campus to accept his hon-

orary degree and deliver a convoca-tion address. A world expert when itcomes to national parks and heritagelands and a leading international author-ity on conservation, Thorsell spoke of onceseeing the ruins of an ancient city and makingthe connection between resource depletion and thecollapse of that once thriving metropolis. “The misuse of nat-ural resources seemed like a puzzling and preventable tragedyto me,” he said. “It hit me then that the man-nature nexuswas what I wanted to specialize in.”

And so he did. Thorsell began his career working for ParksCanada in Banff, AB, and was an early pioneer of sustainabledevelopment and natural conservation before making a namefor himself with the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Hisfield experience covers more than 700 protected areas in 90countries including Antarctica, the Serengeti, the GalapagosIslands and Mount Everest. He has evaluated more than 175

sites nominated for WorldHeritage listings, resulting inalmost one million square kilo-

metres of land and sea being protected under this prestigious

convention. Thorsell, who grew upin Wetask iwin, AB, was also the first

to recommend that the Rocky Mountainparks and Waterton Park in southern Alberta

be designated World Heritage Sites.Thorsell, who admitted to the convocating students that he

had personally seen more “wounds” on planet Earth than hecared to remember, closed out his address with some slightlymore hopeful lines that can be found chiseled into a largememorial wall for Victorian industrialist Alexander Morton(1844-1924), which is located in Darvel, East Ayrshire,Scotland: “The wonder of the world, the beauty and thepower, the shape of things, their colours, lights and shades;these I saw. Look ye also while life lasts.”

Go to www.multimedia.ualberta.ca/files/10090.xml towatch a video of Thorsell.

Solar SolaceHere comes the sun Here comes the sun

And I sayIt’s alright

— George Harrison

With our present-day technologicalknow-how we can extract about

25 percent of the roughly 1.6 billionbarrels of oil trapped in Alberta’s oilsands. That amounts to approximately400 billion barrels of oil—which canstill only provide as much energy as thesun puts out in three hours. So if wecould trap just a day’s output of thesun’s energy we would have on handmore energy than about four oil sandsput together.

Now imagine the roof of yourhouse studded with little plasticphotovoltaic cells, solar panelsthat soak up the sun’s rays andprovide power for everythingfrom the TV to the fridge. U of Aresearchers at the National Insti -tute for Nanotechnology havehelped bring that possibilitycloser to reality by developing a methodthat increases the efficiency in plasticphotovoltaic cells by 30 percent. Whilenot as efficient in harvesting the sun’senergy as the high-grade silicon-basedsolar panels, the advantage of usingplastic to harvest the sun’s energy is thatit’s cheaper and thus lends itself moreeasily to mass commercialization.

“This is our first big result that we’rereally happy to talk about,” says chem-istry professor Jillian Buriak, who helpedlead the project. Buriak and her team of

chemists, engineersand physicists madetheir breakthroughby introducing a one-billionth-of-a-metre-thick compoundbetween two layers ofthe plastic solar cellthat give it that 30

percent boost in efficiently when con-verting the energy into usable electricity.

Although still far from having aproduct they can take to market, theresearchers have taken a big step for-ward to developing a commerciallyviable product. And while Buriakadmits that the plastic cells will proba-bly never be as efficient as silicon, shesays, “The point is the cost. By makingthe plastic cells inexpensive, and thus,manufacturable, is where we think wecan have an impact.”


Jillian Buriak


landmarks� U of A sportsbusiness studentCarline Muir pow-ered the Canadianwomen’s 4 x 400-metre relay to agold medal per-formance at the2009 SummerUniversiade inBelgrade, Serbia.Muir took the teamout to a sizablelead in the first lap—a lead the

remaining three runners never relin-quished—to take home Canada’s firstgold in a track event since the WorldUniversiade Games in Edmonton in1983. The medal marked Muir’s second trip to the podium at theUniversiade, as the 2008 Olympianearlier took home a bronze medal inthe 400-metre final, finishing just four-tenths of a second slower than herrelay teammate, Esther Akinsule, whonosed her out for the silver medal.

In other athletic news, U of A GoldenBears volleyballer Joel Schmuland,’09 BA, and, respectively, Edmontonnative Annamay Pierse—were namedthe male and female CanadianInteruniversity Sport athletes of theyear. Three days after being namedCIS player of the year, Schmulandcapped off a dream weekend earningtournament-MVP honours and winninghis third CIS gold medal—his first athome—in his final outing as a Bear.

Pierse, who trains in Vancouver,recently set a world record in the 200-metre breaststroke at the worldaquatic championships in Rome.

� A pair of U of A students—LisaSzabo and Christopher Cox, ’08 MSc—are the fortunate recipients of a2009 Trudeau Foundation DoctoralScholarship that will see each of themreceive up to $180,000 in support of their research. Cox is working ondocumenting languages, in particular,Plautdietsch—the traditional languageof Russian Mennonites—while Szabo’sresearch focuses on global and localinterconnections between Canadiannature writings, bioregionalism andecology.

“The Trudeau Scholarships areamong the most prestigious scholar-ships in Canada, so we are delightedto have two of our students becomeTrudeau Scholars,” says U of A provost,Carl Amrhein.

The Trudeau Scholarships areawarded to Canadian students whoare expected to become national andinternational leaders in their fields,and each Trudeau Scholar receivesmentoring from highly regardednational and international leaders whomake up the Trudeau Foundation com-munity in their respective disciplines.

� University of Alberta music profes-sor Tanya Prochazka was recentlyinducted into Edmonton’s Arts andCulture Hall of Fame. Prochazka, whowas born into a family of professionalclassical musicians in Melbourne,Australia, and trained as a cellist atthe Paris Conservatoire, was playingthe classical music scene in Londonwhen her husband, a neuroscientist,was offered a job with the AlbertaHeritage Foundation. Twenty-threeyears after moving here, Prochazka isstill playing with the city’s symphonyorchestra, and many of her studentsnow play with the group.

Michael Phair, U of A director ofcommunity relations and former citycouncillor, was also recognized by theCity in the builder category.

� Recent U of A grad HiromiKoriyama, ’09 BSc(Pharm), scoredthe highest mark of any student in thecountry on this year’s PharmacyExamining Board of Canada examina-tion. Koriyama is the 12th studentfrom the Faculty of Pharmacy andPharmaceu tical Sciences in the last20 years to take home the George A.Burbidge Memorial Award for the topmark in the nation .

“I kept telling people I was waitingfor another letter saying that they hadmade a mistake,” says Koriyama. “It’sa little embarrassing to be singledout, but I’m happy it has made myparents and friends proud.”

The Pharmacy Examining Board ofCanada examination is a requirementfor licencing in Canada. The examcontains two sections—a multiplechoice and a written section— thatevaluate a student’s proficiency oncurrent pharmacy practice.

In other pharmacy news, the Facultyhas obtained U of A Board ofGovernors approval to begin offering adoctor of pharmacy degree program(PharmD) beginning in September2010 (it currently offers a PhDdegree). The degree sta-tus still needs confir-mation from twoGovern ment ofAlberta min-istries, butthat’s mostlikely to be aformality.

HiromiKoriyama

� John Vederas, a professor in the U of A Department of Chemistry, hadhis fundamental contributions to thefields of bio-organic and medicinalchemistry recognized recently when hesigned his name into the records ofthe Royal Society, whose other signa-tories include the likes of IsaacNewton, Charles Darwin, AlbertEinstein and Stephen Hawking.

Vederas was named to the UnitedKingdom’s National Academy ofSciences along with 43 others, whowere recognized for their exceptionalcontributions to science, engineeringand medicine. The Royal Society is theworld’s oldest scientific academy incontinuous existence and has been atthe forefront of enquiry and discoverysince its foundation in 1660.

Vederas’ work centres on under-standing the chemistry used by naturein the assembly of biological mole-cules, in particular the attempt toidentify antimicrobial peptides thatpreserve food and also have greatpotential as antibiotics against organ-isms resistant to current therapy.

This year’s inductees into the RoyalSociety came from all over the world,but Vederas is grateful for the 32 yearshe has been teaching and researching

in his corner of the world. “I am veryfortunate to have fantastic collabo-rators from the biochemistrydepartment, in the Faculty ofAgricultural, Life andEnvironmental Sciences and inbiological sciences,” he says.“Having outstanding scientistsaround me is a wonderful thing

and one of the things thathas kept me here.”

John Verderas (centre, back row) posing with fellow attendeesof an annual symposium held at Pigeon Lake, AB.

Spencer Leiske (2) roars in behindJoel Schmuland en route to theGolden Bears second national titlein as many years.

Carline Muir

Tanya Prochazka

F

Testate TestamentTestate Testament


Family and friends are often surprised to see our names onthe University of Alberta’s

Quaecumque Vera Honour Societylist, the donor recognition group forpeople who have included gifts to theU of A in their wills or other estateplans. They are incredulous whenthey ask how we—a one-income fam-ily with a young daughter—couldpossibly provide for the University inour estate. After all, wouldn’t wewant to provide for our daughter ifsomething should happen to us?

After Maurice and I were married,we were happy to include charitable

gifts in our wills. Giving was some-thing we did regularly, and, since wehad no dependents, it made sense toinclude something in our estate plansshould anything happen to both of us.We were footloose and fancy-free,and if we were to leave this world atthe same time, we were just fine withgiving everything away. But with thebirth of our daughter, Grace—as hap-pens with most people in this situa-tion—everything changed.

Our world suddenly revolvedaround this incredible new person inour lives. We started thinking aboutsuch previously far-fetched concepts as

registered education savings plans,safety ratings and food allergies. Cloth versus disposables diapers wasnow a question worthy of debate, aswere sleep schedules and potty trainingmethods. Determining how to instillgood values also suddenly became apriority, along with how to teach theimportance of community and set agood example. One of the mostimportant decisions we had to maketogether was how to update our willto take into account our new reality.

Like most new parents, the idea ofdying and leaving our beautiful childalone in this world was not something

Kathy Fitzgerald, ’92 BA, writes about how she and her husband, Maurice, ’93 BCom, came to be on a U of A honour society list

Kathy and Maurice withtheir daughter, Grace.

�

How the Fitzgerald’s Gift WorksKathy and Maurice have made a spe-cific bequest in their will naming theFaculty of Arts as a beneficiary.

When they notified the Universityabout their bequest, they accepted aninvitation to become a member of theQuaecumque Vera Honour Society.This donor group is composed of indi-viduals who have included theUniversity in their estate plans. Eachspring, the University hosts a luncheonon campus for members of this group.

Including a charitable bequest inyour will is an effective method ofsupporting the University without com-promising current living standards.One of the many ways of making a giftto the University, bequests are usuallyone of the largest gifts an individualcan make. Charitable bequests canhelp reduce the tax payable by theestate, thus allowing more of theestate to be used as desired.

If it is your intention to include theUniversity in your will, or you would liketo learn more about how to do so, wewould be pleased to hear from you.

Name:______________________________

Address:____________________________

___________________________________

Telephone:___________________________

e-mail:______________________________

Please contact us at:Development Office Gift Planning UnitEnterprise Square3rd Floor, 10230 Jasper AvenueEdmonton, Alberta T5J 4P6Telephone: 780-492-0332Toll Free: 1-888-799-9899e-mail: [email protected]

we wanted to thinkabout. But parent-ing comes withresponsibilities andensuring that ourdaughter would beprovided for in theunlikely event thatsomething shouldhappen to both uswas a critical one.So we arrangedguardianship andagreed that all ofour financialresources would bedevoted to Grace’supbringing, educa-tion and futureneeds. Then wemet with our lawyer to discuss ourwishes and had a new will drawn up.

Reviewing the draft of our new will,I noticed with some disappointmentthat we no longer had included a char-itable gift in our plans. There was noway I would consider shortchangingour daughter. But giving had alwaysbeen important to me, and it felt oddto leave it out. I believe that we are alltogether in this world and no one of uscan make it on their own. Whether wereceive help in the form of a parents’comfort room at the children’s hospi-tal while our child is in the neonatalintensive-care unit, or in the form of abursary while trying to make endsmeet at school, we all have timeswhen help is needed, and most of usalso have opportunities to give it.

So when our lawyer inquired as toour intentions in the event that some-thing should happen to all three of us,at first I was stunned. As a parent, itwas hard enough to think about ourchild growing up without us, but itwas inconceivable to consider some-thing awful happening to her. I bracedmyself and looked at Maurice; this wasone scenario we had not discussed.

After a deep breath, I knew thiswas something we had to think about.

If, God forbid,something did hap-pen, our familieswould be devas-tated, and we didnot want to leavethem with the extraburden of handlingour estate.

Our motivationin having ouraffairs in order hadnot changed whenwe became parents.We still wanted tohave a proper willto not only ensurethat our wishes arecarried out, butalso to spare our

survivors the difficulties that can arise without one.

After some discussion, we decidedthat, in the event of the unthinkablehappening, we wanted to divide ourestate between family members andtwo of our favourite organizations:The Stollery Children’s HospitalFoundation and the University ofAlberta. As a graduate of the Facultyof Arts, I wanted to direct our gift tothat faculty, and Maurice was agree-able (seeing as the U of A does notdirect charitable gifts to RATT).*

When we signed off on everything,I felt good about our decision andrelieved that our affairs were in order.Our estate plans may change as ourdaughter grows and our familychanges, but the need to support ourcommunity and be part of somethingbigger than us will not. I trust that ourwills will remain in the filing cabinet,unused, for a long time, but am com-forted by the knowledge that our cur-rent will reflects everything importantto us: our family and our values.

Kathy Fitzgerald is an Edmontonarea writer, mom and proud U of Aalumna.

*A campus bar on the 7th-floor of theStudents’ Union Building.


“Our estate plans

may change as our

daughter grows...

but the need to

support our

community and be

part of something

bigger than us

will not.”

Consensus MakerRebecca Reeves, ’04 BSc, (pictured

above) has spent her whole careerin one environmental position oranother, working to conserve what’s leftof Alberta’s wild heritage and naturalenvironment. She’s currently the ParksLand-Use Framework Planner for theprovince of Alberta. And, she says,there’s one big difference now that she’sno longer working in the non-profitsector: “I don’t have to worry aboutfundraising for my own job anymore.”

Reeves worked for five years in thenon-profit sector, most recently as theexecutive director of the Eagle Point-Blue Rapids Parks Council, a multi-stakeholder community organizationthat works cooperatively with AlbertaParks to plan, manage and fund twonew protected areas near DraytonValley, the first such arrangement withAlberta Parks.

In her new job, Reeves is helping to coordinate the engagement of theAlberta Department of Tourism, Parks and Recreation as it unites withother government departments in whatis being called a new Provincial Land-Use Framework Initiative. This newland-use proposal includes creatingseven regional plans that will encom-pass the current 500 provincial pro-tected areas as well as look at creatingnew parks regions.

“My focus has always been parks,new parks and protecting the land-scape,” she says, “so it doesn’t get betterthan this working in Alberta, and I’mvery exciting about the possibilities.”

Reeves—a former seasonal conser-vation officer who was also the leadresearcher and writer for an extensive2007 study called The State of Alberta’sParks & Protected Areas —also likesthe idea that the approach to the ParksLand-Use Framework includes a cross-

ministerial initiative where people willwork collaboratively to come up withconsensus decisions on a new approachto managing Alberta’s diverse landscape.

“I like the collaborative, interdisci-plinary process as the way of movingforward,” says Reeves, who creditsher environmental science professorsat the U of A with taking the sameapproach and making “things so excit-ing and so applicable to what I’mdoing now. My professors were really,really inspiring, just incredible peoplewho were genuinely committed to notonly teaching us, but connecting us towhat was going on in Alberta andmaking personal commitments toensuring what we were learning wasnot only applicable to the workforce,but also to our lives and our commu-nity. My professors really got meengaged in the community right awayand helped me make connections thathave lasted to this day.”


Green Keepers

A six-pack of grads make the grade when it comes to being green

Green QueenLindsay Coulter, ’99 BSc, is “David

Suzuki’s Queen of Green,” provid-ing media commentary on everydaythings the public can do to live moresustainably. Having once been called the“weasel woman”—when she workedin the boreal forests collaring critters—and then “the owl lady”—when sheworked in the grasslands showingfarmers and ranchers how to protectthe endangered birds—Coulter lookson her new title as quite a promotion.

In addition to writing for Suzuki’sNature Challenge newsletter and web-site, she makes frequent appearanceson the Vancouver talk show, UrbanRush, showing viewers how to makesuch things as their own furniture pol-ish, shampoo, even toothpaste, and shejust finished recording a series of dailyradio spots for the James PattisonGroups of radio stations. “It’s great topass on information on issues that peo-ple want to learn about,” says Coulter,“especially translating the science jar-gon down to something everydayfolks—like my parents—can act on.”

Coulter also practises what shepreaches—including planning an envi-ronmentally friendly 2006 wedding toher partner Steven Coulter, ’04 MSc.She scrapped the paper invitations infavour of e-vites, bought organic flow-ers and recycled gold wedding bands,and even purchased carbon offsets forguests flying in from abroad.

But most of what Coulter advocatesis on a smaller scale, echoing the mantraof David Suzuki, that “each personworking towards a different world may

seem powerless and insignificant, butall of them can add up to a force thatcan become irresistible.”

On the Suzuki Foundation website,the self-styled “green” answer to MarthaStewart gives video demonstrations inher tiny Vancouver kitchen on littlethings we can do at home to make abig difference, from making your ownbeeswax candles to cooking tasty (andsustainable) sablefish fillets. She’s evendeveloped her own “micro” line ofnon-toxic, environmentally friendlycleaning products called “Harm Less.”Right now, they’re only available outof her kitchen, but she’s happy to showyou how to make your own.

Read Coulter’s tips for “green” livingat www.queenofgreen.ca.

Tree HuggerBrandy Burdeniuk, ’06 BDes, is the

co-founder of EcoAmmo, anEdmonton-based sustainable designfirm. Before she teamed up withStephani Carter to create EcoAmmo in2007, Burdeniuk worked for threearchitectural firms, where she used herU of A degree in industrial design anddeveloped her knowledge of greenproducts and materials to help facili-tate the Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design (LEED) certifi-cation for new buildings. (Other mem-bers of the EcoAmmo team includeAndrea Pelland, ’05 BA, and ArdenTse, ’95 BSc, ’99 BCom.)

“As an industrial designer, I am atrained problem solver,” says Burdeniuk.“And, as a company, EcoAmmo helpsfacilitate the LEED certification processand ensures that the vision of a green

building is maintained all the waythrough the design and constructionprocess.”

Burdeniuk—who teaches a coursecalled “Green Design” in the U of A’sresidential interiors program offeredthrough the Faculty of Extension—isalso a volunteer with MADE inEdmon ton (where she first met Carterin 2006). MADE is a nonprofit organi-zation whose mission is to heighten thepublic’s awareness and ability to appre-ciate art, design and architecture, and,in turn, increase the demand for goodart and design in the local community.

As a small-business owner, Burdeniukunderstands the necessity of findingthat balance between environmentalsustainability and financial practicality.“It’s important to consider the envi-ronment and your impact on it in allthings you do,” she says. “However, asa new business owner, it is also impor-tant to choose solutions that are realis-tic and to not get overwhelmed. Ourbusiness-first attitude is really impor-tant to note, but it is beneficial for theenvironmental movement as well. Timeand time again the best solutions Ihave seen are ones that are good forthe environment and for business,making them more realistic as long-term solutions for a healthier planet.”

Visit www.ecoammo.com for moreinformation.


Lindsay Coulter (right)demonstrates how tomake homemade can-dles on the VancouverTV show, Urban Rush,with Michael Eckfordand Fiona Forbes.

Lind

a M

acki

e

Dirt FarmerEric Chen, ’95 BSc(Ag), owns and

operates an organic farm called Peason Earth that has been bringing certifiedorganic vegetables to Edmonton-areafarmers’ markets for the past 10 years.For Chen, organic farming isn’t somenew fad, it’s an ancient concept—anda no-brainer at that. “For thousands ofyears, people survived without puttinganything artificial into the land, sowhy should we be dependent on artifi-cial input now?,” says Chen, who usesno herbicides or pesticides on his 24-hectare farm outside St. Albert. “Ibelieve that Mother Nature has givenus a balanced system, and I don’t thinkwe can do better than that.”

Although Chen has only been run-ning his own organic farm for the past10 years, he’s been farming since hisfamily arrived in Canada, via Laos,back in 1979. His first job was at amarket garden, and since he first dughis hands into the “good ole blacksoil” at the age of 15, he’s been hooked.“My grandma was a farmer in China,and back then they didn’t use any-thing,” he explains. “She showed mehow to farm—how she grew things inChina—and seeing was believing.”His organic granny, he adds, lived tothe ripe old age of 97.

His wife, Ruby Chen, ’95 BCom, tookto farming a little more reluctantly thanhe did. She’s originally from Hong Kong

and had no intention of being a farmer’swife, but, “the fastest way to the heart isthrough the stomach,” as they say, andChen eventually won her over to theidea through the quality and taste of thevegetables he grew. The couple—theymet in “English 101” at the U of A—areabout as close as you get to a live-workpartnership, making excellent use oftheir U of A degrees: Eric does the farm-ing; Ruby the sales and bookkeeping,and, more recently, she’s begun pro-moting organic food in several appear-ances on CTV. “I’m very proud of myRuby,” says Chen.

Like all farming, organic farming is hard work. During the short butintense Alberta growing season, Chenis in the field 80 hours a week and atthe farmers’ market by 5:00 a.m. onSaturdays. Of course, organic farmershave the added challenge of having todo it all without herbicides, pesticidesor genetically engineered seed. And, asdid many Alberta farmers, Chen took abeating this past season, with the com-bination of late frost and drought, andthe cutworms, which disproportionallyaffected organic farmers, nearly wipingout his early harvests. Still, he’s firmlyrooted in the organic movement: “I’mconvinced we don’t need a whole lot ofadditives to grow great produce,” saysChen, “just rain, sunshine and theexcellent Alberta soil.”

You can find Peas on Earth onlineat www.peasonearth.ca.


Captain CarbonOnly four years out of university, Brad

Rabiey, ’05 BSc, has established thefirst and only full-cycle carbon offsetcompany in Alberta. Through his com-pany, The Carbon Farmer, individualsand businesses can purchase credits thatoffset their greenhouse emissions and, in return, Rabiey plants portions of his family’s farm in Manning, AB, with trees,which he commits to managing for thenext 60 years. Over the life cycle of theforest, the trees store carbon in theirbranches, trunks and roots—an amountthat can be independently calculated andsold as credits.

For instance, someone taking a round-trip flight from Edmonton to Torontocreates just over one tonne of emissions,but they could offset that amount by pur-chasing a single credit from The CarbonFarmer for $15. So far, Rabiey has sold260 credits to everyone from newlywedsoffsetting their destination wedding inMexico to a California bed and breakfastlooking to go carbon neutral. And in July,he announced a new partnership withEdmonton’s Fairmont Hotel Macdonaldfor a “Green Stay” package that runsthrough December 2009.

The idea to return portions of the fam-ily farm to the northern Alberta forest itonce was came to Rabiey a few years agowhen he and his wife, Rebecca, were try-ing to figure out what to do with the land that had been in his family for twogenerations. “We determined that wedidn’t want to continue with more con-ventional farming, we wanted to find away to do something more sustainable,”explains Rabiey. “And selling carbon offsets would return our farm to an envi-ronmentally sustainable production leveland help address some of the issues theworld is facing in terms of habitat lossand climate change.”

The first people he had to sell on theplan, though, were his parents. “It’s takenmy dad a little while to come around tothe idea,” says Rabiey. “He’s been a grainfarmer his whole life. He helped pick theroots out of the soil when it was firstcleared, so the concept of planting trees on

Biker ChicClaire Ellick, ’04 BSc(CivE), once

described herself as a “bike ninja”who just happens, as she says, “tohave the wonderful opportunity tocombine my love of riding with myprofession.” As an engineer for sus-tainable transportation for the City ofEdmonton, Ellick does strategic plan-ning and design to help facilitate amore bike-friendly environment in theCity. She’s sort of the City’s “road war-rior,” whose responsibilities lie withthe on-road cycling crowd and nottheir off-road brethren, as she tries tomake bicycle commuting over citystreets a little more user-friendly.However, in truth, she’d rather bebouncing along a bumpy trail on hermountain bike. “Mountain biking hasbeen my most constant favourite,” shesays, “getting outside to enjoy the nat-ural beauty we’re so lucky to have inthis province.”

She first got hooked on cyclingthrough competing in triathlons,where, she says, “I figured out prettyquickly that I’d rather be riding my

bike than running, swimming or doinganything else. Cycling has always beenone of my greatest passions, and it’s abit of dream come true to be able touse my engineering degree as a conduitto having a tangible input into city pol-icy as to how bikes are incorporatedinto the transportation mix in anurban environment.”

Globally, more people commute towork by bicycle than by automobile. Infact, hundreds of millions of citizens inChina, India and a dozen countries inEurope use a bicycle to get to work.There are over 1.4 billion bicycles in useworldwide (compared to about 550-600million automobiles, not countingtrucks), and around 100 million bikesare now manufactured annually—morethan double the number of cars.

“Cycling more and driving less isjust common sense in so many ways,”says Ellick. “As well as being good forthe environment, cycling saves moneyand time—and both those things whenit comes to the waistline, as you don’thave to go to the gym to workout orpay for a membership. Now that’s awin, win scenario.”

land he helped clear has been challenging.”As a matter of fact, the 26-year-old hadto plant most of the 3,000 trees currentlyin the ground by himself, but he namedthe forest “Dad’s Forest,” in honour ofhis father.

And Rabiey hasn’t turned his back on farming entirely. He has long-termplans to transition the rest of the farm toorganic vegetable cultivation. But in themeantime, he’s got his hands full manag-ing his forest of two-year-old lodgepolepines and working as a renewable energyconsultant for the provincial government.“I really see the two jobs as interrelated,”he says. “I wanted to find a way to keepthe farm and care for the land but also tohave an impact on a larger environmen-tal scale. So far I’ve managed to make itwork. It’s all about finding a balance,after all.”

Visit www.thecarbonfarmer.ca to findout more about The Carbon Farmer. Formore information about the Fairmont’s“Green Stay” visit www.fairmont.com/macdonald/HotelPackages/.


ust before my head disappearedunder water, I seemed to stop—freeze-frame style—and ponder

what, exactly, had brought me to mypresent situation: being hurled into afierce class five rapid on Costa Rica’sRio Pacuare. Sheer madness was all thatcame to mind. But with my raft capsizedand all eight of my fellow passengers,plus our guide, being swept down-stream, that split second was all I had toponder my plight. Miraculously, Ireached dry ground thanks to a ropetossed from shore. (Apparently, indige-nous fishermen gathered here for thedaily catch of floundering gringo.)White-knuckled and shaking, all I hadtime to offer my rescuers was a jittery“Graçias!” before I jumped back in myrubber boat to sail after the 40-odd peo-ple I was nominally in charge of keepingalive and smiling. After all, I was on theclock, and my work was rushing down-river fast. It’s all in a day’s work,though, for an adventure guide-in-train-ing in the wilds of Central America.

Plunging into the rapids of the RioPacuare was just one of my job require-ments last summer as a tour leader-in-training with International StudentVolunteers (ISV). I had already volun-teered with ISV in Costa Rica during abreak from my studies at the Universityof Alberta in 2005, so I guess you couldsay I knew what I was getting intowhen I returned for three months in2008 as an employee. Every summer,ISV student volunteers spend two weekson a site-specific project in communitydevelopment, conservation or youtheducation, followed by another twoweeks spent exploring the country’snatural wealth. As a tour leader-in-

training, I was there to help ensure thattours stayed on schedule and that thestudents learned and had fun, and thatmeant that I participated in all activi-ties: kayaking through caiman- and tou-can-inhabited canals, horseback ridingthrough lush farmland, rappellingbeside 60-metre waterfalls, and zip-lining through ancient rainforests. Butmore than just exhausting my adrenalglands, the experience gave me a uniqueperspective on both sides of the bur-geoning field of “eco-tourism” and anintimate knowledge of one of the mostnaturally “green” countries on Earth.

The “Rich” Coast Although dubbed “the rich coast”after Christopher Columbus firstcaught glimpse of it in 1502, CostaRica was later ignored when its thickjungles, high-altitude passes and lack

of precious resources drove its Spanishcolonizers farther north to establishtheir seat of rule in Guatemala City.Ironically, these obstacles, which leftthe country open to centuries of neg-lect, are the very attractions that haveprovided it with a thriving touristindustry today. With about a quarterof its land declared “protected nationalparks or areas,” this 51,000 square-kilometre country—a little smallerthan Nova Scotia—leads the world inprotected area relative to land size. Italso has an incredibly rich biologicalbiodiversity: roughly five percent ofthe world’s known plant and animalspecies call Costa Rica home. Jaguarsand ocelots still prowl among the heli-conias, orchids and ferns, while theforest canopies are home to humming-birds and macaws, tree frogs, monkeysand sloths.


By Myka Jones, ’07 BDes

An unexpected swim often greets rafters taking on the fierce class five rapids of the Rio Pacuare.

J


It may not have been historicallywealthy, but Costa Rica’s natural richesmakes its people very “rich,” indeed.According to the New EconomicsFoundation, the nation ranks first on itsHappy Planet Index, which rates thehappiness of people’s lives relative totheir lifespan and their efficient use ofthe Earth’s resources. Costa Ricans areso happy, in fact, that the nation abol-ished its army in 1948, and, unlikemuch of the rest of the Americas, it hasnot seen civil war since. The country’sreputation as a safe, unspoiled andexotic destination draws over two mil-lion visitors annually, and tourism—particularly “eco-tourism”—is one ofthe country’s fastest growing industries.

Mean Green Eco-Confused MachinesBut not all eco-tourism options are cre-ated equal. If anything became clearduring my summer as a tour leader, itwas the muddy puddle separating whatis advertised and what is exercised.ISV, the tour company I worked for,offered genuinely ecologically responsi-ble travel options. However, several ofthe places I routinely visited in mytravels would give a one-time visitor a“green-washed” impression.

Take, for instance, Costa Rica’sTortuguero National Park. In Spanish,

tortuguero can be translated to mean“full of turtles,” and the park containsone of the most important nestingbeaches for green sea turtles in theworld. Yet a better name might be “fullof tourists,” as the park sees 50,000tourists flank its shores and canalsannually. During our stay in August, itresembled a zoo. Hotels and spas werehastily cropping up along freshwater

canals just outside the park’s bound-aries, and cocktails were being served tothe tune of falling trees. The two-strokemotors of water taxis coughed upexhaust on the waterways, and boldcapuchin monkeys snuck scraps fromthe dining tables. Although tourismfinanced conservation efforts, createdjobs for locals in the nearby village, andhelped restore the numbers of green seaturtles—which had been hunted tonear-extinction in the 1950s—it cutwith a double-edged sword, and myriad

concerns were being neglected at theexpense of the turtles, which providedsuch lucrative opportunities.

What should have been an environ-mental success story has appeared tohave converse effects on the people ofCosta Rica. The influx of money hasbrought with it problems with harddrugs, explained our group’s youngcaptain who sported a gold watch andflashy sneakers. Yet it has allowed others to pursue further education inthe capital, San Jose. Situations likethis illustrate just how difficult it is toassess the overall economic, social andenvironmental impact of tourism on aregion—and reveal the inadvertentshadiness inherent in anything labelled“eco-friendly.”

Pura Vida? Pura vida, or, literally “pure life,” is atremendously popular and versatilephrase in Costa Rica, sort of equivalentto “cool” in English. Representing kin-ship and the will to enjoy life, thiscatchy idiom is a typical response to“how’s it going?” or used when greet-ing or parting. Fluency in Spanish isn’tnecessary for travel here, but pura vida,along with por favor (please) andgraçias (thank you) will take you prettyfar, and any effort is warmly appreciatedby the locals. The first time I travelled

(Left) A two-toed tree sloth. (Right) Tracks made by a sea turtle shuffling ashore to lay her eggs and then lumbering back out to sea.

Maleku dialect is beginning to

vanish, along with the traditional

way of life.

to Costa Rica, I didn’t know anySpanish, but I quickly learned enoughto engage in simple conversations onthe bus, in grocery stores, etc. However,one particular experience offered arather embarrassing lesson in numerals.

Stopping by the bank to stock up oncash, I asked the young gentlemanbehind the counter for what I thoughtwas “$400 in bills.” Raising an eye-brow, he told me it would take a fewminutes. After disappearing into theback for what felt like an eternity, hereemerged carrying two large plasticbags. Each was filled with the equiva-lent of $200—in coins—and weighedclose to seven kilograms! After we bothblushed apologetically, realizing themix-up, we set the full line of customersbehind us into a chuckling frenzy.

Such incidents are becoming muchmore rare in Costa Rica. As the tourismand technology sectors have grown, sohave the prevalence of English and for-eign dollars. The foreign influence hasalso led to the dwindling numbers of anindigenous tribe, the Malekus, who livenear the second-most active volcano inthe world, Volcán Arenal. La Fortuna,the town closest to the volcano, housestrendy hot springs and is a bustling

hive of tourist activity. Most Malekusnow earn their livings through localtourism in the sale of tribal art, such ascolourful painted masks, and culturalpresentations they put on in replicaMaleku villages.

Following ISV’s circuit, I visited onesuch replica village five times duringmy summer as tour leader. Striking up

friendships with locals there was cer-tainly one of the more poignant aspectsof the job, introducing me to a humandynamic a one-time visitor might notdiscover. One particularly gracious gen-tleman, a Maleku guide and interpreter,described his dilemma to me at a soda,or diner, after work. In addition tobasics such as running water and elec-tricity, recent growth had brought for-

eign music, fashion, medicine and foodinto the homes of Malekus and CostaRicans alike. But as the tribe slowlyintegrates into the local population, theMaleku dialect is beginning to vanish,along with the traditional way of life.He said he was sad to see his tribe andits traditions fade, but he saw suchchange as inevitable.

Rising to theChallenge While change is inevitable, there weretwo companies I worked with that tookresponsible and sustainable growth toheart. Selva Bananito, which I visitedfive times, is a stunning world-class eco-lodge located 30 kilometres south of theCaribbean port city of Limón. Its 11cabins and one common dining hall, orrancho, were well off the beaten pathand provided an Old World escape.Built entirely from salvaged wood, therustic yet handsome cabins had solar-heated water, clay water filters and nat-ural waste purification systems. Visitorsto Selva Bananito could choose from avariety of adventure and nature tours,all designed to produce minimal ecolog-ical impact, and the owner, committed


(Left) Volcán Arenal during one of its frequent eruptions. (Right) A guest room at Selva Bananito.

Maleku masks for sale in a replica village.

to reducing the carbon dioxide emissionsassociated with air travel, spearheadeda carbon-neutral strategy for guests,who could purchase carbon offset cred-its through the lodge in exchange forreduced rates. (To research carbon off-setting options for your own travels, tryvisiting Carbon Catalog or EcoBusiness-Links, whose websites are listed at theend of the article.)

Rios Tropicales, our whitewater raft-ing partner, has been internationallyrecognized for its commitment to con-servation. In addition to employing thetop guides on its tours on the Pacuare,it’s actively involved in the local indige-nous community, supporting the build-ing of health clinics, schools andsustainable organic produce and coffeebean operations. Spending a few nightsin Rios Tropicales’ secluded junglelodge after rafting in was a definitehighlight of the trip, and stayovers therealways included some cliff jumping andlow-key rock climbing. The food theyserved had a particularly local flair. Onthe first night, they served us enormousplates of “Jungle Chicken”—essentiallychicken and rice jazzed up with yourchoice of corn, peppers, heart of palm,tomatoes, macadamia nuts, cheese and

more. And in the mornings, heartybreakfasts of pancueques (pancakes),huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs), freshfruit and coffee were enough to rouseeven the soundest sleepers for early-morning bird watching.

Slowing it Down a NibbleAlthough most of our outings involvedpretty high-energy activities—snor -kelling, tree climbing, kayaking andhorseback riding—taking time out tosample the local cuisine allowed us notonly to stock up on much-needed calo-ries but provided us with deeper insightinto the origins of our food. Tours ofpineapple, coffee bean and bananaplantations offered a fascinating jour-ney into the life cycles of some of ourmost beloved snacks and beverages. Iwill never look at a banana the sameway again, knowing the work that goesinto harvesting them. Banana bunches,which sprout up to 200 bananas or soeach, must be hacked down from thetrees by machete and hoisted ontohooks lining a conveyor cable. We sawone man towing 25 bunches at a time—over 900 kilograms—on a “bunch

train” attached to his waist. He wouldthen run them down the cable throughthe Caribbean lowlands, the hottest andmost humid region of the country, tothe processing station where they wereto be cut, sized, sorted and packaged.

I particularly enjoyed traditionalCosta Rican dishes, which are heavilyinfluenced by the influx of the Jamai - cans first brought to the country asslaves in the 1800s. A typical lunch, orcasado, includes rice and beans withsides of meat and salad, plantains andcheese. On the coasts, rice and beans, afavourite dish throughout the Caribbean,is usually served with fresh coconutand spices, and its inland counterpart,gallo pinto, is flavoured by the nation’sprized Lizano Salsa. Appetizers, ortapas, tend to be fried foods such aspatacones (plantains), chicharrones(pork) and empanadas, but fresh fruitsand veggies are always in season, andmangos—which you can pick right offthe trees—are unlike anything you canfind in Canada. While western fast-food chains were prevalent in the largercities, I always stuck to the local diners,where the licuados (fruit milkshakes) inblackberry, avocado and papaya wereparticularly delicioso!


(Left) A volunteer enjoying recess with local schoolchildren, and another touring a pineapple plantation (right).

To be a mentor, you don’t need superhuman qualities, just human ones.

Spending as little as an hour a week with a young person can make a difference. There’s a waiting list of young Albertans who can benefit from your life experience.

Find out how you can help at albertamentors.ca


Live, Learn and VoteAs my contract came to an end, my per-spective of Costa Rica began to change.Out of the once-alien landscape ofcanopied forests and cobalt blue oceans,a familiar theme began to emerge: ani-mals, people, plants—all things—weresimply making the most of life. Sometook advantage, some were taken advan-tage of, and the tourism industry was noexception. But as consumers, we votewith our pocketbooks, so supportingproviders who take into account the envi-ronmental, social and economic impactof their projects can go a long waytoward making a positive difference.

Some people argue that the negativeeffects of eco-tourism outweigh the bene-fits and that everyone should just stayhome, but I disagree. Experiencing thetastes, sights, smells, sounds and texturesof a foreign place is a refreshing reminderthat the world is a truly extraordinaryplace. And certainly if everyone just stayedat home, the economies of places such asCosta Rica would collapse, and the localenvironment would suffer as a result.

So while my summer as an eco-tourguide scarcely qualifies me as an expert, Idid learn that there is a lot one can do toensure a greener vacation or travel experi-ence. Here are a few small tips I picked upalong the way that are useful from Calgaryto Costa Rica, and anywhere in between.

Myka Jones has recently unloaded herbackpack in Calgary, where she helps visitors explore natural and manmadewonders at the Telus World of Science.

Things to consider… When packing:• Travelling light is not only easier on

you, it’s easier on the environment.

• Pack biodegradable toiletries such as those available at MEC,Nutters and Planet OrganicMarket.

• Bring reusable eating utensils(bowls, water bottle, etc.), so youcan avoid disposables.

• Wear long sleeves and pantsinstead of bug repellant.

• Invest in rechargeable batteries forcameras, electric razors, etc.

When choosing accommodations:• Is it locally owned and operated

and does it contribute to the localcommunity?

• What was taken down to put it up?

• Does it have energy-saving features?

When buying souvenirs:• Will the artisans be paid a fair

price for their goods?

• Was anything damaged in orderto create it?

• Was it organically and fair-tradeproduced?

• Do I love it enough to keep and/oruse it forever?

When choosing transportation:• Can I walk, bike or take public

transit?

• How can I offset the carbon diox-ide emissions of my air travel?

Mentioned in thearticle: International Student Volunteers Inc.

www.isvonline.com(Packaged tours for universitystudents)

Rios Tropicaleswww.riostropicales.com(Rafting, kayaking, packagedtours)

Arenal Mundo Aventurawww.arenalmundoaventura.com(Zip-lining, rappelling, horsebackriding, Maleku presentations)

Selva Bananitowww.selvabananito.com(eco-lodges, packaged tours)

Carbon off-setting informationwww.carboncatalog.org www.ecobusinesslinks.com

(Above) RiosTropicaleslodge.(Left)Maintaining a“wheelie” ona calm sectionof the RioPacuare.

Myka cracking a coconut.


Herb AppealA clinical trial this fall at the University of Alberta just may

help lead the way to a new multi-million dollar Alberta cropA clinical trial this fall at the University of Alberta just may

help lead the way to a new multi-million dollar Alberta crop

Herb Appeal

recognized as helping the body adapt tostress while strengthening the immune,nervous and glandular systems; increas-ing resistance to fatigue; and improvingcognitive and memory function. That’sstill a pretty long shopping list but onethat Maruszeczka is willing to back upwith personal experience.

T hink of Siberia. Pause on thatthought. What comes to mind?Perhaps Edmonton in winter?

Now think of a potential crop, an herb,actually, that really doesn’t mind thatclimate, in fact, needs it to properlyestablish itself. Drawing a blank? That’sbecause you’ve probably never heard ofRhodiola rosea. You can be forgiven fornot being aware of this hardy Alberta-grown herb as the first rhodiola harvestin the province only came in last year.

“This plant originates in Siberia andthat’s one of the reasons it works sowell here,” says Dave Maruszeczka, ’76BSc(Eng), one of the original group of20-or-so growers who took the govern-ment of Alberta up on its invitation totry growing something a little differenton their property. After attending somemeetings and signing up for the trial,Maruszeczka picked up the seedlingsfrom Alberta Agriculture—they camefrom Norway—and began his relation-ship with rhodiola. And you really can’tcall it anything but a close, personalrelationship, as Maruszeczka has takento courting his 12,000 plants so as toentice them to reveal their secrets anddisclose their inner lives.

So what is Rhodiola rosea (its sec-ond name comes from the fact that theroot has a slight rose scent to it)?“Rhodiola rosea,” says Maruszeczka,“is a root crop that needs four years inthe ground, maybe five, to acquireenough of the active ingredient calledrosavin to be beneficial. Other biologi-cal substances contained in the rootsare salidroside, rosarin and rosiridin.”

And what benefits do you get fromtaking the rhodiola that’s available inhealth food or vitamin and supplementstores in concentrated capsules? Well, there’s an abundance of goodthings attributed to the herb thatinclude increased physical endurance;longevity; resistance to high altitudesickness; and treatment of fatigue,depression, anemia, impotence, gas-trointestinal ailments, infections andnervous system disorders.

This is not to say that Maruszeczka,the other Alberta Rhodiola Rosea Grow -ers Organization (ARRGO) members,or the government of Alberta endorseall of these purported attributes of rho-diola. Specifically, they’d be happy ifthe plant—from a class of plantsknown as “adaptogens”—was officially

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Dave Maruszeczka at home with his fledglingrhodiola crop that is taking root in the plastictrays behind and in front of him.

“I should have been taking it yearsago,” says Maruszeczka, who onlybegan taking his own product follow-ing an ARRGO meeting. Maruszeczka,a retired engineer, is one of the organi-zation’s nine directors as well as the defacto project lead on a new facilitybeing readied near Thorsby to processthe herb. It was Susan Lutz, ’94 PhD,provincial senior development officerat Agricultural and Rural Development(“she’s known by us growers as ‘themother of rhodiola’”), who suggested tohim at the ARRGO meeting that, if hewas growing it, he should be using it.

“I’ve been taking it for about a yearnow,” he says. “The big thing is energy.In fact, people with fast metabolismsshouldn’t take it before going to bedbecause they’ll be up all night trying tofigure out what to do with themselves.My short-term memory over time hasalso improved dramatically. I used togo into town and meet some of myneighbours that I see fairly regularly,and I couldn’t remember their names.So I started taking this stuff, and I’dsay about a month or two later mymemory started to improve.”

ARRGO members have commis-sioned clinical trials of their own to

support their claims that rhodiola canease stress-induced fatigue (a claimthat’s been made for centuries—theRussians even give it to their Olympiansand cosmonauts—but still has to beclinically proven if it’s to be marketed

as having such benefits). The majorityof the funding for this study came fromAVAC Ltd., a not-for-profit Albertacompany that invests in research initia-tives and early-stage commercial busi-nesses. The provincial government andindustry players—such as members ofARRGO—kicked in other monies. Thefact that ARRGO members put theirown money down on rhodiola’s future

was not lost on Lutz, who really gotbehind the rhodiola rush at that point.

The light first went on for Lutz inAnaheim, California, while she was lis-tening to talks at the Natural ProductsExpo West that annually attracts about50,000 members of the natural healthproducts industry. She had only periph-erally scanned the proposal for the com-mercialization of rhodiola that hadlanded on her desk in 2003. But at theconference in California the word“rhodiola” was on the lips of justabout every presenter having anythingto do with natural health products,leading Lutz to think she should look alittle closer at the proposal sitting onher desk back in Edmonton.

“Everybody knows about echinacea,for example,” says Lutz about rhodiola’spotential. “Industry experts believe thatRhodiola rosea could one day be in thetop 10 of medicinal herbs, if only some-one could learn to cultivate it. As far aswe can see, rhodiola has the potentialto be an $80-million plant in NorthAmerica, and we can’t think of anyreason why Alberta can’t eventuallycapture 25 percent of that market.”

To help capture that market—aswell as lend scientific street cred to the


“Probably 99percent of what’scurrently on the

market comes out ofSiberia as wild-crafted material.”

(Left) Rhodiola taking root in a plastic container before being transplanted to the land (right), where it competes for space with weeds.

Rhodiola ResearchBrian Heidecker, Chairman of the

University of Alberta’s Board ofGovernors, was one of the dignitaries onhand at the signing of the agreementbetween the Institute for Food andAgricultural Sciences, Alberta, and itsfour-member alliance—the University ofAlberta, Agriculture and Agri-FoodCanada, Alberta Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, and the Alberta ResearchCouncil. The Institute has three priorityresearch areas: foods for health; sustain-able agricultural production; and indus-trial bio-refining and bio-products fromagricultural materials.

Of the three research areas mentionedabove, the foods for health program con-sists of an integrated research teamwhose own three primary research initia-tives are Rhodiola rosea as a naturalhealth product; bioactive lipids from canolaand flax to make better heart-healthy oils;and production of antibodies from eggs.

U of A is also home to one of Canada’sagri-food research parks—Agri-FoodDiscovery Place (AFDP)—which focuseson crop utilization and bioactive discoveryas well as meat safety research. Rhodiola

research will also be undertaken at AFDP,a world-class innovative research, trainingand technology transfer facility located onthe University of Alberta farm that focuseson food safety and value-added process-ing of food and industrial products. In col-laboration with the U of A faculties ofscience, engineering and medicine, AFDPhas, in its short existence, produced over153 refereed journal articles, had 13patents either issued or submitted, cre-ated two spin-off companies, and trainedover 190 grad students and post-doctor-ate fellows who are in positions aroundthe globe. As well, the AFDP has receivedover $7 million in research funding, beeninvited presenters at over 140 nationaland international meetings while also gar-nering numerous highly prestigiousnational and international awards.

“The main thrust of the research atDiscovery Place is about transforming theagriculture industry from a commodityfocus to a value-added focus,” say Facultyof Agricultural, Life and EnvironmentalSciences Dean John Kennelly. “The prob-lem with agriculture in Canada is that ifyou’re in the commodity business, it’s kindof a race to the bottom in terms of prices.”

This is because producers are compet-ing with the lowest-cost producers in theworld, he explains.

“Now, what we’re saying is, let’s beinnovative, let’s come up with new prod-ucts that have a real market demand.And if we can produce those productsthat are innovative, high-quality and servea particular need, the return to our crops,to our agricultural sector, is going to bemuch greater.”

herb’s efficacy—there’s a clinical trialplanned for this fall using U of A nurs-ing-student subjects titled: “Rhodiolarosea for mental and physical fatiguein nurses.” For six weeks, half of thesubjects will be given a daily dose ofbetween 425-to-850 mg of the realMcCoy while the other half will begiven a placebo. The primary objectiveof the trial is to assess whether rhodiolaimproves the quality of life for nursesinvolved in shift work.

“The University of Alberta is front-and-centre in rhodiola research,” saysSunita Vohra, professor in the Depart -ment of Pediatrics and director of theComplementary and AlternativeResearch and Education (CARE) pro-gram. “Raimar Loebenberg — a profes-sor in the Faculty of Pharmacy andPharmaceutical Sciences—has been a keyplayer in the rhodiola product develop-ment. And Larissa Shamseer — a U ofA grad student and part of my CAREresearch program—led the review of

Rhodiola rosea and coordinated thedevelopment of the clinical trial.”

“We make capsules out of the extract,”says Loebenberg, who created the U of ADrug Development and Innovation

Centre. This new facility will focus onstage-one development of pharmaceu-ticals, meaning researchers there willdevelop products for prototyping stud-ies, next-stage clinical trials and even-tual regulatory approval. “If somebodyhas an idea, we can get the clinicaltrial materials developed here andtested in the clinics,” says Loebenberg.“We put the puzzle together. In that

way, we developed the rhodiola extrac-tion method and provided the placebos.Without that the rhodiola study wouldnot be possible.”

“The U of A Faculty of Nursing hasalso been a key player,” adds Vohra.“So from my end this rhodiola studyinvolves four U of A faculties: pharmacy,medicine, nursing and the school ofpublic health.” Add in the Faculty ofAgricultural, Life and EnvironmentalSciences (plus engineering, as repre-sented by Maruszeczka), and thatbrings the total to six U of A facultiesall investigating ways to get the mostout of rhodiola.

One thing that’s already known forcertain is that the tolerance of the herbfor Alberta growing conditions is amatch made in heaven. The surface-germinating seeds are as small as dust,so there’s no way they can be put onthe ground and left to germinate with-out most of them just disappearing. Sothe seeds are germinated in soil-filled


(Left) Inside the rhodiola root. (Right) Dried and cubed rhodiola.

“The University ofAlberta is front-and-

centre in rhodiolaresearch.”

trays that have been covered with plas-tic. During late winter the trays areplaced outside in the cold because theyneed a month or so of frost. “Basicallyyou seed the tray and put it outside inthe snow,” says Maruszeczka. “Thething’s gotta see the cold. The seed’shard shell needs the cold to crack it.”

Once you plant the seedlings in theground you water them in once and walkaway. Maruszeczka planted his firstcrop just prior to the drought of 2003that parched his acreage near the townof Ryley, AB. “I thought I was going tolose them all,” he says, “because ourphilosophy was not to baby them but tosee if they’d stand up like a field crop.What happened is that they survivedquite well. And based on the results ofthose first trials, we basically deter-mined that this was the shining star.”

There are now over 100 rhodiolagrowers in the province. “We’ve got acouple of growers who have 60,000plants on about 4.5 hectares,” saysMaruszeczka, whose own plot is hometo a lot of dandelions. “But they also runa market garden business and so havethe people on hand to look afterthe plants. I’d hire people out

here, but where am I going to get them?You won’t find a high school studentwho will even look twice at you.”

For Maruszeczka, who grew up on afarm about 30 kilometres east of hiscurrent location, growing a lot is muchless important than finding out how togrow it best. “I’m not in it for themoney,” he says. “I’m looking forinformation that I can pass on toeveryone else.” Maruszeczka wants tobe the man behind the curtain whohelps to bring about Lutz’svision of eventually grow-ing a new all-Albertacrop on a commercialscale that can go rightfrom the field to themedicine cabinet withminimal fuss, botheror maintenance inbetween.

What the price will be when commer-cial-scale Alberta rhodiola hits the worldmarket nobody knows. Checking at avitamin and supplements store revealeda price for 60 capsules (two differentbrands) of $27.50 for the 500 mg onesand $16.99 for the 250 mg. But there is amarket out there for the herb. Germanyrecently expressed an interest in buyingfive tonnes of Alberta’s crop when thatmuch is available.

“In the longer term we’re going aftera natural health product,” says Marus -

zeczka, as rain clouds gatherbehind him that may providesome much-needed moistureto the dry earth on this lateJune day. If so, it will be onlythe second shower he’s seenall summer. “We’re notthere yet. But we’re close.Mark my words, based onall the things we’ve learned,

rhodiola is going to be a wordin people’s minds in years

to come.” —Kim Green


ARRGO: The AlbertaRhodiola Rosea GrowersOrganization (www.arrgo.ca)began life late in 2007 as analliance between the originalgroup of rhodiola growersand the Alberta NaturalHealth Agricultural Network. ARRGO is a next generation co-operative wheremembers buy their plants — you can buyas few as 1,000—from the co-op andpurchase a contract to sell back thegrown plant for processing. It also acts asa grower’s resource centre providing adviceand assistance as required. “ARRGO providesexcellent information to get started as well asongoing support to help with all aspects of the growing process,” says grower Nicole Svitich, ’92 BSc,’95 BEd, who, along with her husband, Lyle Svitich,’91 BSc, ’93 BEd, have started growing 1,000 plantson a little over half an acre. Currently, herbal companiescan sign up to buy the 2009 Rhodiola crop. In the future,ARRGO hopes to become a one-stop rhodiola nexus forgrowers, wholesale buyers and retail consumers.

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Time for anBy Sarah Ligon If you’ve been to the pump recently,

there’s a chance you’re drivingaround with a piece of northern

Alberta in your tank. For the past 40years, since Suncor opened its firstprocessing plant outside of FortMcMurray in 1967, some 470 squarekilometres that were once Alberta’sboreal forests have been cleared off,scooped up, separated and refinedinto the light sweet crude our societyruns on. Interestingly, the hot waterprocess for separating the valuablebitumen from the “worthless” oil sand was pioneered at the Universityof Alberta in 1926 by Karl A. Clark, a campus-based researcher for theAlberta Research Council and later aprofessor of mining and metallurgy.

Since then, the process itself hasbeen refined and upgraded so thatdaily output now exceeds a million barrels of oil per day (bbl/d) and isexpected to reach 3.5 million bbl/d inthe next decade. When you considerthat for every barrel of oil sands oil thatreaches the pump, over two tonnes ofearth have been dug up and processed,then more of the earth’s surface is

being altered in northern Alberta thanat any other place or time in history.

Given the scale of the enterprise,the industry’s environmental foot-print is impossible to ignore; how-ever, for years environmentalists hadbeen sounding the alarm and celebri-ties staging fly-over campaigns with-out ruffling too many feathers. Thencame the ducks. In April of 2008,more than 1,600 migrating ducksdied after landing on an oil sands tailing pond, and this remote cornerof northern Alberta finally had theworld’s full attention—and its scrutiny.In the months that followed, severalprominent international media out-lets published scathing critiques,including a 20-page cover story in the March 2009 issue of NationalGeographic, and the death of theducks became a rallying point foractivists who said “dirty” oil was taking too great a toll on the environ-ment. Mike Hudema, ’00 BEd, ’05LLB, an Edmonton-based spokesmanfor Greenpeace Canada, made head-lines last year when he and otheractivists entered the Syncrude tailings


Oil Change?pond where the ducks had died anderected a banner over a tailings pipethat bore the image of a skull and theslogan, “World’s Dirtiest Oil: Stop theTar Sands.”

As much as activists like Hudemawould like to see the oil sands shutdown entirely, with billions of dollarsworth of oil yet to be extracted that isunlikely to happen. The oil sandswealth that underlies some 150,000square kilometres of Alberta’s borealforests—an area roughly the size of thestate of Florida—is estimated to con-tain up to 1.7 trillion barrels of syn-thetic crude. Even if only a fraction ofthat can be recovered, say 10 percent,that still makes it the second largest oilreserve in the world, after Saudi Arabia.With the complicated geopolitical situ-ations affecting the world’s other oilexporting countries, big consumers ofoil, like the U.S., will likely import moreof northern Alberta’s oil in the future,not less. At present, Canada is alreadythe United States’ number one sourceof imported oil and supplies it withmore oil than all the Persian Gulfnations combined.

Still, no matter how you look at it,with today’s methods for producingunconventional oil, more land gets dis-turbed, more water polluted, andmore energy consumed than with con-ventional oil production. Currently, oilsands mining operations are licensed todivert up to 445 million cubic metres offresh water from the Athabasca Rivereach year, or enough to meet theannual water needs for a city of threemillion people. Similarly, it is estimatedthat by 2012, oil sands operations willconsume two million cubic feet of nat-ural gas every day, enough to heatevery home in Canada. And whatevernumber you put on the industry’s con-troversial CO2 emissions, it is still thefastest growing source of greenhousegases emissions in Canada and one ofthe reasons the country abandoned its2020 Kyoto Protocol goals.

Despite a brief slowdown correspon-ding with the recent dip in oil pricesand the recession, all signs now pointto a huge upswing in production in theyears to come. Several oil companies areopening new mines: in February, the oilcompany CNRL went on-line with its

new Horizon mine, which produces100,000 bbl/d; and in May, Imperial Oilannounced plans to go ahead with itsproposed Kearl mine, which will beginproducing another 100,000 bbl/d by2010. And almost every other com-pany with projects in northern Albertahas projected increases in production.

So as oil sands extraction ramps up,the question is not if the environmentwill be harmed but by how much.Researchers at the U of A are workinghard to find ways to lessen the environ-mental impact, with projects that lookat everything from radically shrinkingthe industry’s water needs to projectsthat attempt to reclaim the tailingsponds—which critics argue are threat-ening the health not only of migratoryducks but of the humans who livedownstream. What follows are profilesof a few—and only a few—of theseacademics and the groundbreakingresearch they are doing at the U of A. It may be comforting to know thatalthough Albertans helped create theproblems that resulted from oil sandsextraction, the solutions may comefrom Albertans as well.



As Selma Guigard sees it, the answerto many of the Alberta oil sands’environmental problems lies at the

bottom of a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee.Her solution, “supercritical fluid extrac-tion,” may sound like just a $10 buzz-word, but it is the same technologycoffee companies have used for decadesto decaffeinate a cup of joe. And, if theassociate professor of environmentalengineering is right, her application ofthis waterless technology to the oilsands’ water-intensive bitumen extrac-tion process might just be the billion-dollar idea that makes the industry’slamentable water use—and its toxictailings ponds—a thing of the past.

Here’s the problem: in order toextract a single barrel of bitumen fromthe murky goop that is the Alberta oilsands, oil companies need 12 barrels ofwater, of which two to four barrels

must be fresh water drawn from theAthabasca River. When you scale thatup, taking into account that conserva-tive estimates put oil sands productionat one million barrels per day, then youare looking at draining as much as 445million cubic metres of freshwater fromthe river’s tap every year.

In addition, after the bitumen isextracted, the companies are left withenormous tailings ponds—a toxic mix-ture of water, sand, clay and residualamounts of bitumen—which nowcover 130 square kilometres of northern Alberta that were once borealforests. By 2040, they are projected togrow to over 310 square kilometres, anarea three times the size of Vancouver.

Guigard thinks she’s hit upon thesolution. Instead of using water toextract the bitumen, she uses a carbon-dioxide-based “waterless” solvent that

has been heated up and pressurized tothe supercritical level. If you rememberthose phase diagrams from your schooldays, you’ll recall that substances comein three different forms: liquid, solid andgas. The state of the substance changesdepending on the pressure and tempera-ture it’s subjected to. However, there’sactually a fourth phase, where a sub-stance is neither a liquid nor a gas butsomething in-between—a supercriticalfluid. For carbon dioxide, that phaseoccurs when it’s heated to 31°C andsubjected to about 73 times atmos-

Selma Guigard, AssociateProfessor of Environmental Engineering

Maxwell House has been using supercritical fluidextraction for decades to make decaffeinatedcoffee in devices such as the one shown beinginstalled here.

pheric (or ambient) pressure. At thisphase, carbon dioxide is fluid likewater, but behaves like a gas. “Whencarbon dioxide is at the supercriticalstage, it can penetrate into solid matri-ces—it can really get into the nooksand crannies,” explains Guigard. “So ifyou have a chunk of sand, and the sandparticles are packed quite closely, thenthe supercritical fluid can move throughthat quite easily.”

As the supercritical CO2 movesthrough the oil sand ore, it separatesthe bitumen from the sand and dis-solves the bitumen. After the clean sandis carted away, the pressure and temper-ature are brought down to normal, andthe supercritical carbon dioxide returnsto its gaseous form and is siphoned off,leaving pure bitumen—the stuff laterupgraded into gasoline. Except fortrace amounts of CO2 that are lost inthe process, this is a “closed loop”process, meaning the solvent is avail-able to be used again and again.

“It’s the same way Maxwell Housedecaffeinates its coffee,” explains Guigardin layman’s terms. “You have these bigreactors that are several storeys high,and they put the coffee beans in there,and they ramp up the pressure and tem-perature, and they flow carbon dioxidethrough and the caffeine moves out ofthe coffee bean and into the supercriticalcarbon dioxide. Then they take thatsupercritical carbon dioxide out of thereactor and lower the pressure and tem-perature until the caffeine can no longerdissolve in the fluid, so they get purecaffeine and decaffeinated coffee beans.It’s a similar process with oil sands ore.”

So far, she’s been using carbon diox-ide as the solvent, “but it might noteven be the best one,” she chimes in.“It is just probably the cheapest, andwe know it works.”

Although Guigard’s research appliesonly to surface mining, which makesup about 20 percent of all oil sandsproduction, because of the scale of theoperations, the benefits of this water-less process—both environmentallyand economically—are still potentiallyhuge. Surface mining operations wouldno longer need to tap into the limitedresources of the Athabasca River. Nor

would they create the toxic tailingsponds that critics argue are leaking 11-million litres of toxic water into thesurrounding environment every day.

In addition, this process could makeuse of more of the 30-year legacy of tail-ings ponds as a delivery mechanism forthe mined oil sands. At present, the oilsands ore is delivered from the mine tothe reactors for extraction on enormousman-made rivers of recycled water.

However, for the current hot-waterextraction process to work, the waterneeds to be of pretty high quality, and,increasingly, industry is faced with thenot-so-happy choice between improvingthat water quality by diluting it withfreshwater from the Athabasca orexpensively treating it. With Guigard’sprocess that delivery water can be of amuch lower quality—it could evencome straight from the tailings ponds.“The quality of the water they use rightnow is crucial for extraction,” sheexplains. “They need pretty decent qual-ity water. We anticipate that for ourprocess it doesn’t matter what the qual-ity of water is—we could potentiallyuse tailings water.”

Similarly, some of Guigard’s prelimi-nary modelling has shown that herprocess could require less energy con-sumption. “Less energy means less of acarbon footprint and less greenhousegas emissions,” she says. That’s a bene-fit not only to society but to industry aswell. “That’s one of the reasons I’mworking so hard—I just see this as awin-win situation.” And if that doesn’tgive a jolt to your system, then perhapssomeone replaced your regular coffeewith Folger’s Decaffeinated Crystals.

In fact, looking at Guigard across hercrowded desk makes you wonder if per-haps someone did switch her regularcoffee with decaf. The youthful aca-demic looks as if she’s a bit tired of hav-ing to make her case again and again.Just this past spring, she’s appeared onthe Business News Network and in spe-cial features in The Globe and Mail andthe Edmonton Journal making the argu-ment for funding for supercritical fluidextraction—specifically for the $1 mil-lion in funds she needs to take herresearch to the next level. So far, she hastested her theories at the bench—orlab—scale, and the results are impres-sive. Experimenting with contaminatedsands, her process yielded extractionefficiencies just under the 90 percentthat is the industry standard right now,and she’s working on the recipe for aCO2-based solvent that will match orbeat that. But she needs funding to cre-ate reactors large enough to test theprocess on a larger scale before theresearch can be applied in the field, and


The Suncor upgrader plant.

“We have to bring new technology on

slowly so that [industry] can adapt.”

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she needs it before other researchersworking on waterless extraction tech-nologies beat her to the punch. And sofar, no one’s throwing change in hercoffee cup.

“We’ve tried to get funding from thefederal government,” she says. “Butthey say this is ‘an industrial problemof commercial value,’ and industryshould fund it. And then industry says,‘Oh, it’s still basic research, and sogovernment or somebody else shouldfund it.’ So we’re in between a rockand a hard place.”

Industry funding for research effec-tively dried up last year when oil pricestook a nosedive to just $33 (USD) perbarrel. “With the price of oil as low asit was, companies couldn’t even thinkabout new technologies,” says Guigard.“There was no money for investmentand research. When the price is toohigh, there’s no time for investmentand research. You just put your headdown and go, go, go. So you’ve gotmaybe a day or two when the price isjust right, and that has been a challenge.But one thing about low oil prices is thatit slowed things down enough for peo-ple to start thinking about the future. I think right now, where we are ataround $70 per barrel is not a badplace to be.”

Now that industry is again open tolistening, they might be surprised bywhat Guigard has to say. Preliminarymodelling conducted by her collabora-tor Warren Stiver at the University ofGuelph has shown that her processcosts about $20 a barrel for miningand extraction, which puts it on parwith the cost of the current hot-waterextraction technology. “When we’retalking to industrial partners, theysaid, if we’re on the order of $20 perbarrel, we’re doing well and theywould consider it.”

Of course, that figure doesn’t takeinto account the cost of completelyrevamping the infrastructure the indus-try has been investing in for the past 30years, and no matter what the price ofa barrel of oil, they are unlikely to beexcited about that. “That’s a big chal-lenge,” admits Guigard, “but what I’m

trying to convince them of is that it’snot necessarily something that wouldhave to occur overnight. With any newtechnology you can’t bring it on thatquickly, it has to be able to fit in withthe existing infrastructure. And withthe current mining process and thehydro-transportation, we could fitnicely into that. It wouldn’t changethat substantially. We have to bringnew technology on slowly so that theycan adapt.”

And how long would it take beforewe might see wholesale change in theAlberta oil sands? For the oil and gasindustry, explains Guigard, 10 to 15years is the shortest time scale for intro-ducing new technologies—especiallyin the oil sands because of their enor-mous scale—and that’s what she’sshooting for at the moment. Rightnow, she’s in talks with interested part-ners for a three- to five-year pilot proj-ect that could be conducted at theUniversity. If all goes well, the resultsfrom that “micro” pilot would enablethem to begin a “macro” pilot, lastinganother three to five years, in FortMcMurray. “And then, hopefully, if allgoes well, we could try it out withsomeone with a substantial lease andcould do a demonstration pilot.”

“If we stay with the status quo,”says Guigard, “the extraction tech-nology and the methods they’re usingnow, we know what’s going to hap-pen, the tailings ponds are going togrow. They’re going to use morewater, and we won’t be able to stopit. So do we stay with the status quoor do we change things? There isroom for change. We need to change.And it can be a win-win situation foreverybody.”

Whether or not oil companies wantto start thinking about change, changeis on the horizon. “It’s coming,” saysGuigard, her enthusiasm rising. “There’smore and more pressure. People are justseeing these tailing ponds grow andgrow, and the reality is, the oil sandsoperations are expanding, and there’sgoing to be less and less water avail-able to them, so they have to figure outa way to use less water.”


While Selma Guigard is looking at howto prevent the creation of future tail-ings ponds, her collaborator in the

Department of Biological Sciences, JuliaFoght, ’76 BSc, ’85 PhD, is looking at whatto do about the 30-year legacy of tailingsponds we already have on our hands.Foght’s research focuses on the solid tail-ings—the particles of sand, silt, clay andhydrocarbon floating around in the tail-ings water after it’s been run through thebitumen extraction process—and how tomake them settle faster. The faster theysettle, the more water is available to skimoff the top for recycling back into theextraction process and, thus, the less freshwater is needed from the Athabasca Riverto keep up with production demands. Thehope is that by speeding up this process,the existing ponds—so big that they canbe seen from space on Google Earth—neednot double in size again, as they have donein the past four years.

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Julia Foght,

Ironically, the key to this massivesettling process are bacteria so smallthey cannot be seen by the naked eye.In fact, for years no one knew thatthese naturally occurring microbeswere already present in the tailingsponds—and hard at work.

Foght was first tipped off to theirpresence in 1985, when the oil sandscompany Syncrude asked for a microbialsurvey of the tailings ponds. Althoughthe Syncrude tailings ponds had beenaround for almost a decade, no onereally knew what was growing in them.At first, she was skeptical, “I thoughtthere wouldn’t be much there, becausewhat kind of microbes could possiblylive in that gunk? There’s no oxygenand the bitumen is extremely hard todegrade.” But, sure enough, the pondswere chock full of microbes—billionsper litre—though at the time no oneknew what, if anything, they did.

Then, in the mid-90s, bubblesstarted erupting on the surface ofSyncrude’s largest tailings pond, andthese bubbles were full of methane.“The only reasonable way to explain itwas that there were bacteria out thereproducing methane, just like they do atthe sewage treatment plant or at a land-fill, or when you have bubbles comingout of the gooey bottom of a prairiepond,” she recalls.

This piqued Foght’s interest, and,along with a number of her U of A col-leagues, she began investigating theprocess at work. What they found wasthat at a certain stage in the life of atailings pond, hydrocarbons left overfrom the bitumen extraction processwere stimulating a family of microbescalled methanogens to produce the gasbubbles. And based on Syncrude’s owninternal monitoring, one remarkableside effect was that the tailings in the

methane-producing ponds were begin-ning to settle much more quickly thanbefore. Foght has termed this process“biodensification” and has madeunderstanding the science behind it thefocus of her current research.

To grasp the significance of Foght’sresearch, one must first understand thescale of these ponds and how they work.After the bitumen is extracted from theoil sand, what’s left is something called“tailings slurry,” a murky, grey mixtureof water, sand, clay, hydrocarbons andtrace amounts of bitumen. Foght, hold-ing up a small bottle of the slurry, likensits consistency to “runny toothpaste,”and it looks a lot like the water in anactual pond after you’ve stirred up thesediment. The water portion of theslurry can eventually be recycled backinto the extraction process. (About 85percent of the water used in the extrac-tion process is recycled tailings water.)But the trick is separating it from thesolid tailings—the sand and clay.

At present, the only tool the oil companies have is time. They pump theslurry into 35-metre-deep tailingsponds and wait for the solids to settleto the bottom. And they wait and waitand wait. This can take years—evendecades—and while they wait, thesetailings ponds grow and grow and grow.In fact, “pond” is really a misnomer.The Mildred Lake Settling Basin, begunby Syncrude in 1978, is now among the


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Professor of Biological Sciences

Graduate student Carmen Li, ’07 BSc, examines columns of oils sands tailings undergoing biodensification.

largest man-made structures on Earth.Its retaining walls, which are 21 kilo-metres in circumference and hold 220-million cubic metres of tailings, arebigger than the Hoover Dam, biggereven than the Great Wall of China.

If Foght and her team can figure outhow to get those tailings to settle faster,then more water is available to quicklyrecycle back into the extraction processand less fresh water needs to be drawnfrom the Athabasca. If you can cut downwater demand by even a few percent,you can save millions of litres of freshwater per year. The savings—to theAthabasca, to the lands that it feeds, evento the oil companies—could be huge.

In her labs on the U of A campus and at the University-owned Oils SandsTailings Research Facility in Devon,Alberta, Foght and her students andcolleagues are not just studying thebasic science of biodensification, aboutwhich little is known, but they are alsofeeling about for ways to speed it up.What’s amazing about biodensificationis it’s still such a mystery. “Here we are10 years after we first saw the methanebubbles, and we still don’t know what’shappening,” she laments. “But we doknow there’s a correlation between themethane production of these microbesand the settling out of the water andthe more compacted solids.”

What Foght thinks is happening isthat hydrocarbons present in the tailingsslurry—the trace amounts of solventthat escape recovery after the extractionprocess—trigger the methanogens toproduce the methane, and that, in turn,causes the solids to settle. To identify themechanism at work, Foght and her col-leagues are using DNA-sequencing tofind out which of the 100 species ofmethanogens present in the murky goopare key to the activity. It’s a tediousprocess, much like what you see in anepisode of CSI; however, it takes a lotlonger than the 44 minutes of the tele-vision show.

Meanwhile, the U of A researchersare looking for ways to manipulatethese microbes that will cause them towork even faster. So far, in controlledlab experiments, they have foundorganic carbon amendments that stim-ulate the methanogens and increase

the settling-out by as much as 10 timesthe normal rate.

In her campus lab, Foght points outa pair of two-litre glass cylinders thatillustrate her findings. Both contain themature fine tailings found in the tail-ings ponds, and in both you can see themethane bubbles working their way upthe runny, toothpaste-like goop. In thecontrol cylinder, a 10 ml sliver of water,no bigger than your thumbnail, hasseparated out on top. In the other,where she has added a carbon amend-ment, a 100 ml pool of water—aboutas deep as your hand is wide—floatson top. “And this is the difference afterjust three to four weeks,” she says,obviously proud. “And it’s not just thevolume of water, it’s the speed at whichit happens. The unamended tailingswill eventually give you this 100 ml ofwater, but it’s going to take months,years, who knows how long, whereasthis one gives you water that’s availableto reuse right away.”

Applying this discovery in the fieldis still a long way off. Right now, Foghtand her colleagues have their sights on apilot program three years down the road,and they want to be sure of the basicscience at work before attempting toreproduce the experiments in the field.From there, applying Foght’s work tothe massive scale of the tailings ponds isa challenge she’ll gladly leave to the engi-neers. But she can already imagine howit might work: a flow-through system,much like at a sewage treatment plant,where the existing tailings are pumpedout of the ponds, given carbon amend-ments to stimulate the methanogens,resulting in water that is recycled back

into the extraction process and a thickertailings slurry that is deposited into afinal reservoir for eventual reclamation.The whole process might take weeks ormonths, instead of years or decades.

One key intermediate step to thisprocess will have to be trapping themethane produced by the biodensifica-tion. After all, methane is a greenhousegas—and a highly explosive one at that.But it’s also one of the cleanest-burningfuels we have. “So is there some way wecan encourage the methane to be pro-duced, but we trap it and use it on siteas a clean burning fuel?,” she asks.That’s another question she’ll leave tothe engineers. Still, it’s hard not to getexcited about research that not onlyaddresses the oil sands’ problems ofwater-use and the legacy of tailingsponds, but may even replace some ofthe carbon-intensive extraction methodswith a cleaner-burning fuel.

“To be clear,” warns Foght, lest wedon our rose-coloured glasses, “whatwe’re doing is only a stop-gap measure.We’re not going to make the tailingsponds disappear overnight. It’s just away, in the interim, of reducing theimpact until something better can befound.”

But even that may be cause for cheerto a public increasingly troubled by thebad news being reported from northernAlberta. “People are out there wringingtheir hands about the tailings ponds,not sure what to do other than say‘shut them down.’ But we are applyingsound science to a really big problem,and there actually is the potential to dosomething about it in the short term.”


The Syncrude oil sands uprader and tailings pond.

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Looking at a photo of an open pitmine in the Alberta oil sands, you’d be forgiven if you just threw up your

hands at the possibility of ever return-ing the land to something approachingits original state. Everything that oncelived or grew there has been strippedaway to a depth of up to 50 metres andcarted off in trucks almost four storeyshigh. What remains is a barren waste-land of sand and stone that looks morelike the fictional shadowland of Mordor,from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series,than anything you might encounter inthe real world. But Anne Naeth, ’76 BSc,’85 MSc, ’88 PhD, a professor in theDepartment of Renewable Resources,insists that such a landscape can be asgreen and teeming with life as theEdmonton River Valley, which can be

seen from the window of her 8th-flooroffice, stretching out for miles beneatha sunny Alberta sky.

What manner of pixie dust would youneed to pull that off, you might wonder?

In fact, the key to restoring morethan 47,000 hectares of land—mostlyboreal forest —affected by oil sandsmining lies in some very real dust thatNaeth and her graduate student, DeanMackenzie, ’03 BSc, ’06 MSc, havebeen studying for the past six years.LFH materials, as these earthy particlesare known, are a combination of plantpropagules—the seeds, roots, tubersand clippings from which new plansgrow—and a hefty dose of nutrient-rich compost. They are literally the“litter” of the forest, and the underly-ing layers of partially and well-decom-

posed organic matter (the “fibric” and“humic” layers).

Although it was long known thatthese LFH materials were useful forimproving soil quality in land that hadbeen strip-mined or contaminated,Naeth’s big idea was that applying theright recipe of LFH materials couldregenerate the diverse plant communitythat was there before the land was dis-turbed. “And it just worked beauti-fully,” she says. “This was one of thosereally successful projects where it hasworked even better than we thought it


Anne Naeth, Professor ofEcology and Land Reclamation

Land reclaimed with LFH materals after threeyears’ growth.

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would, because we didn’t realize thenumber of plants that would grow fromit.” Blueberries, raspberries, lilies andwild geraniums are just a few of themore than 100 species that grow in pro-fusion on the test sites that Naeth andMackenzie have planted—over 10 timesas many plant species as grow on sitesreclaimed with traditional practices.

One of the biggest problems inreclaiming land affected by oil sandsextraction is the near-impossibility ofacquiring seed for many of the speciesnative to the boreal forests. Only aboutfive percent are available commercially,and the rest are either expensive or onlyavailable in small amounts. However,by using LFH materials, oil sands com-panies stand to save a bundle—and theenvironment will reap the rewards.According to Naeth and Mackenzie’smodelling, it would cost between$150,000 and $250,00 per hectare toachieve the same plant densities usingtraditional out-planting methods thatthey can achieve using only the wealththat was lying on the forest floor.

Even with the aid of LFH materials,you might think it would take a longtime to regenerate a forest from landthat has been stripped bare, but in fact,says Naeth, the change is relativelyrapid. Apply a little LFH on the top of abed of new soil, and in two to threeyears you will have an early successionalcommunity—a dense covering of one-metre plants such as marsh reed grass,June grass, strawberries and asters. Infive to six years, you’ll have a two- tothree-metre understory, with a lot oftrembling aspen and jackpine peakingout from beneath the undergrowth.Naeth hasn’t been working with LFHmaterials long enough to know whattype of mature forests it might produce,“but the plants that I’m working with—the grasses, the forbs, the flowers, themosses—those plants grow very quickly,and so you get a community that growsvery quickly.” (Incidentally, Naeth’s col-league in the Department of RenewableResources, Simon Landhäusser, has justreceived a prestigious NSERC Chair toresearch ways to restore native trees—and merchantable timber—to reclaimedoil sands sites. See page 7.)

What’s surprising in talking withNaeth, a gregarious and voluble womanwith a dark pixie cut and an impishgrin, is that for years the precious LFHmaterials were just swept up and thrownin the rubbish bin with the rest of theoverburden. “Prior to our research,companies could do what they wanted

with LFH,” she says. “They could putit back in the pit, they could dump itelsewhere. It wasn’t viewed as being avaluable material. We have shown thatit is valuable, and now the governmenthas said that they can’t just throw thisstuff away any more, they have to useit.” Here, she’s referring to a 2007Alberta law—enacted in response to herand Mackenzie’s research recommenda-tions—that requires oil sands companiesto use the LFH materials they removefrom new mining sites.

How best to use this valuable andlimited resource is a question that haskept Naeth busy ever since. Generally,LFH is found only in the top 10-15 cmof soil. Dig much deeper, she learned,and it becomes diluted with too muchsoil. Skim off the top, and you aren’tleft with much to work with, “Basically,there’s not a lot of it, and we could usea lot more than what’s there.” She has anumber of current research projectslooking at how to get the biggest bangfor your LFH buck. Will just a dustingsuffice, or do you need a smooth layer?Are you better off taking the LFH andspreading it over an entire site, or canyou use little clumps of it to create micro-

sites, which will then fan out to cover alarger area? And how long can youstore LFH before it loses its viability?

The question of storage was of vitalimportance to oil sands companies. “The reality of the situation is that the oilsands companies are removing the LFHso they can mine the area, but then whatdo you do with it, where do you put it?,”she asks. “Ideally, you would take it toan area close by, where you could spreadit around, but there may not be areasthat are ready to be reclaimed. In fact,maybe it’s going to be three or four yearsbefore there’s land that’s ready to bereclaimed. So can the companies stock-pile this material and then reuse it whenthey have a site that’s ready? We foundout that you can’t.”

According to Naeth’s and Mackenzie’sresearch, stockpiles of LFH materialslose much of their viability after onlythree to six months. “It’s still good asan organic soil amendment, but it doesn’t have the ability to generate aplant community,” she says. “Only theodd plant, like a wild geranium, willsurvive because you’ve created veryinhospitable conditions for the seed,where the gases build up and there’s noair, so the seed just dies.”

So what do you do with this earthengold if you have nowhere to put it andyou can’t stockpile it for later use? Oneof the ideas put forward is a sort of LFH-trading scheme, where if Company A hasLFH materials and no place to seed it,and Company B has land ready to bereclaimed but no LFH materials, thenCompany B should be allowed to useCompany A’s LFH. “What hasn’t beenfigured out yet, from a legal or regula-tory perspective, is would it be appro-priate for Alberta Environment to saythey have to share?,” says Naeth. “Butwhat we do know is that you can’t notuse this material, and you can’t stockpileit because it will lose its seed viability.”

The final results to these and manyof Naeth and Mackenzie’s studies ofLFH materials will be ready in a yearor two, and Alberta Environment hasalready stated that industry must fol-low their recommendations when clear-ing new sites and reclaiming old ones.“All of the research that we’ve been


“All of the research that we’ve been doing

shows this works, and it’s time for the

oil sands companies totake this research andapply it because we

know it works.”

doing shows this works, and it’s timefor the oil sands companies to take thisresearch and apply it because we knowit works,” says Naeth. “I know it maysound too easy, like I’ve neglected totalk about the difficulties, but thebiggest obstacle is money, really, andthe will and the commitment of compa-nies to say they will implement whatthe research has shown they can do.”

But, in many cases, it’s the oil compa-nies that are knocking on her door. “Theindustrial support is very strong. WhenI was first starting out, I would apply tocompanies for funding, but I haven’t beendoing that for many, many years. Nowthey come to me. They say, ‘We’ve gotthis problem, can you set up a researchproject to solve it?’” Almost every oilcompany operating in northern Albertacontributed funding for her LFH projects:Syncrude, Suncor, Total, CNRL, PetroCanada, Albian Sands, Imperial Oil. Atpresent, she has industry-sponsored LFHfield projects operating on the site of anabandoned coal mine in Cape Breton,Nova Scotia; on a limestone quarry out-side of Eckshaw, Alberta; and in theJasper, Waterton Lakes and Elk Island

parks, where tourist overuse, historicalcontamination and industrial over-development have severely degraded the landscape.

In addition to her LFH research,Naeth has been studying how toreclaim tailings ponds and the dykesthat surround them. To date, no one hasbeen able to reclaim any of the tailingsponds in northern Alberta, but Naethand her colleagues at the University ofAlberta have found several native plantspecies that will not only survive butwill thrive on top of the tailings slurry.She also hopes to develop a plantingmethod that, in cooperation with otherengineering applications, will go someway toward shrinking the monumentalamount of water currently stored in theponds, “We’re looking at plants thatuse a lot of water. So if we grow themin the tailings, might they actually helpwith the dewatering process?” In green-house experiments, plants such as sun-flowers, mustards and raspberries havebeen shown to form micro-sites, dry littleislands of vegetation, on top of tailings-like water. She is just now beginning afield project with Suncor and hopes to

see results in three to four years.In the meantime, the mere fact that

areas stripped by mining and floodedwith toxic tailings can be reclaimedshould give us all cause for hope,although it flies in the face of publicperception of the oil sands. “A lot ofpeople think you cannot get plants togrow in the material that’s left after oilsands mining takes place,” says Naeth,“but plants do grow there. Reclamationis achievable, and it doesn’t have to take50 years to do it.” To prove this, Naethpulls out a picture. It was taken byMackenzie at the site of a formerSyncrude mine, about 61 kilometresnorth of Fort McMurry, just three yearsafter they planted it with LFH materials.“Somebody can go and walk their dogout there and not know they’re on areclaimed area,” she says. “They’ll findblueberries and rose bushes, grasses andtrees. And a nutrient analysis of thoseblueberries would show them to be bet-ter than what you could find in a gro-cery store. The public should take somecomfort knowing that pretty soon wewill start seeing areas that have beenreclaimed—and reclaimed well.”


(Left) The Suncor Millenium Mine north of FortMcMurray, Alberta. (Below) PhD student Dean Mackenzie applyingLFH materials on a research site north of FortMcMurray.

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TRASH TALKINGA U of A grad’s guide to good garbage

by Kim Green

TRASH TALKINGA U of A grad’s guide to good garbage

by Kim Green

AAsk Larry George, ’64 BPE, if he likes what he’s doing and you’ll

see this glow come over himas he seems to swell up from inside asan even bigger smile is superimposedover his already beaming countenance.“I love what I’m doing,” he says.“Never in my wildest dreams did Ithink I’d get this. I used to be just ajock,” says the former physical educa-tion teacher. “I coached junior andsenior high school wrestling, basket-ball, soccer, you name it. But now I’mexcited about what the EdmontonWaste Management Centre [EWMC] isdoing as a team.”

About 13 years ago George was seconded from his teaching job—he alsotaught outdoor and environmental edu-cation, science and mathematics— totake on the role of leading educationaltours around the City of Edmonton’swaste management centre at the easternedge of the city. The goal was to tie inthe on-the-ground, vanguard work theCity was doing to enhance its recycling

capabilities with theclassroom work onthe same subject that elementary students were doing.“We’re supplement-ing what they’re get-ting in the classroom,” George says,“showing them how compost is actu-ally made.” By all measures that mutu-ally beneficial relationship has workedout very well. George guided over7,000 people around the EWMC sitein his first year on the job. Now hissuccessor, Brant Maidens, ’90 BEd,takes around 8,000 students (most inGrade 4 who have “Waste and OurWorld” as one of their science units),teachers and parents through the vari-ous recycling processes, while in semi-retirement (three days a week) Georgestill handles another 5,000.

Maidens has also been secondedfrom his teaching position with theEdmonton Public School Board asyears ago the City thought it a good

idea to employ teachers to, well, teachabout what’s going on at the worldleader in waste management. He’s onthe second of his two-year ongoingcontracts and will probably end upbeing the new George—if the oldGeorge ever fully retires—some daydown the road because, as he says,“This is a totally fun job.”

He even has a bit of fun with theclass of Grade 4 and 5 students in thevideo presentation he gives during myvisit prior to taking them out on thegrounds. About the compost thatEWMC makes on site and then sells,he says to the group of eager students:“Do you know your parents pay us totake away your garbage. Your parentsare buying their garbage back from us,”

Pickers have to move quick to snatch unwanted material from the paperstream rolling past them on conveyor belts. Larry George: “We were buryingeverything that people threw out.”

he smiles. “Pretty good deal.” (Anotherpretty good deal is the approximately$20,000 a month that EWMC makeson the refundable bottles, cans andcartons that end up in a garbage truckbut are diverted from the landfill.)

But the big money is in the compost-ing facility—a massive structure the sizeof seven football fields. It’s the largestcomposting operation in North Americaand is designed to handle all the organicgarbage coming out of the averagehousehold. “About half of the garbagecoming out of a home in Edmonton iscomposed of biodegradable material,”says George, whose official businesscard title is “environmental educator.”“That’s a resource for making compost.Our compost plant produces about50,000 tonnes of compost a year. Wesell it to farmers and landscapers andthe City of Edmonton and whoever elsewants it. If we made more than 50,000tonnes we could sell it.”

How it works is that the garbagetrucks drive into the building anddump their contents on the concretefloor where workers look for anythingin the loads that is not compostable ormight gum up the works. Then every-

thing that’s left over is shoved into ahole in the floor where the garbagebags are shredded and their contentsexposed in their long journey tobecoming viable compost.

The household waste is mixed withsewage sludge as it travels for two daysdown long rotating tubes that do acomplete rotation about once a minute.The material is then screened through alarge trommel drum—a rotating cylin-drical screen—where anything largerthan a softball is removed from theprocess. Once everything that can’t becomposted is removed the material endsup in the aeration hall that’s the size of

about four football fields. There it takesapproximately 32 days for the organicsto be turned into compost that is curedfor another four to six months beforebeing ready for market.

“As we stand now,” says George,“about 60 percent of what we get fromthe residential sector is being eithercomposted or recycled. The other 40percent is going to landfill. It can besomething as simple as the plastic bagthe garbage comes to us in or an oldgarden hose. But a lot of the residualsthat go into the landfill contain carbon.The next step for Edmonton is to shredall that material that can’t be compostedor recycled and feed it into a biofuelsfacility that can turn these materialsinto methanol and ethanol.”

The biofuels facility—built byEnerkem GreenField Alberta Biofuels,with funding from the Alberta EnergyResearch Institute—is anticipated to be operational in 2011 at which time,says George, “the diversion rate fromlandfill sites will reach approximately90 percent and we’ll have completelyadopted the attitude that garbage is aresource that you can do somethingelse with.”


A front-end loader pushes all the household waste—much of which is composed of biodegradable material—into a hole in the “tipping floor,” where itwill begin its long journey into becoming viable compost. Garbage turning into compost in the gigantic aeration hall (right): “It’s unbelievably smelly inthere,” says George. “Maybe two or three times a year I go in there with some university tours that want to have the experience. When I do, my wifehas a change of clothes waiting for me in the garage when I get home.”

An aerial view of the composting facility showing the tipping floor and aeration hall.


Standing below the leading edge ofthe glacier of debris in the landfill siteit’s clear why we have to move awayfrom merely burying our refuse. Abouta hundred feet up a constant parade oftrucks discharge their detritus whilebulldozers struggle to keep up with thepace as they push the garbage over thecliff, so the whole scene looks like somenightmarish and crumbling Tower ofBabylon guarded over by maraudinggulls and crows.

This is what Edmonton is trying toalleviate and is among the best at theworld at coming to terms with. How -ever, landfill of some sort will probablyalways be with us as some things arebeyond recycling, and all one can do is try to make all the processes asbenign—and fruitful—as possible. Tothis end, the 80-hectare landfill that willtop out at 47 metres above ground hasabout 70 gas extraction wells drilledinto it. Landfill gas is typically a mixtureof 50 percent methane and 50 percentcarbon dioxide. Other landfills oftenjust burn off the gas so it doesn’t buildto dangerously explosive levels, but thisprocess contributes to global warming.In Edmonton, the methane is used tofuel gas-fired engines that power anEPCOR-owned-and-operated electrical

generating facility connected to theEdmonton distribution grid that pro-vides electricity for about 5,000 homes,which amounts to a greenhouse gasreduction roughly equivalent to taking44,000 cars off city streets each year.

Another private sector initiative atthe EWMC is the Global Electric andElectronic Processing facility, whichtakes apart old televisions, computersand other e-waste to reclaim the valu-able metals—such as gold, silver, copperand mercury—inside them as well asthe various components of glass, metaland plastic.

The leading edge of the 80-hectare landfillsite that recently topped out at 47 metresabove ground, and Brant Maidens posingwith bales of crushed aluminum: “This is atotally fun job.”

JUST DUCKYWhen the new composting facility was

built at the EWMC, it encroached onsome natural wetlands, where ducks andgeese can be seen paddling about and deeroccasionally stop by for a drink.

“When I take tours around, the biggestthrill for the kids is when we have to stopthe bus to let a mother duck and her duck-lings waddle across the road to the water,”says George. “I just turn off the bus andwatch because there’s no getting the kidsattention away from the ducks.”

But before any of that in situ wetland wasfilled in, the area it occupied was carefullymeasured so that after construction wascomplete an equal amount of wetland couldbe added so that the total acreage of thesmall marsh remained exactly the same.

That was a small priceto pay for conservingwaterfowl habitat andsomething that KatherinePackman, a graduate stu-dent in the Department ofRural Economy in theFaculty of Agricultural, Lifeand EnvironmentalSciences, would like tosee others follow.

To that end, Packman has put a dollar figureon what it would cost to restore previouslydrained wetlands that once provided habitatfor such environmentally friendly creaturesas ducks, frogs and insects: $1,150 peracre. That’s the amount she came up withbased on her study of 36 farms in southernManitoba when she estimated how muchmoney would be needed to re-establish wet-lands on those lands, factoring in machinerycosts, loss of crop-land production, labourand consulting fees.

“By putting an actual cost to wetlandrestoration, the element of the unknown isremoved,” says Packman. “The informationmay encourage farmers to make the invest-ment when they realize it is within theirbudgets, thus bringing back something thathas a significant environmental benefitwhen brought back to the prairie landscape.”

KatherinePackman

The EWMC is also home to theEdmonton Waste Management Centreof Excellence (EWMCE), a non-profitcorporation formed by the City ofEdmonton in partnership with the Uni -versity of Alberta, the Alberta ResearchCouncil, the NorthernAlberta Institute ofTechnology, AMECEarth and Environ -mental Services andEPCOR. The mandateof this organization isto investigate new andsustainable ways tohandle waste and tomarket that knowl-edge. The facility’sexecutive director isJerry Leonard, ’86 PhD,who is on secondmentfrom the U of A, wherehe is a professor of bioresource engi-neering. Through his compostingresearch, Leonard became involvedwith the City of Edmonton’s WasteManagement Branch in 1996 and setup the EWMCE as a non-profit corpo-ration in 2003.

“Waste management issues andproblems are researched here in a labo-ratory setting,” says George. “They’ve

done such simple but effective studiesas finding out the best size for a woodchip when you’re composting wood.This Centre has agreements signedwith cities in China that want to repli-cate what we’re doing here. So now

we’re signing licenc-ing agreements withour proprietarymaterial.

“People comefrom all over theworld to see whatwe’re doing here andtake some of thoseideas back home,”continues George,while standing in theadministration build-ing in front of a mapof the world that’sbecome a pincushion

for the hundreds of people who’vemarked where they’ve come from toget here and take some valuable les-sons about how to manage waste backhome with them.

But, as George points out, the rea-son Edmonton’s waste managementsystems exists as it does now was notinitially because of some big goal state-ment. “It’s because we had a garbage


PAPER CHASEDaryl McCartney, environmental engineer-

ing professor at the U of A, was thesupervisor for a greenchallenge project taken onby a group of U of A stu-dents under the leadershipof Dallas Demontigny, ’08BSc. In his graduatingyear, Demontigny’s teamwas one of four groupsacross Canada to win acompetition from the TD Friends of the Environ -ment Foundation, beatingout nearly 90 other teams to take home$25,000 (a dollar amount matched by the U of A) to finance their Paper Cut program.

The money was used to fund a paper auditon campus aimed at cutting down on theamount of paper used as well as looking intoa campus-wide switching over to more sustain-able paper sources certified by the ForestryStewardship Council. The final report—sub-mitted to the U of A Office of Sustainability byMichael Rawson Clark, ’07 BSc, executivedirector of the Campus SustainabilityCoalition, and Debra J. Davidson, director ofthe Environ mental Research and StudiesCentre—used the School of Public Health’s(SPH) paper consumption behaviours to repre-sent a typical academic and administrativeunit on the U of A campus.

Based on the paper audit, the SPH wasable to reduce its environmental footprint byapproximately 23 percent while savingalmost $4,000 a year. The report goes onto “recommend that a wide-scale behav-ioural change program be initiated at theUniversity of Alberta,” noting that the U of Apurchased 126,539 reams of copy paper in2008 and that by implementing the changesincorporated in the SPH, the U of A couldsee savings of over $200,000 annually.

“It’s important for a university to take alead on reducing paper use,” saysMcCartney, “since about 60 percent of cam-pus waste is paper.”

Demontigny says that the Paper Cut pro-gram also focuses on educating staff andstudents about paper usage. “Even makingsmall changes,” says Demontigny, “such asprinting on both sides of the paper, or evenchanging the margins on draft documents,can make a big difference.

“We want to help the University of Albertaand other campuses reduce their environmen-tal footprint,” he continues. “Universities,after all, play an important part in settingexamples that influence change.”

DallasDemontigny

Brant Maidens (left) with Larry George in the Global Electric and Electronic Processing facility, whereeverything from gold, silver and copper to glass, metal and plastic are reclaimed for recycling.

“People comefrom all over the

world to seewhat we’re doing

here and takesome of those

ideas back home.”


crisis back in the 1980s,” he says. “We were burying everything that peo-ple threw out, causing all the landfillsto fill up at an alarming rate.* So thewaste management people said we’dbetter go looking for another site touse when this one’s full. But every-where they went—which includedabout 100 locations within an hour’sdrive from Edmonton—they ran intothe NIMBY phenomenon. . . Not InMy Backyard.”**

So the City was forced to resort toplan B—which they didn’t have at thetime. But it was clear that the City’sresidents and those outside the Citywho are also impacted by waste issueswanted a system that was convenient,affordable and sustainable. It took adozen years, but in 1992 the Cityfinally came up with a 30-year strate-gic plan to deal with waste manage-ment in Edmonton.

This is where George almost getschoked up as he is clearly as proud ofthis system as he would be of his ownson or daughter bringing home OlympicGold. George’s life may be garbage,but he wouldn’t have it any other wayas he looks out at the work in progressthat is the EWMC and where he hasspent the past 13 years preaching thegospel of garbage and says: “Had wefound another nearby landfill I probablywouldn’t be here, nor would we havethe composting facility or the 30-yearstrategic plan that has so far served usso very, very, very well.”

*Edmonton’s Mill Woods and Rundle Parkgolf courses are both built on top of formerlandfill sites.

**There are still landfills for Edmonton’sgarbage. One is the privately owned westEdmonton landfill operated by Waste Manage -ment of Canada. Another is located in Ryley,about an hour’s drive southeast of the city — adrive that’s now a whole lot more perilous(the EWMC landfill site closed in August) asabout one semi-truck full of material destinedfor the landfill site in Ryley leaves the EWMCevery 10 minutes. Nearby residents havealready nicknamed the landfill site in theirvicinity Mount Ryley. Once the biofuels facilityis added to the EWMC site the traffic headedto “Mount Ryley” should ease considerably.

he University of Albertais truly green and gold,”

says U of A president IndiraSamarasekera. “Green interms of our commitment toenvironmental sustainabilityand gold in terms of being win-ners and leaders as we achieveour sustainability goals.”

Those sustainability goalssaw the University recentlyranked by Maclean’s maga-zine as one of “Canada’s Top30 Greenest Employers.”In the magazine’s specialgreen issue it made note ofthe University’s 35-year-oldrecycling program and madespecial mention of the U ofA’s $25-million energy man-agement program that willsave more than $1.7 million inutility costs and reduce CO2emissions by 20,000 tonnesannually; the “green demoli-tion” program that encouragessalvage and reuse of buildingmaterials during renovationsand demolitions; sustainablecleaning practices that includeusing environmentally friendlycleaning chemicals; and thefact that the University has aprogram in place to compostorganic kitchen waste from itsdining facilities as well aslandscaping waste. The U of Ahas also recently purchasedhybrid mail trucks.

As well, Triffo Hall (formerlythe historic South Lab) becamethe first project at the Univer -sity to be registered with theLeadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design (LEED)association. The building hasalready passed its first reviewfor Gold LEED certification andis, as of this writing, under-going its second review. (Whencompleted, the new CentennialCentre for InterdisciplinaryScience will have a LEED-Silverequivalent rating.)

In March of this year, TriffoHall also received the Sustaina -bility Award from the CanadianInstitute of Steel Construction.

This award recognizes steelstructures in which steel hasbeen used or re-used as partof a sustainable developmentproject that aims to improvethe environmental impact ofthe structure by using estab-lished and innovative design,standards and technologies.

“We knew from the start wewould approach the projectfrom a sustainability stand-point,” says Laura Plosz, anassociate with Johns Group2Architecture Engineering. “Steelwas the primary structuralmaterial, so we decided towork with it.”

The ability to re-use theexisting steel structure andconstruct new elements withsteel contributed significantlyto the sustainability of the project. Of the existing steel,99.5 percent was retained; ofthe new steel material, 100percent is recycled. “Thatmeans it’s also 100 per centrecyclable,” says Plosz, “whichis one of the most fantasticaspects of using steel.”

Another recent undertakingat the U of A is the creation ofthe Office of Sustainability—acentral hub for campus initia-tives that encompass energyconservation, the environment,climate change, water andhuman health. In addition topromoting green-thinking in all

University endeavours, it willalso enlist the expertise ofscholars and research centresacross disciplines to educatestudents on the importance ofsustainability in today’s world.

“It’s part of our responsi-bility to ensure that no stu-dent should emerge withoutan understanding of what sus-taina bility means within theirspecialization,” says ColinSoskolne, academic co-coordi-nator of the new office and aprofessor of epidemiology inthe Department of PublicHealth Sciences. (In August,Trina Innes was announced asthe Office’s director and willassume her position effectiveSeptember 8.) Ventures suchas the U of A’s Office of Sus -tainability are not unique onCanadian campuses, but whatsets the U of A endeavourapart is the calibre and quan-tity of the many experts onenergy, the environment andclimate change currently atwork on campus.

“If we can somehow har-ness some of these energiesand provide mechanisms forstudents to come and docross-faculty, interdisciplinarymaster’s and PhD work [insustainability studies], we’llleapfrog pretty quickly overmost parts of the world,” saysSoskolne.

VERY GREEN & GOLD

Originally constructed in 1915 as the South Lab, the newlyrefurbished and renamed Triffo Hall was renovated to a GoldLEED certification standard.

“T

2009 Alumni Recognition Awards

Thursday, October 1

Francis Winspear Centre For Music, Edmonton

A CELEBRATION OF UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTThrough leadership in business and communities, advances in science and scholarship,accomplishments in athletics and the arts, and service to humanitarian efforts —

University of Alberta alumni bring honour to themselves and their alma mater in amultitude of ways. The Alumni Recognition Awards honour University of Alberta

alumni for their significant contributions to society.

Alumni Honour AwardAlumni Honour Award

Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh, ’84MEd, is a scholar, teacher,and communications expertwho has contributed exten-sively to the establishment ofeducation policy for theRepublic of Ghana. A profes-sor in communication studies

at the University of Ghana, he is also the Chief ofAtwima Apemanim, a village of about 400 in theAshanti region of Ghana, where he has advancedcommunity projects, including a children’s library,a kindergarten, and a resource centre for teachersand nurses. Keen to inspire others to think globally,he co-teaches the Global Citizenship Field Experi -ence (in rural Ghana) course for the University of Alberta.

Barb Bromley, ’47 Dip(Nu),’48 BSc(Nu), is a tirelessvolunteer and dedicatednursing professional whohas demonstrated an excep-tional commitment to thehealth and well-being of residents of the Northwest

Territories. She was instrumental in the establish-ment of the Northwest Territories RegisteredNursing Association, which led to her foundingrole with the Yellowknife Association of ConcernedCitizens for Seniors. A community leader andactivist, she successfully lobbied the NWTGovernment to have new facilities built for theelderly and for Alzheimer’s care in Yellowknife.Her contributions have been recognized with aCanada Volunteer Award, and she is a Member ofthe Order of Canada.

Sandra Bromley, ’79 BFA, isan award-winning artist,humanitarian, and changeagent whose work buildssocial awareness. Her GunSculpture, produced withWallis Kendal, ’69 BEd, wascreated from deactivated

firearms and was exhibited internationally at theWorld’s Fair in Hanover, Germany; the UnitedNations in New York; and in Seoul, Korea. A Cana -dian Consortium for Human Security Fellowshipon women and post-war conflict societies led to her participation in a series of conferences on theplight of children. Her social activism reachedcloser to home in 1998 when she co-established theihuman Youth Society, a non-profit crisis interven-tion centre dedicated to helping youth in despair.

William Leslie Kent, ’31BSc(Eng), at 101, is one ofthe U of A’s oldest graduatesparticipating in ReunionWeekends and branch meet-ings. He enjoyed an illustri-ous 41-year career as a civilengineer, building major

structures across Canada, beginning with theLion’s Gate Bridge in Vancouver, and continuingwith hydro plants, dams, bridges, buildings,causeways, and canals. After retirement, he workedwith First Nations people in British Columbia onnine distinctly different infrastructure projects. Healso volunteered in the Philippines, supervisingconstruction of a tuna canning plant. He is anhonorary member of the Gold Key Society.

Randy Marsden, ’89BSc(Eng), is a recognizedleader in the field of assistivetechnology. His companyMadentec has helped morethan 20,000 people sufferingfrom paralysis, ALS, MultipleSclerosis, and head injuries

communicate by using adapted computers andcommunication devices, involving specializedequipment that detects cheek movements, blinks,sips, and puffs. His company has been recognizedwith numerous industrial design and technologyawards, including the 2008 ASTech Societal ImpactAward. His products are available worldwide, withsome portions licensed by Microsoft. For his clients,the communication devices that he has createdhave been called “life-changing miracles.”

R. Vance Milligan, ’78 LLB,an appointed Q.C. and seniorpartner with Bennett JonesLLP in Calgary, is a visionaryleader and advocate for therights of Albertans with dis-abilities. For more than twodecades, he has served as

chair of the Alberta Paraplegic Foundation, help-ing to advance spinal cord research and buildawareness about the obligations of society to fullyintegrate all of its citizens. He is active in numer-ous community agencies and professional organi-zations, and his efforts have led to improvementsto the Alberta building code as well as advocacyfor accessible housing for seniors and Albertanswith disabilities

Recognizing the significant contributions made over a number of years by

University of Alberta alumni in their local communities and beyond

Hugh A. Robertson, ’63 BA,’66 LLB, is a respected legaleducator and communityleader who has made signifi-cant contributions to his profession both locally andabroad. The executive direc-tor of the Legal Education

Society of Alberta for 23 years, he is past-presidentof the National and International Legal EducationAssociations, former chair of the Edmonton UnitedWay, and past chancellor of St. Stephen’s College.Inter nationally, he has taught in China, Vietnam,and Africa and has led CIDA and UN missions inZimbabwe and Laos. He is currently a member of the Governing Council of the CommonwealthLawyers Association. He was appointed Q.C. in 1990.

Allan Scott, ’68 BSc(Eng),has demonstrated strongleadership and commitmentto Alberta’s business and vol-unteer communities. From2002 to 2007, he served aspresident and CEO ofEdmonton Economic Devel -

op ment Corporation (EEDC). Under his leadership,Hall D, the much-acclaimed venue at the ShawConference Centre, was constructed. Joining forceswith the U of A along with the EEDC, he helpedlaunch TEC Edmonton to support start-up compa-nies. Since 2002, he has served as board chair of theArt Gallery of Alberta, where, as chief fundraiser, hehas raised more than $88 million towards rejuve-nating the gallery and arts in Edmonton.

William J. Sharun, ’72 BSc, ’74 DDS, is a highly respecteddental professional and com-munity-minded volunteer. He has worked in dentistry at the local, provincial, andnational level, and was presi-dent of the Alberta Dental

Association and governor of the Canadian DentalAssociation. Inter nationally, he has led teams onseven dental missions in Third World countries. Heserved as chair of Edmonton’s Ronald MacDonaldHouse’s $11-million capital campaign and is presi-dent of the University of Alberta Dental AlumniAssociation. In recognition of his significant contri-butions to society and his profession, the AlbertaDental Association recently honoured him with itsAward of Excellence.

Allan G.P. Shewchuk, ’84LLB, who was appointed Q.C.in 2002, has provided count-less hours to numerous legal,academic, and communityorganizations. A dedicatedprofessional, he strives toensure that the public under-

stands the good work that lawyers do to make societya better place. His is also devoted to helping othersthrough his teaching and guidance on finding“work-life balance.” The balance in his life comesfrom his family, his law practice, teaching Italiancuisine, hosting television-cooking shows, anddoing humanitarian work in the Horn of Africawith his wife.

Thomas E. Siddon, ‘63BSc(Eng), is a former profes-sor, acoustical engineer, MP,and federal cabinet minister.While in government, he suc-cessfully negotiated Canada’srole in the U.S.-led SpaceStation, established the

world’s first policy for sustainable management offish habitat, and led the negotiations concludingthe Nunavut Final Settlement Agreement. Sinceleaving public office, he has remained active as anenvironmental leader, lecturer, and board directorof numerous organizations. He was recently hon-oured with the 2009 Okanagan Water LeadershipAward and currently serves on the Blue WaterAdvisory Panel for the Royal Bank of Canada.

Alfred Earl Dennis Wardman,’93 BMed, ’95 MD, is a com-passionate physician, innova-tor, and indomitable spiritwhose determination is notdefeated by circumstances. Heis the first Aboriginal personin Canada to complete spe-

cialty training in both public health and addictionmedicine, and he works as a community medicinespecialist while also practicing clinical medicine ina methadone maintenance clinic in downtownVancouver. A recognized expert on Aboriginalhealth, he often represents First Nations people onmatters pertaining to public health and addictionissues and is working towards the application oftelehealth technology to connect physician servicesto isolated First Nations reserves in B.C.

Allan A. Warrack, ’61BSc(Ag), a U of A professoremeritus of business hasdemonstrated strong leader-ship and commitment toCanada on the political, academic, and volunteerfronts. After graduate studies

at Iowa State University, he came back to his almamater, where he taught in the agricultural eco-nomics department, was founding director of theMaster of Public Management program, and servedas vice-president (administration). In 1971, heentered politics and was appointed as minister oftwo portfolios, making him the first, and only, U of A academic to serve as an Alberta cabinet minister. He has served on many public and privateboards and is a member of the National ResearchCouncil of Canada.

Brian Webb, ’73 BFA, is an award-winning dancer,choreographer, artistic director, and producer whoseinnovative vision has con-tributed to the vibrancy of thearts community in Edmontonand beyond. For 30 years the

Brian Webb Dance Company, which he founded,has taken a collaborative approach to re-energizecontemporary dance, which has successfully pro-duced the largest contemporary dance season westof Toronto. He also lends his talents to the widerarts community through his involvement as directorand past president of the Edmonton ProfessionalArts Coalition, past chair of the City of Edmonton’sSalute to Excellence awards, and as the artistic pro-ducer of the Canada Dance Festival at the NationalArts Centre in Ottawa.

continued>

Alumni Centenary Awardfor Volunteer Service

Recognizes

alumni who have

demonstrated

extraordinary

commit ment,

dedication, and

service to

the University

of Alberta

The Honourable Dr. Lois E. Hole

Student Spirit Award Celebrates student

spirit and the many

contributions

students make to the

betterment of the

University community

and beyond

Gordon E.W. Barr, ’72 BSc,’74 BA, ’77 LLB, an appointedQ.C., has generously given ofhis time, talents, and energyto numerous University ofAlberta initiatives and pro-grams. A partner with theEdmonton law firm Barr

Picard, he has brought his professional expertise tothe University as a member and past president ofboth Alumni Council and the Alumni and Friends ofthe Faculty of Law Association, where he drafted theinitial bylaws. He is a past member of the U of ASenate, and he continues to serve on the Faculty ofScience Excellence in Teaching Award SelectionCommittee. His enthusiasm and passion for allthings U of A shine through in all the roles he hastaken on involving his alma mater.

Eric Fung, ’09 MD, while astudent at the U of A, balancedacademic excellence with anexemplary record of leadershipand service — both on and off campus. Committed tostudent affairs and advocacy,he served as the president of

the University’s Medical Students’ Association andas a western regional representative of the CanadianFederation of Medical Students, where he broughtattention to the soaring costs of medical training inCanada by organizing student delegates to meet withMPs in Ottawa. A volunteer with the U of A’s SHINEClinic, he was also a board member of the CleanScene Network for Youth, which provides drug abuseeducation. A musician who played alto saxophonewith the U of A’s Syncope Jazz Band, he is now com-pleting his residency program in psychiatry at theUniversity of Calgary.

Alumni HonourAward continued

Alumni HonourAward continued

Sandra B. Woitas, ’80 BEd,’96 MEd, is a visionary educatorwho continues to push bound-aries to champion top-notchprogramming for marginal-ized youth. Among her initia-tives, she led the City CentreEducation Project, which

brought seven inner-city schools and communitiestogether to improve learning environments andopportunities for 1,700 disadvantaged children andtheir families. She took this learning further duringher recent secondment to Alberta Education, where,in partnership with Alberta Health Services, shebuilt 32 school-based integrated mental healthservice sites across the province. A tireless advocatefor public education, she is also a highly soughtafter public speaker on the issue of bullying.

Ralph B. Young, ’73 MBA, isan accomplished businessleader who uses his businesstalents to serve a wide range of charitable organizations. As president and CEO of MelcorDevelopments Limited, he has given back extensively to

the community and his alma mater, serving on theUniversity of Alberta’s Alumni Council, its School of Business Advisory Council, and its Board ofGovernors. In addition, he contributes significantlyto countless educational, professional, and culturalboards, such as the AHFMR and the Citadel Theatre,and he was chair of the City of Edmonton 2004Centennial and the 2004 Legacy Project ofChurchill Square.

Alumni Horizon AwardAlumni Horizon Award

Jeff DiBattista, ’95 MSc, ’00PhD, is an emerging leaderin the field of structuralengineering. His workincludes several Edmontonlandmarks, including theNational Institute for Nano -technology, the Edmonton

Clinic, and the PCL Centennial Learning Centre—the first Alberta private sector building to receiveLEEDTM Gold certification. A principal with CohosEvamy integratedesignTM, a national engineering,architecture, and interior design firm, he hasworked to establish the firm’s award-winning pro-fessional development program. He also collabo-rates with the U of A’s undergraduate civilengineering program, co-founding and support-ing the fourth-year structural design competition.An associate adjunct professor in the University’sengineering department, he is highly regarded forhis mentoring leadership and tireless advocacy forhigher education.

Colin C.J. Feasby, ’98 LLB, a leading expert on Law andDemocracy in Canada, haspublished numerous schol-arly articles, many of whichhave been cited in SupremeCourt of Canada decisions.His stellar law career started

when he was a student at the U of A, receivingnumerous scholarships and serving as co-editor ofthe Alberta Law Review. Today, he is a partner withOsler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Calgary, where herepresents multinational corporate clients in com-plex litigations. In 2007, he completed his doctor-ate in law from Columbia University, and he wasnamed a rising star by Lexpert magazine in theirannual “Top 40 Under 40” list of Canadian lawyers.

Fay Fletcher, ’84 BPE, ’94MSc, ’04 PhD, is breakingnew ground in the field ofcommunity-based, collabo-rative research practices.Through her work, she hasbuilt partnerships with awide-range of community

organizations, providing services to immigrant andAboriginal communities that engage people fromvarious cultures. She is an exemplar of university-community engagement. Through collaborativepartnerships, she has developed valuable teachingmaterials and programs, improving access to post-secondary education for Aboriginal students andhas served as co-leader on three InternationalIndigenous Summer Institutes. She held a jointappointment with the U of A’s School of PublicHealth and the Faculty of Extension, but recentlyjoined Extension full-time to focus on her com-munity-based research.

Mark Haroun, ’03 BA, is anaccomplished televisionwriter and playwright quicklymaking his mark through hiswork and community involve-ment as a mentor to youngwriters. He began writing at18 and launched a number

of successful works at various theatre festivals inEdmonton. In 2005, his play A Giraffe in Parisdebuted at the Citadel Theatre to sold-out audi-ences and won a Sterling Award for Best Productionfor Young Audiences. This 2008 recipient of theCanadian Authors Association-Book TelevisionEmerging Writer Award is a senior story editor andwriter for the CBC TV series Heartland, and he wona Rosie at the 2009 Alberta Film and TelevisionAwards in the best screenwriter drama category.

Megan H. MacKenzie,’08 PhD, serves as a rolemodel for young Canadianresearchers. Her ground-breaking work on the impor-tance of a feminist analysisof war and conflict garneredher a prestigious, one-year

post-doctoral fellowship at the Belfer Centre forInternational Security and the Women and PublicPolicy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School ofGovernment — the first Canadian to be awardedthis post. Published in esteemed journals such asSecurity Studies, her work has been shaped by her insistence on pushing the boundaries of tradi-tional international politics and her experience in the field, including interviews with more than50 female soldiers. In July 2009, she started anacademic position at the Victoria University ofWellington in New Zealand.

Alfred Orono Orono, ’00 BA,’03 LLB, a respected lawyer, is a passionate champion for social justice. A formerUgandan child soldier duringthe liberation war of 1979, hewas able to escape his captorswhile in a Sudan Peoples’

Liberation Army-controlled area. He fled to Kenyaand received UN protection. He was sponsored bythe World University Service of Canada to study atthe U of A. Driven by personal experience, he is apowerful voice for human rights and protectingrights of children. In July 2009, he was promoted toAppeals Counsel in the Appeals and Legal AdvisoryDivision of the Office of the Prosecutor for theUnited Nations International Criminal Tribunalfor Rwanda. He is currently completing the LLMprogram at the U of A.

Recognizing the outstanding achievements of

University of Alberta alumni early in their careers

Alumni Award of ExcellenceAlumni Award of Excellence

Tim Lee, ’99 BDes, was the2008 recipient of Canada’sleading visual-art prize, theSobey Art Award, presentedannually to a contemporaryCanadian artist. He waslauded for the visual andhistorical complexities of his

work, in which he commonly uses photographyand video to replicate and re-imagine seminalmoments in art history and popular culture. Since2001, his work has been exhibited and collectedinternationally at the Museum of Modern Art inNew York, the Tate Modern in London, Madrid’sReina Sofia National Museum, and Tokyo’s MoriArt Museum. He is now working in Berlin as a DAAD(Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) scholar,which is a German academic exchange program.

Colin D. Oberst, ’92 BEd,made hockey history with his musical score, CanadianGold. His Celtic-flavouredcomposition was selectedfrom more than 14,500 sub-missions to become the newtheme song for Hockey Night

in Canada, the country’s longest-running TV pro-gram. This accomplished musician, songwriter,and producer for Octavo Productions has beenteaching for the past 13 years, and he is currentlyan elementary and junior high school music andart teacher with Edmonton Catholic Schools. Inaddition, he has composed several school boardtheme songs and commercials, and he has frontedseveral original rock bands, being featured onlocal radio stations and on MuchMusic.

Tara Whitten, ‘07 BSc, aformer member of Canada’snational cross-country skiteam, has done a kick turninto the sport of track cycling,garnering internationalattention. In 2009, she wonthe National Time Trial

Championships, the Tour of P.E.I. Stage Race, asilver at the Track World Cup in Copenhagen, anda silver at the Track Cycling World Championshipsin Poland. She currently holds the Canadianrecord in the Individual Pursuit. Off the track, sheis working on her PhD in neuroscience for whichshe has been awarded scholarships from AlbertaIngenuity and NSERC.

John B. Barry, ’74 BPE, ’79MA, is a fervent supporter ofuniversity sport. As a studenthe won a total of six nationalchampi onships, holdingplaces on Canada’s team atthe Pan Am Games and theWorld Student Games. His

successes continued as head coach of the GoldenBears wrestling team, where he developed numerouswinning athletes and received the CIAU WrestlingCoach of the Year award in 1978. He has coachedCanadian national teams at the Common wealthGames, the Junior Pan American Games, and theJunior World Championships. For the past 25 years,he has served as director of operations and assistantdean in the U of A’s Faculty of Physical Educationand Recreation, leading the building of Foote Fieldand the Saville Sports Centre. Recently, he was thedirector of the U of A’s 2015 Universiade bid.

Donald MacKay Newton,’54 BPE, ’54 Dip(Ed), hasbeen a strong voice dedicatedto the advancement of physi-cal and health education. Asa student athlete at the U of A,he starred as a point guard onthe Golden Bears basketball

team, winning four back-to-back Western CanadaInteruniversity Athletic Union championships. Thejump shot, which he learned during trips to theU.S., became his trademark skill, and one that heintroduced to Alberta. He went on to teach andcoach at schools in Lethbridge, Edmonton, andCalgary and at the Universities of Saskatchewanand Calgary. As an administrator, he served at theprovincial level of the Alberta Teachers’ Association,as president of Canadian Association for Health,Physical Education and Recreation, as well as on theCanadian Commission on Education to UNESCO.

Kevin Primeau, ’77 BPE,has made outstanding con-tributions to the sport of icehockey. As a player andcoach of the Golden Bearshockey team, he won threenational championshiptitles, served as team captain,

and was named MVP at the national tournamentlevel. After graduation, he played professionally inthe WHA, the NHL, European-pro leagues, and wasan assistant captain of the 1980 CanadianOlympic hockey team. An injury in 1983 redi-rected his career into coaching. He served as assis-tant coach of the Golden Bears, the EdmontonOilers, and as the head coach of top Europeanteams. The founder of Potential 100, which estab-lishes hockey development projects, he remainsdedicated to volunteering and fundraising to sup-port amateur hockey.

Sports Wall of FameSports Wall of FameRecognizing the contributions of alumni as athletes and builders of university sport

Celebrating outstanding, recent accomplishments of University of Alberta graduates

Distinguished Alumni AwardDistinguished Alumni AwardThe Alumni Association's most prestigious award recognizing living graduates whose

truly outstanding achievements have earned them national or international prominence

F. Ann Hayes, ’61 Dip(RehabMed), ’68 MD

A shining example of pioneering spirit, Ann Hayes is a compas-sionate physician who is making a significant contribution tohumanity by providing educational opportunities to vulnerable,marginalized girls in Africa.

Apediatrician and pharmaceutical clinical researcher, Frances AnnHayes has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the well-

being of marginalized children. In 1984, while on staff as a pediatriconcologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, shevolunteered in the pediatric department of Makerere University in war-torn Kampala, Uganda. She returned in 1986, and during this stay sheadopted an orphaned infant girl, which cemented her bond with Ugandanchildren. She adoped a second daughter in Memphis three years later.

In 1990, after serving as a visiting professor in pediatric oncologyin Brazil, Hayes established a career in the pharmaceutical industry.From 1992 to 2002 she held various positions with Immunex Corp.,eventually becoming senior vice-president for clinical research.

After retiring from Immunex, Hayes re-established her commit-ment to children in need by establishing two organizations. TheDanica Children’s Foundation, named for her two daughters, fundsprojects in health and education for children mainly in the Seattlearea. As an expression of her continued commitment and connectionwith Uganda, she founded and continues to be the major supporter ofConcern for the Girl Child, a non-profit agency providing educationalopportunities, social support, and health care for orphaned girls inpoverty stricken areas of Uganda.

Lewis E. Kay, ’83 BSc

A brilliant scientist, Lewis E. Kay is internationally recognizedas being in the forefront of the development and application ofNMR spectroscopic methods for the study of protein structureand dynamics.

One of the world’s leading chemists, Lewis E. Kay is recognized for hiscutting-edge research in biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance

spectroscopy. He has been instrumental in developing new three- andfour-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance methods for obtainingpictures of complex biomolecules. This revolutionary work has led toimportant discoveries, helping researchers understand the underlyingbiological characteristics of diseases. This understanding has increasedthe probability of finding ways to cure or prevent diseases such as cancer.

As a researcher and professor of molecular genetics, chemistry, andbiochemistry at the University of Toronto, Kay has mentored numerouspost-doctoral fellows and graduate students. He has published animpressive number of peer-reviewed articles, including publications in Nature and Science, and is listed in the Institute for ScientificInformation’s database of top-cited researchers — making him one of the most cited chemists in the world.

He has received numerous honours, including election as a Fellowof the Royal Society of Canada. He is a recipient of the Wilbur CrossMedal of the Yale University Graduate School, the highest honour theschool bestows on its alumni; the Royal Society of Canada’s FlavelleMedal; and the Founders Medal from the International Society ofMagnetic Resonance in Biological Systems.

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Distinguished Alumni AwardDistinguished Alumni Award

Frank T. MacInnis, ’68 BA, ’71 LLB

A respected business leader with a lengthy record of giving backto the community, Frank T. MacInnnis has demonstrated keeninsight into global issues.

Frank T. MacInnis is a towering figure in the construction profession.Under his exemplary leadership, EMCOR Group has become the

world’s largest specialty construction and facilities services company. It has been consistently named by Forbes magazine as one of “America’sMost Admired Companies” due to its high ethical standards and fore-sight of vision.

MacInnis got his start in the construction industry in 1975 workingwith the Paris-based company Spie Batignolles SA. Projects took himaround the world, giving him a global perspective and considerableexperience with international markets. In 1978, he moved to the UnitedStates when he was named chair and CEO of H.C. Price Construction.In 1994, he joined JWP and under his steadfast leadership as CEO andpresident, more than 200 acquisitions and 30,000 employees were suc-cessfully reorganized to create EMCOR Group.

Committed to giving back to the community, MacInnis sits on numer-ous professional and charitable boards. He has generously supportedhis alma mater, serving as a guest lecturer in the law faculty, sponsor-ing scholarships, and developing the MacInnis Centre in the U of A’sLaw Centre.

Lawrence A. Mysak, ’60 Cert(Arts), ’61 BSc

Lawrence A. Mysak is internationally acknowledged for his pioneering research and inspiring teaching as a climatologist,mathematician, and oceanographer.

Achampion of the environment, Lawrence A. Mysak has spent his career helping improve our understanding of natural climate

variability and global change. He is internationally regarded for hiswork on air-ice-ocean interactions and the modeling of glacial andwarm climates. His work on the Northern Seas of Canada has stimu-lated extensive research on the Arctic climate system.

In 1967, after earning his doctorate from Harvard University, Mysak joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia. In 1986,he moved to McGill University and in 1989 was appointed CanadaSteamship Lines Professor of Meteorology. He has supervised 75 graduateand post-doctoral students.

Mysak has made outstanding contributions towards the developmentof national institutions that further science and engineering in Canada.He is the founding director of McGill’s Centre for Climate and GlobalChange Research, and he served as president of the Royal Society ofCanada’s Academy of Science. His contributions have been recognizedwith more than 27 national and international honours. He is a Memberof the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, andwas the first Canadian to receive the Alfred Wegener Medal from theEuropean Geosciences Union, reserved for scientists of exceptional merit.

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trailsF o l l o w i n g t h e F o o t s t e p s o f U n i v e r s i t y o f A l b e r t a A l u m n i

As summer rolls to aclose and the Universitybegins to settle into itssecond century, it’s timeto take stock of wherewe’ve been and wherewe’re headed.

Where we’ve been is, of course, easier toascertain. It’s been a remarkable century ofachievement for the University, a record ofaccomplishment that New Trail has beenaround to record almost from the beginning.But where we’re going, while more fun to con-template, is not as easy to ascertain. Onedirection most everyone is attempting to gothese days is toward a more sustainable andenvironmentally friendly business model.We’ve attempted to address that concern inthis issue with a series of “green” stories thatput the spotlight on grads involved with suchthings as Edmonton’s world-leading wastemanagement system and the innovative andinterdisciplinary research being conducted atthe U of A to clean-up the oil sands and tail-ing ponds. We’ve also got stories on a newcrop for Alberta that’s eco-friendly and has thepotential for a huge economic return as wellas some short pieces on some other U of A“green” grads.

The magazine itself is trying to do its part tolessen its footprint on the environment. Thisissue of New Trail is the first to be printed onForest Stewardship Council (www.fsc.org) certi-fied paper. FSC is an international certificationand labeling system that guarantees that theforest products used by consumers—such asmagazine producers—come from responsiblymanaged forests and verified recycled sources.

Of course, that’s just a small piece of amuch larger puzzle, a puzzle the University isalso attempting to put together with its ownefforts to “green” everything on campus fromthe way it treats food waste to its $25-millionenergy management program that will savemore than $1.7 million in utility costs andreduce CO2 emissions by 20,000 tonnesannually. These sustainability initiatives sawthe University recently ranked by Maclean’smagazine as one of “Canada’s Top 30Greenest Employers.”

As most of you know, my day job involves alot of greenery (for those who don’t know, I’mthe co-owner of Hole’s Greenhouse & Gardens).But, however green is my own valley, it canalways look—just as the University and NewTrail are doing—for better ways to do what’sbest for the little blue planet we all call home.

Jim Hole, ’79 BSc (Ag)Alumni Association President

R E F L E C T I O N S

dmonton native Raymond St. Arnaud, ’75 BA, used this Photoshop-

altered picture called “Observer at a Crucifixion” as the cover image

for his book version of The Dysfunctional Photographer. The 100 images

in the book were originally photographed in 2008 as part of an

image-per-day blog of the same name that he created. He also created another

similar blog called “The Forced March.” “Both blogs,” says St. Arnaud, “were

essentially mirrors of what I encountered in day-to-day living. There were no

‘change the world’ goals. The images have been forced in Photoshop to my

current explorations in contrast and colour.”

Involved with the visual arts since 1968, St. Arnaud began exhibiting in

group and one-person shows in 1969 and has since been in around 150

group and solo shows in gallery spaces across North America. His work is in

government, corporate and private collections. To see more of St. Arnaud’s

work go to www.raymondstarnaud.com.


True StoryBy Marty Chan, ’90 BAIllustrated by LornaBennettTrue Story is aboutthe boy who cried

wolf, or in this case, cat. A sneaky kidblames his two tuxedo cats for causingthe mess in his bedroom and the disas-ter in the kitchen. When his kitties cre-ate a “cat-caphony” of noise at night,the boy claims he’s innocent, but hispleas fall on deaf ears. His dad doesn’tbelieve him no matter how loudly hecries, “true story.” (Ink Jockey)www.martychan.com

The Canadian Landlord’s Guide:Expert Advice to Become aProfitable Real Estate Investor

By Peter Mitham, ’94 MA,and Douglas GrayBusiness journalist PeterMitham teams up withbest-selling real estateauthor Douglas Gray inthis comprehensive guide

to managing rental properties. Whetheryou’ve already got an extensive realestate portfolio or you have a basementapartment you want to rent for the veryfirst time, this book is aimed at helpingyou navigate the complex maze of taxissues, legal rights and landlord obliga-tions. It includes a wealth of sample doc-uments, rental forms and checklists, andoffers tips for building successful tenantrelationships and managing the time youspend on your rental properties. (JohnWiley & Sons) http://ca.wiley.com

Becoming an EffectivePsychotherapist:Adopting a TheoryThat’s Right for Youand Your ClientDerek Truscott, ’83 BA

Psychotherapists often find it over-whelming to choose from the scores oftheoretical approaches available.Author Derek Truscott presents thenine leading systems of psychotherapyand how each is practised. Uniquely, heshows therapists how to adopt a theorythat is compatible with their personalworld view and how to adapt it to hon-our the world view of their client.(American Psychological Association)www.apa.org/books

We Are All TreatyPeople: Prairie EssaysBy Roger Epp, ’84 BAIn his collection ofessays—some of thempersonal, some poetic,some political—Epp con-

siders what it means to dwell atten-tively and responsibly in the rural West.He makes the provocative claim thatAboriginal and settler alike are “treatypeople” and retells inherited family sto-ries in that light. He reclaims the ruralas a site of radical politics and alignshimself with contemporary farm peoplewhose livelihoods and communities arenow under intense economic and cul-tural pressure. Epp, a professor ofpolitical studies and the dean of theUniversity of Aberta’s AugustanaCampus, has lived most of his life onTreaty Six land in Alberta andSaskatchewan. (University of AlbertaPress) www.uapress.ualberta.ca

Designer GenesKen Harrington, ’70 BSc(Ag)

According to authorKen Harrington, Godhas invested each of uswith the “genes” thatenable us to liveextraordinary lives andmake a positive differ-ence in the world;however, doing so

requires the application of character.Harrington, a pastoral elder and trainer,identifies five key components to charac-ter: humility, trust, patience, joy andintegrity, and in this book he shows,through biblical and personal examples,how readers can fulfill each one.(Destiny Image) www.destinyimage.com

The Indian Commissioners: Agentsof the State and Indian Policy inCanada’s Prairie West, 1873-1932

By Brian Titley, ’80 PhDBetween 1873 and 1932,Indian policy on theCanadian prairies lay inthe hands of a govern-ment appointee knownas the Indian commis-sioner, who had consider-

able authority within his domain. Theextent of his influence was determinednot just by his ability to articulate policy

positions and concerns but by his politi-cal connections and the force of his per-sonality. Here, Titley offers sketches ofthe lives and careers of the six Indiancommissioners and provides uniqueinsight into an important, yet littleexplored, aspect of Canadian prairieshistory during a time when assimilationwas still the modus operandi. (Universityof Alberta Press) www.uap.ualberta.ca

St. Josaphat UkrainianCatholic Cathedral,Edmonton: A History(1902-2002)By Serge Cipko, ’95 PhDAn exhaustive and well-researched history, thisbook follows the St.

Josaphat congregation in Edmontonfrom its earliest days as a congregationof two, through the long process ofestablishing a cathedral church on 97thStreet, and, finally, to the present, asthe parish home of some 600 families.Published in a single volume, in bothEnglish and Ukrainian, it includes aplethora of snapshots from the church’s100-year history, as well as photos ofthe original art that adorns its interior.(St. Josaphat Ukrainian CatholicCathedral) Available from St. Josaphat,780-422-3181.

A Chronicle of Commerce: A History of the School of Businessat the University of Alberta

By William Preshing,’51 Dip(Ed), ’52 BEd,’57 BAAs it approaches itsown centenary, theUniversity of AlbertaSchool of Business(est. 1916) has

emerged from a small department withsix students to become one of the topbusiness schools in North America interms of research, teaching and com-munity involvement. Preshing, a pro-fessor emeritus who has been affiliatedwith the school for nearly 50 years,tells the story of its origins and devel-opment as well as its place within thelarger contexts of Albertan andCanadian history. (Alberta School ofBusiness) Available from the AlbertaSchool of Business, 780-492-4083.

bookmarks


Incurable andIntolerable: ChronicDisease and SlowDeath in Nineteenth-Century FranceBy Jason Szabo, ’87BMedSc, ’89 MDTerminal illness and thepain and anguish it

brings are experiences as old as timeitself; yet the history of these experi-ences still holds lessons for us today. InIncurable and Intolerable, Szabo, a medical doctor and historian involved in AIDS care and clinical research atMontréal General Hospital, looks at thehistory of chronic disease and incurableillness from the perspectives of doctors,patients, families, religious counselorsand policy makers. Although his focus is nineteenth-century France, this origi-nal look at the palliative medicine of thepast encourages more careful scrutiny of today’s attitudes, policies and prac-tices surrounding “imminent death.”(Rutgers University Press)http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu

Heavy Burdens on Small Shoulders:The Labour of Pioneer Children onthe Canadian Prairies

By Sandra Rollings-Magnusson, ’03 PhDAlthough the term“child labour” carriesnegative connotationsin today’s society, itwas the order of theday on the Canadianprairies only a century

ago, when youngsters laboured along-side their parents—working the land,cleaning stovepipes and chopping wood.By shouldering their share of the chores,these children learned the skills necessaryfor the difficult life on a prairie familyfarm. Rollings-Magnusson, a professorof sociology at Grant MacEwan College,uses historic research, photographs andpersonal anecdotes to describe the kindsof work performed by children and howeach task fit into the family economy.(University of Alberta Press)www.uap.ualberta.ca

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In Bed with the Word: Reading,Spirituality, and Cultural PoliticsBy Daniel Coleman, ’95 PhDReviewed by Sarah Ligon

This book begins with a singleimage: that of a young boy, six

years old, away from his family atboarding school for the first time, whotakes to his dormitory bed with a bookrather than join the other children forthe morning’s lessons. The boy is theauthor’s brother—but it might be any-one. And the book is the King JamesBible, though it could have been anybook, as the boy could not yet read.But to Coleman, the image provides “aperfect picture of the centrality ofreading to the spiritual life as I knowit,” and he spends the following fiveessays in this insightful collection teas-ing out this idea.

For Coleman and his brother, whowere raised in Ethiopia by their mis-sionary parents, each morning beganwith an hour or so of quiet time inwhich the family would read, reflectand pray. So his brother’s reenactmentof this ritual—before he could evenread the words, or the capital-W“Word,” that appeared on the page—is a profound symbol. It shows theimportance of the act of reading,devoid of what is being read, and thedeep human desire for what he callsthe “paradox of reading:” the longingfor solitude, for reading is a pro-foundly solitary act; and the longingfor connectedness, for reading con-nects us, at the deepest possible level,to the thoughts and feelings of others.

Of course, Coleman, a professor ofCanadian and diasporic literature atMcMaster University, places greatvalue in the words themselves, butwhat he’s interested in here is how thephysical posture of reading opens usup to spirituality, in whatever formwe might find it—and Coleman, whoquotes from St. Augustine as nimblyas from Eastern thinkers and Bob, his“red-bearded Buddhist postman,” isextremely ecumenical in his tastes.And like a Buddhist practising yogicmeditation, Coleman takes readersthrough the physical steps of readingand shows how each one opens us upto new levels of understanding.

But In Bed with the Word is not aself-indulgent love letter to a dying artform written by some Luddite professor

in his ivory tower. Coleman throwshimself into the raging debate aboutthe value of reading in the modern age,and his insights extend well beyondthe bibliophile’s obvious argumentsthat reading is simply “good for thesoul.” In his second essay, “Reading asCounterculture,” he recounts the sto-ries of two of his students: William,who reads only the “classics” so thathe can use their ideas as weaponsagainst the shabbiness of contempo-rary culture; and Annette, a graduatestudent of his, who abandons the“Great Books”—in fact any book atall—as a subject of intellectual studybecause she believes mass media is theonly means of communication withany relevance or vitality. These twoencounters force Coleman to ask him-self the central question of the book:“Why do we read?” And, in this dayin age, why should we read, and doeswhat we read really matter?

His answer is that far from beingnostalgic and retrograde, reading isactually a deeply “countercultural act.”In a society where mass media is con-tinually bombarding us with imagesthat make us restless and uncriticalconsumers, reading requires us to beslow and meditative, active rather thanpassive; it creates “critically aware” cit-izens. “Thoughtful, slow, critical andappreciative reading is spiritually cru-cial in times like these,” he writes. “Ifwe are to engage in the hard work ofexpanding democracy and producingcitizens instead of consumers, we needto become affirmative and suspiciousreaders. So it does matter what weread, but it matters even more who webecome by reading.” In Bed with theWord, a brilliant little volume, isexactly the type of book that will makeyou better for having read it, and thatis reason enough in itself to get back inbed and, to quote St. Augustine, “Takeup and read.” (University of AlbertaPress) www.uap.ualberta.ca


For more events and up-to-date information, subscribeto e-trail, the monthly electronic newsletter of theAlumni Association, at www.ualberta.ca/alumni/etrail.

September 24 — Toronto, ONToronto Alumni Shindig at the Bedford Academy

Alumni are invited to attend this casual gatheringfor some food and a drink. For more informationor to register, contact Cristine at 1-877-492-1059or visit www.ualberta.ca/alumni/TorontoShindig.

September 24 — Edmonton, AB Walter Johns Alumni Circle

Come back to campus for a regular sampling of thevibrant intellectual and cultural life of the University.Registration is just $10 per person per session andmay be paid at the door. Participants also havethe option to lunch at the Faculty Club. To registercall 780-492-3224 or e-mail [email protected] to www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/alumni and clickon “Education and Travel” for more information.

October 2 — Winnipeg, MBWinnipeg Alumni Reception and CFL Game:Eskimos vs. Blue Bombers.

Sit in a section of Green & Gold fans. For moreinformation or to register, contact Cristine at 1-877-492-1059 or visit www.ualberta.ca/alumni/winnipeg.

October 3 — Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Alumni Reception and UniversityFootball Game: Golden Bears vs. Bisons.

Watch some up-and-coming Canadian athletes on their way to playing for the pros. For moreinformation or to register, contact Cristine at 1-877-492-1059 or go to www.ualberta.ca/alumni/winnipeg.

October 7 — New York, NYNew York Alumni Shindig

Contact Gina to suggest venues or get involved:[email protected] or 1-800-661-2593.

October 7 & 8 — Edmonton, ABAlumni Book Club

Choice of Thursday evening (7–9 p.m.) or Fridayafternoon (1–3 p.m.) sessions. This fall’s booksare Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott, ThroughBlack Spruce by Joseph Boyden and Kalyna’sSong by Lisa Grekul.

Cost for the four sessions, including the threebooks, is $60. Please register in advance by calling780-492-3224 or e-mail [email protected]. Go to www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/ alumni and clickon “Education and Travel” for more information.Space is limited.

October 8 — Chicago, ILChicago Alumni Shindig

Contact Gina to suggest venues or get involved:[email protected] or 1-800-661-2593.

October 16 — Toronto, ONToronto Alumni Reception and CFL Game: Eskimos vs. Argonauts.

This annual event sells out, so register early. Enjoya pre-game reception at Wayne Gretzky’s Restaurantand sit in a section reserved for Green & Gold fansduring the game. For more information or to regis-ter, contact Cristine at 1-877-492-1059 or go towww.ualberta.ca/alumni/TorontoEsks.

October 20, 22, 27 & 29 — Edmonton, ABNavigating the Career Path

Space is limited. Please register in advance by call-ing 780-492-3224 or e-mail [email protected] to www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/alumni and clickon “Education and Travel” for more information.

November 4 — Shanghai, China Shanghai Alumni Shindig

Alumni are invited to attend this casual gatheringfor some food and a drink. Don’t miss the oppor-tunity to find other U of A graduates living inShanghai. For more information contact localalumni volunteer Carol Chen, ’98 BCom, at [email protected].

November 5 & 6 — Edmonton, ABAlumni Book Club (See October 7 & 8 for details.)

November 7 — Edmonton, ABPersonal Retirement Planning

Space is limited. Please register in advance bycalling 1-800-661-2593 / 780-492-3224 oremail [email protected]. For more informationgo to www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/alumni and clickon “Personal Retirement Planning.”

November 7 — Hong Kong30th Anniversary Celebration Dinner of the HongKong Alumni Association (UAAAHK) at the BankersClub of Hong Kong.

This group of alumni continues to be one of ourmost active alumni branches. Check out UAAAHKon Facebook, or contact local alumni volunteersTrevor Mak, ’82 BCom, ’84 MBA, or Carrie Lam,’03 BCom, for more information or to register.

November 13 — Vancouver, BCVancouver Alumni Event with President IndiraSamarasekera.

Make this Friday the 13th your lucky night! Joinus for an evening of casino fun using “Bear Bucks”to wager on various casino games and enjoy freehors d’oeuvres. Don’t know how to play? We’ll teachyou. Call 1-877-492-1059 for more informationand to pre-register.

November 14 — Calgary, ABPersonal Retirement Planning

Space is limited, please register in advance bycalling 1-800-661-2593 / 780-492-3224 oremail [email protected]. For more informationgo to www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/alumni and clickon “Education and Travel”.

November 21 — San Diego, CASan Diego Alumni Lunch

Meet fellow U of A alumni from the San Diegoarea with guest speaker Anne McLellan, ’07 LLD(Honorary), who will be talking about current U.S.-Canadian relations. For more information or toregister, contact Cristine at 1-877-492-1059 [email protected].

November 26 — Lethbridge, AB Lethbridge & District Unique Experiences Alumni Dinner

This annual event brings together alumni fromsouthern Alberta to hear an alumnus or local per-son of interest share their unique experience overa wonderful dinner. What a great way to preparefor the holiday season! For more information or toregister, contact Cristine at 1-877-492-1059 [email protected].

November 29 — Calgary, ABCalgary Alumni Event with the Grey Cup festivities

For more information or to register, contact Cristineat 1-877-492-1059 or [email protected].

November 29 — Vancouver, BC Vancouver Annual Alumni Holiday Brunch at theRoyal Vancouver Yacht Club


December 3 & 4 — Edmonton, ABAlumni Book Club (See October 7 & 8 for details.)

December 5 — Victoria, BCAnnual Alumni Holiday Tea at the FairmontEmpress Hotel.


Alumni EventsOver 100 peoplecame out for the VancouverBranch SummerGathering atWestham IslandEstate Winery onSaturday, August15. Alumni andguests toured the winery andorchards andsampled winesmade from rasp-berries, rhubarb,blackberries, and strawberries.Pictured areClaire Pitcher,’09 BSc, LeonaLuk, ’98 BA, Tim Luk, ’08 BA, Andy Chan,’08 LLB, FredSierecki, ’08LLB, CrystalBewza, and TomHauk, ’04 MSc.


’50s’50 Arthur Kowalchuk, BSc, ofCalgary, received the OutstandingAchievement Award presented bythe Gas Processing Association ofCanada (GPAC) at its annual meet-ing in Calgary in March. Arthur wasinvolved in starting a GPAC prede-cessor organization in 1959 andnow sits on GPAC’s board.

’55 Blair Mason, BA, ’56 LLB, ofCalgary, took over the post of chiefcommissioner of the Alberta HumanRights Commission this past March.

Rudy Wiebe, BA, ’60 MA, ’09 DLitt(Honorary), the author of several vol-umes of fiction and memoir, recentlyreceived a Lieutenant-Governor ofAlberta Distinguished Artist Award inrecognition of his tremendous contri-butions to the arts in Alberta.

T.W. Fraser Russell, BSc(Eng), ’58MSc, was recently selected toreceive the Lifetime Achievement inChemical Engineering PedagogicalScholarship Award. Presented by theAmerican Society for Engineering Edu -cation, this award recognizes a longcareer of scholarship that inspiresyounger educators and leads to“innovative and substantial changes”in chemical engineering. Russell isthe Allan P. Colburn Professor ofChemical Engineering at the Universityof Delaware.

’59 Irving Kipnes, BSc, ’09 LLD(Honorary), is a 2009 inductee intothe Alberta Business Hall of Fame.Irving is the director and executivechairman of Liquor Stores GP, Inc., aswell as an engineer and real estatedeveloper whose philanthropic effortshave raised millions of dollars forhealth centres, the arts and variousnon-profit organizations.

’60s’60 Lawrence Mysak, BA, ’61 BSc,of Montreal, writes that as presidentof the International Association forthe Physical Sciences of the Oceans,he will be travelling and giving lec-tures this October, beginning withthe invited Priestly Lecture at CSIROAspendale, in Melbourne, Australia;followed by the Distinguished Lectureat Hong Kong University of Scienceand Technology; and finally an invitedlecture at the Chinese Academy ofSciences in Beijing. Lawrence is oneof the U of A’s 2009 DistinguishedAlumni Award recipients and will behonoured at the Alumni RecognitionAwards on October 1 in Edmonton.

Bonnie Buxton, BA, writes to saythat she has been living in Toronto forthe past 30 years, running a smallpublishing house and writing formagazines and newspapers, includingFlare and Chatelaine. She is also anadvocate and volunteer in the fieldof fetal alcohol spectrum disorders(FASD). “Not only does our adopteddaughter have a form of FASD, butso does her nine-year-old son, whommy husband and I are raising alongwith his eight-year-old sister.” Bonnieruns a local support group, FASworldToronto (www.fasworld.com), forfamilies coping with alcohol-affectedyoungsters. In 1999, she and her hus-band began International FASDAwareness Day, which is nowobserved in several countries aroundthe world every September 9. In2004, Bonnie’s book DamagedAngels, about raising a child withFASD, was published by KnopfCanada. “I’d really like to writeanother book,” writes Bonnie, “butwith two young kids under my roof, Iam running out of energy.”

’63Margaret Chegwin, BEd, writes,“I have been living on an acreage justoutside my hometown of Wetaskiwin,AB, for the last 10 years and amenjoying an opportunity to write fora local paper, The Pipestone Flyer.”Margaret adds that she moved backto Wetaskiwin to care for her motherafter her sister, Audrey Anne (Chegwin)Freiman, ’53 Dip(Ed), ’69 BEd,passedaway in 1996. Their mother passedaway in 2007 at the age of 99.

John F. Lee, ’62 BSc, writes to say,“I am proud of my Alberta heritage,and every Canada Day theprovince’s flag can be seen wavingoutside my Queen Anne Victorian-style home in Alameda, California.”John, who retired as a publicguardian/public conservator withthe City of San Francisco in 2003,is now busy volunteering and trav-elling—and sometimes even volun-teering while travelling. He helps

out with Lions in Sight, a sub-sidiary of Lions International thatbrings eye care to those in need,and soon, John, along with 20 doctors and volunteers, will travelto a designated foreign city to helpfit approximately 1,500 peoplewith glasses in a one-week period.The work is incredibly rewarding, hesays: “Many elderly are able to seetheir grandchildren close up for thevery first time.”

On June 9, four alumni werehonoured by the City ofEdmonton at its Annual Saluteto Excellence Hall of FameInduction Ceremony: MyrnaKostash, ’65 BA, in the categoryof arts and culture; Ruth Collins-Nakai, ’72 MD, ’98 MBA, forcommunity service; and bothColbie Bell, ’94 BSc, ’01 BEd,and Arnold Martin Enger, ’57BPE, ’68 MA, for sports.

c lassnotes

Anita Jenkins (Suddaby), ’66 BEd, wrote in from Edmonton to say that in Juneshe was named an honorary lifetime member of the Editors’ Association ofCanada. She has been working as a freelance writer and editor since 1991 andhas been editing since 1974. She also says, “I am the organizer for a reunion ofresidents of Pembina Hall from 1961–63 that is going to take place onSaturday, October 3, 2009, from 3 to 6 p.m. (reception with cash bar) atAlumni House on the U of A campus (1515 Saskatchewan Drive).

“What do you remember? Missing curfew? Breakfast with the ‘guys’ atAthabasca Hall after an hour of backcombing and applying blue eye shadow?Pajama parties? We plan to have a brief program featuring memories and trib-utes, but leaving plenty of time to visit with old friends. We also hope to organ-ize at least one additional informal gathering at a local pub on Friday night,October 2.” The cost is $30 per person. To RSVP or get more information con-tact Anita at 780-474-6656 or at [email protected].

’64 JohnFerguson,BCom, ’98 LLD(Honorary),has beennamed chair-man of theboard of direc-tors to the recently-merged com-pany of Suncor Energy andPetro-Canada. John is a formerchancellor of the U of A.


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’66 Sheila Weatherill, Dip(Nu), ’89BSc(Nu), was recently appointed tothe board of directors of Shaw Com -munications, Inc.Sheila is currentlyvice chair of EPCORUtilities Inc., andshe has held a vari-ety of senior leader-ship positions within the publichealth sector, including presidentand CEO of Capital Health Region.

’67 Moses Chirambo, MD, ofMalawi, Africa, writes that he hasjust been appointed his nation’sminister of health.

’68 Richard Shuhany, BA, ofEdmonton, has been elected treasurerof the board of directors of theCanadian Lung Association. He is alsoa past chair of the Lung Associ ation ofAlberta and the Northwest Territories.

’69 Susan Tanner, BA, of Ottawa,was honoured by the United NationsAssociation of Canada at its “Cham -pions Among Us” reception in March2009 for her commitment to humanrights and the environment and “for transforming Canadian societythrough leadership and service.”Susan is the executive director ofthe Canadian Environmental Network.

’70s’70 Robert “Lynn” Ogden, BA,from Huizhou City, China, wrote inagain to further update his class notefrom last issue. Lynn says that in2002 he received a Queen ElizabethII Golden Jubilee Medal for LifetimeContributions to Business and Edu -cation in the Yukon. In 2008 theState Administration also honouredhim with the Foreign Expert Appoint -ment in Huizhou City for ForeignExperts Affairs in the fields of theEconomy and the Environment. Thisyear he has been invited to be inter-national advisor to the president ofHuizhou University to help in buildinginternational relationships betweenHuizhou University and Canadianuniversities and colleges.

’73 David Manning, BA, ’75 LLB,writes from the Big Apple that he hasjust joined the New York office of M.J.Bradley & Associates, a division ofClimate Change Capital Limited, anorganization that specializes in pol-icy, engineering and strategy work inthe energy and environment sectors.

’73 Maria Klawe, BSc, ’77 PhD,’07 DSc (Honorary), was recentlynamed to Microsoft Corporation’sboard of directors. The math whiz andDistinguished Alumni Award recipientbecame president of Harvey MuddCollege in 2006.

’75 Marnie Giesbrecht, BMus, ’88DMus, and her husband JoachimSegger, ’77 BA, ’95 DMus, gave arecital of organ duets, piano duetsand organ-piano duets, presentedby the Royal Canadian College ofOrganists at Dominion-ChalmersChurch in Ottawa this past spring.Marnie is a professor of music at theU of A, and Joachim is a professor atKing’s University College, Edmonton,as well as an adjunct professor ofpiano at the U of A.

’75 Ann Matheson (Bradley), BEd,writes from her home in Whitby,ON, toinform us of the opening of the Cana -dian Medical Hall of Fame’s MediaTheatre in honour of her late fatherJohn E. Bradley, ’40 MD, ’72 LLD(Honorary). Formerly a bank vault, thesmall theatre within the organiza-tion’s headquarters in London, ON,


Jay Ingram, ’67 BSc, was recentlyappointed a Member of the Orderof Canada. The co-host ofDiscovery Channel’s Daily Planet,he was recognized for his out-standing accomplishments as ascience broadcaster. Jay is also a1996 recipient of the U of AAlumni Association’s DistinguishedAlumni Award.

See olive your old friends.

Event Info: (780) 492-3224, toll-free 1-800-661-2593

www.ualberta.ca/alumni/reunion

for details & to register online.

Alumni Weekend • October 1- 4, 2009

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4

� Golden GradsBreakfastFor those who graduatedin 1959 or earlier8:30 a.m., Shaw Confere -nce Centre, $25/person

� UniversityOrchestra inConcert2:00 p.m., Convocation Hall,$15/person

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3

� SaturdayScholars SeriesSix top-notch speakersare featured. See nextpage for details.

� Faculty Events,Open Houses

� Campus Tours

� Alumni Dinner6:00 p.m., Shaw ConferenceCentre, $60/person

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2

� What the Heckis Pecha Kucha?Join us for a high-energyshowcase of urban art, visual stimulation andlively conversation. 7:00 p.m., SUB, $6/person.

� Faculty FridayReceptions, Tours & OpenHouses hosted by variousfaculties.

� Campus Tours

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1

� Alumni RecognitionAwards Ceremony& ReceptionCelebrate the accomplish-ments of 30 outstanding University of Alberta graduates at this inspiringevent. After the ceremony,meet the recipients andother alumni at a compli-mentary reception.


Daniel Ma, ’76 BSc, wrote in from Edmonton to say that hisson, Ryan Ma, ’04 BPE, ’04 BEd, has spent the last four-and-a-half years teaching in various countries, including Englandand Australia, while also travelling around the world, prima-rily in southeast Asia. “Ryan is currently dodging kangaroosor trying to out-swim man-eating sharks, while also carryingon his teaching career in Melbourne, Australia,” says Daniel.“He writes the Friday and Saturday night game blurbs atwww.rotoworld.com and contributes a few columns there. His online work can also be found at the hockey-themed web-site www.dobberhockey.com. Ryan welcomes any remarks onhis articles and is happy to share his experiences on teachingoutside Canada to anyone needing the information.” Ryan canbe reached at [email protected].

The College of Pharmacists and theAlberta Pharmacists Associa tionrecently named Noreen Vanderburgh,’79 BSc(Pharm), the M.J. HustonPharmacist of the Year for providingfirst-rate patient care. Rita Lyster, ’80BSc(Pharm), received the WyethConsumer Healthcare Bowl of Hygeiafor her dedication to the profession andthe community, and Sheri Koshman,’00 BSc(Pharm), received the WyethApothecary Award, which recognizesprofessional achievement throughadvanced learning.

allows visitors to explore an interac-tive history of Canadian medicine andCanada’s medical heroes. John wasexecutive director of the GlenroseProvincial Hospital from 1964 to1972 and developed it into a majorresource for the treatment of handi-capped and emotionally disturbedchildren. He was inducted into theCanadian Medical Hall of Fame in2001 and is a 2003 recipient of theU of A’s Alumni Award of Excellence.

’75 Greg Krischke, BPE, was onquite the winning streak in May. The

mayor of Leduc, AB, was one of fiverecipients of the inaugural Lieutenant-Governor’s Leadership for ActiveCommunities Award. The award wascreated to recognize leaders andorganizations that promote “activeliving” in their communities. Gregreceived the award for his work promoting the construction of trails,and safer playgrounds, and for spear-heading $50 million in improvementsto the Leduc Recreation Centre, whichwill be completed this fall. Greg,who is married to Jo-Anne Krischke

(Sparhsatt), ’72 Dip(Nu), recentlyalso “won” a weight-loss contest byshedding some 62 pounds, a total, henotes, that is equal to the weight ofthe couple’s nine-year-old grandson.

’76 Alexander L. “Sandy” Darling,MEd, writes in from Dundas, ON, tosay, “After working at the U of A forseven years, I became registrar atMcMaster University and spent mylast 11-and-a-half years there as vice-president (administration). I alsospent five months as acting vice-principal at Queen’s, and I spent

another five years as vice-presidentfor planning and administration atThe American University in Cairo. Inow consult and do most of my workfrom home.”

Judy Sommer, BEd, ’07 MEd, has justtaken on the mantle of principal at theJack Stuart School in Camrose, AB.

’77 Douglas McCallum, LLB, wasthe recipient of the Law Society ofAlberta’s 2009 DistinguishedService Award for pro bono legalservice. Other alumni awardees

Relish the ThoughtSaturday Scholars Series Saturday, October 3 • U of A Campus • FREE unless otherwise notedAdvance tickets are required for both free and paid lectures. For more information and tickets visit www.ualberta.ca/alumni/reunion orcall 780-492-3224 or 1-800-661-2593

� “Unraveling the Puzzle ofAlzheimer's Disease”— Dr. Jack Jhamandas

� “Our Food System &Chronic Disease — Causeor Cure?” — Dr. G. HarveyAnderson

� The E.L. Empey Lecture: “A Troubling Time forFamily Finances” — Roger Sauvé

� “Transculturality & theCanadian Mosaic” — Dr. Paul Dubé

� 4th Annual Hurtig Lecture:“Them & Us: Nationalism'sDangerous Attraction” — Neil Macdonald ($10)

� “Public Health in the 21stCentury — Returning to itsRoots” — Dr. Sylvie Stachenko11

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were Anne S. de Villars, ’78 LLB,for service to the profession, and J. Alan Bryan, ’58 BA, ’59 LLB, forservice to the community.

’78 Jack H. Hole, BSc(ChemEng),of Edmonton, was elected presidentof Ducks Unlimited Canada at itsnational board of directors meetingheld in Ottawa in June.

Jeffrey C. Lozon, MHSA, of Oakville,ON, was recently appointed presidentand CEO of Revera Inc. He is the former president and CEO of St.Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Susan McDaniel, PhD, was recentlyappointed director of the PrenticeInstitute for Global Population andEconomy at the University ofLethbridge. Previously, she was asenior scholar at the Institute ofPublic and International Affairs anda professor at the University of Utah.

Katherine Tsang, BCom, wasappointed chairperson of StandardChartered Bank’s Greater Chinaoperations in August. She has servedas the bank’s CEO for China’s main-land since January 2005.

’80s’80 Kerry Day, LLB, a member ofthe Alumni Council, recently joinedthe firm of Bennett Jones LLP in theirEdmonton office.

Don Casey, BSc, was recentlyappointed vice-president, revenuemanagement, of American Airlines.Prior to joining American Airlines in2000, he was the senior vice-presi-dent of planning at Canadian Airlines.

Tim Wiles, BCom, formerly deputyminister of Alberta Seniors andCommunity Supports, was appointeddeputy minister of Alberta Financeand Enterprise on July 8.

John Kennelly, PhD, has been reap-pointed to a second five-year termas dean of the U of A’s Faculty ofAgricultural, Life and EnvironmentalSciences. John has held the job since2004 and joined the U of A facultyin 1980, where his own research hasfocused on dairy cattle nutrition.

’81 Dan Peacocke, BPE, ’87 MA,was recently named head hockeycoach at Concordia UniversityCollege in Alberta. Dan has more

than 25 years of coaching experi-ence at both the post-secondaryand professional levels, in Canadaand around the world.

’82 Maxwell Girvan, BCom, wasrecently elected director of the CalgaryBoard of Education Staff Association.

Suzanne Bizon, BCom, writes to say,“Four years after graduating from theU of A, I obtained my law degreefrom UBC and practiced as a litigatorin Vancouver for 18 years. I havenow returned to the business worldas the owner and operator of PilotBay Guest House on GabriolaIsland, BC (close to Nanaimo). I’vealready had some great U of Agrads as guests and would love tosee more of you.” You can reachSuzanne at 250-247-7867 orwww.PilotBayGuestHouse.com.

’83 David Keohane, BEd, officiallystarted his new job as the superin-tendent of the Greater St. AlbertCatholic School Division in Albertathis past July.

Mel Kassian, BCom, was recentlyappointed president of Regent EnergyGroup. Mel is also company directorand part owner of the Regent Energygroup of companies, which providessand control services to the heavyoil and gas industry.

Marv Machura,BA, ’90 MEd,has justreleased a newalbum, his thirdin six years.Warm SummerNight features nine new guitarrecordings on such Western-Canadian subjects as bush parties,buffalo skinners, winter blizzards,oil-patch romance and Cree-hauntedwoods. Marv describes this album, a mix of rock, blues, country andfolk, as “a big, 1970s-soundingrecording” that captures the“cadence of a time when warm summer nights were not clouded by Blackberries and Facebook.” Formore information about the albumvisit www.marvmachura.com.

Jutta McAdam, BEd, ’87 Dip(Ed), ’95MEd, formerly of St. Albert, AB, writesthat she and husband Clay “havemoved to beautiful Lake Chapala inMexico, where we enjoy year-round

fine weather, the company of manyexpatriate Canadians and plenty ofcultural happenings.”

’84 Conny Kappler, BSc(Ag), writesfrom Medicine Hat, AB, that she is

now back on the family farmstarting up a U-pick operation.

E.J. “Eldon” Simpson, LLB, ofPeace River, has been appointedto a five-year term as assistantchief judge for the Provincial Courtof Alberta’s northern region. Eldon

has served on the bench since 2003.

Wayne Lui, BSc, of Reading, UK,writes that he and partner MeganWatson, ’87 BCom, have just movedback to England after spending sixyears working for BG Group in Egyptand, most recently, Kazakhstan.

’85 Patricia Paone, BA, ’88BSc(Nu), ’94 MNurs, of Ottawa, hasbeen the manager of employeehealth services for Canadian BloodServices since 2002 and is currentlya mentor for nurses writing for theiroccupational health nursing certifi-cation. Patricia is also a member ofthe Canadian Nurses AssociationCompetency Testing Committee foroccupational health nurses.


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Stealing a private moment during theAlumni Association’s Halifax HarbourCruise, alumnus David Mensink, ’82MEd, ’87 PhD, proposed to his girl-friend Christine Moore. The weatherwas rainy and a bit blustery, but Davidcoaxed Christine out on deck, wherehe popped the big question. Afteward,the damp and disheveled—but veryhappy—couple celebrated the occa-sion with the rest of the 28 U of Aalumni on board the Harbour Queen.


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’85 Eugene Creighton, LLB, a veteran Calgary lawyer, was recentlyappointed as a provincial court judgeand will preside over cases in theCalgary Regional Division.

’86 Greg Gazin, BCom, received theToastmasters International PresidentialCitation in August in recognition of hisoutstanding achievements in repre-senting the goals and ideals ofToastmasters International. A techcolumnist, blogger and podcaster,Greg is known as the “Gadget Guy”and has penned more than 1,000articles for Sun Media, Canoe.ca andEdmontonians and has appeared onnumerous radio and TV programs.

Larry Ruud, BSc(Ag), ’88 MSc, direc-tor of Viterra Inc., the largest graincompany in Canada, was recentlynamed president and CEO of OneEarth Farms, a large-scale, fully-inte-grated corporate farming entity,which intends to have operations onFirst Nations farmland in the Prairieprovinces.

’87 Marc Croteau, BA, wasrecently appointed head of consult-ing, portfolio management solutions,at COMIT SA in Geneva, Switzerland.

John Kozole, BA, was recentlyappointed president and CEO of TheAlberta New Home WarrantyProgram. John joined the program in2007 as chief operating officer, andprior to that he worked with a part-ner to develop Willow SpringsEstates in Calgary.

’88 Mike de Jong, LLB, wasappointed B.C. attorney generalafter being re-elected as MLA in theriding of Abbotsford West in therecent provincial elections.

Patrick Lusk, BSc, ’05 PhD, hasaccepted a faculty position at theYale School of Medicine. Patrick’sfather, Bill, wrote in from Edmonton tosay, “Patrick is the only faculty mem-ber at Yale with a degree from theUniversity of Alberta, and after receiv-ing his doctorate in cell biology at theU ofA, he went on to RockefellerUniversity for his post graduate workwith Nobel laureate Günther Blobel.My other son, Steve, [Steve Lusk, ’00BCom,] was hired immediately aftergraduation by National Instruments(NI), a maker of process controldevices, in Austin, Texas, and a con-sistent top finisher in the 100 best

companies to work for in the USA.His employers told him they weremost impressed by his experiencesgained in the U of A’s business co-opprogram and by the overall depthand breadth of his post-secondaryeducation. He is currently director ofglobal planning for NI. The only badpart of all this is that, in all likelihood,neither boy will come back to livepermanently in Canada.”

Hemanta Sarma, PhD, is the newchairman of the Petroleum engineer-ing Program at the Petroleum Institute,Abu Dhabi. He has moved from theAustralian School of Petroleum, Uni -versity of Adelaide, Australia, where

he was the Reg Sprigg Chair and aprofessor of petroleum engineering.

Ken Ealey, BEd, ’90 BSc, ’06 MEd,is currently working on addinganother degree to his roster: hewrites that he is enrolled as a PhDstudent at Walden University. Kenand his wife Janice Ealey, MEd ’07,make their home in Edmonton.

’89 James Barmby, MFA, took onthe role of regional dean, Shuswap-Revelstoke, of Okanagan Collegethis past August. Previously, he wasdirector of program delivery for theOpen Learning Division at ThompsonRivers University.

Zsuzsanna Ardó, ’84 BA, a writer and photographer based in London, recentlyhad a collection of her images of Roma communities in Transylvania, Romania,published in The Guardian. Zsuzsannahas photographed Roma communi-ties in Hungary, Romania, Italy andthe U.K., and her photographs of theRoma have been exhibited at gal-leries around the world. How Long Isthe Journey?, her photography bookabout the Hungarian Roma, will bepublished later this year. To see aslideshow of her photographs of the Roma, visit The Guardian’s website at:www.guardian.co.uk/society/gallery/2009/jun/16/roma-travellers-gypsies?

Peter Thompson, ’85LLB, writes from Barrie,ON, “I was recently aguest of the Parkinson’sDisease Foundation atits formal gala (Bal duPrintemps) heldat the PierreHotel next toCentral Parkin New York,where over$725,000US was raisedin one evening.”Three of Peter’s pho-tos were donated to theevent and sold for $750 each, including this one, titled “Wye River,ON.” Peter, who in addition to being a lawyer and artist is also a meanmusician, adds, “I had the good fortune to have my harmonica with meand was invited to join the house band on stage to close the evening.My friends and classmates from the U of A might get a kick out of theYouTube video featuring my impromptu and unrehearsed singing of ‘Flip,Flop and Fly/Stormy Monday.’” You can see Peter’s performance onYouTube under the title, “NYPDF Blues Peter Thompson with the PaulRichards Band at the Pierre Hotel.”

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Sheila Clegg-Lazzary, ’94 BA, writes in from Edmontonto say, “I thought you might find an opportunity to pub-lish this icon I made of The Crucifixion. It is a combina-tion of a Russian icon from the 17th Century and a Greekone from 1020 A.D. It is on oak panel with gesso base,in acrylic and 23-karat gold. I painted, or ‘wrote,’ thisicon in 2007 as a visual prayer for the four Christianskidnapped in Iraq, one of whom was executed. Last sum-mer I took a workshop with a Roman Catholic priest, DonGianluca Busi, a very talented iconographer who cameall the way from Sasso Marconi, Italy, to teach us. I nowhave a superb icon, which I co-wrote with him, of TheVladimir Mother of God (Mary and the Christ Child), fromthe original painted in Constantinople in 1421 A.D.,which is presently in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Myicon is on spruce panel with gesso base in egg temperaand 24-karat gold, done in the clay bole method, whichis burnished. I think my teacher here, MariannaSavaryn, is the only person in Canada teaching in eggtempera, a method she went all the way to Italy to learnlast year. I was quite amazed as Archbishop Seraphim, the head of the Orthodox Church in Canada, requested aprivate audience with me to view it—quite an honour as I am Anglican.”

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Several U of A alumni receivedawards from Alberta Education inrecognition of their creative andinspiring work with Alberta’s kinder-garten to Grade 12 students. The2009 Provincial Excellence inTeaching Awards were handed out onMay 30 to recipients: ThomasChristensen, ’84 BEd, ’97 MEd, ofOlds Junior-Senior High School;Linda Coutts, ’85 BEd, of ForestburgSchool; Diane Fischer, ’87 BSc, ’92BEd, of Harry Ainlay School; andMarcie Syme, ’83 BEd, of George P.Nicholson School. Sherri-LynnFricker, ’94 BEd, ’04 MEd, of FortSaskatchewan Elementary School,and Trenton Lunde, ’04 BEd, ofGrant Centre Elementary School,were the recipients of the 2009SMARTer Kids Innovative Use ofTechnology Award.

’90s’90 Marty Chan, BA, of Edmonton,informs us that he’s “been up to alot of trouble over the last year.” Hisplay The Forbidden Phoenix, whichdebuted at Edmonton’s CitadelTheatre before embarking on a worldtour, has been nominated for twoSterling Awards in Edmonton andfive Dora Awards in Toronto. Martyhas also published a children’sbook, True Story, based on the truestory of his own thieving cats, Buddyand Max. For more information onhis book, turn to page 50.

’91 Howie Draper, BPE, headcoach of the U of A women’s hockeyprogram, recently received theCanadian Interuniversity SportCoach of the Year Award, the firstrecipient to have won the awardtwice. Under his leadership, thePandas won 20 out of 24 games inthe regular 2008-2009 season.

’92 Janet Gregory, BSc, co-authored the book Agile Testing: APractical Guide for Testers and AgileTeams, which was just published byAddison Wesley.

’93 Merv Bashforth, BSc(Pharm),was recently appointed president ofthe Alberta College of Pharmacistsfor the 2009-2010 term. Merv is theowner of Hinton IDA and Valley IDAin Hinton.

ToddCherniawsky,BFA, contin-ues his workin designingand directingfeature films.He is cur-rently the artdirector on Avatar, a Sci-Fi adventurewritten and directed by CanadianJames Cameron and starringSigourney Weaver.

’95 Tanya Harnett, BFA, ’02 MFA,of Lethbridge, AB, recently held asolo exhibition of her work at the ArtGallery of Regina. The show, “TanyaHarnett: Persona Grata,” featuredlarge-scale digital self portraits inwhich Tanya tried to shield herself

from the camera by covering herselfin mud, partially hiding behind ablanket, and hiding behind texturedglass, to represent certain aspectsof her persona while obscuring her“essential self.”

’96 Laura Freeman, BA, ’99 LLB,of Edmonton, was recently named apartner with Parlee McLaws LLP.

Vanessa Porteous, BFA, wasrecently named artistic director ofAlberta Theatre Projects in Calgary.She is well-known in the theatrecommunity and, over the past nineyears, her productions in Calgaryhave been nominated for 19 BettyMitchell Awards, which celebrateand honour outstanding achieve-ment in Calgary’s professional theatre community.

In Memoriam


The Alumni Association notes withsorrow the passing of the followinggraduates:

’32 John H. Knight, BSc, of NorthVancouver, BC, in April 2006

Arthur Peel Lambert, Dip(Pharm), ofMedicine Hat, AB, in January 2009

’33 Laura Ada Johnson (Ghent),Dip(Nu), of Victoria, BC, in March 2009

Harriet Elizabeth Shiels (Smith),BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, AB, in October2008

’34 Katherine Isabel Newton, BA, ofRichmond, BC, in February 2009

’35 Albert Ferdinand Rader, DDS, ofRichmond, BC, in May 2009

’36 Eleanor Mae Hall (McNair), BA, ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

Dorothy Annie Chalmers (Niddrie),BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, AB, in June 2009

’38 Norma Elizabeth Freifield, BA, ofEdmonton, AB, in March 2009

’39 Frederick Hamilton Dewdney, BA,’41 LLB, of Trail, BC, in November 2008

Isobell Sinclair, BSc, ’40 Dip(Ed), ’45BEd, of Drumheller, AB, in March 2009

’40 Allan M. Coote, BSc, of London,ON, in November 2008

Osman James Walker, BSc, ’42BSc(ChemEng), of Lansdowne, ON, inApril 2009

Eleanor Grace Everington (Cairns),BSc(HEc), of Stony Plain, AB, in January2009

Sherman A. Yelland, BSc(Ag), ofCalgary, AB, in June 2009

’41 Archie F. Bishop, BSc(Ag), of HighRiver, AB, in February 2009

Joan Evelyn Dewson (White), BA, ’44BEd, of Winnipeg, MB, in February 2009

Sidney James Cornish, BSc, ’50 MD, ofPenticton, BC, in April 2009

George Philip Scott, BSc, of Vancouver,BC, in February 2009

Mageste John Santopinto, BSc, ofCalgary, AB, in April 2009

Katherine M. G. Miller (Gordon),BSc(Nu), of Vancouver, BC, in March2009

’42 Eric Bosomworth, BSc(Ag), ofAirdrie, AB, in September 2003

Mary Josephine Crysler, Dip(Nu), ofWest Vancouver, BC, in February 2009

’43 James Allan Johnson, BCom, ofVancouver, BC, in June 2009

Gordon Hart Segall, BSc, of Toronto,ON, in June 2009

James Thomas Flynn, BSc(EngPhys), ofWaterloo, ON, in June 2009

Elfreda Louise Dorsey (Rear), Dip(Nu),of Oliver, BC, in May 2009

H. Jean Crawford (Brumwell), Dip(Nu),’45 BSc(Nu), of Vancouver, BC, in March2009

’44 Lucy Alice Rylandsholm (Heiberg),Dip(Nu), of Port Moody, BC, in June 2009

Lillian Jean Broemeling (Smith),Dip(Nu), of Provost, AB, in June 2009

Richard Eugene Harris, BSc(ChemEng),of Thornhill, ON, in June 2009

’45 Marjorie Clara Lubert (Clendenan),Dip(Nu), of Hamilton, ON, in April 2009

Alice Mary Duncan (Stewart-Irvine),BSc(HEc), ’73 MEd, of Duncan, BC, inMarch 2009

John Gregory, BSc(ChemEng), ’48 MSc,of Edmonton, AB, in May 2009

’46 Evan Maurice Wolfe, BCom, ofVancouver, BC, in May 2009

’47 Ruth Cameron Drew, BA, ofWinnipeg, MB, in November 2008

Robert Shewan Baptie, BSc(Ag), ofCalgary, AB, in May 2009

Catherine Mavis Mallabone, BEd, ’72BSc(HEc), of Canmore, AB, in April 2009

Eldon Henry Bliss, BEd, ’63 MEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

Maxine L. Larsen (Urch), Dip(Nu), ’48BSc(Nu), of Calgary, AB, in March 2009

Frank William Hoskyn, BEd, of Calgary,AB, in September 2008

’48 William Henry Stemp, BSc, ofCalgary, AB, in July 2009

Harold Park, BCom, of Kelowna, BC, inJuly 2009

Robert George Mason, BSc(ElecEng),of St. Albert, AB, in March 2009

Francis Edward Haughian, BCom, ofOttawa, ON, in February 2009

Ross Frederick McCormick, BSc, ’50BEd, of Provost, AB, in July 2009

Albert Harold Preboy, BSc(ElecEng), ofMaple Creek, SK, in June 2009

’49 James Alexander Stretton, BSc(CivEng), of Kingston, ON, in March 2009

William David Coombs, BEd, of Ottawa,ON, in May 2009

Robert Foster Scott, BSc, ’51 MD, ofDelmar, NY, in July 2009

John William Eno, BEd, of Drumheller,AB, in March 2009

Robert Cameron McGinnis, BSc(Ag),’51 MSc, of Winnipeg, MB, in July 2009

’50 Helen Viola Samuel (Moseson),BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, AB, inDecember 2008

Ivor Graham Dent, BEd, ’56 MEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in March 2009

Robert Leonard Bijou, BSc, of PincherCreek, AB, in May 2009

Vernor Winfield M. Smith, BA, ’51 LLB,of Edmonton, AB, in November 2008

Douglas Randolph Matheson, BA, ’51LLB, of Edmonton, AB, in June 2009

Rosenroll Rodney De Arthur, BCom, ofKanata, ON, in January 2009

’51 Walter Ronald Ross, BEd, ’54BCom, of Calgary, AB, in April 2009

James Alfred Barnes, BSc(ElecEng), ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Evan Dehlin Erickson, DDS, ofLethbridge, AB, in April 2009

Gavin Arthur Kemp, BSc(Ag), ofVictoria, BC, in March 2009

Stanley Keith Newman, BSc(Ag), ofEdmonton, AB, in May 2009

Alex Sacuta, BSc(ChemEng), ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

’52 Laura Minerva Bracco (Louhela),Dip(Ed), ’73 BEd, ’83 Dip(Ed), of HarvieHeights, AB, in June 2009

Nikalojus Novosickis, DDS, of Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, in March 2009

’53 Irene Bertha Godberson,Dip(Ed), ’64BEd, of Barrhead, AB, in February 2009

Norma Rosina Casselman, Dip(Ed), ’56BEd,of Medicine Hat, AB, in October 2008

George Stefanik, BSc, ’55 MD, of LosAngeles, CA, in September 2008

Darol James Wigham, BSc, of Calgary,AB, in April 2009

’54 Margaret Goldie Eyben (Arnett),Dip(PHNu), of Vermilion, AB, in May 2009

Victoria Olia Shewchuk, Dip(Ed), ’83BEd, of Edmonton, AB, in October 2008

’55 Peter Edward Den Hartog, BSc(PetEng), of Calgary, AB, in April 2009

Thomas Slobodin, BSc(Pharm), ofMedicine Hat, AB, in March 2009

Emil John Becze, BSc(EngPhys), ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

’56 S. George Romaine, LLB, of St.Albert, AB, in May 2009

Louis Faber, BA, ’59 LLB, of Winnipeg,MB, in July 2009

Edna Carol Grant, Dip(Ed), of Edmonton,AB, in July 2009

’57 Edward Leonard Pearson, DDS, ofInnisfail, AB, in January 2009

’58 Charles Ernest Kaser, BSc, ofCalgary, AB, in April 2009

Edward Jack Herchuk, BSc(Pharm), ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

Eleanor Ione Damkar, Dip(Ed), ’61 BEd,of Stony Plain, AB, in April 2009

Robert B. Dryburgh, BSc(CivEng), ofBurlington, ON, in February 2009

’59 Raymond Philip Heard, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Ronald Moses Baltzan, LLB, ofEdmonton, AB, in September 2008

E. Lynne Duncan (Millar), Dip(Nu), ’73BSc(Nu), of Calgary, AB, in May 2009

John Andrew Rachert, BSc, ofWestbank, BC, in February 2009

’61 Pat Louise Nichols (Roy), BSc, ofToronto, ON, in June 2009

Darrell Clinton Hockett, BSc, ofEdmonton, AB, in July 2009

’62 Fred George F. Cartwright, BEd, ofLethbridge, AB, in April 2009

’63 Dianne Julia Storie (Ziganash),Dip(Nu), of Edmonton, AB, in April 2009

Sutcliffe Anthony Miller, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in February 2009

’64 Dieter Klaus Queck, BA, ofEdmonton, AB, in May 2009

Donald Ian Nixon, BEd, ’71 MEd, ofVictoria, BC, in June 2009

James Frederick Evans, BA, ’66 MA,’68 PhD, of Edmonton, AB, in May 2009

’65 Donald Grant Gall, MD, of Calgary,AB, in April 2009

James John Urlacher, BEd, ’72 Dip(Ed),’77 Dip(Ed), of Edmonton, AB, in May2009

’66 Binsbergen Van Duco, BA, ’69 BEd,of Annapolis Royal, NS, in April 2009

Charles Douglas Blackford, BSc, ’70MEd, ’86 Dip(Ed), of Edmonton, AB, inApril 2009

Margaret May Albiston, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Lorna Morven Miles, BSc(Pharm), ofKelowna, BC, in April 2009

’67 Albert Francis Pearce, LLB, ofCalgary, AB, in April 2009

Ardele Leone McAuley (Allison), BEd,of Calgary, AB, in June 2009

’68 Grace Christine Duthie (Robbins),Dip(Nu), of Hawera, New Zealand, inMay 2009

Emmanuel J. Kloster, BSc, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Marilyn G. Coull (Duncan), BSc, ’92BEd, ’96 MLIS, of Edmonton, AB, inMarch 2009

’69 Roger William Hill, BSc(MechEng),of Calgary, AB, in April 2009

Nestor Fred Saskiw, BEd, of Morcambe,AB, in March 2009

Margaret F. Dzenick (Calder), BEd, ’71 Dip(Ed), ’73 Dip(Ed), of St. Albert,AB, in May 2009


Robert Bruce Rains, PhD, of Carvel,AB, in May 2009

’71 Wendy Lynne Mason, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Richard Young Charlton, BCom, ofEdmonton, AB, in March 2009

James F. Conrad, BEd, of St. Paul, AB,in April 2009

George McCurdy, BEd(VocEd), ofVictoria, BC, in February 2009

’72 William Harvey Walker, BCom, ofEdmonton, AB, in May 2009

Richard Carl Miller, BEd, of StonyPlain, AB, in March 2009

Allister Scott Brekke, BSc MechEng ofEdmonton, AB, in August 2008.

Kerry Ellen Kelly (McCartney), BA, ’76Dip(Nu), of Edmonton, AB, in April 2009

Lydia Mary Luck (Susut), BEd, ofLacombe, AB, in July 2009

Adelaida Florendo Calub, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in July 2009

’73 Frederick George Elliott, BSc(Med),’75 MD, of Calgary, AB, in May 2009

Octavie Madeline L. Callihoo, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in May 2009

Bernard Denis Boisvert, BSc, of St.Albert, AB, in June 2009

Chin B. Chu, MSc, of Edmonton, AB, inApril 2009

’74 Terrance Patrick O’Connor,Dip(Ed), of Edmonton, AB, in June 2009

Benny Jimmy N. Mandrusiak, BSc, ’75Dip(Ed), ’88 MEd, of Sherwood Park, AB,in July 2009

Karl Michael Weiss, BSc(ElecEng), ’78MSc, of Kanata, ON, in June 2009

’75 William Dennis Forster, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

Wayne Alex Sulyma, BEd, of Edmonton,AB, in July 2009

Genevieve Carlota Balogun, BLS, ofCalgary, AB, in April 2009

Ernest August Mengersen, BSc(Ag), ofOlds, AB, in July 2009

’76 Dennis Elroy Dube, MSc, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Marilyn Joyce Moysa, BA, of Edmonton,AB, in June 2009

Irene Agnes Fadden, BEd, of Edmonton,AB, in March 2009

’77 Evelyn Elsie Arndt, BEd, ofWestlock, AB, in July 2009

Ross Jiro Yoneda, MD, of Kamloops,BC, in May 2009

’78 Jacqueline Mary Kallal(Dumouchel), BA(RecAdmin), of Tofield,AB, in March 2009

’79 Drusilla Ann Adamyk, BSc(HEc),of Edmonton, AB, in July 2009

Normand Labrecque, BA(Spec), ofAcme, AB, in May 2009

’80 Donald Cyril Snow, BEd, ’99Dip(Ed), of St. Albert, AB, in March 2009

Robert Donald Reddick, BA, ’91BSc(Nu), ’98 MNu, of Sherwood Park,AB, in June 2009

Kathryn Mae McQueen, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

Vera Jeannette Mazurenko, BSc(HEc),of Edmonton, AB, in March 2009

’81 Janet Elizabeth Biggs (Avery), BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, AB, in April 2009

Douglas Joseph Miluch, BSc(ElecEng),of Burnaby, BC, in July 2009

’83 Audrey Eileen Costigan, BA, ’98BEd, of Edmonton, AB, in May 2009

’84 Therese V. Craig, PhD, of Adrian,MI, in September 2008

’85 Denise Ann Gramlich, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

’86 Douglas Vernon Miller, BSc, ofSherwood Park, AB, in January 2009

Lois Rae Newsham, BA, of Victoria, BC,in May 2009

’87 Karen Ann Harvey, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

’88 Peter Rollo Willette, BSc(CivEng),of St. Albert, AB, in May 2009

’91 Gary David Kraft, BSc(MetEng), ofFruitvale, BC, in January 2009

’92 Jacqueline Weir, MSc, ofGoodwood, ON, in April 2009

’93 Sheila Vanessa Hughes, BA, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Christina Lynne Bryan, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in April 2009

Thomas Christopher L. McDonald,BCom, of Edmonton, AB, in July 2009

’94 Bradley David Koberstein, BSc(MechEng), of Edmonton, AB, in May2009

’95 Todd Gary Jones, BA, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

’99 Dale Masson, BSc(Env/Cons), ’04LLB, of Calgary, AB, in June 2009

’00 Cary Lynn McMaster, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in May 2009

’02 Mark Nelson Barker, BA, ofGibbons, AB, in April 2009

’04 Reagan Landry, BEd, ofEdmonton, AB, in June 2009

Bridget Roseann Bolton, BSc(Nu), ofSt. Albert, AB, in March 2009

***Alumni interested in submittingremembrances about U of A graduates can send a text file [email protected]. Tributes areposted on the “Memory Lane” webpage at www.ualberta.ca/alumni.

’97 Paul Gross, BA, will be playinga devilish mystery man in theupcoming ABC television seriesEastwick. Based on the John Updikenovel, The Witches of Eastwick, theshow stars Rebecca Romijn andLindsay Price. Eastwick, which isfilmed in Los Angeles, debuts this falland is set to air in Canada on CTV.

Steve Blackman, LLB, serves as awriter and co-executive producer forPrivate Practice, a spin-off of thehighly popular ABC series, Grey’sAnatomy.

’98 Darcie Roach, BCom, wasrecently named nominating chair of the board of directors of theEdmonton YMCA.

Monique Despins (Gruszczynski),BEd, writes from Calgary that she isthe mother of two, the wife of apolice officer, and is now workingwith the Calgary Board of Education.

Three U of A alumni were recentlynamed to Canada’s Top 40 Under40 list, a national award managedby Caldwell Partners Internationalthat celebrates the achievementsof young Canadians. Those hon-oured include: Steven Koles,’92 BCom, president and CEO of Hemisphere GPS in Calgary;Marlo Raynolds, ’99 PhD, exec-utive director of the Calgary-based Pembina Institute; andShane Fildes, ’93 BCom, head ofBMO Capital Markets CanadianEnergy Group in Calgary.

’99 Ken Bautista, BEd, and busi-ness partner Jason Suriano, ’03 MA,were the winners of this year’s TECEdmonton Venture prize for theirinteractive game “Seek Your OwnProof,” which uses websites, mobilephones and real-world locations toengage kids in the Central Institutefor Exploration to explore the past,present and future. Jason joinedKen’s company Hotrocket in 2004,and the two designers have workedwith partners that include the TELUSWorld of Science, the Royal TyrrellMuseum and the Government ofAlberta, just to name a few.Bautista is now the lead interactivestrategist at RED The Agency, whichacquired Hotrocket in June 2008.

’00s’01 Raj Sharma, LLB, was therecipient of the 2009 Access toJustice Award presented by LegalAid Alberta, which recognizeslawyers who have demonstrated ahigh level of commitment to provid-ing quality legal services to clientsof legal aid.

Lara Oberg-Stenson, BCom, wasrecently promoted to senior man-ager at BDO Dunwoody LLP, whereshe provides tax and accountingservices to personal and corporatetax clients.

’02 Anna Primiani, BEd, anEdmonton substitute teacher, spentearly May at the Cannes Interna -tional Film Festival promoting theworld premiere of the film She CouldBe You, in which she portrays real-life Florida woman Kathy Longo whois searching for her missing daughter.

Kyle Samaratunga, BEd, has beenappointed head coach of Montreal’sConcordia University men’s soccerteam. Kyle played with the U of AGolden Bears from 1999 to 2003 andhas coached soccer at several levels,including with the Edmonton Drillers.

’03 Caroline Clouqueur (LaFlèche), BDes, and husbandMatthieu Clouqueur, ’04 PhD, ofMunich, Germany, write in that theirson Antoine P.A. Clouqueur wasborn on November 13, 2007.

Mark Haroun, BA, was honouredwith a Rosie at the 35th AnnualAlberta Film and Television Awardson May 2. He won in the categoryBest Screenwriter in a Drama Over30 Minutes for his work on the CBCtelevision drama Heartland.

Owen Dawkins, BEd, is headingback to his alma mater as the newhead coach of the Golden Bearsand Pandas wrestling programs. Hereturns to the U of A after serving asthe head coach for the LakeheadUniversity Thunderwolves in ThunderBay, ON, for the past four years.

Joshua Nichols, BA, ’04 MA, hasjust completed his PhD inPhilosophy at the University ofToronto and is now a SSHRC post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Lawat the University of Victoria.

The TD Insurance Meloche Monnex home and auto insurance program is underwritten by SECURITY NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY and distributed by Meloche Monnex Insurance and Financial Services Inc. in Québec and by Meloche Monnex Financial Services Inc. in the rest of Canada.

Due to provincial legislation, our auto insurance program is not offered in British Columbia, Manitoba or Saskatchewan.*No purchase required. Contest ends on January 16, 2010. Skill-testing question required. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Complete contest rules available at www.melochemonnex.com.

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Cary Williams, BCom, of Edmonton,moved to Edward Jones in January2009, after working for almost fiveyears as a product manager with J. Ennis Fabrics. In his free time, Cary is active in the Edmonton artscommunity, working to create alocal branch of artsScene, anational organization that bringstogether young business profes-sionals interested in growing thearts and creative industries in theircities. He’s also the co-chair of theCity’s Next Gen committee, whichhas teamed up with the U of AOffice of Alumni Affairs to bringPetcha Kucha Night 5 to Edmonton.Explains Cary, “Petcha Kucha nights

were developed in Tokyo in 2003 toallow designers, architects andother young creative types to pres-ent their work in a quick, simple andexciting format. Edmonton was thefirst Canadian city west of Torontoto host a night, and it’s fifth oneshould be really exciting.” For moreabout Petcha Kucha Night 5 visit:www.edmontonnextgen.ca.

Paul-André Gauthier, PhD, wasrecently awarded the medalChevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade.Presented by the Ontario section ofthe Assemblée Parlementaire de laFrancophonie (APF). This distinctionhonours individuals who have madean outstanding contribution to the

ideals of the APF: promoting inter-cultural dialogue in the world’sFrench-speaking countries andcommunities. A nursing profes-sor at Collège Boréal, he is alsoa member of the RegisteredNurses Association of Ontario.

’04 Blake Phillips, MBA, ’04MFor, received one of two presti-gious research scholarships fromCanadian Securities InstituteResearch Founda tion this past spring.The scholarship (valued at $25,000)will support his PhD research at theU of A School of Business. Blake’sresearch examines the effect of cor-porate risk management as it relatesto oil and gas producers.

’05 Audrey Giles, PhD, wrote infrom Ottawa to say that she wasrecently granted tenure and pro-moted to associate professor in theSchool of Human Kinetics at theUniversity of Ottawa. Her researchcontinues to focus on the intersec-tions of culture and physical activityin Canada’s North, and she can bereached at [email protected].

’07 Tara Whitten, BSc, captured asilver medal in the inaugural women’somnium at the track cycling world

championships inPruszkow, Poland, in

March. The omniumincludes five events:two time trials, ascratch race, individ-ual pursuit and a

points race. A graduatestudent at the U of A, Tara

has only been competing at theinternational level for two years.

’08 Byron Wakeling, BCom,writes that since graduating fromthe school of business in December2007, he has been working as asales rep with Xerox.

Darren Achtymichuk, ’08 BSc(Eng), was one of twostudent winners of Google Earth’s KML in Researchcontest. His entry in the international contest waspraised for being “an interesting example of visualizingmultiple types of information, which is something KMLexcels at.” KML is a file format used to display geo-graphic data in browsers such as Google Earth.Darren’s winning entry used KML code to visualize theamount of traffic on mass transit bus systems in orderto optimize bus routes and scheduling.R

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The Department of Entomology (responsible for this picture)was formed in 1922. The department was discontinued in

1994, and its functions and staff were moved into the Departmentof Biological Sciences in the Faculty of Science.

But entomology was once a department of the Faculty ofAgriculture, itself now called the Faculty of Agricultural, Life andEnvironmental Sciences. Formed in 1911 under the name of theCollege of Agriculture (it became a faculty in 1915), it becamethe home of the first electron microscope on campus, a micro-scope that enabled its users to take detailed pictures, includingthe one you see here.

A year after the entomology department was formed, it organ-ized the first grasshopper control campaign. This $248,000 pro-gram was estimated to have resulted in savings of more than $18million to western farmers. Likewise, research done in the Facultyof Agricultural, Life and Environmental Science has contributedvastly to Alberta agriculture. Alas, there is no longer a farm on themain campus to remind everyone of the faculty’s presence—itmoved to the South Campus in 1930.

However, even with crops no longer grown, cattle no longergrazing and pigs no longer parading on campus, the Aggies stillmanage to make their presence known, particularly during theAgriculture Club’s week of celebration in November, at whichtime horses and wagons make a return to campus and studentsfrom all faculties line up for tickets to Bar None, the annual danceand general letting-loose, which is now more than 40 years oldand is arguably the most popular social event on campus.**

*All correct answers will be put into a hat, and one lucky winner will be drawn at random. Just tell us what kind of bug you think it is.Send your entry to Bug Out, University of Alberta Alumni Affairs,Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Ave., Edmonton, AB. T5J 4P6, or e-mail [email protected].

**The Faculty will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2015. To preparefor that event, it is requested that anyone having any Bar None memora-bilia, reflections or remembrances that they wish to share—and that willlater be archived—send them to Bar None Time, The Agricultural Club,2-14 Ag-For Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H1.For more information or details contact Reg Norby at 780-436-0590 or [email protected].

Tell us what kind of bug is pictured here and you could win a global positioning system*


Bug Out Bug Out

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When Edmonton Was Young

Tony Cashman Leslie Latta-Guthrie, ForewordThirty-four light-hearted tales (circa 1910 –1950) are told by this popular historian, broadcaster, and long-time Edmontonian.

B&W photographs

The Algal BowlOverfertilization of the World’s Freshwaters and EstuariesDavid W. Schindler & John R. Vallentyne

Eminent water experts examine the global threat of cultural eutrophication (nutrient pollution) and potential solutions.

B&W photographs, colour section, maps

We Are All Treaty People Prairie EssaysRoger Epp

Provocative essays explore the poetry and political economy of life in Canada’s rural West.

A Son of the Fur Trade The Memoirs of Johnny GrantJohn Francis Grant Gerhard J. Ens, Editor

Johnny Grant (1833–1907), Métis, fur trader, rancher, and Riel-Resistance participant, documented his historical northwest Canadian-US experiences.

B&W photographs, maps, genealogical appendices

All True Things

A History of the University of Alberta, 1908–2008Rod Macleod Jim Edwards, PC, Foreword

This critical institutional history marks the University of Alberta’s centennial.

B&W photographs

Imagining Science Art, Science, and Social ChangeSean Caulfield & Timothy Caulfield, Editors

Artists, scientists, and social commentators engage the thorny issue of biotechnology using a collaborative, positive approach.

New York Book Show, Scholarly & Professional Category (Best Book Overall)The Alcuin Society Prose Non Fiction, Illustrated (Honourable Mention)

In Bed with the Word Reading, Spirituality, and Cultural PoliticsDaniel Coleman

How can reading be deeply personal yet fundamentally social? Coleman examines philosophical and spiritual aspects of reading.

The Meteorites of Alberta

Anthony J. Whyte Chris Herd, ForewordIn-depth examinations into the science and history behind sixteen major Alberta meteorite falls and finds.

B&W photographs with colour section, charts, graphs

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EDMONTON CANADA www.mba.net

FULL-TIME, PART-TIME, EXECUTIVE, FORT MCMURRAY, FAST TRACK MBA FOR BUSINESS GRADUATESSpecializations in:Natural Resources, Energy & EnvironmentTechnology CommercializationFinance, International BusinessPublic Policy & ManagementLeisure & Sports Management

2009/10 Study Tours: France, China, Germany,Austria, Norway, and Columbia

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