TORCHTHE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA ALUMNI MAGAZINE AUTUMN 2006 Science with Kid Appeal PM40010219 PM40010219 CONTENTS AUTUMN 2006 AUTUMN TORCHTHE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA ALUMNI MAGAZINE 10 19 26 28 30 FEATURES RINGSIDE 16 NEW LEASES ON 26 LEMUR LIFE 2 SEVEN FLAMES LEARNING Researcher Lisa Gould and Remembering Peter Smith At University 101, there’s a second Madagascar’s popular primates. 3 MAILBOX chance to learn. 28 ART HOUSES 5 PRESIDENT’S 19 FROM RN TO NP Victoria College alumnus Michael PERSPECTIVE Nurse practitioners fill the care gap Audain: builder of homes, patron The Community’s University between doctors and nurses. of the arts. By David H. Turpin 20 COMMUNITIES 30 SOLO FORCE 6 BEST LIGHT THAT CLICK Phoenix Theatre product Charles The view from 2,000 feet Ross brings his one-man Star Wars The new edition of the UVic Online 8 CAMPUS | COMMUNITY trilogy to UVic. Blink and you may Community brings people togeth- Photo ID • Legacy Awards • miss the empire striking back. er, one face at a time. Rowing the Atlantic • New home for Engineering/ 22 COVER STORY: Computer Science SCIENCE WITH KID APPEAL ALUMNI LIFE In school rooms, on campus and in the news the proponents of science literacy strive to help us keep pace with discoveries. The 35 BOOKMARKS mission is serious but there’s plenty of fun to be had along the way. Victoria’s first Poet Laureate, Carla Funk • New titles 36 KEEPING IN TOUCH Notes from classmates 37 ALUMNI NEWS Association updates, photos and events On the cover: Science Venture 2006 campers (left to right) Jacob Wilson-Potter, 44 VOX ALUMNI Rory Pozzolo and Maya Pozzolo and the Taming Manhattan K’NEX set they used to learn about engi- neering concepts. Story on page 22. By Patrick White, BA ’04 Photograph by Hélène Cyr. SEVEN FLAMES | FROM THE EDITOR One of the Wise TORCH On the passing of Peter Smith, a tribute. Volume 27, Number 2 • Autumn 2006 The UVic Torch Alumni Magazine is ABOVE MY DESK, WITHIN EASY REACH, IS MY UVIC BIBLE. A MULTITUDE OF THE WISE:UVIC T published biannually in the spring and autumn Remembered was given to me the week I came to work at the university in 1997. It’s by the University of Victoria, Division of External been my trusted companion ever since. Relations and the UVic Alumni Association. Ample evidence of its value may be found in the dozens of sticky notes that it has EDITOR sprouted like little yellow dog ears. Most of them are cryptically labeled—according Mike McNeney, Dipl ’03 to an editor’s hurried, unscientific methods—for future reference. ART DIRECTION AND PRODUCTION One of the first notes marks page 31 and says simply, in pencil: “Pearse” for Ben- Clint Hutzulak, BA ’89 Rayola Graphic Design jamin W. Pearse who died in 1902 and left $10,000 to establish a post-secondary school in Victoria, where none had existed at the time. I placed that post-it when we ADVERTISING were working a story to mark the centennial of higher education in this city. Bonnie Light, BA ’95 [email protected] Or there’s the note marked “E.B. Paul,” for the founding principal of Victoria Col- lege. We used an archive photo of him sitting in his garden, marking papers, on the ADDRESS UPDATES AND CORRECTIONS [email protected] cover of the first issue of the Torch that I edited. I had spotted the photo in another section of the book. LETTERS All correspondence to the editor will be The last note that I’ve stuck in my copy of Multitude of the Wise isn’t labeled at all. considered for publication and may be edited. It’s on a page that discusses the university’s inaugural year of classes, when 125 full- time teachers were listed in the 1963-64 course calendar (compared to the current UVic Torch Alumni Magazine PO Box 3060 roster of nearly 800 professors). Victoria, BC V8W 3R4 One of those first faculty members Fax: (250) 472-5955 E-mail: [email protected] was a hometown gentleman, an alum- nus of Victoria College, a classicist The University of Victoria is the leading Canadian research university that best integrates who had gone off to attain his doctor- rigorous scholarship, inspired teaching and real- ate from Yale. He was Peter L. Smith. life involvement in an engaging and dynamic There would be many, many ways environment. Established in 1963, the university is situated on traditional Coast Salish territory. that he would have his impact on campus life over the next four decades CHANCELLOR and more. He was a teacher (first and Ron Lou-Poy foremost), administrator, stage actor, PRESIDENT AND VICE-CHANCELLOR translator, tour guide, basketball sup- David Turpin porter, family man and dog master. VICE-PRESIDENT ACADEMIC AND PROVOST He was also an unofficial historian Jamie Cassels and the author of Multitude of the VICE-PRESIDENT RESEARCH Wise. He kept meticulous history files Martin Taylor Peter Smith, and biographies on all that was the VICE-PRESIDENT FINANCE AND OPERATIONS 1933-2006 Gayle Gorrill story of UVic, Victoria College and Vic- toria High School. VICE-PRESIDENT EXTERNAL RELATIONS Valerie Kuehne When he died from a stroke this ASSOCIATE VICE-PRESIDENT ALUMNI AND summer, it came as a bitter shock. Although he was well into his retirement years, DEVELOPMENT he remained active in the life of the university. Most recently he was a tremendous Shannon von Kaldenberg help as the members of the Victoria College Craigdarroch Castle Alumni Associa- PRESIDENT, UVIC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION tion developed and launched their new Web site. He was their go-to-guy for histori- Larry Cross, BEd ’64 cal facts, from biographies to mailing lists. Publication Mail Agreement No. 40010219 And now we take stock of what’s left. We have his wonderful book about UVic (in Return undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: addition to his others, like the most recent one on the history of flight in Victoria). Advancement Services University of Victoria We also have stacks of text, the 360 photos and the oral history tapes that he left in PO Box 3060 STN CSC the highly capable hands of the staff of UVic Archives. Victoria BC V8W 3R4 What’s lost to the university community is the witty, deep link to our history that Printed in Canada ISSN 1191-7032 Peter Smith gave us along with his collegiality. THE UVIC TORCH ONLINE This edition of our magazine is dedicated to him. www.uvic.ca/torch MIKE MCNENEY EDITOR 2 UVIC TORCH | AUTUMN 2006 MAILBOX | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR NAME THAT JUDOGA TERESA MILLS-CLARK, BSN ’83 BRUSSELS I VIEWED WITH PARTICULAR INTEREST YOUR “THROWBACK, 1965” photo in the spring 2006 edition. It first THREE CHEERS appeared in the student yearbook that year (yes, in I JUST PIRATED MY HUSBAND’S COPY OF THE TORCH the early years of UVic we did produce a year- (WE’RE BOTH ALUMNI but never met while we were book!). I am indeed the thrower in the photo, and I there) which arrived today, and read it from cover believe the judoga in the air, upside down was Don to cover. I think this version of the Torch is one of Alexander. After leaving UVic, he had an outstand- the best I’ve read in a long time. It is more spa- ing career with the RCMP, retiring as a staff cious, bright and brimming with experiences. I sergeant. He is now deceased. I’m not certain about love all the real-life ways people are incorporating all the remaining athletes in the photo, but the the globe in what they do and the passions they young man on the extreme left is Richard Crossley. have. I also love the two-page photo dedicated to I must state that the male and female members Ms. Woolstencroft’s achievements at the Para- of that Judo Club were a particularly hardy lot. As a first-degree lympics. Thanks for a good read. black belt (shodan), I did an exhibition down at the Young HEATHER BELL, BA ’97 Building (Victoria College, Lansdowne campus) in ‘63 and was HALIFAX subsequently asked to start a judo club when we all moved up to the Gordon Head campus. There we were first provided with I READ THE LATEST EDITION OF THE TORCH FROM COVER TO COVER AND one of the old unheated military shacks, with a broken window. am most impressed with it. Not only is the content very inter- Snow occasionally blew through that broken pane onto the mat esting, but the design is most pleasing. I can’t tell you how much (an old piece of canvas covering some hammock mattresses). I enjoy a clean page! Also, I really like to read an article start to Warming up for a workout certainly took on a whole new mean- finish without having to go searching it after the first page. I am ing. Ah, those were the days my friends! even going to share this issue with my husband, who is a typo- JIM LONDON, MA ’76 VICTORIA graphical designer. Usually I hide publications from him because I don’t want to hear the rant! NO PERKS HERE ARLEIGH TRAIL, MEd ’03 MY FAMILY AND I CURRENTLY LIVE IN BRUSSELS WHERE MY HUSBAND SHAWNIGAN LAKE works for the Canadian delegation to NATO, as a military senior staff officer. During our time here I have also worked at the I APPRECIATE SO MUCH RECEIVING THE TORCH AND READ IT COVER TO Canadian delegation as receptionist. I found the “Inside Tact” cover, finding the articles most interesting.