Torch 2020 Autumn.qxp_Torch 20 Autumn 2020-11-03 11:24 AM Page 1 the University of Victoria Alumni Magazine AUTUMN 2020 TORCHUVIC BUILDING BRID GES UVic researchers and alumni are using creativity and skills to bridge gaps and help our community reach the other side of the pandemic. Antibody Aces | President in Profile | From Banker to Doctor Torch 2020 Autumn.qxp_Torch 20 Autumn 2020-11-03 11:24 AM Page 2 ON CAMPUS Inspiring Works The University of Victoria’sBFA graduate exhibition, normally held at the Visual Arts building, moved online this year due to the pandemic. The online catalogue, called Suggested Serving Size, features 29 graduating students working in a variety of contemporary disciplines. “Their collective drive and commitment to their disciplines—and each other— was inspiring and gave me great hope for the future,” says supervising professor and visual arts alumnus Richard Leong (BFA ’03). Find the online catalogue at: finearts.uvic.ca/visualarts/bfa/2020/ Lucy Gudewill, Chronic (2019, charcoal on paper) Georgia Tooke, Cooking with Bambi: King Kong Ding Dong Penis Enlarger Potion (2019, video still) Torch 2020 Autumn.qxp_Torch 20 Autumn 2020-11-03 11:24 AM Page 1 Jake Hrubizna, Float (2016, photograph) Cassidy Luteijn, Portrait of a Form 1–4 (2020, acrylic on canvas) Torch 2020 Autumn.qxp_Torch 20 Autumn 2020-11-03 11:24 AM Page 2 Table of Contents UVic Torch Alumni Magazine • Autumn 2020 UVic’s ALEXANDRE BROLO has partnered with ImmunoPrecise Antibodies. 17 Features 10 Goodbye, President Cassels 17 Antibody Aces A profile of the team at ImmunoPrecise Antibodies, a 14 Building Bridges company founded by a UVic alumnus. UVic researchers and alumni are working to bridge the distance between our present and future as we face the 20 Landscapes of Injustice new realities of a pandemic world. A UVic team concludes an ambitious project to connect past and present, throwing light on the internment of Japanese Canadians. 2 UVIC TORCH AUTUMN 2020 ALEXANDRE BROLO PHOTO BY UVIC PHOTO SERVICES. COVER ILLUSTRATION BY ISIS DIANOVA. Torch 2020 Autumn.qxp_Torch 20 Autumn 2020-11-03 11:24 AM Page 3 Seeds from Flash Forest. Kelp near Haida Gwaii. 822 Departments 25 4 EDITOR’S NOTE 5 PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE BY PRESIDENT JAMIE CASSELS, QC, PRESIDENT EMERITUS 7 RINGSIDE NEWS Welcome, Kevin Hall • Flash Forest • Dishonoured by Terrence Turner 24 PRINT MATTERS New fiction by Aislinn Hunter • Cultivated by Christin Geall 26 MY DAY Allison Benner works with co-op students by day and sings through the night. 28 THE CHANGE-UP Dr. Stuart Hartsook moves from business to medicine. A new book by Christin Geall. 29 GIVING BACK Women in Engineering 30 ALUMNI LIFE/CLASS NOTES/FAREWELL 36 VOX ALUMNI Educator Jonathan Carr is on a learning journey as a teacher. 40 OFF CAMPUS Law collaboration with Bhutan. Photo by Jonathan Woods. CREDITS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOPLEFT): COURTESY OF FLASH FOREST; MARK WUNSCH; COURTESY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS UVIC TORCH AUTUMN 2020 3 Torch 2020 Autumn.qxp_Torch 20 Autumn 2020-11-03 11:24 AM Page 4 EDITOR’S NOTE The Long Game Cleve Dheensaw (BEd ‘79) is a revered local sports writer. His experience at the University of Victoria was a bridge to a long career. BY JENNY MANZER, BA ’97 ne day in the fall of 1981, Cleve Dheensaw was so many great athletes.” Vikes student Oon the UVic campus to file aMartlet story. He athletes he covered at that Olympics was a recent grad, volunteering as a writer for the included basketball players Gerald Kaza- student newspaper when not putting his education nowski and Eli Pasquale; rowers Marilyn degree to use working as a substitute teacher. Brain, Silken Laumann, Grant Main, Another former Martlet staffer, Michael D. Kevin Neufeld and Derek Porter. Dheen- Reid, was visiting that day and tipped Dheensaw saw covered several more Olympics, as off that the Times-Colonist, where he worked the well as the Commonwealth and Pan Am entertainment beat, was looking for a sports Games. writer. The paper needed someone to cover the The key to good sports writing is cen- UVic basketball teams, which were on the rise. tering the narrative on people, he says. “I Dheensaw drove to the Times-Colonist office that always feel you don’t really need to know same day to see Gordon Bell, managing editor, the sport to enjoy one of my stories. If you and presented his Martlet clippings. write about people, you draw readers CLEVE DHEENSAW “I remember they were all wrinkled and into your story who may not otherwise be accordioned and yellowed,” Dheensaw says, interested in the sport.” laughing. The Martlet had laid the foundation for his work, providing a dynamic Bell called the next day and Dheensaw was hands-on newspaper experience with deadlines and consequences. “It was a hired. He has held the job ever since, bringing great, real journalism experience that you couldn’t get anywhere else,” he readers stories of triumph and tears, of Olympic says. He learned basic newspapering, how to cover games and how to write champions made and overtime chances lost. He’s concisely in news style. “Generally, you just learned by making mistakes won multiple awards, including being inducted because the people who are editing your copy and laying out the pages and all into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. that stuff are people like you, who are just learning on the job.” One of his first big assignments at theTimes- It was a wonderful hothouse for learning. “You don’t get paid for it, so Colonist was covering the 1984 Olympic Games in passion is the only reason you’re doing it. Passion is a powerful motivator. Los Angeles. Working from Victoria, he brought us That’s what makes student newspapers so great.” stories of Vikes athletes as they excelled on the When you cheer on a team—whether in person, or watching at home at international stage, including members of the the same time as thousands of other fans—your other defining characteristics men’s Canadian basketball squad, who faced a US don’t matter. It’s about the team colours. dream team in the semi-finals that included “For those two hours, you’re in a magical place where the only thing that Michael Jordan. matters is the colour of your team and nothing else: your political differences, “That was the first time it really hit me that religious, nothing else matters for those two hours—and to me that’s the beauty UVic was the springboard, the starting ground for of sports. It can bring people together in such a strong and passionate way.” T ADDRESS UPDATES EDITOR PRESIDENT, AND CORRECTIONS Jenny Manzer, BA ’97 UVIC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION TORCH [email protected] Brian Cant, BA ’, Cert ’, MBA ’ DESIGN AND PRODUCTION LETTERS Rayola Creative Publication Mail Agreement No. Volume 40, Number 2 • Autumn The Torch welcomes mail from readers Clint Hutzulak, BA ’89 The UVic Torch Alumni Magazine is published in the spring and au- who wish to comment on anything they’ve read in the magazine. CHANCELLOR Return undeliverable Canadian addresses tumn by the University of Victoria, Division of External Relations and Correspondence may be edited for Shelagh Rogers to: the UVic Alumni Association. We acknowledge and respect the clarity and length prior to publication. Advancement Services Lkwungen-speaking peoples on whose traditional territory the uni- PRESIDENT AND VICE-CHANCELLOR University of Victoria versity stands and the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEC peoples UVic Torch Alumni Magazine Kevin Hall PO Box STN CSC whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day. PO Box STN CSC Victoria BC VW Y Victoria, BC VW Y VICE-PRESIDENT Phone: -- EXTERNAL RELATIONS Printed in Canada ISSN - Toll-free: --- Chris Horbachewski E-mail: [email protected] uvic.ca/torch 4 UVIC TORCH AUTUMN 2020 PHOTO: COURTESY OF CLEVE DHEENSAW Torch 2020 Autumn.qxp_Torch 20 Autumn 2020-11-03 11:24 AM Page 5 PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE Thank You and Farewell The University of Victoria’s seventh president reflects on the changes, challenges and shared successes during his term. BY JAMIE CASSELS, QC • PRESIDENT EMERITUS am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve ate with my own values: the importance of life- Ithe University of Victoria as its seventh presi- long and hands-on learning; relationships that are dent. It is both rewarding and humbling to think characterized by inclusiveness, equality and about all the things the UVic community has mutual respect; stewardship of the environment; achieved together over the course of my presi- and a commitment to justice. I am deeply thank- dency, even in the shadow of the global pandemic ful to be part of an institution that plays such an this past year. important role in repairing injustice to Indigenous The University of Victoria has certainly evolved peoples. I think this is why I have enjoyed coming and changed over my time as president. If you to work every day—even on the toughest of days. have visited campus lately you will have seen how During these extraordinary times, I am “The it has grown for the better with excellent infra- reminded of the importance of universities and structure and facilities. In a normal year, campus the role they play in the lives of individuals and COVID- is an absolutely bustling, lively and energizing communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown place to learn and work. that post-secondary education and research have pandemic Over the past decade, UVic has also experi- never been more important. Higher education enced the steady development of its research cul- can help to safeguard against the risk of a gener- has shown ture and intensity leading it to become one of ational setback, to gain the knowledge we need to Canada’s best research universities, all while tackle the pandemic and to create a bridge over that post- maintaining our student-centred focus that makes the canyon that we currently look across.