SUMMER 2009 the Magazine of the University of British Columbia
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24 The Magazine of The University of British Columbia TrekSUMMER 2009 PUBLISHED BY The University of British Columbia Alumni Association Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40063528 Trek24 tabLE OF CONTENTS EDITOR IN CHIEF Christopher Petty, mfa’86 MANAGING EDITOR Vanessa Clarke ART DIRECTOR Keith Leinweber CONTRIBUTORS Michael Awmack, ba’01 14 One Man’s Journey with Parkinson’s By Adrienne Watt Adrienne Watt BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ian Smith orders his legs to move. They don’t always obey. CHAIR Ian Robertson, BSc’86, BA’88, MBA, MA VICE CHAIR Miranda Lam, LLB’02 By Melissa Ashman TREASURER Robin Elliott, BCom’65 17 Brain Research Breakthroughs MEMBERS-AT-LARGE (06-09) Big happenings at one of Canada’s leading neuroscience research institutes. Aderita Guerreiro, BA’77 Mark Mawhinney, BA’94 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE (07-10) 18 The Conductor of the Cellist of Sarajevo By John Vigna Don Dalik, BCom, LLB’76 Dallas Leung, BCom’94 Award-winning author Steven Galloway on the painstaking process of writing a novel. MEMBERS-AT-LARGE (08-11) Brent Cameron, BA, MBA’06 Marsha Walden, BCom’80 21 Short Game Advisor is Long on Experience By Jody Jacob Ernest Yee, BA’83, MA’87 Golfer Bill McGhee, 89, is the latest addition to the UBC Okanagan golf team. PAST CHAIR (08-09) Doug Robinson, BCom’71, LLB’72 SENIOR ADMINISTRATION REP (08-09) 22 To Make the World a Better Place By Herb Rosengarten & Henry Chong Stephen Owen, MBA, LLB’72, LLM Brian Sullivan, AB, MPH A love of science, and each other, took two UBC grads around the world. AMS REP (09-10) Tom Dvorak CONVOCATION SENATE REP (08-09) 25 No Handmaiden of Medicine By Lissa Cowan Chris Gorman, BA’99 Ethel Johns helped make nursing a profession, then helped build UBC’s nursing program. YOUNG ALUMNI REP (08-09) Carmen Lee, BA’01 OKANAGAN REP (08-09) 28 Life is Long and Art is Short By Robin Laurence Catherine Comben, BA’67 APPOINTMENT TO BOARD (08-09) Painting is like breathing for artist Gordon Smith. But he’s not happy with his work. Rod Hoffmeister, BA’67 APPOINTMENT TO BOARD (09-10) 32 University Town By Chris Petty Ian Warner, BCom’69 EX-OFFICIO We revisit UTown and find the view quite charming. PRESIDENT, UBC Stephen Toope, ab, llb and bcl, phd PRESIDEnt’S DESIGNATE 34 Little Known Facts about UBC Barbara Miles, ba, postgrad certificate in ed. CHANCELLOR, UBC Prepare to raise your eyebrows. Sarah Morgan-Silvester, bcom’82 ASSOCIATE VP, ALUMNI / EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Marie Earl, ab, mla Trek Magazine (formerly the UBC Alumni Chronicle) is 5 Take Note published three times a year by the UBC Alumni Association and distributed free of charge to UBC alumni and friends. Opinions expressed in the magazine do not 13 Letters to the Editor necessarily reflect the views of the Alumni Association or the university. Address correspondence to: The Editor, 38 Alumni News UBC Alumni Affairs, 6251 Cecil Green Park Road, Vancouver, bc, Canada v6t 1z1 40 Class Acts e-mail to [email protected] Letters published at the editor’s discretion and may be edited for space. Contact the editor for advertising rates. 42 Books CONTACT NUMBERS AT UBC Address Changes 604.822.8921 via e-mail [email protected] 44 T-Bird News Alumni Association 604.822.3313 toll free 800.883.3088 Trek Editor 604.822.8914 47 In Memoriam UBC Info Line 604.822.4636 Belkin Gallery 604.822.2759 Bookstore 604.822.2665 Chan Centre 604.822.2697 Frederic Wood Theatre 604.822.2678 Museum of Anthropology 604.822.5087 Volume 64, Number 2 | Printed in Canada by Mitchell Press Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40063528 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Cover image: Opalescent Nudibranch Records Department (Hermissenda crassicornis) photographed by UBC Development Office Suite 500 Calvin Hass, BASc’98, during Alumni Weekend 5950 University Boulevard at a Broughton Point tidepooling event. Vancouver, bc v6t 1z3 Opposite: UBC alumni, family and friends enjoyed the Botanical Garden canopy tour at Cert no. SW-COC-002226 Alumni Weekend in May. Photo: Kellan Higgins. 2 Trek Summer 2009 Summer 2009 Trek 3 Tapping into Safe Water Travel advisories for many developing take note countries typically warn us not to drink local tap water. Many Canadians would be surprised to know that that such advice is also applicable to areas of Canada. In fact, six million Canadians can’t get clean water from their domestic taps. This has major health repercussions 24 that dwarf headline-grabbers such as the 2000 BABIES, Walkerton tragedy in Ontario, when seven people died as a result of E. coli contaminating the water supply. FRENCH FRIES AND “Health Canada says that unsafe drinking water causes 90,000 illnesses and 90 deaths every year. That’s the equivalent of 13 Walkerton THE OPALESCENT NUDIBRANCH tragedies,” says water purification systems specialist Madjid Mohseni. “Water quality in 1,700 small and rural communities across Canada, some as close as half an hour drive from a major metropolitan area, can be as bad, or worse, than that in developing countries. For example, nearly 100 First Nations communities live under permanent boil-water advisories.” The image on the cover of this issue of Trek Magazine is of a marine slug People sometimes ask why we don’t have photos of important people Even urban areas such as Vancouver, which called the Opalescent Nudibranch. It was taken during Alumni Weekend on our covers: big donors, exceptional researchers, top students. Our has high-quality and closely monitored water by alumnus Calvin Hass, BASc’98, at the tidepooling event presented by problem here is twofold: how on earth could we ever pick one exceptional supplies, are not immune to boil-water UBC biology professor Chris Harley. There isn’t an article about the slug person over another, and how could we be sure to get a spectacular advisories. But outlying communities lacking With the help of a functional MRI scanner, Kalina Christoff in this issue, nor is there one about Chris Harley, although he would be picture? Nothing’s worse than a magazine cover with a bad snapshot of observes what happens in the brain when we daydream. comparable infrastructure and resources are the a good topic for an upcoming issue. There is a pictorial presentation some VIP. We did have an important person on our cover once: Amy most susceptible to contamination. More than about Alumni Weekend on page 36, but the slug isn’t really a featured Gyori, BSN’06, on issue #15, who had just graduated at UBCO’s first Dream On default network is associated with routine, 75 per cent of Canada’s water treatment performer there either. convocation. The photo was OK, but Amy had such a triumphant look Daydreaming is often associated with straightforward thinking, and its executive facilities are based in rural areas. “We simply The decision on cover images is always a difficult one. William on her face we thought it captured an important moment of university idleness: a wandering mind failing to concentrate network with more complex thought processes. cannot afford to allow the existing challenges Randolph Hearst insisted that his magazines have compelling images on life. It’s still one of my favourite covers. on the task at hand, the lazy sprawl of an The study showed both networks were active to exclude millions of our citizens from access their covers (“a pretty girl, a happy family or a cute dog”) to make it Some of our covers come from a commercial stock collection and cost undisciplined brain. However, a UBC study when subjects were daydreaming. “This is a to a vital requirement for their survival and more likely that potential readers would pick them up at the newsstand. upwards of a thousand dollars (#18, for instance, the face of an older shows that daydreaming causes increased surprising finding,” says Christoff. “Until now, advancement,” says Mohseni, an associate Over the years we’ve tried hard to make our covers interesting. We’ve swimmer). Some come from a UBC collection and cost nothing (#21, activity in certain areas of the brain, including we thought they operated on an either-or basis; professor in chemical and biological engineering. had historical photos, a baby (#2), an actor from the 1930s, a running from the University Vault). Some come from the university archives (#s 3 those associated with complex problem solving. when one was activated the other was thought “All Canadians have the right to easily access skeleton, a seahorse, an oil painting, a tree illustration with people as and 22, for example), and some come serendipitously (#s 4, 5 and 11). “This study shows our brains are very active to be dormant.” The less aware a subject was of clean water, regardless of where they live.” roots, a little girl in a bunny mask and a plate of french fried potatoes, And some, like the one from #23, come from talented people who work when we daydream, much more active than his or her mind wandering, the more active Mohseni is part of a 14-member team from among others. We always hope we’ll find an image that has some on the magazine. when we focus on routine tasks,” says psychology were both brain networks. seven universities working to develop the relationship to an article in the mag, even if it’s just a Take Note, but it’s We chose the photo of the slug because we thought it was a great professor Kalina Christoff, lead author. The study results, and the fact that the technology to remedy this situation.