Alumni Gazette WESTERN’S ALUMNI MAGAZINE SINCE 1939 ARE WE ALONE? OUR INTERSTELLAR EXPERTS TACKLE THE BIG QUESTIONS FALL | 2019 A NIGHT LIKE THIS Dance/electronic duo Loud Luxury – Andrew Fedyk, BA’15, (Political Science), and Joe Depace, BA’14 (Popular Music Studies) – met through a DJ club at Western in 2012. Just six years later, their song Body (feat. Brando) was a smash hit, capturing the 2018 Much Music Video Award for ‘Best Song of the Summer’ and topping charts around the world. In March, they opened the Juno Awards in London, alongside the Western Mustang Band and Western Mustang Cheerleaders, and nabbed four nominations, winning ‘Dance Recording of the Year.’ Aug. 29 saw the pair kick off their first-ever headlining North American tour, Nights Like This, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (FRANK NEUFELD PHOTO, BLOCK PARTY MUSIC FESTIVAL, LONDON, ONTARIO, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018) 14, SEPTEMBER ONTARIO, LONDON, MUSIC FESTIVAL, PARTY BLOCK NEUFELD PHOTO, (FRANK Contents 6 In Brief 8 Moments An exciting benefit for you 10 Wizard of Words 13 Crossword (our first ever!) 14 Allies anchor Arsenault as a Western University 18 Cover Story: Are we alone? 24 Meet Western’s new President 28 The first gig graduate 31 Homecoming 2019 34 Speaking volumes by listening Get preferred rates and coverage 36 Serving up success 38 Northern Tornadoes Project that fits your needs. 40 Lessons of bravery, compassion 42 A new model of learning 46 Class Notes Take advantage of your Graduate benefits. You save with You have access to the TD Insurance Meloche Monnex program. This means you can get preferred insurance preferred rates on a wide range of home, condo, renter’s and car insurance rates. coverage that can be customized for your needs. For over 65 years, TD Insurance has been helping Canadians find quality insurance solutions. Feel confident your coverage fits your needs. Get a quote now. Insurance program recommended by STAY AWHILE Following major renovations to the interior of University College, the HOME | CAR | CONDO | TRAVEL laneway in front has been refreshed and repurposed to prioritize pedestrians. The greener space provides seating for socializing, outdoor learning and promotes health and wellness. Get a quote and see how much you could save ! Call 1-888-589-5656 alumnigazette.ca ANDERSON) STEVEN BY (PHOTO or go to www.tdinsurance.com/western The TD Insurance Meloche Monnex program is underwritten by SECURITY NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY. It is distributed by Meloche Monnex Insurance and Financial Services, Inc. in Québec, by Meloche Monnex Financial Services Inc. in Ontario, and by TD Insurance Direct Agency Inc. in the rest of Canada. Our address: 50 Place Crémazie, 12th Floor, Montréal, Québec H2P 1B6. Due to provincial legislation, our car and recreational ON THE COVER: (Left to right) Matthew Cross, PhD’17, Csilla Orgel, Melissa Battler, PhD’13, and Hans Van t’ Woud insurance program is not offered in British Columbia, Manitoba or Saskatchewan. Wide Horizons Solution® travel insurance is administered by RSA simulate a Mars landing mission in the Utah desert. Battler was supervised by Institute for Earth and Space Exploration Travel Insurance Inc. and is underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada. Medical and claims assistance, claims payment and Director Gordon ‘Oz’ Osinski during the Mars Desert Research Station project. (Photo by Jim Urquhart/Reuters) administrative services are provided by the administrator described in the insurance policies. All trade-marks are the property of their respective owners. ® The TD logo and other TD trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. 4 | alumnigazette.ca Fall 2019 | 5 In Brief SMOKE-FREE CAMPUS As of July 1, Western became smoke-free, a milestone marking the final step in a three- NEW POST-SURGERY PROTOCOL CUTS OPIOID phrase, 18-month plan to create a healthier, cleaner campus. The first step created a PRESCRIPTIONS IN HALF 10-metre smoke-free space around all build- ings, while step two limited smoking to des- Deaths from opioid overdoses have become one of the most common ignated areas. Western continues to offer injury-related deaths in North America, home to the highest per capita rate supports to campus community smokers of opioid prescription in the world. Recognizing the role opioid prescribing looking to quit. plays in the national opioid crisis, a team of researchers at Western and A GIANT BEAVER TALE OF EXTINCTION Lawson Health Research Institute has developed a new clinical protocol called STOP Narcotics. The Standardization of Outpatient Procedure About 10,000 years ago, giant beavers roamed the North American (STOP) protocol includes patient and health-care provider education and continent, along with now-extinct woolly mammoths and mast- emphasizes non-opioid pain control. Results show providers were able to odons. Now, for the first time, a study led by Western researcher reduce the overall amount of opioids prescribed after general surgery by and alumna Tessa Plint, BA’12, MSc’17, has uncovered a possible 50 per cent while still adequately treating a patient’s post-operative pain. reason the giant beaver also went extinct at the end of the last Ice Age: its vanishing food source. The research shows these enor- mous rodents, weighing as much as 100 kilograms, ate submerged aquatic plants but did not eat wood – a distinct (and perhaps dead- ly) divergence from its dentally endowed descendant. The study attracted international media coverage, including The REPORT ADVOCATES FOR Daily Mail, PBS News, The New York Post and Smithsonian magazine. 6 ft ADOPTIVE PARENT LEAVE An Argument in Favour of EI Attachment Benefits, 5 ft MAKING AN IMPAKT a new report led by Philosophy and Women’s 4 ft Studies & Feminist Research professor Carolyn Unique in North America, Western’s new McLeod, makes the case that Canada should of- Imaging Pathogens of Knowledge Transla- 3 ft fer the same paid leave to adoptive parents – 15 tion (ImPaKT) facility officially opened in weeks at a rate of 55 per cent of average weekly July. The facility houses a cutting-edge suite 2 ft earnings – as received by women after giving of imaging equipment within a high-lev- birth. While the report highlights the needs of el containment environment allowing 1 ft adoptive parents to bond with their children, researchers unprecedented ability to in- its main intent is to draw attention to children’s vestigate infectious pathogens like HIV, 0 ft need to attach to their new families. Staph A and Zika Virus. Modern Beaver Justin Bieber Giant Beaver (Average Human) 6 | alumnigazette.ca Fall 2019 | 7 Western Moments Alumni Gazette Fall 2019 (ISSN 1189-6272) EXECUTIVE EDITOR Marcia Steyaert, BA’96 (King’s) ASSISTANT EDITOR EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS Keri Ferguson On Oct. 19, Western celebrated the close of DIRECTOR, Be Extraordinary, the University’s largest ever EDITORIAL SERVICES fundraising campaign, which raised more than Jason Winders, $805 million ($55 million over goal), with the MES’10, PHD’16 most significant portion of funds directed to PUBLISHER student programming and awards. Terry Rice, BFA’98, MA’00 DESIGNER Rob Potter ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Chris Amyot, Advertising Representative, Western Publications t: 519.434.9990 e: [email protected] The Alumni Gazette is published by the Department of Communications & Public Affairs in partnership with Western Alumni and the Department of Alumni WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Relations & Development. A new podcast hosted by Western’s inaugural Alice Munro For publication dates or Chair in Creativity and award-winning novelist Nino Ricci to make submissions, features faculty who demonstrate creativity lies at the contact the editor at 519.661.2111 ext. 85467, heart of innovation. Find Who Do You Think You Are? on email at steyaert@uwo. Apple Podcasts, Google Music, Spotify or at ca. Forward change of uwo.ca/podcasts/who-do-you-think-you are. address information to [email protected] or call (local) 519.661.4176 or (toll-free) 1.800.420.7519. Printed in Canada. Publication Agreement RD #40069342 WESTERN’S 23 CHANCELLOR Correspondence and Linda Hasenfratz, BSc’89, MBA’97, LLD’19, return Undeliverable Linamar Corporation CEO, has been named Canadian Addresses to: Western’s 23rd Chancellor. She will be officially Western University, installed on Oct. 22. Suite 360, Westminster Hall, London, ON N6A 3K7 Read the Gazette online at: www.alumnigazette.ca GIFT HONOURS FORMER PRESIDENT MUSTANGS ROCK THE JUNOS MARVEL-LOUS NEWS FOR IVEY GRAD In October, former Western Chancellor Jack Cowin On March 17, more than 125 Western Mustang Simu Liu, HBA’11, is set to star in Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend (left), BA’64, LLD’00, and his wife Sharon, BA’64, Band members and cheerleaders joined alumni of the Ten Rings, coming to theatres in 2021. The former accountant’s donated $5 million to support Western Engineering, duo Loud Luxury and Sarah McLachlan to acting career gained momentum through his successful roles on CBC’s Kim’s and to name the Amit Chakma Engineering Building open the 2019 Juno Awards, broadcast live Convenience and NBC’s Taken. in honour of their friend and the university’s 10th from London. President (right). 8 | alumnigazette.ca Fall 2019 | 9 ill Nediger is a puzzling guy. Obsessed with solving crosswords atW an early age, he created his first puzzle at 10. “I’m sure it was pretty terrible,” Nediger said, recalling THERE’S NO SUCH the scores of graph paper ruined, “THING AS CHEATING AT as he erased away his penciling early on, honing his craft. CROSSWORDS, BECAUSE But practice paid off. YOU’RE COMPETING At 16, the New York Times – home AGAINST YOURSELF of the world’s most famous cross- word – accepted one of his puz- AND WHATEVER YOUR zles.