The RootThe UTS ALUMNI MAGAZINe • SPRING 2012 An Interview with Jim Fleck ’49 The ArT of The TeAcher • 2011 AnnuAl Alumni dinner • REmembrAnce Day Us t AA Mark Your Calendars Board of Directors Art and Music nights President Friday, april 27, 2012 John B. A. Wilkinson ’78 5:00 p.m. – Junior Café Bleu 416-947-5010 5:30 p.m. – Annual Art Exhibition and Reception Vice-President 6:30 p.m. – Junior Music Night Mark Opashinov ’88 416-865-7873 Saturday, april 28, 2012 Past President 5:30 p.m. – Annual Art Exhibition and Reception Peter Neilson ’71 6:30 p.m. – Senior Music Night 416-214-5431 9:30 p.m. – Senior Café Bleu t reasurer For more information, contact Judy Kay (music) at [email protected] or Bob Cumming ’65 416-978-6802 or Charlie Pullen (art) at [email protected] 416-926-0944 s ecretary WedneSday, May 30, 2012 Nina Coutinho ’04 647-284-3701 Contents Jim Slotta Us t AA Annual General Meeting Honorary President 6:00 p.m. in the UTS Library Rosemary Evans Mark Your Calendars 2 Contact: [email protected] 416-946-5334 A serendipitous Life Honorary Bits & Pieces 4 An interview with Jim Fleck ’49: entrepreneur, Vice-President professor, and philanthropist. .......................... 12 Saturday, June 9, 2012 Rick Parsons President’s Report 8 337 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps 416-978-3684 Centennial Celebration Directors Principal’s Message 9 Don Ainslie ’84 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Varsity Arena, Toronto 416-910-9360 UTS Board Report 10 t he Art of the teacher Alumni, veterans, students, and staff are invited to attend as the Annual Ceremonial Jonathan Bitidis ’99 Advancement Report 11 We asked alumni who had become teachers to Parade returns to Varsity Arena for the first time in 40 years! 416-703-7918 For more information, contact Captain Warren Ralph ’71 at share their stories: here’s what they had to say. ............ 17 Don Borthwick ’54 Annual Alumni Dinner 20 [email protected] or 416-901-8123. 705-436-3452 Remembrance Day 31 Aaron Chan ’94 tueSday, June 19, 2012 416-788-5566 Alumni news Us t AA Golf tournament George V. Crawford ’72 On the cover: Jim Fleck ’49 in the Rotman School of Management’s Fleck Atrium Join us at St. Andrew’s Valley for our 17th Annual Tournament. 416-499-0090 All the latest in the lives of your classmates, Photography: Cover, Jim Fleck interview, and Branching including In Memoriam and tributes to the lives Tee-offs from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Aaron Dantowitz ’91 Out, Jamie Day Fleck; Remembrance Day and Annual Contact: [email protected] or call 416-978-3919 for more information. 416-465-4827 Alumni Dinner, Victor Yeung. of five distinguished alumni. ........................... 22 Robert Duncan ’95 Looking Back background: © iStockphoto.com/Peter 416-809-2488 Zelei Saturday, OctOber 13, 2012 Peter Frost ’63 Our thanks to this issue’s contributors: Don Borthwick ’54, Alex Chung ’12, Nina Coutinho ’04, Alumni Dinner and Awards 416-867-2035 Martha Drake, Rosemary Evans, Bob Lord ’58, Michelle Special Anniversary Year Celebrations 1937, 1942, 1947, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, Penny Harbin ’78 Liu, John Lynch ’59, Michael Macaulay, Joseph B. McArthur ’46, Lily McGregor, Tom MacMillan ’67, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007 416-691-9793 Maria Niño-Soto, Warren Ralph ’71, Jane Rimmer, All years are welcome! Oliver Jerschow ’92 Diana Shepherd ’80, Lindsay Stollery, Tori Stollery, Ian Sturdee ’59, Tibor Szandtner ’59, John Wilkinson ’78, UTS Hall of Fame Inductees will be honoured. The fourth H.J. Crawford Award will be 416-691-5725 Marilyn Verghis ’12, and Carole Zamroutian. presented and the recipient honoured. Guests will also have an opportunity to visit the Emily Rix ’96 Editor: Diana Shepherd ’80 University of Toronto Schools Alumni Association F TORON UTS Open House during the day. More information TBA. 416-447-6340 O TO Y Design: PageWave Graphics Inc. IT S 371 Bloor Street West, Room 121, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R7 S C H R Location TBA. 5:30 p.m. – Reception; 6:30 p.m. – Awards Ceremony and Dinner. O E Phone: 416-978-3919 Fax: 416-971-2354 Jennifer Suess ’94 Printed in Canada by Colour Systems Inc. V O I L N S E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.utschools.ca/alumni Registration will open in April at: www.utschools.ca/rsvp 416-654-2391 U V E S L Contact: email [email protected] or call 416-978-3919 U U Published Spring and Fall, The Root is available to all alumni, parents and friends of UTS. T M Philip Weiner ’01 A AR R Contact us at the above addresses to receive a copy or to change your address. BOR ITA 647-262-6247 The issue is also available at: www.utschools.ca/root Bits & Pieces A Compendium of noteworthy utS tidbitS Letter from the editor A Walk in the Rainforest and then shared and discussed with if we could be surrounded by interactive Welcome to the For the past year, UTS science teacher the entire group. Maria and Michelle images and, working with teammates, be THE new Root! You may Dr. Maria Niño-Soto worked with faced challenges with the technology given the chance to explore and use our RootTHE UTS ALUMNI MAGAZINE • SPRING 2012 have noticed there’s OISE Ph.D. candidate Michelle Lui, and with the process of bringing the own experiences to create a knowledge something different Michelle’s advisor Dr. Jim Slotta, and a experience to life, but Maria points base. This is the idea at the core of this An Interview with Jim Fleck ’49 about the magazine dedicated team of researchers to develop out that: “the possibilities are endless project, and it’s one that allowed us to you’re holding in interactive technology-based activities to and the potential, incredible. We are take a walk in the rainforests of Borneo your hands; it has support the grade 11 biology curriculum. very fortunate to have the opportunity and Sumatra, beginning 200 million been redesigned by After more than a year of design and to explore these new directions here years ago through to the present day! THE ART OF THE TEACHER • 2011 ANNUAL ALUMNI DINNER • REMEMBRANCE DAY His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, presented UTS PageWave Graphics, planning, the EvoRoom fully came to life at UTS.” student Divya Santhanam with her award in Rideau Hall. the design firm that createdUniversity in the UTS SMART classroom: a room Below, Maria and Michelle reflect on Michelle Lui: In June 2011, with the of Toronto Schools 1910–2010, the equipped with SMART Boards, which the experience. help of eight dedicated UTS student The students were asked to create a Divya said. “It’s not every day you get to centennial book written by Jack Batten are interactive whiteboards that act as volunteers, we launched EvoRoom; we WWI Learning Portfolio, and this proved meet the Governor General; it’s a once- ’50. Designer Kevin Cockburn says that large touch-screen computers. In the Dr. Maria Niño-Soto: In 2008, I left behind quickly determined that the goal for to be the catalyst for Divya Santhanam’s in-a-lifetime experience.” n the main focus was to achieve a fresh EvoRoom, three large screens on each my days as a postdoc researcher at the the next version should be to improve award-winning short story “A Long new look and feel for the magazine. side of the room combined with sounds University of Guelph to pursue a career understanding of the interrelationships Forgotten Treasure.” The story won “A combination of modern sans-serif of the rainforest (including rain, bird as a high-school teacher. Little did I within the ecosystem and environmental a 2011 Governor General’s History Beyond the Classroom fonts for headings and a humanist font calls, a burbling stream of water, etc.) know I soon would be carrying out effects on the biodiversity of various Award in the Kayak Kids Illustrated “Branching Out” Mentoring Event for the articles makes for easy reading mean that students are immersed in a research again, this time in education! species. Groups of students became Challenge competition – one of just six In the “Branching Out” mentoring and navigation,” he explains. “For the simulated environment that engages The learner-teacher connection in “experts” in a certain species (e.g., such awards given annually by Canada’s program, students get an opportunity to cover logo, we’ve used the typeface them in collaborative inquiry activities. high school allows for a great deal of primates), created scenarios, and made History Society. In UTS F2, Divya learned explore career and university goals and Trajan – which has a certain timeless Using digital tablets and QR scanners – collaboration. Nevertheless, we are predictions about the effects of various about both World Wars and found the to benefit from the perspective of an strength and elegance that is appropriate which allow them to know where they limited by our resources – especially factors on the ecosystem over five years. subject matter fascinating. “[We learned older – hopefully wiser! – former UTSer, in representing the past, present, and are in the program and where to go the time we can invest in activities that From four different versions of the about] the enormous sacrifices Canadian and alumni get the satisfaction of sharing future UTS.” next – the students record information foster critical thinking and collaborative rainforest ecosystem, they determined soldiers had to make and how they their experience and knowledge with As always, this Root is packed with that is aggregated on the SMART Board learning.