chroniclThe University of British Columbia Alumni Magazine Volume 52, Number 1e Spring, 1998 UBC's foiotball stars smother Ottawa and bring back the Vanier Cup UBC Goes International Students, faculties and researchers take UBC abroad ;v"> r *. „«*tigifes& j# jB&$& -r**»*S3!W * hW$m Brt^ MAIL^-POSTE Chronicle Features | Cuadift«Co^»illl>M^odMcwi*diemicdcipo Research news, Alumni news, profiles, | Blk Postfr-tettre 0187777197 reviews, class acts and much more Vancouver, BC Chrysler can Help* out with your driving ambition. As a recent graduate, you're on the road to achieving the best life has to offer. university undergraduates and postgraduates who have graduated or will At Chrysler, we're rewarding that kind of initiative by offering $750 toward the graduate between October 1,1995, and September 30,1998, and all currently purchase or lease of a new 1997,1998, or 1999 Chrysler car or truck (excluding, enrolled master's and doctoral students (regardless of final graduation date). Dodge Viper and Plymouth Prowler), over and above most current Chrysler From high-value subcompacts and minivans, to tough pickups and sport incentives. And, if you finance with Chrysler Credit Canada we'll defer your first utilities, we've got a vehicle that's right for you. No matter where you want three months payments!* This $750 Grad Rebate is available to all college and to go in life... we want to make sure you get there. For more information, visit your nearest Chrysler Canada Dealer. Or, hit www.chryslercanada.ca or call 1 -800-361 -3700. CHRYSLER ,, CANADA ©Official Team Sponsor On The Cover Three of the Thunderbird's stars pose with the Vanier Cup: Mark Nohra, Bob Beveridge, and Jim Cooper. All playing university football for the last time, and Cover Story •5 ^\ Whatever happend to all hoping for a shot at the big leagues. UBC's T-Bird football team carried Mike Harcourt? He's alive and photo Pat Higinbotham\Studio 54. muscle, grit and determination to this well and looking to the future year's Vanier Cup game and brought at UBC. home the ultimate prize. UBC has become, by design, an international university. And the 12 borders just keep on expanding. 16 chroniclee Universit y of British Columbia Alumni Association Editor Chris Petty •SI Assistant Editor Shari Ackerman 4 22 23 Contributors Pat Higinbotham, Deanna McLeod, Christine Norquist, m Research News The Dean's Page Alumni News Don Weils ra From bad breath to gene Forestry Dean Clark Binkley heads The new Alumni Board, branches Advertising Katie Stradwick Board of Directors tagging, UBC research up one of UBC's powerhouse reunions, great pics of the President Haig Farris BA'60, LLD'97 continues to break new ground. faculties. Credit, says Binkley, goes Achievement Dinner, Young Pest President Tricia Smith BA'80, LLB'85 Treasurer Thomas Hasker, BA'86 A short digest. to the people who work there. Alumni and mentors. Members at Largo '9S-'00 Gregory Clark, BCom'86, LLB'89 Jean Forrest, BPE'83 m Thomas Hobley, MBA'83 31 32 38 Members at Largo '97-'9» Books Class Acts Student Profiles Peter Ladner, BA'70 Don Wells, BA'89 UBC alumni write books. We try What's going on with those Meet the winner of this year's Lome Whitehead, BSc'77, MSc'80, PhD'89 to show you some of them. It's people who sat beside you in Alumni Scholarship and the Executive Director Agnes Papke, BSc(Agr)'66 Design Consultation hopeless: too many writers, too English 101? Here's the place to president of the Forestry ^^^ Chris Dahl Design Communications much talent. find out. Undergrad Society. Printed in Canada by Mitchell Press ISSN 0824-1279 Visit our website: www.alumni ubc.ca chronicle news Editorial Biologists Bust Bad Breath Why UBC Deserves Your Charity Buck he public dental Clinic at the fac­ t's an annoying part of everyone's ulty of dentistry life: the phone call that starts, "Hel­ T is open for bad breath lo, is this Mr. Petty? How are you this I tests. evening, sir?" Oh, oh. Someone wants Don Brunette, facul­ me to buy their product, subscribe to ty of dentistry associate their paper or give money to their cause. dean and oral biologist, It takes effort to be polite, and some­ explains that bad breath times even greater effort to say "no." is more than a cosmetic Few among us don't feel a need to concern; it could also give, but how do we choose among the mean illness of the liver, pleas? And how do we know the person lungs, or gastrointestinal or the organization on the other end of tract. the line isn't playing us for a sucker? To many people, fundraisers don't rank "This clinic provides an objective measure for high in the ethical hierarchy, and, right­ Ken Yaegaki leans close as Arthur Black gives a sample. ly or wrongly, their causes suffer. people concerned about their breath," says Brunette. breath," says Yaegaki. "The most com­ Universities have an additional liabili­ Air is sucked out of the patient's mon is tongue coating, gum disease or ty: "Why should I give to UBC? It already mouth using a syringe and placed into throat inflammation. Illnesses such as gets money from my taxes." Even grads the chromatograph. The clinic's director, sinusitis and some medications can also sometimes don't make the distinction be­ Ken Yaegaki of the department of oral create bad breath." tween operating funds and money needed biological and medical sciences, inter­ for scholarly activity and student aid. The clinic is BC's first breath testing prets the numeric information. clinic and is the only one in Canada to But universities produce: medical Yaegaki also sniffs the patient's use gas chromatography as a measuring breakthroughs, economic spin-offs, cultur­ breath. The patient sits behind a screen device. al development. Grads get better jobs, and exhales into a tube while Yaegaki make more money, contribute to every­ It is open Monday and Friday morn­ assesses it from the other side. one's well being. That's why your charity ings. Call 822-8028 to make appoint­ buck makes a difference. You can help "There are a variety of causes of bad ments. • fund research in a variety of areas, or you can make sure students who have the tal­ UBCers Get Honorary Degrees ent won't be denied an education because they don't have the financial resources. ine men will receive honorary ence), Stephen Throughout this issue of The Chroni­ degrees from UBC at this year's Michael Drance cle you'll see reasons why UBC deserves N spring and fall Convocations. (opthalmolgy), your consideration if you are inclined to Chief among them is David Strangway, Peter Oberlander support something with your money. Or former UBC president. (geography). take a look at page 38 and our profile on Other recipients include UBC grad Also receiv­ Bethany Jackson, winner of an Alumni John Bell, BCom'62, Canada's ambassa­ ing degrees are Association scholarship. She's just one dor to the Year of the Asia Pacific and John Spears, sec-general of the World example of the many students who need Canada's chief negotiator at the Rio Commission on Forests and Sustainable and deserve your support. The next time Earth Summit in 1992. Development; Patricio Alywin, former someone calls, think about it. • Three emeritus professors will re­ president of Chile; and Jeffrey Simpson, a — Chris Petty, editor ceive degrees: Alan Cairns (political sci­ columnist for the Globe and Mail. • 4 Chronicle Genetic Research Gets Funding Boost he Canadian Genetic Diseases Funding will be directed into a pro­ Network (CGDN) has been gram called From Genes to Therapies, an T awarded $18 million from the interdisciplinary approach to this research. federal government. CGDN is one of sev­ Other funding recipients include: eral networks within the Networks of the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network, Centres of Excellence (NCE) program to the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network, receive substantial funding. Micronet, the Institute for Robotics and New funding allows the networks to Intelligent Systems and the Protein Engi­ continue research into human genetic neering Network. disease for the next four years, and guar­ The CGDN project brings together antees funding all the way into 2005. teams from all provinces and disciplines "This award ensures that Canadian to work with universities, industry and scientists remain at the forefront in in­ government. Government awarded a to­ ternational human genetic disease re­ tal of $94.3 million to seven networks. search," says network founder professor Program information can be found Michael Hayden, founder of the Canadian Michael Hayden of medical genetics. at www.nce.gc.ca. • Genetic Diseases Network. Baby Talk More Than Meets the Mouth aby babble: real or rubbish? The researchers observed 64 babies' That is what UBC professor Janet reactions to word-object pairings, and B Werker and graduate student found their attention was focused on Christine Stager are trying to discover. matching the sound with the object. "We're interested in understanding "They're already working with a full how babies move from being sensitive to capacity," says Stager. "To get the job the sounds of language to mapping those done, some detail gets ignored." • sounds onto words," says Werker, who has spent more than 20 years studying how infants learn language. Bomke Gets Award Werker and Stager published the re­ THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. sults of their three-year study in the jour­ THIS BOTTLE IS EXTRAORDINARILY TASTY. rt Bomke has taught soil science nal Nature. Until then, researchers had in the Faculty of Agriculture no idea what information babies stored Asince 1973 and in that time has as they learned new words.