by Benjamin Makuch and Lucas Wisenthal, BA’03

Derek Prohar, BA’99, received the Medal of Military Valour from former Governor General Michaëlle Jean

On December 1, a Canadian flag that had been flying in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province since August 2005 was lowered for the last time, marking the official end to a decade-long Canadian Forces (CF) mission. The CF withdrew its last combat personnel from Afghanistan last July after 10 years of engaging the Taliban at the cost of 158 Canadian casualties and an estimated $18.5 billion in military expenditures. Apart from the Canadian soldiers who remain in Kabul to train Afghan National Army (ANA) units in counter-insurgency tactics as part of Canada’s final NATO commitment, the war is effectively over for the CF.

Current estimates put our Afghan war veterans at more than 20,000 – a number which reflects just how substantial the Canadian war effort has been over the last decade, making the Afghan war the largest military operation for the CF in 50 years. Some of those vets are McGill alums.

Two such veterans are Captain Joshua Makuch, BA’07, and Captain Rodrigo DeCastro, BA’05. Best friends since their time together at Montreal’s storied Black Watch Reserve Regiment, both contributed their summers to boot camp, with the hope that by the end of their four years of school they would be fully certified combat officers. Makuch and DeCastro passed with distinction and went on to serve a tour and two tours in Afghanistan respectively.

Major Derek Prohar, BA’99, enlisted in the CF after graduating from McGill. “I had a couple of options, and most of them entailed going back to school, and I really didn’t want to do that,” the Avonlea, Saskatchewan native says. “I was considering going to law school, but I wasn’t up for another four years of school, to be quite frank.”

Joshua Makuch, BA’07

For Makuch, joining the CF served to satisfy a lifelong goal that most young soldiers credit their service with. “I was young and wanted to go on an adventure.”

Makuch was an infantry officer fighting out of the remote Sperwan Ghar outpost in Kandahar Province, considered by many to be the most dangerous place on earth at the time of his service. He describes his experience as a careful balance of horror and monotony.

“War is prolonged periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror,” explains Makuch. “If we were in a down cycle for a few days, most of our time on our patrol base was spent on maintenance, defence, and security duties, as well as sleeping and planning the next cycle of operations. Even a combat operation in the most remote, insurgent-infested corner of Kandahar Province can be a mundane experience 95 percent of the time. It’s the other five percent of the time that you have to watch out for, so a lot of energy is consumed fighting off that boredom and remaining alert.

“It’s easy to stay focused in the middle of a firefight,” says Makuch. “It’s less easy when you’ve been trudging through the heat and dust, climbing over walls and through wadis [dry valleys] for a week, wearing a ton of gear and ammo.”

Vigilance was paramount for survival in those circumstances: villagers spotted in the distance on motorcycles holding walkie-talkies might be insurgents, while a bump in the road might be hiding an improvised explosive device (IED).

“You have to stay alert and watch for those subtle combat indicators, because when it pops, it really pops. It can go from zero to chaos in a fraction of a second, and the next four hours of your life are spent surviving on adrenaline, trying to impose your will on that chaos.”

DeCastro served as the aide-de-camp to the task force commander in Kandahar City, after his first tour in Maywand District training the ANA. Marching through Taliban controlled towns in Maywand District during his first tour, DeCastro lived with the threat of constant IED attacks on foot patrols or Humvee rides. “People and planning [make the difference],” DeCastro says. “While war movies glorify the war part of the business, very few place any emphasis on the preparation and planning that goes on. Very little that takes place is spontaneous. At the same time of my tour, one of the most dangerous things is to become complacent or predictable. The unofficial motto for my team became, ‘Evolve or Die.’”

When Prohar decided on army life over further academics, he packed his bags for St. Jean, Quebec, where he underwent basic officer training. The following September, Prohar was posted to Gagetown, New Brunswick, where he completed his occupational training. And in August 2001, he was sent to Edmonton, Alberta to begin serving as a platoon commander in the Third Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, or 3 PPCLI.

A month later, while he and his company took part in a training program in Wales, the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon unfolded. Prohar knew immediately that 3 PPCLI—which NATO had designated a high-readiness unit—would likely be deployed for Afghanistan. And they soon were.

“You don’t expect something like that to happen, but you train for it,” Prohar says. “In that respect, all of us were, I guess, lucky to be a part of that unit at the time it was. We were excited.”

Prohar arrived at Kandahar Airfield on February 7, 2002 for his first six-month tour. “It was austere,” he says. “There were very few amenities.”

His work consisted largely of ensuring that he and his platoon were ready for combat. “A lot of what I had to do on a daily basis wasn’t so much worry about war-fighting, if you will, or either getting shot at or doing the shooting,” Prohar says. “Most of what I had to deal with was man management—making sure guys were taken care of and the mission was [clear] and the equipment was taken care of. For every hour or two you spend in the field, five or six are spent beforehand preparing.”

“We went up, and over the course of a month, we cleared out enemies. We did a whole bunch of stuff that, really, a much larger group should have been tasked with.”

That September, while working as a liaison officer with the United States Special Forces, Prohar was wounded by an IED during an enemy ambush. Prohar, the rear machine gunner on the battalion commander’s vehicle during the attack, returned fire despite his injuries and helped the commander coordinate a successful counterattack. His actions earned him the Medal of Military Valour. Following a third tour in 2009-10, Prohar was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, an accolade presented to him by Governor General David Johnston earlier this year.

Rodrigo DeCastro, BA’05

After spending 24 months in Afghanistan, Prohar believes Canada’s troops have helped set the country on a path toward stability. “We’re very uniquely placed as a military,” he says. “We’ve positioned our soldiers in Kabul to help train the military. The security situation is where we can help out.”

Makuch worries about Afghanistan’s future.

“I’m concerned that the ethnic and tribal tensions will boil over into a civil war,” he says. “And that the Afghan government will be incapable of keeping the insurgents at bay while ambiguous support from players inside Pakistan will rejuvenate the insurgency post-NATO involvement.”

DeCastro is more optimistic.

“If we believe that there needs to be an Afghan solution to the Afghan ‘problem,’ then we should leave the matter to the Afghans. Still, I also believe, that our time in Afghanistan created conditions for the infiltration of change agents much more powerful than NATO – technology like television, cell phones, and the internet.”

But even DeCastro is aware of the sobering reality that Afghanistan may yet be in store for a continued war.

“I am hopeful that Afghanistan will find its footing. But I’m also concerned that I’m too optimistic,” he adds.

DeCastro and Makuch returned to Canada with contrasting plans for the future. Makuch will be leaving the CF this coming summer to return to civilian life, while DeCastro will remain with Her Majesty’s Forces for another five years.

For Makuch his time in Sperwan Ghar will probably be his last tour in uniform. “After seven months in Afghanistan, I aged seven years, and I think with that experience comes a bit of perspective.” He is looking forward to his post-military life.

Prohar now lives in Toronto, where he is working toward a master’s degree in defense studies at the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College. He hopes to return to military service, ideally commanding a platoon, after he completes his thesis. “I had originally joined, not for the fun of it, but it was a five-year or four-year contract, so I figured I could do that before I realized what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he says. But he soon realized that the military drew “very smart, very intelligent, very forward-thinking people” – the kind of people who can make a real difference in the world.

“I don’t see any other organizations right now that have that sort of thing.”

World public speaking champion Joe McGrade (Photo: Owen Egan)

Joe McGrade, U2 economics, is not afraid to argue unpopular viewpoints before large groups of strangers. In the past year, the McGill debater has contended, for example, that politicians ought to be able to mislead the public. And he’s done it with zeal.

“Some people have things that they do, and I speak,” McGrade says.

During the holiday break preceding the beginning of this semester, that penchant for public speaking took McGrade to Manila, Philippines, where he competed in the World Universities Debating Championship. He and his debating partner, Emma O’Rourke-Friel, placed 47th out of the more than 350 teams that hailed from more than 40 countries – the highest ranking of any Canadian entrants. Even more impressive, McGrade bested 70 competitors to clinch first place in the event’s public speaking competition.

McGrade’s days as a debater date back to the seventh grade. “I always enjoyed speaking, and so I just kept with it through high school, doing Model United Nations debating,” he recalls. “And then, when I got to university, the McGill Debating Union was perfect for that.”

But while McGrade was a seasoned speaker, his Model UN experience hadn’t readied him for British Parliamentary competition, in which debaters hold forth on a topic for seven minutes after preparing for just 15, as his first practice round with the team proved. “I came in there thinking, ‘I speak. I’ve been doing this for a while. I’m going to be great,’” he says. “And I just wasn’t. I couldn’t think of enough things to say. I stuttered, I stammered and I sat down without filling my time.”

His performance improved, though he admits that he still struggles with some subjects, like foreign policy. “Economics rounds are my favourite kinds of rounds—talking about the World Trade Organization, or talking about the free movement of labour, or talking about the European debt crisis,” he says.

Public speaking, however, highlights a different skillset. It’s “less about arguments and more about rhetoric,” McGrade says. “It’s about being a good speaker and being entertaining.”

To that end, in the final round of the public speaking competition at the Worlds, McGrade distinguished between “first-world problems” and “third-world problems” in a speech informed by the poverty he saw in areas neighbouring the Manila hotel where he stayed—and some of the complaints voiced by his competitors about the amenities they enjoyed. Like how maybe, just maybe, some of the annoyances people from first-world countries complain about—slow elevators, uninspired breakfast buffets—aren’t really such problems at all. “I was talking about how we were really lowering the bar on what was an issue,” he says. “It was humorous. It was mocking. It was mildly satirical.”

And it landed him as the top-ranked university speaker in the world. McGrade is aware, of course, of the dread that prevents most of us from waxing eloquent in front of an audience. He is among the blessed in that regard. “I’ve never had that,” he says. “Ever.”

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The McGill Debating Union is one of the University’s oldest and most accomplished student clubs

On November 10, tens of thousands of people, mostly Quebec university students, marched to protest tuition fee increases. The largely peaceful march ended at Quebec Premier Jean Charest’s office, just outside the Roddick Gates. Shortly afterwards, 14 protestors, some of whom were masked and hooded, forced their way into the offices of the Principal and Provost in the James Building. Police officers arrived and decided to call for backup in the form of the riot police to disperse a crowd of protesters outside the James Building.

The next day, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum asked Daniel Jutras, dean of the Faculty of Law, to investigate independ-ently the events of November 10. His report will be submitted December 15 and released to the community without delay.

In this edition of “The Principal’s Perspective,” she addresses recent events. A similar message was recently sent out to the McGill campus community.

*****

Principal Heather Munroe-Blum talks to a student following a Town Hall event at McGill in the fall of 2010 (Photo: Owen Egan)

Many members of the McGill community, both on and off campus, have been upset and concerned by the events of November 10. Some have expressed the concern that McGill is moving away from being an open, tolerant and safe environment.

I am profoundly sorry that events so at odds with the culture and values of our University have happened here, and that people are hurt and upset. As Principal, I am ultimately responsible for what occurs on our campuses. The events of November 10 have served as a wake-up call for me about problems
we have with respect to how we commu-nicate, plan and interact as a community.  I commit to work with the McGill community to find solutions.

Dean of Law Daniel Jutras’s report, which will be presented to McGill’s Senate and Board of Governors and made public without delay, will provide an opportunity for further discussion and learning.

I expressed to Montreal Chief of Police Marc Parent the shock and dismay that we, the McGill community, felt as a result of the deployment of the riot squad. Given that we rely on collaboration with the police to foster a safe and secure environment at McGill, we agreed to work to improve our procedures for those rare instances where their presence on and around our campuses may be necessary.

I am encouraged by the many gestures of mutual support offered by our student groups, faculty and staff, including peaceful gatherings like the one that took place on November 14. These events show that in spite of different points of view, we all care deeply about McGill.

I also recognize how difficult the long strike was for everyone in our community—including those who walked the picket lines. The fact that the strike is over is great news. We are very pleased to have our colleagues back and to have the opportunity to work together again.

I have been meeting with students, faculty and staff to hear their experiences and recommendations to improve relations at McGill. We do not need to turn our University upside down, but we must make our University more open, more inclusive and stronger.

For nearly 200 years, McGill has stood strong by its core values of academic freedom, freedom of speech, openness, tolerance, hard work, integrity, collegiality, democracy, justice and equity. I accepted the
position as Principal of McGill, because I hold those values dear. Like so many members of this community, I believe passionately in an open, tolerant, respectful and safe environment for discussion, debate and the peaceful expression of dissent.

These values will continue to guide me—as well as the rest of McGill’s administration—in the actions and interactions we will undertake in the coming weeks and months.

Expo'67 was a smash hit thanks, in part, to the efforts of Robert Shaw, BEng’33

by Diana Grier Ayton

The March 1967 issue was full of news of Expo’67, Montreal’s memorable and hugely successful world exhibition (and technically not a “fair” as it’s generally called) marking Canada’s centennial. Montreal had beaten out Toronto to host the event with its theme of “Man and His World.”

Hundreds of McGill people – advisors, architects, contractors, doctors, engineers, businessmen, lawyers – were involved in everything from Expo’s conception to ensuring that it would open as scheduled on April 28. But the man squarely in the hot seat was McGill governor Robert Shaw, BEng’33, deputy commissioner general of Expo’67. Among the monumental tasks he oversaw were the creation of a new island and the extension of an existing one in the St. Lawrence River as well as the construction of bridges to connect them. The river bed was dredged and filler material shipped in, as the article noted, “by a seemingly endless stream of trucks moving more than one-a-minute day and night for seven months.”

Writer Duncan McLeod, BA’48, also told readers that there had been a flurry of excitement when crews were excavating the foundations of Expo buildings in 1963. McGill geologist Dr. T.H. Clark found what he thought might be a type of diamond-bearing rock. Laboratory investigation revealed it was indeed similar to rock found in South Africa, but not the real deal, and hopes for a local diamond mine were dashed.

The previous issue of the News had featured an article on a student survey of all arts and science courses published as the Course Guide. The article was written by student John Fekete, billed as executive editor of Course Guide ’66 and editor-in-chief of Course Guide ’67. The Guide was greeted with howls of protest by faculty members and apparent indifference by students. In March, the News reported that Fekete’s calls for volunteers to distribute and collect questionnaires for the next edition were largely ignored, and his editorship was threatened by a move to re-open applications for the job.

Fekete resigned and Course Guide ’67 was shelved, but in just a few short months, he would be embroiled in a McGill Daily scandal when he decided to reprint part of a satirical article describing necrophilia involving John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. This immediately prompted charges of obscene libel by Principal Rocke Robertson and the University administration against the Daily.

The controversy escalated as students felt shut out of disciplinary procedures. Hundreds of students took over the James Administration Building. Classes were cancelled and what had been a relatively minor disciplinary problem exploded into a general protest over student power within the University. In the aftermath, Fekete was disciplined for his article with a token one-week suspension. And shortly afterward, student seats were added to the McGill Board of Governors and Senate.

A partial solution to Quebec’s teacher shortage was proposed by the McGill Alumnae Society. The women graduates recognized that “there is [sic] a considerable number of married women with undergraduate degrees whose children are in school and who have time on their hands.” With the perquisites to enter a specialized course of study, they could “fill a useful position in the Canadian labour force.” The principal obstacle would be pursuing full-time study, so the Alumnae Society surveyed women graduates in the Montreal area and then persuaded McGill to set up a pilot project to establish three-year program of evening courses leading to a teaching qualification. Due to start up in September of 1967, the program would be open to men and women.

by Mark Reynolds

Ehab Abouheif, McGill's Canada Research Chair in Developmental Evolution, next to a screen image of a super soldier ant and its smaller cousin taken by Alex Wild (alexanderwild.com). Photo of Ehab Abouheif by Owen Egan.

A physically frail young male from New York is given a special scientifically formulated serum, unleashing strengths previously hidden: he becomes a super soldier, possessed of abilities only conceived of in the near-mythological past.

That is the origin story of Captain America. It is also the origin story of the Pheidole morrisi super soldier.

Pheidole morrisi is an ant, and the man who transformed its larvae into six-legged mini-Hulks is  McGill’s own Ehab Abouheif, an associate professor of biology and a Canada Research Chair in Developmental Evolution, whose easy laugh carries almost no trace of a mad scientist’s evil cackle.

Abouheif’s research interest is, broadly speaking, on the interaction between genes and the environment. Ants are an excellent species to study for that, because no matter its genetic content, the fate of any given egg depends on environmental cues – nutrition, temperature, hormones – that determine its “caste.” The Long Island, NY P. morrisi which Abouheif studies typically has three: queens, minor workers and regular soldiers.

“I spotted one day – me and my team, that is – these soldiers that were pretty monstrously large. They were more than twice the size of regular soldiers. We knew that there are species that naturally produce super soldiers, but they all exclusively live in Arizona and New Mexico.”

That the Long Island ants had the ability to develop super soldiers – which are characterized by outsized heads and horror-movie mandibles – was bizarre, especially since the super soldier ants found in Arizona and New Mexico are most useful defending colonies against army ants and fire ants – neither of which are to be found in Long Island.

Abouheif decided to see if he could reproduce the phenomena. He treated larval ants with artificially high doses of a juvenile development hormone at a critical stage of their development in which soldiers were distinguished from workers. The treatment resulted in not just soldiers, but large-headed super soldiers.

“Obviously, that means there is this hidden potential to produce them – it doesn’t express them, but it has the potential,” says Abouheif.

The next step, Abouheif explains, was to try to induce super soldiers in ants residing on other branches of the Pheidole family tree that do not produce them in nature – which he and his lab were able to do, every time.

“What this means is that one of the common ancestors had the potential to produce supersoldiers, but then lost the expression – but the potential remained locked in for at 35 to 60 million years,” explains Abouheif. Human analogues include those rare occurrences of vestigial tails, or ape-like hair – with the right environmental cues, they could reappear in any one of us.

The work has exciting implications for our understanding of our genetic potential, and Atouheif’s research was widely covered in the media – everywhere from the BBC to the World Weekly News (a supermarket tabloid best known for its probing exposés of Bat Boy and the Roswell aliens).

“It captures the imagination – the idea of the Hulk or Captain America,” says Atouheif. “Everybody wants that power. It’s the idea that it isn’t just genes, that there are factors in our environment, that maybe we can control, that can unlock these potentialities. It’s very powerful.”

JOHN M. CERINI, BA’32, at Pointe-Claire, Que., on May 13, 2011.

MILDRED BRONFMAN LANDE, BA’36, at Westmount, Que., on April 28, 2011.

SIMON GOLD, BSc’38, MDCM’40, MSc’45, at Montreal, on December 28, 2010.

EUGENE W. CHIPMAN, BSc(Agr)’39, at Kentville, N.S., on April 6, 2011.

FREDRICK CHU, MDCM’39, at Vancouver, on March 19, 2011.

DOROTHY (JACOBS) SIMAND, BA’39, MSW’71, at West Palm Beach, Fla., on July 5, 2011.

EDNA FRANCES WOOTAN, BCL’39, at Westmount, Que., on March 5, 2011.

MARCIA (MICHLIN) ZARITZKY, BA’39, at Côte Saint-Luc, Que., on July 15, 2011.

1940s

Willard Boyle (Photo: National Academy of Engineering)

Even among the gifted minds that populated the fabled Bell Laboratories in the sixties, Willard Boyle, BSc’47, MSc’48, PhD’50, was a standout. Together with collaborator George E. Smith, Boyle invented the charge-coupled device, which would pave the way for a wide range of digital imaging technologies— everything from digital cameras to the Hubble Space Telescope.  Boyle and Smith were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions. Boyle died on May 7 in Wallace, Nova Scotia.

ARTHUR (ART) HAMILTON BERUBE, BCom’40, at St. Catharines, Ont., on May 5, 2011.

KENNETH N. R. BRANDS, BEng’40, at Oakville, Ont., on June 17, 2011.

MARY FRANCES CAMERON, BA’40, at Pointe-Claire, Que., on August 5, 2011.

EDWARD (TED) JULIUS ROSEN, BSc’40, MDCM’42, at Toronto, on June 9, 2011.

MONTROY COHEN, BSc’41, at Westmount, Que., on June 14, 2011.

ENRICO DE PIERRO, BArch’41, at London, U.K., on June 25, 2011.

CONSTANCE LIVINGSTON FRIEDMAN, BSc’41, MSc’42, PhD’48, at Vancouver, on June 15, 2011.

R. HARRY JAY, BA’41, BCL’48, at Ottawa, on May 15, 2011.

RENEE C. McKAY, BA’41, at New York City, on April 16, 2011.

DONALD EDWARD DOUGLAS, BSc’42, MSc’43, PhD’45, at Montreal, on May 8, 2011.

RALPH R. HAYTER, BSc(Agr)’42, at Ottawa, on June 22, 2011.

GEORGES M. MASSON, PhD’42, at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on June 23, 2011.

HARRIET (MITCHELL) OUTHET, BA’42, at Aylmer, Que., on August 11, 2011.

DIMITRIOS (JIM) G. PANOS, BA’42, MA’44, at Port Washington, N.Y., on July 14, 2011.

G. N. RUSSELL SMART, BSc’42, PhD’45, at Allentown, Pa., on May 3, 2011.

DAVID G. GUTHRIE, BSc’43, MDCM’44, at Sainte-Foy, Que., on June 1, 2011.

DOUGLAS GRANT LOCHHEAD, BA’43, BLS’51, at Sackville, N.B., on March 15, 2011.

HERBERT SAMUEL RANDALL, MDCM’43, at Vancouver, B.C., on May 12, 2011.

ARTHUR JOHN FRANCIS AVERILL, BA’44, at Maple Ridge, B.C., on June 14, 2011.

JAMES (JIM) RICHARD STUART, BSc’44, MDCM’45, PhD’57, at Black Diamond, Alta., on June 1, 2011.

HERSCHEL VICTOR, BCom’44, LLD’10, at Westmount, Que., on May 13, 2011.

MARY E. BAKER, BSc(HEc)’45, at Saint-Lambert, Que., on July 30, 2011.

ALFRED ASSALY, BEng’46, at Montreal, on August 4, 2011.

ALFRED H. D. HAIBLEN, BEng’46, at New York City, on June 23, 2011.

GERALD S. CHARNESS, BSc’47, at Aventura, Fla., on March 13, 2011.

RENE FRANçOIS JOOSTE, MSc’47, PhD’49, at Ottawa, on April 12, 2011.

RALPH P. RANDLETT, BSc’47, MDCM’49, at Cornwall, Ont., on July 5, 2011.

JOHN BETHUNE WIGHT, BCom’47, at Montreal, on April 11, 2011.

JACK EMMANUEL ADAM, BA’48, BD’52, at Toronto, on July 13, 2011.

LEONARD L. DRUCKMAN, BSc’48, DDS’54, on August 22, 2011.

WILLIAM ARTHUR EDGE, BA’48, at Ottawa, on August 1, 2011.

PETER R. MACKELL, BA’48, BCL’51, at Montreal, on May 27, 2011.

JOHN (JOCK) HUGH MACLAREN, BSc(Agr)’48, on March 28, 2011.

IAN HERBERT MACLEAN, BCom’48, at Kelowna, B.C., on February 24, 2011.

WILLIAM (BILL) JOHN MYLES MOORE, MEng’48, at Ottawa, on May 11, 2011.

DAVID LEO NASH, BA’48, at Howick, Que., on August 4, 2011.

ERNEST A. OESTREICHER, BCom’48, on March 10, 2011.

DOUGLAS GRAHAM REID, BA’48, BLS’49, at Kissimmee, Fla., on April 7, 2011.

CHARLOTTE (GARFINKLE) STEINBERG, BSW’48, at Côte Saint-Luc, Que., on April 2, 2011.

GRACE WHITE, DipNursT&S’48, at Toronto, on March 24, 2011.

GLENN N. ADAMS, BSc’49, MSc’50, PhD’53, at Sackville, N.B., on July 26, 2011.

EVA NORMA (SINGER) BURLEY, Dip Ed’49, on March 9, 2011.

DODD Q. CHU, MDCM’49, DipIntMed’54, at Vancouver, on September 22, 2011.

JAMES THOMAS ELO, DDS’49, at Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, Que., on June 24, 2011.

ROMA ZENOVEA HAWIRKO, MSc’49, PhD’51, at Victoria, on March 4, 2011.

BERNARD NATHANSON, MDCM’49, at New York City, on February 21, 2011.

PEGGY PURVIS, BSc’49, BSc’71, at Montreal, on May 18, 2011.

JOHN A. BRUCE ROBINSON, BSc(PE)’49, DDS’53, at Saskatoon, Sask., on July 27, 2011.

WALTER SWISTON, DDS’49, at Pointe-Claire, Que., on March 17, 2011.

MILDRED BROCKLEHURST (GREENBLATT) WOODS, BA’49, at Toronto, Ont., on August 2, 2011.

1950s

BARBARA AINSLEY (CLARK) BILLINGS, BA’50, at Ottawa, on May 30, 2011.

JACQUES M. BONNEVILLE, BEng’50, at Brossard, Que., on July 13, 2011.

CLAIR ALLAN BUCKLEY, BSc(PE)’50, at Victoria, on August 20, 2011.

KENNETH (KEN) E. EADE, MSc’50, PhD’55, at Ottawa, on February 10, 2011.

MASSEY (VENDER) FLEXER, BA’50, MSW’68, at Montreal, on March 5, 2011.

JOHN MARSHAM HALLWARD, BA’50, at Montreal, on July 12, 2011.

ROBERT HERDMAN, BEng’50, at York, S.C., on March 19, 2011

AUBREY W. HUTCHISON, BSc(Agr)’50, at Toronto, on June 2, 2011.

KENNETH SHERRIFFS MORTON, MDCM’50, at Gibson, B.C., on August 13, 2011.

ROBERT JOHN SIMPSON, BEng’50, at White Rock, B.C., on March 4, 2011.

JOHN MAURICE WILLCOCK, BEng’50, at St. Augustine, Fla., on March 29, 2011.

ALBERT LEWIS BENNETT, BSW’51, MSW’52, at Ottawa, on July 22, 2010.

JULIAN CHIPMAN, BA’51, BCL’54, at Montreal, on March 29, 2011.

GEORGE E. CHIPPS, BEng’51, MEng’56, at Georgetown, Ont., on July 10, 2011.

JAMES LEWIS HEFFERNAN, MDCM’51, on January 21, 2011.

ROBERT D. HEYDING, PhD’51, at Kingston, Ont., on May 17, 2011.

ELIZABETH V. LAUTSCH, MSc’51, PhD’53, at Sun City Center, Fla., on March 14, 2011.

LOUIS (LOU) MELAMED, BEng’51, at Toronto, on February 24, 2011.

DONALD JAMES ROSS, BEng’51, at Calgary, on July 1, 2011.

CHARLES JAMES SMITH, MA’51, PhD’54, at Clarence, N.Y., on April 23, 2011.

BASIL ANDERSON SWAN, BEng’51, at Halifax, N.S., on June 28, 2011.

WOLFE FRIEDMAN, BA’52, BCL’55, at Côte Saint-Luc, Que., on April 7, 2011.

MARY HELEN OLIVE, BSc’52, in California, on June 30, 2011.

JACK (JOHN) S. SALMON, BSc(Agr)’52, at Vernon, B.C., on May 29, 2011.

RUPERT J. SMILEY, BSc(Agr)’52, at Sainte-Julie, Que., on May 27, 2011.

JAMES M. DONNELL, BSc’53, MDCM’55, at Gorham, N.H., on June 17, 2011.

DONALD JOSEPH MENARD, BSc(PE)’53, at Newmarket, Ont., on April 20, 2011.

MURRAY C. PATRICK, MDCM’53, at Fredericton, NB, on March 22, 2011.

ISRAEL AKERMAN, BEng’54, at Jerusalem, Israel, on April 5, 2010.

MARGARET ANN (PHILIP) BAGNALL, BA’54, in Ontario, on March 27, 2011.

CLAIRE W. CAMERON, BSc(HEc)’54, at Stratford, Ont., on April 22, 2011.

JOHN D. CIPERA, PhD’54, at Ottawa, on February 7, 2011.

ALBERT (TED) E. W. TRITES, MDCM’54, at Richmond, B.C., on February 22, 2011.

TERRENCE W. CROWE, BEng’55, at Calgary, on October 23, 2010.

RICHARD LEITHAM, BEng’55, DipM&BA’59, at Montreal, on April 30, 2011.

SYLVIA M. BURKINSHAW, BN’56, at Kingston, Ont., on May 1, 2011.

WILLIAM HENRY FULLER, BCom’56, at Victoria, on June 29, 2011.

EVA (BAS-KRAUS) KASHKET, BSc’56, MSc’57, at Lexington, Mass., on May 21, 2011.

THOMAS (TOM) HARRY LEGG, MSc’56, PhD’60, at Ottawa, on June 14, 2011.

EILEEN IWANICKI, BSc(HEc)’57, at Fredericton, N.B., on January 20, 2011.

J. GABRIEL NAULT, BEng’57, at Brockville, Ont., on May 31, 2011.

JAMES R. RAINFORTH, BSc(Agr)’57, MSc’60, at Beamsville, Ont., on
June 23, 2011.

PATRICIA ANNE (POWERS) CAVELL, BSc’58, on July 13, 2010.

BRUCE ALEXANDER GORDON, BCom’58, at Perth, Ont., on April 8, 2011.

COLIN DONALD GRIMSON, BA’58, MA’66, at Sherbrooke, Que., on March 28, 2011.

ROGER G. KNUDSON, MSc(A)’58, at Bethlehem, Pa., on January 13, 2011.

JOSÉ K. ROSALES, Grad Dip Medicine’58, at Calgary, on August 20, 2011.

THOMAS KENNETH (T.K.) RYMES, MA’58, PhD’68, at Ottawa, on May 14, 2011.

GEORGE CHRISTIE, DipM&BA’59, at Châteauguay, Que., on April 20, 2011.

VINCENT WILLEM KOOIMAN, BCL’59, at Ottawa, on December 19, 2010.

PHILIP HARRIS MCLARREN, BCom’59, at Victoria, on April 17, 2011.

ILYSE JOY (TAUB) SEGAL, BA’59, at Westmount, Que., on June 20, 2011.

BEATRICE (BEA) SPIEGELMANN, DipNurs T&S’59, at Calgary, on June 7, 2010.

HYLKE VAN DE WETERING, BSc(Agr)’59, MA’61, at Miami Beach, Fla., on June 24, 2011.

1960s

JACK (LEWIS) BOEKO, MSW’61, at Deerfield Beach, Fla., on March 18, 2011.

NORMAN LAURENCE (LARRY) EDE, BEng’61, at Thunder Bay, Ont., on August 3, 2011.

JOHN ANTHONY DAVIES, MSc’62, on February 1, 2011.

JOHN MILTON GATES, BSc(Agr)’62, at Kingston, RI, on March 15, 2011.

NAEMATULLAH (NAE) ISMAIL, BSc’62, at Ottawa, on September 18, 2010.

IAN O. LESLIE, BEng’62, DipMan’67, at Ottawa, on January 5, 2011.

SHIBLY ABELA, BEng’63, at Manotick, Ont., on August 4, 2011.

MARILYN FICHMAN, BA’63, at Montreal, on August 9, 2011.

HEATHER JILL DONEY, BA’65, at Edmonton, on March 11, 2011.

OLEG PODYMOW, BEng’65, at Montreal, on June 2, 2011.

VIVIAN (O’DION) CUMMINS, BA’66, MLS’73, at Ottawa, on April 11, 2011.

TERENCE H. KWIZAK, BSc’67, at Montreal, on April 8, 2011.

DOUGLASS GORDON McDOUGALL, BA’67, at Montreal, on May 15, 2011.

HANNAH (HECHT) BARENBAUM, BA’68, at San Francisco, Calif., on June 12, 2011.

MICHEL COTE, MDCM’68, at North Hatley, Que., on July 3, 2011.

MARKUS LUFT, BSc’68, at North York, Ont., on April 10, 2011.

SHIRLEY GONSHOR, BScN’68, at Montreal, on June 27, 2011.

DAVID N. LATT, BSc(Agr)’68, at Montreal, on June 20, 2011.

ROBERT S. SISCOE, BEng’68, at Sorel-Tracy, Que., on May 4, 2011.

ISAAC JOSEPH ELLISTON, BSc(Agr)’69, MBA’74, at Teaneck, N.J., on March 4, 2011.

LORENE MARIE (BARD) FREEMAN, BN’69, MSc(A)’71, at Victoria, on August 26, 2011.

GERALD E. TUCKER, MA’69, PhD’73, at Sherbrooke, Que., on April 20, 2011.

1970s

Jack Layton (photo: Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

It’s always sad to lose a gifted political leader, but the death of Jack Layton, BA’71, on August 22 was particularly wrenching, coming as it did only a few short months after he had led the NDP to unprecedented heights—103 seats in the House of Commons and Official Opposition status. Layton’s good-humoured and energetic performance in the 2011 federal election, despite his health problems,

drew widespread praise, even from political opponents. His commitment to social justice and to civility in politics were also much admired. Layton identified his former McGill professor, political philosopher Charles Taylor, as a key mentor. Taylor was an honorary pallbearer at Layton’s funeral.

PER A. V. AHLGREN, PhD’70, at Sweden, in May, 2011.

NICHOLAS MERLIN HANN, BA’70, MA’74, at Ottawa, on July 29, 2011.

NEIL A. JOHNSON, BCom’70, at Toronto, on May 16, 2011.

STEVEN H. PROPAS, BSc’70, at Toronto,  on August 2, 2011.

CHRISTOPH YING-WAI YUNG, Dip Psych’70, at Toronto, on July 4, 2011.

ALBERT J. DEVITO, BMus’71, at Alexandria, Ont., on June 19, 2011.

ANTONIN DUPONT, PhD’71, at Montreal, on December 1, 2010.

ANTHONY JOHANSEN, BCom’71, at Ottawa, on February 28, 2011.

JUDITH ABBIE H. GIBBS, MDCM’72, at Toronto, on April 6, 2011.

DONALD KINSELLA, BEd’72, MEd’75, DipHRFLEd’78, at Kirkland, Que., on July 11, 2011.

JOHN J. LAVERY, BA’73, at Gatineau, Que., on May 8, 2011.

ADAM LISIEWICZ, MSc’73, at Baltimore, Md., on April 28, 2011.

LYNN (LIONA) LEONARD-GRIFFITHS, CertEd’74, BEd’80, at Montreal, on August 9, 2011.

BARBARA GROVE, MSW’74, at Kingston, Ont., on February 6, 2011.

BRENDA (SKARF) WEINBERGER, BSc’74, at Montreal, on June 2, 2011.

FRANS VAN DUINEN, MBA’76, at Toronto, on April 10, 2011.

MICHAEL NEIL SMITH, BSc’77, at Southampton, Bermuda, on May 7, 2011.

JANA MARIE BUBENIK, BA’78, MA’85, at Council Grove, Kan., on May 24, 2011.

COLIN DONDENAZ, BA’78, on April 20, 2011.

LAWRENCE BLAIR HAMILTON, MArch’78, on April 8, 2011.

MARY ELEANOR (GATENBY) MARCHADIER, MA’78, CertProfFrench’87, on May 16, 2011.

KATHRYN SMITH, CertProfFrench’78, CertProfSpanish’01, at Montreal, on July 4, 2011.

FLORENCE FU YANG FAN CHU, MEd’79, at Montreal, on September 5, 2011.

RALPH SIEGEL, BSc’79, PhD’84, at West Orange, N.J., on September 2, 2011.

1980s

PHILIP S. AZIMOV, BSc’80, MSc(A)’82, at Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., on March 24, 2011.

PETER JOHN ASTRAUKAS, MEng’81, at Mesa, Ariz., on August 14, 2011.

EDUARDO ANDRES CAMPOS, BEng’81, MBA’83, at Guatemala City, Guatemala, on June 1, 2011.

SHIRLEY ANN FEE, MBA’81, at Westmount, Que., on June 10, 2011.

ROBERTO FRANCESCON, BEng’81, at Vancouver, on May 31, 2011.

PETER FRANCIS J. HABER, BCom’81, at Toronto, on August 18, 2011.

DOLORES VADER, BA’83, at Ottawa, on August 26, 2011.

GARY FRANKLIN NACHSHEN, BCL’87, LLB’87, at Toronto, on March 24, 2011.

STEVEN WEINTRAUB, MBA’89, at Montreal, on August 18, 2011.

1990s

DIMITRIOS DESCHESNES, MDCM’90, MedicalResident’92, at Montreal, on March 10, 2011.

RAJPATTIE PERSAUD-BILLETTE, BCL’90, LLB’90, at Montreal, on August 1, 2011.

LONA C. COLEMAN, BSc’99, MSc’01, at Phoenix, Ariz., on August 19, 2011.

2000s

O’LINDA CUFFARO, BA’01, at Saint-Laurent, Que., on July 21, 2011.

REBECCA MEREDITH S. CHAFFER, BA’11, at Pohnpei, Micronesia, on
August 6, 2011.

Faculty/Staff

MARIKA (SALAMIS) ASIMAKOPULOS, BA’60, MLS’83, CertProfItalian’91, reference librarian, McGill Libraries, at Westmount, Que., on August 12, 2011.

BRIAN BIRD, former chair, Department of Geography, at Fitch Bay, Que., on August 20, 2011.

MICHAEL (MICKEY) M. A. GOLD, BSc’40, MDCM’43, MSc’45, former director of undergraduate medical education, Jewish General Hospital, at Westmount, Que., on April 6, 2011.

MYER (BABE) HENDELMAN, BA’38, MDCM’40, DipObstetrics’48, former faculty member, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at Toronto, on July 19, 2011.

ALAN GORDON KENDALL, BSc’48, MDCM’54, former faculty member,Royal Victoria Hospital, at Pointe-Claire, Que., on March 22, 2011.

ROBERT KINCH, former chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at Montreal, on July 22, 2011.

SHENG (BOB) LIANG KWEE, BSc’68, MDCM’72, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, at Montreal, on July 7, 2011.

EVERETT COX REID, MDCM’48, former chief of urology, Montreal General Hospital, at Pointe-Claire, Que., on June 12, 2011.

CAROLINE ROBERTSON, BN’63, MSc(A)’72, former director of nursing, Montreal Neurological Institute, at Montreal, on June 25, 2011.

PEGGY ANN (STEADMAN) SANGSTER, BN’77, MSc(A)’79, former director of nursing staff development, Montreal General Hospital, at Montreal, on July 10, 2011.

HENRY JAMES SCOTT, MDCM’41, Dip Surgery’51, retired professor of surgery, at Montreal, on May 3, 2011.

VERNON RANDOLPH VICKERY, BSc(Agr)’49, MSc’57, PhD’64, emeritus curator of the Lyman Museum, at Kentville, N.S., on August 30, 2011.

Courtesy: Hans Larsson

It’s not often that old bones make worldwide headlines, but the discovery of the remains of a very peculiar-looking crocodile did just that this summer.

In the July issue of the science journal PLoS One, Hans Larsson, BSc’94, McGill’s Canada Research Chair in Vertebrate Palaeontology, and his colleagues described the long-extinct Pissarrachampsa sera crocodile, a beast shaped more like a dog than any crocodile. Previously, almost nothing was known about these crocs.

“Their fossils were hidden away in politically charged areas most researchers hadn’t been able to see,” explains Larsson. Following on the discovery of a collection of five fossils in Brazil, however, Larsson and his team (which included graduate student Felipe Montefeltro) have mapped the crocodile in extreme detail.

A member of the previously misunderstood Baurusuchia grouping of crocodiles, the creature bears no resemblance to any previously known animal.

“They were nothing like living crocodiles today,” says Larsson. “They were not amphibious, they weren’t crawling on their bellies, they didn’t have low, flat skulls, and they didn’t have a lot of teeth.”

Instead, they walked—or bounded —atop their legs, like dogs, and ate with teeth like those of a sabre-toothed tiger.

Larsson and his team have continued to explore the fossils, most recently by subjecting them to CT scans at the Jewish General Hospital. “The data is just extraordinary,” says Larsson. “We’re now reconstructing the areas inside the skull, including the brain-space, to get an idea of the size and shape of the brain. This allows us to get a sense of whether certain parts of the brain were more developed—for example, the areas for sight, or smell, or balance.” They are in the process of preparing several more articles expanding their findings, which have completely changed the science world’s understanding of Baurusuchia crocodiles.

Jesse Staniforth, BA’01, MA’03

This European spindle is one of McGill's most recognizable trees

Back in March, 1998, when Daniel McCabe was interviewing me for the position of associate editor at the McGill Reporter, little did he know that his hiring me would ignite an interest in trees that has lasted till this day.

“Got any story ideas?” he asked. In truth, I was long out of touch with the University and had few ideas. However, only the completely distracted could fail to notice that the campus trees were pretty mangled by the ice storm of January, 1998.

“Sure,” I replied. “I think there’s a good story to be told on how the campus trees are faring three months after the storm.”

I’m not sure if my answer got me the job, but I did end up writing that story and numerous other ones relating to the McGill trees, which include the downtown and Macdonald campuses, not to mention the Morgan Arboretum, Mont St-Hilaire, the Molson Reserve, etc. McGill is home to thousands of trees.

And out of those thousands, Daniel, now editor of the News, has asked me to write on my favourite four on the downtown campus. That’s like being asked to name your favourite children. All one can reply is: This is my favourite first-born child, etc.

Still, this is a nice writing exercise and am grateful to put pen to trees. Let me start with an old and gnarly European spindle tree that grows, almost horizontally, out of the hill in front of the Arts Building. Likely planted in 1893 when the original Macdonald Engineering Building was constructed (it later burned in 1907), the spindle tree, Euonymous europaeus, was a popular ornamental tree in the late 19th century around well-to-do homes. Its name derives from the fact that the extremely hard wood was ideal for making the spindles used in the textile industry. Fusain, the French name for this meandering tree is also the same name given to artists’ charcoal, the other popular use for the wood.

One of the oldest tulip trees in the Montreal area

I love this tree for it’s woven bark, it’s peculiar way of growing – in fact it probably grew out and over the Burn, the creek that ran down that side of the campus and gave name to James McGill’s house, Burnside – the unusual pink colour of the autumn leaves, and the gorgeous fruit. Next time you are on the campus in fall, look up (or down on the ground) to see the little four-lobed pink seed pods, which split open to reveal the bright orange, flesh-covered seeds within. The naughty name in French for the fusain was Bonnet d’evêque and you can see the resemblance to the Bishop’s mitre.

Moving from this garden to Redpath Dell, you’ll find a tree growing on the southern rim of the park with most unusually shaped leaves. Resembling maple leaves with their top lobes lopped off, these leaves can only be those of the tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera.One of only two native species in the magnolia family, the tulip tree’s natural habitat is the Carolinian Forest, between Toronto and Windsor and across the border into the Appalachians where it is one of the tallest species of the forest. Not only are the leaves unusual but so are the luscious yellow-orange flowers and the fruit; once the winged

A close-up view of the red, fleshy seed of the Japanese Oyama magnolia

seeds have flown in fall, a lovely structure is left behind resembling a wooden flower.

This tree was planted by the class of 1949, under the direction of R. Darnley Gibbs, then professor of botany and University Garden Master. It’s among the oldest tulip trees in the Montreal area and one of the few where one can easily observe the flowers and fruit, due to the tree’s position down in the dell; the viewer, on the other hand, can remain high on the roadside leading up to the Redpath Museum.

Another magnolia that has a  special place in my heart is the Japanese Oyama magnolia, Magnolia sieboldii, two of which grown on the grounds of Chancellor Day Hall. Each located at one end of a black granite bench,

One of two Japanese Oyama magnolias on the grounds of Chancellor Day Hall

installed to commemorate the lives of two brothers, both of whom were law students, these small trees seem to bloom all summer. At least, white, compact (for magnolia, that is) flowers will be blooming on some branches, while the bright pink fruit are developing on others. Even in late fall, it’s possible to see the bright red, fleshy seed of the magnolia still connected to its cone-like fruit.

Now, walk past the enormous ginkgo, planted in roughly 1892, when the James Ross mansion was built, past the equally old pale grey-barked yellow-wood tree and make your way up the stairs to the Stewart Biology Building Plaza. Brace yourself for rare site. Arms outstretched to greet you, stands the dawn redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Until 1941, this soft-needled, deciduous conifer was believed to exist only in the fossil record. Then, a Chinese botanist found a living tree. Due to the war, it was only in 1948, that Western botanists could visit the tree and collect seeds. By 1949, seeds and seedling were being planted all over the temperate world.

A rare dawn redwood

R. Darnley Gibbs planted this tree in roughly 1965 at the opening of the Biology Building. You can see how beautifully straight and tall it has grown. The sheltered situation in the plaza no doubt protects this tree which is a little north of its range. Be sure to sit beneath the dawn redwood. If you’re lucky, you’ll find one of the small woody cones whose scales present themselves horizontally as opposed to the usual vertical positions in cones. If you’re very lucky, there will still be seeds inside the cones – put a few in a paper bag and shake to release them – and you too will be able to grow your own living fossil, if only in Bonsai size!

Bronwyn Chester, BSW ’81, is the author of A Leafy Legacy: The Trees of McGill University, available from the Redpath Museum, $7. For two years she wrote the Montreal Gazette column, “Island of  Trees,” which may still be read at: foretmontreal.blogspot.com. This spring, look out for her new book: Island of Trees: 50 Trees, 50 Tales of Montreal, Véhicule Press.

Image: Edward Kwong

Ever wonder why people like to escape the big city for the countryside? Sure, it has fresh air and natural surroundings, but a recent study suggests people who live in cities are neurologically more prone to getting stressed out.

Published in Nature, the international study looked at how city living affects regions of the brain that manage emotion and stress. It was already known that city dwellers face a 21 percent higher risk for anxiety disorders and a 39 percent higher risk for mood disorders. Schizophrenia is nearly twice as prevalent in cities. But Douglas Mental Health University Institute researcher Jens Pruessner was part of a team that showed for the first time that being born and raised in a city can affect the brain in measurable ways.

The researchers analyzed the brains of healthy individuals from city and rural environments using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results showed that current city living entailed higher activity in the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure involved in emotion and memory. An urban upbringing was found to affect the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, which helps regulate amygdala activity, negative feelings and stress.

“We actually don’t know what part of city living our brains respond to differently,” says Pruessner. “It could be a stimulus which actually occurs both in urban as well as rural environments, but more frequently in urban environments.”

Pruessner, who directs the McGill Centre for Studies in Aging, says further experiments are needed to understand the impact of cities as human populations everywhere continue to flock to urban centres.

“This stress sensitization effect of city living needs to be studied in subjects who are affected by disease, to understand if and how this further affects their functioning.”

Tim Hornyak, BA’95

ALFRED DALE ELLS, BSc(Agr)’61, was awarded an honorary degree by Nova Scotia Agricultural College, where he studied before attending Macdonald College. He returned to NSAC for the remaining 28 years of his working career, first as an associate professor and later as dean, vocational and technical education, and director of the NSAC Centre for International Development. During his retirement years Dale authored Shaped Through Service: An Illustrated History of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and in 1998 he was named dean emeritus of NSAC.

EYAD JAMALEDDINE, BEngBioresource’11, was selected as a recipient of one of ECO Canada’s Student Ambassador Awards. Eyad presented his research on composting bioreactors at ECO Canada’s booth during the 2011 Americana conference and trade show in Montreal in March.

ARTS

HOWARD A. BACAL, BA’54, MDCM’58, is the co-author of The Power of Specificity
in Psychotherapy: When Therapy Works and When It Doesn’t (Jason Aronson Publishers). The book examines specificity theory, a contemporary process theory of psychotherapy that holds that therapy happens at the fit between the patient’s particular therapeutic needs and the therapist’s capacity to respond to them. Apart from his private practice in Los Angeles, Howard is also a training and supervising analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and at the New Center for Psychoanalysis.

JUDITH MACLEAN RODGER, BA’61, received the 2011 Woman of Excellence Award for Arts, Culture, and Heritage from the YMCA of Western Ontario. Judith was credited with being “instrumental in the development and implementation of community-based art initiatives designed to attract, instruct and delight audiences” in her role as the acting director of the McIntosh Gallery at the University of Western Ontario. She was recently appointed as an adjunct research professor in UWO’s Department of Visual Arts.

MYRON J. ECHENBERG, BA’62, MA’64, is the author of five books, the most recent of which is Africa in the Time of Cholera: A History of Pandemics from 1817 to the Present (Cambridge University Press). After receiving his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in 1971, Myron taught African history at McGill from 1969 till 2008, when he retired as a professor emeritus. His research focuses on the history of health and disease in the developing world.

MICHAEL C. CORBALLIS, PhD’65, recently authored The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization (Princeton University Press). In this book, Michael challenges the commonly held notion that language is what makes us uniquely human, and instead argues that what distinguishes us in the animal kingdom is our capacity for recursion: the ability to embed our thoughts within other thoughts. Michael is a professor emeritus of psychol-ogy at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and has published several other books, including From Hand to Mouth: The Origins of Language.

ELIZABETH ABBOTT, MA’66, PhD’71, is a historian whose work has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Charles Taylor Prize. Her latest book is Haiti: A Shattered Nation (Overlook Press), which examines a country perpetually in dire straits and a people who remain remarkably resilient, despite all.

Douglas Druick (Photo: Art Institute of Chicago)

DOUGLAS DRUICK, BA’66, is the new president and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. A longtime curator at the Art Institute and the former chair of two of its departments, Douglas played a leading role in the creation of some of the most significant exhibitions in the museum’s history, including award-winning exhibitions on Jaspar Johns, Georges Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec. The second largest art museum in the U.S., the Art Institute houses more than 300,000 works.

COLIN MATLEY, BA’66, has emerged from retirement to publish The English Wordsmith, the work of an old friend. This tubby tome, which is a compilation from various sources, includes 8,000 difficult, obscure, and unusual words and phrases. The author, David W. Andrews, was an eminent London lawyer who spent a lifetime collecting interesting words to illustrate the richness and diversity of the English language. For more information please visit www.theenglishwordsmith.com.

HARRIET MAUER, BA’66, recently retired after a 40-year career in social work in New York City. Harriet was honoured with a lifetime achievement award for her contributions to child welfare. The prize was presented by New York archbishop Timothy Dolan.

HENRY F. SREBRNIK, BA’66, MA’70, professor of political studies at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, has written Creating the Chupah: The Zionist Movement and the Drive for Jewish Communal Unity in Canada, 1898-1921 (Academic Studies Press). The book assesses the role of Canadian Zionist organizations
in the drive for communal unity within Canadian Jewry in the first two decades of the 20th century and describes Zionist activities within the larger spectrum of Canadian Jewish life.

JOANNE ROCKLIN, BA’67, Dip Ed’68, published her children’s novel One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street (Amulet Books), which has received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal.

ROMAN MUKERJEE, MA’68, and wife CINDY (BAILEY) MUKERJEE, BEd’75, CertSpEd’79, are proud of their rich family diversity. Roman is of East Indian and Slovak origins, Cindy is Jewish, and their two adopted daughters are Inuit and Mayan respectively. Roman and Cindy are part of a lobbying effort to include inter-racial marriage status in the information compiled
by Statistics Canada. They also helped organize a mixed-race couples and families social forum that meets three times a year.

Garry Beitel (Photo: Thomas Bartel)

GARRY BEITEL, BA’70, MA’76, received a $50,000 lifetime career award from the Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec. The first anglophone filmmaker ever to receive the prize, Garry has directed several documentaries over the course of his career, including the Gemini Award-winning Bonjour! Shalom! and The Socalled Movie, featuring eclectic musician Josh Dolgin, BA’00.

MORDECHAI NISAN, MA’70, PhD’75, retired after 35 years of teaching Middle East studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has written extensively on Middle East topics, and his latest book, Only Israel West of the River: The Jewish State and the Palestinian Question (CreateSpace), was published in June. The book puts forward a possible political solution for a problem that is more than 100 years old.

JOANNE SOROKA, BA’70, is the author of Tapestry Weaving: Design and Technique (Crowood Press). This lavishly illustrated book leads readers through the process of weaving with detailed diagrams focused on the work of contemporary weavers. Joanne teaches at the University of Edinburgh and exhibits internationally.

JONATHAN L. WOODS, BA’70, is the recipient of the 2011 Spinetingler Award for Best Crime Short Story Collection of 2010 for his latest work, Bad Juju & Other Tales
of Madness and Mayhem (New Pulp Press). His book also won best Crime Book Cover
of 2010 (cover art by Kenney Mencher).

RICHARD POMERANTZ, BA’71, wrote A Love Letter From Princess: Lucky, Mommy & Me. The book relates the true story of his wife’s recovery from a terminal cancer diagnosis, all through the perspective of her cancer companion dog. A portion of every book sale helps fund service dogs for injured military personnel.

VICTOR TEBOUL, MA’71, has published his third novel, Bienvenue chez Monsieur B! (Les Éditions L’Harmattan). He has written at length about Québécois-Jewish relations, and his most recent work of fiction focuses on Montreal’s Jewish community. Victor holds a PhD from Université de Montréal and has had an extensive teaching career at various institutions, including Cégep Lionel-Groulx, Université du Québec à Montréal and McGill. He was also the editor of the magazine Jonathan, and has hosted several radio programs on Radio-Canada. He is currently the founding editor of the online magazine Tolerance.ca. For more information visit www.victorteboul.com .

MURIEL (HALTRECHT) GOLD, MA’72, a theatre producer, director and author, has a new book out, The Dramatic Legacy of Dorothy Davis and Violet Walters: The Montreal Children’s Theatre, 1933-2009 (iUniverse Inc.). The book tells the story of the two dynamic women, Dorothy Davis and Violet Walters, who ran the Montreal Children’s Theatre in the midst of the Great Depression. Muriel—herself a former student and teacher at the school—recounts its history through innumerable anecdotes, recreating the magic of past Children’s Theatre productions.

SHARON (LONDON) LISS, BA’76, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Israel Cancer Research Fund in May 2011. The award acknowledges outstanding volunteers for their dedicated and exceptional service to the ICRF. Sharon is the second individual to receive this award in the organization’s 36-year history.

SIANG YANG TAN, BA’76, PhD’80, is a full professor of psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and senior pastor of a church in Glendale. He recently authored a textbook, Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Christian Perspective (Baker Academic). Siang—who is a fellow of the American Psychological Association— is a recipient of the William C. Bier Award for outstanding contributions to the applied psychology of religion, the Distinguished Member Award from the Christian Association for Psychological Studies, and the Gary R. Collins Award for Excellence in Christian Counseling from the American Association of Christian Counselors.

ROBERT M. MACLEAN, PhD’77, is the author of The President’s Palm Reader, a comic novel about a con man who unex-pectedly finds himself in the Oval Office, defending a failing president from a conspiracy to impeach him. Robert’s previous book, Foreign Matter: In Trouble with My Fantasies (described by Publishers Weekly as “fresh and spirited”) has been reissued
for Kindle.

ROBERT J. VALLERAND, MA’79, received the Canadian Psychological Association’s Donald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science. This award is presented to CPA members or fellows who have made a significant contribution to Canadian psychology as a scientific discipline. Robert, who has published five books and more than 225 scientific articles and book chapters, is recognized as an international authority on the study of motivational processes. He is a professor of social psychology and director of the Research Laboratory on Social Behaviour at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

MARJORIE (GIGI) KILLEN ROSENBERG, BA’80, has written  her first book, The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing: How to Find Funds and Write Foolproof Proposals for the Visual, Literary, and Performing Artist (Watson-Guptill). The book is designed to transform starving artists fumbling to get by into working artists who can confidently tap into all the resources at their disposal. She lives with her family in Portland, Oregon, where she launched her professional development workshops and also works as a writer and presentation coach. Gigi teaches in Chicago, New York City and Washington.

MARK TAKEFMAN, BA’82, received a one-year appointment to work as an organizational development consultant with VSO China in Chengdu, Sichuan. Mark had just concluded a two-year term as an organizational advisor for VSO India.

MARK WOLFE, BA’84, has been appointed as an adjunct professor in the Faulty of Arts at the University of Calgary. He also recently became a research fellow with the Van Horne Institute in Calgary. A new monograph by Mark, Say What? An Ethical Leader’s Guide to Communicating in the 21st Century, is scheduled for release this fall.

ANNE BERGERON, BA’86, has signed with Ballantine Dell for her Regency romance novel, A Tale of Two Sisters, as well as a second book in the series. Anne writes historical romance under the pen name Aislinn Macnamara.

RHONDA B. KANTOR, BA’87, is the director of the Quebec Association for Adult Learning. Her new book, Are Parents and Teachers Natural Enemies?: Practical Insight for Sustainable Parent/Teacher Relationships at the Secondary Level (VDM Publishing), offers information and insights aimed at
fostering a successful partnership between home and school at the secondary level.

HÉLÈNA KATZ, BA’87, is an author and freelance journalist. Her latest book, Justice Miscarried: Inside Wrongful Convictions in Canada (Dundurn), tells the stories of 12 Canadians, including David Milgaard and Donald Marshall, who were wrongly convicted and examines the errors in the justice system that changed their lives forever. Hélèna has a master’s degree in criminology from  Université de Montréal and lives on an alpaca farm in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.

CATHERINE FIESCHI, BA’89, PhD’00, is the director of Counterpoint, the British Council’s new London-based think tank. Counterpoint provides research and other services to governments, businesses and organizations interested in the cultural analysis of risk.

PAMELA KLASSEN, BA’89, is an associate professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto and the author of Spirits of Protestantism: Medicine, Healing, and Liberal Christianity (University of California Press). The book examines the politics of body, mind and spirit among North American liberal Protestants during the 20th century.

ANTHONY GERMAIN, BA’90, is the new host of the St. John’s Morning Show on CBC Radio in Newfoundland and Labrador. Before arriving in St. John’s, Anthony was the CBC’s foreign correspondent in China, where he worked in both Shanghai and Beijing between 2006 and 2011. Over the course of his CBC career, Anthony has hosted the local morning show in Ottawa as well as CBC Radio’s political flagship show The House.

AXEL KINDBOM, BA’90, has joined the Toronto office of the law firm Dickinson Wright LLP. Axel practices business law and counsels clients on corporate and board governance, regulatory and securities compliance, pre-acquisition due diligence and other subjects. He studied international law at Lund University in Sweden, and received his JD from Tulane University Law School.

ALISON J. MCQUEEN, BA’90, is the author of Empress Eugénie and the Arts: Politics and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century (Ashgate Press). The book details Eugénie’s (wife of Napoleon III) position as a private collector and a public patron of a broad range of media. Alison is the first to examine Eugénie in the context of her importance to the development of France’s institutions and international relations. Alison is an associate professor of art history at McMaster University.

Luis Miguel Castilla Rubio

LUIS MIGUEL CASTILLA RUBIO, BA’91, was appointed as Peru’s new minister of finance and economy on July 28. A former deputy finance minister in Peru, he has also been a consultant for the World Bank and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his PhD in economics.

KRISTYN M. DUNNION, BA’92, has published The Dirt Chronicles (Arsenal Pulp Press), her fourth book and her first short story collection. In these linked tales, urban outlaws and outliers in Toronto find their world threatened by a crooked cop who is bent on exterminating the city’s defiant underclass.

MICHEL GRYNBERG, BA’92, is the proud new father of a baby girl, Sarah Deborah Elisabeth, who was born on February 21 in Paris, France. In May, after 10 years of working for Groupe Crédit Agricole, Michel switched jobs, becoming a project office manager for BNP Paribas, where he supervises five project management officers who oversee more than 100 IT projects.

Tara Johns (Photo: Mongrel Media)

TARA JOHNS, BA’92, is the writer and director of The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mother,, a feature film about an 11-year-old growing up in the Prairies who becomes convinced that the country music star is her real mom. The film, described as a “treasure” by the Toronto Sun and as “surprisingly potent” by the Vancouver Sun, was recently released on DVD.

JENNIFER C. ANDREWS, BA’93, is the author of In the Belly of a Laughing God: Humour and Irony in Native Women’s Poetry (University of Toronto Press). The book examines how eight contemporary native women poets in Canada and the United States employ humour and irony to address the intricacies of race, gender and nationality. Jennifer is a professor in the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick, the co-editor of Studies in Canadian Literature, and the acting director of graduate studies for her department.

IRENE BLOEMRAAD, BA’95, MA’96, is an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the co-editor of Rallying for Immigrant Rights: The Fight for Inclusion in 21st Century America (University of California Press). The book traces the evolution and legacy of the widespread 2006 protest movement for immigrant rights in the U.S.

SIMONE PILON, MA’95, was selected by the U.S. Department of Education to take part in the Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad program to Morocco and Tunisia this summer. The program provides short-term study and travel seminars abroad for U.S. educators in social sciences and humanities for the purpose of improving their understanding and knowledge of the peoples and cultures of other countries. Simone is an associate professor of French at Franklin College in Indiana.

ALEXIS SHOTWELL, BA’96, is the author of Knowing Otherwise: Race, Gender, and Implicit Understanding (Penn State Univer-sity Press). The book explores how one may act in prejudiced ways toward others without explicitly understanding the meaning of
one’s actions. Alexis is an assistant professor at Laurentian University’s Department of Philosophy and a past president of the Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy.

MAI-GEE HUM, BA’98, has been appointed the director of career management services at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business. Mai-Gee first joined JMSB in 2007 in external affairs as its associate director of recruitment, graduate programs. More recently, as JMSB’s communications officer, she contributed to branding efforts through increased media presence and by showcasing JMSB’s research and academic accomplishments.

STEPHEN D. SCARFF, MA’98, has been awarded a Seminary Consultation on Mission (SCOM) research grant to study in the Middle East, which is awarded annually to develop and deepen a global perspective in seminary life. Last summer he worked in the Diocese of Mt. Kilimanjaro, before heading to Israel on a Two Brothers Fellowship to work on an archeological dig. Stephen is a graduate student at Yale Divinity School with a focus on Anglican theology.

Dan Seligman (in black) celebrates Pop Montreal's 10th anniversary (Photo: Inma Salcedo)

DAN SELIGMAN, BA’00, is the creative director of Pop Montreal, an indie music and arts festival he co-founded with Peter Cowan and Noelle Sorbara, BA’00, BCL/LLB’10. Pop Montreal celebrated its 10th anniversary this year with a free outdoor concert headlined by Arcade Fire that attracted an audience of 100,000. The festival has become an important annual showcase for up-and-coming Montreal bands while also featuring internationally recognized artists like Beck and Patti Smith.

CATHERINE CHANDLER-OLIVEIRA, MA’01, is the author of a full-length collection of poetry, Lines of Flight (Able Muse Press). She was invited to present her work at the West Chester University at Pennsylvania Poetry Conference in June, for which she received a full scholarship, and was a featured poet at StoryFest in Hudson, Quebec, in the fall of 2011. Among other awards, she is the recipient of the University of Evansville-sponsored Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award. Catherine teaches ESL and music at the Commission scolaire des Trois-Lacs in the Montérégie region of Quebec.

GREGORIO OBERTI, BA’01, DipAcct’05, recently completed a master’s degree in international trading, commodity finance and shipping, at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Gregorio works with Deloitte as an audit manager, and is also the co-president of the McGill Alumni Association in Switzerland. He lives in Geneva with wife Jordann and their two children.

MICHAEL TODD, BA’01, and Theresa Hohenauer were married in Tirol, Austria,
on July 29, 2011.

CHRISTOPHER J. BRYAN, BA’02, is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Department of Psychology. His work recently attracted international attention. Christopher and his colleagues discovered that subtle linguistic cues have the power to boost voter turnout. His research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and has been covered by MSNBC, Discover, and CBC Radio’s As It Happens.

ERIK MICHAEL GRAYSON, MA’03, completed his doctorate in English at the State University of New York in 2010, and recently accepted a visiting assistant professorship in English at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

AMIR BARADARAN, BA’04, is an artist whose latest work, Venice Augmented, was active throughout the duration of the 54th Venice Biennale. Using augmented art (AR), Amir’s work comprised a number of (un) seen attributes embedded throughout the docks and gardens, accessible to visiting publics through a number of activation points scattered throughout the Venice landscape.

JESSICA DERE, BA’04, MSc’06, and EDSEL PHILIP, BEng’06, MSc’10, were married at the McGill Faculty Club on May 21, 2011, in the presence of their family and close friends. Jessica is completing her PhD in clinical psychology at Concordia University and Edsel is a consulting analyst at Accenture plc. The couple will always have McGill close to their hearts—they started their relationship at McGill in 2002, and became engaged while at McGill in 2008.

FRANCIS HALIN, BA’04, MA’08, has been appointed to Montreal’s Conseil jeunesse for a three-year term. Members of the council advise the mayor and executive committee on matters related to Montreal’s youth population. In 2009, Francis was a semi-finalist at the Festival international de la chanson de Granby and will be releasing his first original album, recorded with multi-instrumentalist Olaf Gundel, in 2011.

PATRICK BOILY, BA’09, is one of 17 promising young Canadians selected to serve as 2011 Action Canada Fellows. The Action Canada Fellowship Program is dedicated to building an exceptional network of leaders for Canada’s future by developing their skills and broadening their understanding of Canada and its policy choices. A former vice president academic of McGill’s Arts Undergraduate Society, Patrick is working on a master’s degree in public and international affairs at the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs at York University. Three of the 2011 Action Canada Fellows are McGill graduates.

April Engelberg (right) and Amanda Garbutt (Photo: Madd Hattere)

APRIL ENGELBERG, BA’10, and AMANDA GARBUTT, BA’11, earned first place in the MaRS Upstart Business Competition for new business ideas  that was held in Toronto in May. The duo earned $10,000 for The Hot Plate, a cooking show they co-produce that debuted on the student-run TVMcGill. The program, hosted by Amanda, presents tasty meal ideas that students can make for themselves. The Hot Plate continues to exist online at thehotplate.com.

Jonathan Glencross (Photo: Adam Scotti)

JONATHAN GLENCROSS, BA’11, received Earth Day Canada’s 2011 Individual Hometown Heroes Award at the national environmental charity’s annual gala on June 8, in front of 500 business and environmental leaders at Toronto’s Drake Hotel. One of the architects of McGill’s Sustainability Projects Fund, Jonathan was described by Earth Day Canada president Jed Goldberg as “an environmental leader who has shown commitment and achieved results in his community.”

DENTISTRY

GERALD RUDICK, DDS’66, was recently awarded a mastership in dental implant prosthodontics by the Implant Prosthetic Section of the International Congress of Oral Implantology ( ICOI). He is also a fellow and diplomate of the ICOI and an associate fellow of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. Gerald runs a private dental practice in Montreal.

EDUCATION

DUNCAN MCGEACHY, BSc(PE)’49, has been inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame. The retired principal of St. Stephen High School coached basketball, track and field, cross country running and soccer over the course of his career as an
educator.  The basketball teams he coached, both boys and girls, won more than 20 provincial championships.

ROBIN N. MICHEL, BEd’80, is a Canada Research Chair (Tier One) in Cellular
and Molecular Neuromuscular Physiology at Concordia University. Together with Bernard Jasmin, BEd’83, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Ottawa, he is pursuing research on calcineurin, an enzyme that orchestrates muscle growth adaptations. The work could have important implications for rescuing muscle fibres damaged by muscular dystrophy. The research is funded by both NSERC and CIHR. Robin is a member of the Neuromuscular Research Group at the Montreal Neurological Institute.

COLLEEN CURRAN, BEd’81, is a Montreal-based playwright whose latest work, True Nature, opened the fall season at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre on October 4. The play, a bittersweet romantic comedy which examines science and social class, is inspired by the true story of Mary Anning, an extraordinary but unsung Victorian-era fossil collector. True Nature was developed and workshopped at McGill’s Redpath Museum.

SUZANNE REISLER LITWIN, BEd’85, is the author of the children’s picture book
The Black Velvet Jacket. The book tells the true story of a young man’s coming of age
and inspires those who believe that wishes really do come true. She is the mother of three children and lives in Montreal. For more information about Suzanne’s writing, go to suzannereislerlitwin.com .

Ray Lalonde (Photo: Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

RAY LALONDE, BEd’86, became the president of the Montreal Alouettes football team in March. A former player and coach with the McGill Redmen football squad, Ray was director of football operations for the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football and part of the management team for NBA Europe before he joined the Montreal Canadiens organization in 2001. As the Habs’ vice president and chief marketing officer, Ray’s responsibilities included overseeing the team’s 100th anniversary celebrations in 2009.

S. DARLENE KEHYAYAN, BEd’93, MEd’99, GradCertEdLeadership’06, GradCertEd-Leadership2’09, is the principal of Dunrae Gardens Elementary School in the Town of Mount Royal. After joining Dunrae as the new principal in 2008, Darlene was successful in increasing the school’s student population by more than 450 students in her first few months. A French immersion school within the English Montreal School Board, Dunrae regularly welcomes student teachers from McGill. Darlene previously worked as the principal of Cedarcrest Elementary School in St. Laurent.

Louise Cowan (Photo: UBC)

LOUISE COWIN, PhD’99, is the new vice president, students, for the University of British Columbia. In this role, she will have leadership responsibility for shaping the student experience and broad learning environment at UBC. Her portfolio includes student development and services, student housing and hospitality services, and athletics and recreation. Previously, Louise was the warden of Hart House, a student activity centre at the University of Toronto.

VICTOR M. MANSURE, BEd’10, is a former McGill varsity basketball player now coaching the Canadian Deaf Basketball Team, which will be participating in the World Championships in Italy next summer. The team is in need of sponsors to assist with travel expenses. For more information or to support this cause please visit www.cdsabasketball.com.

ENGINEERING

JOHN R. MACKAY, BEng’51, is the co-author of the second edition of Power Boilers: A Guide to Section 1 of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Code (ASME Press). John was a longtime member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Boiler & Pressure Vessel Standards Committee and earned ASME’s J. Hall Taylor Medal for distinguished service in the field of codes and standards pertaining to piping and pressure vessels in 1997.

VINCENT JOLIVET, BEng’52, has retired at the age of 80. After earning an MBA and
a doctorate, Vincent spent 10 years teaching finance at the University of Washington, IMD Business School, and Stanford. He then served as VP and director of a rocket company for six years, and worked as a self-employed expert in finance and economics for the last
38 years of his career.

DEAN H. JOURNEAUX, BEng’60, is the new president and chief executive officer of New Millennium Iron, where he previously served as the chief operating officer. In 2003, Dean co-founded the company currently known as the Millennium Iron Range, developing large world class iron ore deposits in the Schefferville area of Labrador and Quebec.

WAGDI (FRED) HABASHI, BEng’67, MEng’70, is the 2011 recipient of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute’s McCurdy Award for outstanding achievement in the science and creative aspects of engineering related to aeronautics and space research. He occupies McGill’s NSERC-J. Armand Bombardier-Bell Helicopter-CAE Industrial Research Chair for Multidisciplinary Computational Fluid Dynamics.

AHMED S. KAMIS, PhD’85, is the leader of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s Accreditation Committee for the BSc and MSc programs at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he is a professor of water resources in the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management. Ahmed was the recipient of his university’s Excellence Award in 2010, and in 2009 earned first prize in a faculty contest for website development.

RAEHAN “BOBBY” UMAR, BEng’94, launched his inaugural “Power of Connection” workshop series, designed to challenge participants to reflect critically upon their strengths and potential, in July. He is an award-winning developer and teacher of programs designed to motivate senior executives, business professionals, and students. Bobby draws on his diverse experience and academic training to lead Raeallan, a training and speaking company.

LAW

Joe Oliver with Prime Minister Stephen Harper

JOE OLIVER, BA’61, BCL’64, was appointed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet as Canada’s minister of natural resources in May, shortly after being elected to the House of Commons for the first time as the new MP for the Ontario riding of Eglinton-Lawrence. A former executive director of the Ontario Securities Commission, he chaired the editorial board of the McGill Daily during his time at McGill. He is also a former editor of the McGill Law Journal.

RICHARD W. POUND, BCom’62, BCL’67, LLD’09, was named chairman of the board of directors for the Foundation of Greater Montreal. Richard is a partner in the Montreal offices of Stikeman Elliot, and is a member of the firm’s tax group. A member of the Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, he is a chancellor emeritus of McGill.

LARRY HERMAN, BCL’75, LLB’76, was appointed deputy banking ombudsman for the ADR Chambers Banking Ombuds Office. This office reviews decisions of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) ombudsman when RBC customers are not satisfied with the outcome of the process. Larry has been a roster mediator in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Mandatory Mediation Program (Toronto and Ottawa regions) since 2000 and is a recent recipient of the chartered mediator designation by the ASR Institute of Canada. Larry is continuing his mediation practice with ADR Chambers Inc. and resides in Toronto with his wife, Aline Baltar, a psychiatric social worker.

BARRY SELTZER, LLB’79, is the coauthor of Fat Cats and Lucky Dogs: How to Leave (Some of Your) Estate to Your Pet (Prism Publishing). The book provides guidance to those who would like to explore planning possibilities for their families and pets.

CHRISTIAN COUTURIER, BCL’81, LLB’81, has been named vice-president of the board of directors of the Groupe de Droit Collaboratif du Québec. Christian currently practices collaborative family law, civil, commercial, and family mediation, out of court negotiation, and is also a trainer in collaborative family law.

GREGORY D. WILLIAMS, BSc’77, LLB’81, has joined Pepper Hamilton as a partner in the intellectual property practice group. Gregory specializes in the life science sector, focusing on intellectual property acquisition and management. Prior to joining Pepper Hamilton, Gregory worked at New England Biolabs, Inc. as general counsel, as former chief IP counsel, and as a senior member of its global business development team.

JEFFREY F. EDWARDS, BCL’86, LLB’86, was appointed an adjunct professor in McGill’s Faculty of Law. Jeffrey has taught law at McGill for more than 10 years as a
sessional instructor. He recently published the second edition of his book, La garantie de qualité du vendeur en droit québécois (Wilson & Lafleur)—often cited by the courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Jeffrey will maintain his full-time position as partner and head of the liti-gation department at Tutino Edwards Joseph, where he also acts as arbitrator
and mediator in construction and product liability law.

LORRAINE PILON, BCL’88, is the executive vice president, corporate affairs, and secretary of the Banque Laurentienne. In her job, Lorraine oversees legal affairs and compliance, the secretariat, public affairs, communications and investor relations, internal audit and security. She joined the bank in 1990, initially working in legal affairs. Lorraine earned an executive MBA from  Université du Québec à Montréal and an undergraduate degree in administration from the Mississippi University for Women.

RON LEVI, BCL’94, LLB’94, has been appointed the George Ignatieff Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto. Ron is a faculty member of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, with cross-appointments in political science and sociology. His research focuses on global justice, crime and politics, and legal and institutional responses to mass atrocities.

FRED W. HEADON, LLB’96, BCL’96, is the senior counsel for labour and employment law at Air Canada. He was elected second vice-president of the Canadian Bar Association in March, 2011. The second vice-presidency is the first step on the ladder to the presidency, which he will assume in 2013. He is the first in-house counsel to be elected to this position.

ALEXANDER BAYER, LLM’98, became a partner at Wragge & Co, focusing on IP and IT law. In 2008, he was appointed to open the firm’s first continental Europe office in Munich and established a new branch for a UK law firm. Alexander got married the same year and is now a proud parent of a 2-year-old daughter, Johanna.

IAN G. PHILIP, BCL/LLB’07, has been selected as one of 17 promising young Canadians who will serve as 2011 Action Canada Fellows. He is an international trade litigator with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. Formerly, Ian was a UN legal and political advisor in the Middle East, and from 2005-2007, he was part of the UN’s humanitarian relief effort in Iraq. Three of the 2011 Action Canada Fellows are McGill graduates.

LIBRARY & INFORMATION STUDIES

PETER F. MCNALLY, BLS’65, MLS’66, MA’77, received the 2011 Tremaine Medal and Watters-Morley Prize from the Bibliographical Society of Canada for outstanding service to Canadian bibliography and for distinguished publication in either English or French in that field. His career as a librarian and historian, spanning nearly 40 years, has been devoted to the study of Canadian bibliography. Peter was the coordinator of the Roundtable on Bibliography from 1981-1988, and also served as president of the Bibliographical Society of Canada from 1999-2002.

MANAGEMENT

 DICK IRVIN, BCom’53, is the recipient of ACTRA Montreal’s 2011 Award of Excellence. His 50-year career in sports broadcasting has already earned him spots in the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Canadian Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame and the CBC Sports Hall of Fame. He is the author of six books on the game of hockey and continues to be involved in special events for Hockey Night in Canada and the Montreal Canadiens.

TED T. GREENFIELD, BCom’54, was awarded an FCA by the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec for bringing honour to the profession through his more than 50 years of service to the community. Ted is a retired partner and consultant with Fuller Landau LLP.

RUBEN ROSEN, BCom’57, has recently completed his legislated maximum six-year term as founding chair of the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network. The NSM LHIN is one of 14 Ontario Crown Agencies established in 2005 to plan, manage and fund health services for a specific geographic region. During the first six years of its existence, the NSM LHIN dedicated itself to improving the health of its residents and visitors and developed a master strategic plan to guide its progress in the future.

JOHN KELLETT, BCom’68, received the Morningstar Canada Career Achievement Award at a gala black tie dinner held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto last December. Peter Mansbridge hosted the award presentation, at which a short video of John’s career in the investment industry was shown. The first winner of this annual award was Sir John Templeton.

HÉLÈNE FORTIN, DPA’80, is the new chairwoman of the board of directors for Groupe Bikini Village Inc., a swimwear manufacturer with boutiques across eastern Canada. An associate with the CA firm Demers Beaulne and a public accountant with more than 30 years of experience, Hélène also chairs the board of directors for both Loto-Québec and Infrastructure Québec.

JOSEPH MAH, DPA’80, is the author of Yin Yang Qi-The Art of Balancing Health. The book contains recipes for over 50 traditional Chinese soups and congees developed to address specific aspects of health. While Joe is a Montreal-based chartered accountant with business experience at firms such as Deloitte & Touche and Abbott Laboratories, he was also trained by Chinese herbal experts on how to use specific foods to prevent and cure illnesses. Growing up in Montreal’s Chinatown, he apprenticed in Chinese herbal medicine stores, learning the recipes that were handed down through generations of Montreal’s Chinese community.

JOHN S. KOLODA, BCom’83, founded his own consulting firm, Groupe KolodaCORE Inc. John has 28 years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently as vice president eastern Canada with Great West Life. He lives in Montreal with wife Margaret, and two sons, Karl and Konrad.

MATHIEU GAUVIN, BCom’83, DPA’84, is one of the newest members of RSM Richter Chamberland, an accounting and business advisory firm with offices in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary. He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of mergers and acquisitions.

HOWARD JOHNSON, DPA’89, is a managing director at Veracap Corporate Finance Limited in Toronto. The author of several books on the subjects of business valuation and corporate finance, Howard’s latest is Building Value in Your Company, a practical, hands-on explanation of how shareholder value is measured, created and ultimately realized. The book focuses on the key value drivers of cash flow, risk management and invested capital.

Enderson Guimaraes

ENDERSON GUIMARAES, MBA’90, is PepsiCo’s new president of global operations. He comes to Pepsi from Swedish household appliances maker Electrolux, where he was chief executive of its appliances business for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In his new job, Enderson is responsible for strategic sourcing management, global operations, business and information solutions and global productivity. He reports to PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.

RICK MCCREARY, MBA’97, was appointed senior vice president corporate development with Barrick Gold Corporation. Richard was previously employed at CIBC World Markets as managing director and head of global mining investment banking. He can be reached at rmccreary@barrick.com.

KAREN TAKACS, MMgmt’02, received the YWCA Toronto’s Woman of Distinction Award for International Development and Advocacy. The award is presented annually to recognize the contributions of women who have helped other women and girls achieve equality, economic sustainability, and lives free from violence. As the executive director of Canadian Crossroads International, Karen has been a leading proponent for the participation of women as being essential to poverty reduction and international development.

MEDICINE

JAMES C. CHAN, MDCM ’64, received the 2011 Henry L Barnett Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The prize recognizes a pediatric nephrologist for outstanding teaching and clinical care for children with kidney disease. The award was
presented to him at the academy’s annual meeting in Denver, Colorado, in May. James is a professor of pediatrics at Tufts University in Massachusetts and director of research
at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center.

Victor Dzau (Photo: Duke University)

VICTOR DZAU, BSc’68, MDCM’72, DSc’08, is the 2011 recipient of the Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research. His scientific exploration of the renin-angiotensin system has made important contributions to our understanding of a wide range of heart and blood vessel diseases, from hypertension to heart failure. The president and CEO of Duke University Health System, Victor established the Duke Global Health Institute, an interdisciplinary effort aimed at addressing health care problems in under-served and under-resourced countries.

DAVE WILLIAMS, BSc’76, MDCM’83, MSc’83, DSc’07, is the new president and CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario. The recipient of four honorary degrees, Dave was also reappointed as an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Toronto. The former director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, Dave logged more than 687 hours in space as a Canadian astronaut.

SIMON HELFGOTT, MDCM’77, has been named the new physician editor of The Rheumatologist, the American College of Rheumatology’s monthly newsmagazine. Simon is the director of education & fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He’ll begin his new role with The Rheumatologist in January, 2012.

ALLAN D. PETERKIN, MedicalResident’90, DipPsych’92, is a Toronto-based physician and writer. His latest book, illustrated by Emmeline Pidgen, is The Flyaway Blanket, a picture book aimed at four- to eight-year-olds that explores attachment and bonding. Allan is an associate professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Toronto and the head of Mount Sinai Hospital’s Program for Narrative and Humanities in Healthcare.

JOHANNE LIU, MDCM’91, a pediatric emergency physician and a past president of Médecins Sans Frontières Canada, was chosen as the Montreal YWCA’s 2011 Woman of Distinction for Community Involvement.

ANGELA GENGE, MedicalResident’93, was selected as the Montreal YWCA’s 2011 Woman of Distinction for Science and Technology. She is the director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Montreal Neurological Institute. She wasn’t the only McGill teacher cited as a Woman of Distinction at the awards ceremony. Professor Laurette Dubé from the Desautels Faculty of Management earned the prize in the social and environmental sciences category, while Susie Napper, artistic director of the Montreal Baroque Festival and an instructor at the Schulich School of Music, won for arts and culture.

AVRUM SPIRA, MDCM’96, an associate professor of medicine at Boston University, has won BU’s 2011 Innovator of the Year Award for co-identifying genetic abnormalities among lung cancer patients. The discovery is spurring the creation of new non-invasive and inexpensive tests for detecting the disease.

MUSIC

Deborah Corber (Photo: Vadim Daniel)

DEBORAH CORBER, BMus’81, became the new chief executive officer of Federation CJA on September 6. Deborah served for 24 years as a senior legal and policy advisor to the federal government in the area of aboriginal affairs, first as legal counsel to the Department of Justice, and for the past 10 years, in her own consulting practice. Based in Montreal, Federation CJA plays a key role in the city’s Jewish community, raising and distributing funds for those in need and overseeing the delivery of a range of services and programs.

YOKEMUI MAY PHANG, BMus’92, MMus’94, took second place nationally in the American Prize in Piano Performance, in both the solo and concerto competitions. May obtained her doctorate from Temple University and is an associate professor of piano at DePauw University in Indiana. She performs frequently as a recitalist and chamber musician and is also active adjudicating local and state competitions, presenting master classes and giving presentations.

Sean Ferguson (Photo: Owen Egan)

SEAN FERGUSON, MMus’93, DMus’03, is the new dean of McGill’s Schulich School of Music. He joined the McGill faculty as an assistant professor of composition and director of the Digital Composition Studios in 2003, and was named associate professor and director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology in 2009. His research focuses on computer-assisted composition, psychoacoustics applied to musical harmony, live electronics, and digital musical instruments. His compositions have been performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles.

TARAS N. KULISH, BMus’95, is the founder and general and artistic director of a new Montreal opera company, Opera Piccola. The goal of this company is to present professional quality opera in the summer in an intimate setting at the Outremont Theatre while making the art form more affordable and accessible. For the last six years he served as artistic director of the Green Mountain Opera Festival, which is now considered one of New England’s premier opera presenters. Taras still manages to lead a very active singing career. He sang twice with the Opéra de Montréal this past season, and is scheduled to perform with the Calgary Opera and the Opéra de Québec. For more information visit his website at www.taraskulish.com .

JONATHAN CROW, BMus’98, an associate professor of violin at McGill’s Schulich School of Music, is the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s new concertmaster.  He made his debut in his new role on September 22 during the TSO’s 90th season opening night concert. Between 2002 and 2006, Jonathan served as the concertmaster for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and was the youngest concertmaster of a major North American orchestra at the time.

CARLOS JIMÉNEZ, BMus’06, MMus’08, recently released his debut album, Undercurrents. Carlos, a jazz guitarist and composer, is joined on the album by pianist Josh Rager, BMus’98, MMus’02, bass player Dave Watts, BMus’96, MMus’08, and drummer Michel Berthiaume, BMus’04, MMus’06. All About Jazz praises the album for its “cool self-confidence and keen precision.” Carlos teaches at the Schulich School of Music. For more information, visit www. carlosjimenezmusic.com.

SCIENCE

DONALD J. BEAUPRIE, BSc’51, DDS’56, recently accompanied his grandson, ALISTAIR OWEN BEAUPRIE, BCom’11, to his McGill convocation.

SIMON KOCHEN, BSc’54, MSc’55, was recently appointed emeritus professor of mathematics at Princeton University. He won the Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Number Theory from the American Mathematical Society in 1967 and chaired Princeton’s Department of Mathematics from 1990-1993. Credited with important contributions to mathematical logic, model theory, number theory and quantum mechanics, Simon is also recognized outside the mathematics com­munity for co-developing the “Free Will Theorem,” which asserts that if humans have free will, then elementary particles, such as atoms and electrons, possess free will as well.

HENRY W. LIM, BSc’71, chairman and C.S. Livingood Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, has been named the 2010-2011
president-elect of the American Board of Dermatology. Henry was also a plenary
session speaker at the World Congress of Dermatology in Seoul, Korea, in May 2011. His fifth co-edited textbook, Cancer of the Skin, will be published by Elsevier this year.

WILLIAM (BILL) J. POWER, BSc’75, retired from Shell Canada as manager, laboratory and pilot operations, oil sands, after more than 29 years with Shell. After earning his PhD from the University of Toronto, he joined Imperial Oil Research in Sarnia before moving to Shell. Over the course of his career, he researched almost every refinery process. A career highpoint was in 2003, when he shared the Alberta Science and Technology Award for Oil Sands research for his contributions to the commercialization of a unique bitumen cleaning process. Bill and his wife Carol are moving to Kelowna, B.C.

BEVERLEY AKERMAN, BSc’80, MSc’87, is an award-winning writer whose recent short story collection, The Meaning of Children (Exile Books), made it to the final Top 10
for the CBC-Scotiabank Giller Prize Readers’ Choice Contest. The Rover describes her book as “a beautifully written exposé on the meaning of life.” Beverley turned to writing after spending more than two decades in molecular genetics research. It pleases her strangely to believe she’s the only Canadian fiction writer ever to have sequenced her own DNA.

IAN DE VERTEUL, BSc’84, is rejoining BMO Capital Markets as global head of research. Over the course of his career as an analyst, Ian achieved top rankings in three sectors: consumer products, insurance and banks. He left BMO in 2009 to join the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board as head of fundamental research.

Elodie Ghedin (Photo:Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

ELODIE GHEDIN, BSc’89, PhD’98, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is the recipient of a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship. According to the MacArthur Foundation, she is “harnessing the power of genomic sequencing techniques to generate critical insights about human pathogens.” A major focus of her work has been parasites that cause diseases endemic to tropical climates. Elodie earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from McGill as well as a PhD from the Institute of Parasitology at Macdonald Campus. MacArthur Fellowships, nicknamed the “Genius Award,” are worth $500,000 to each recipient.

VIRGINIA BARRAQUIO, PhD’90, has received the 2010 National Research Council of the Philippines Achievement Award in Agriculture and Forestry. Virginia is a professor at the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines Los Baños.

ALEXANDER HUTCHINSON, BSc’97, is the author of Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise (McClelland & Stewart). Alex also writes the Globe and Mail’s “Jockology” column on the science of fitness.

SOCIAL WORK

STACIA A. KEAN, BSW’06, was selected as one of 17 Action Canada Fellows for 2011. She is the co-chair of the Canadian CED Network’s Emerging Leaders Standing Committee and in 2010 was invited to make a co-presentation to the Federal Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Consultations concerning community economic development. Three of the 2011 Action Canada Fellows are McGill graduates.