Wendy Newman ba’72

Photograph by Josh Devins
Wendy Newman (BA'72) is executive director of ArtStarts, Canada's first gallery for kids-only work. The two-storey facility at the corner of Richards and Robson is dedicated to encouraging kids to appreciate and understand all aspects of the arts. Newman is a 1987 Outstanding Alumni Award winner in the Professional Achievement category and has been involved in arts projects, including the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, since graduation. <www.artstarts.com>

Renaissance Man
Artist and librarian Eric Sangwine (BA’72, MA’75) is featured in the American magazine Renaissance. His illustrations for medieval library curses were featured in aq.

Really, Really Old
The University of Oslo’s Sheila Coulson (BA’71) discovers the world’s oldest known religious artifact: a 70,000-year-old six-metre-long rock carving of a python. The snake is found in a cave in northwestern Botswana’s Tsodilo region in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. <www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/2006_4Artikler/python_english>

Really, Really Fast
Kelly Minosofer (PDP’84) has the fastest mouth in North America as he wins the All Round World Trophy. The auctioneer is also named All Around Canadian Champion for the third time.

From Big Air to Big Art
Michael Scott (BA’02) paid his way through SFU as a professional snowboarder. Now he is a rising young artist, showing his works from Muskoka to Toronto. He says snowboarding was “an unbounded area for creative expression” that led naturally to painting. 

From Basketball Jerseys to Police Uniforms
Former Clan-mates Raj Mander (BA’06) and Scott Hyde (BSc’06) are training as constables with the Vancouver Police Department. Mander was captain of the basketball team for his last two years, while Hyde was a guard. 

Corporate Climbers
Writer and lawyer Anne Giardini (BA’80) is promoted to vice president and general counsel for Canada for Weyerhaeuser Company. Her novel The Sad Truth About Happiness is shortlisted for the Books in Canada First Novel Award. 
Paul Ski (MBA’85) is named president of CHUM Radio in Toronto. He is an expert in developing strategic plans to reposition and rebrand radio stations.

Global Warming Hits Home
Johannes Koch (PhD’06) finds stark evidence of global warming at the fast-receding toe of Helm Glacier in Garibaldi Provincial Park. As the glacier melts, Koch collects pieces of wood for radiocarbon dating and finds they were locked in the ice 4,500 years ago – about the time the pharaohs were first entombed in the pyramids. <www.sfu.ca/~jkoch/>

Outstanding Alumni Awards

Back row, left to right: Chancellor Brandt Louie, President Michael Stevenson, and Karl Dopf, President of the SFU Alumni Association. Front row award winners, left to right: science student Dua’a Riyal, for outstanding student leadership; Robert Armstrong (BSc’75), chief of pediatric medicine at B.C. Children’s Hospital, for professional achievement; Sarah England (MBA’97), humanitarian and health activist with the World Health Organization, for service to the community; Roy Miki (MA’70), English professor and poet, for arts and culture; and Larry Beasley (BA’73), former co-director of planning for the City of Vancouver, now special adviser to the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, for public service. It is a big year for Miki. In addition to the alumni award, he is inducted into the Order of Canada, receives both SFU’s Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy and the Gandhi Peace award, and publishes a new book of poetry, There.

Show Time
Jamie Levchuk (BSc’97) and his team create 41 live shows a year for the Vancouver Canucks. The shows include live and canned music performances, video presentations, Fin the plush Killer whale that serves as the Canucks mascot, a light show, a deejay, an organist, and presentations. GM Place has a reputation as the loudest rink in the NHL – a bonus for the home team. 

Up in the Air
Aspiring fighter pilot Daniel “Booya” Baouya (BA’03) attends a training camp with the Canadian Forces contingent of the Conseil International du Sport Militaire team preparing for the World Military Games in India this year. Baouya is a second lieutenant posted to CFB Cold Lake, Alberta, currently at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, training to be a pilot.

Soccer Surprise
Norwegian Frode Strand-Nielsen (BA’80) donates $100,000, matched by the university, toward a scholarship fund for the Clan’s men’s soccer team. Strand-Nielsen, who played for the Clan, credits SFU with turning him into an accomplished scholar. The scholarship will be used to attract international soccer players.  

Fido Does Sundance
Zombie flick Fido brings accolades to director Andrew Currie (BA’93). After opening to raves at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film is screened five times as part of Sundance’s midnight madness program.  
Former student Dave Cote’s Windup is now available at independent video stores in the Lower Mainland. <www.windup.tk>

Chad Ciavarro msc’06

Chad Ciavarro (MSc’06) and Brad Paras (BSc’03, MSc’06) develop video games that may change on-ice behaviour and possibly reduce the incidence of concussions.

In Alert Hockey players actually lose when they are aggressive. In Symptom Shock hockey players compete against a computer opponent by strategically aligning groups of icons. Ciavarro and Paras worked with kinesiology professor David Goodman on a Canada Health Research Institute-sponsored project to prevent head injuries in young hockey players.

Critics’ Choice
Sandy Wilson (BA’70) and the late Daryl Duke (LLD’04) receive awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle for their contributions to B.C. films. VFCC spokesman Ian Caddell (BA’76) is one of 15 Vancouver-based journalists who make up the organization. Andrew Currie’s Fido is named best B.C. film.

Prestigious Appointment
Robert Turner (PhD’73) is the new director of the department of neurophysics in the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. His research concentrates on using magnetic resonance methods for greater understanding of the brain. 

From Physics to Finance
It might seem odd for a top-ranked physicist to be headhunted by a London investment-banking firm. But Hugh Dalgleish (PhD’06) considers it to be just another challenge and says there are obvious parallels between physics and various facets of the stock market. Dalgleish had the highest physics grad GPA in 2006 and won NSERC awards at both his master’s and PhD levels. 

Awards Galore
Darryl Plecas (BA’78, MA’81) is racking up the honours. The University College of the Fraser Valley criminologist is recognized with the Order of Abbotsford and the B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Public Safety. He is also appointed to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. 

Love Doctor
Clinical psychologist Cheryl Fraser (BA’93, PhD’96) wants to become the Canadian Oprah. She has a TV show under development, a contract to write a monthly column for a national magazine, a book under way, and a busy practice specializing in sex and couples therapy.  

Lion Kings
It’s a ring thing for Bret Anderson (BA’99), Dean Valli (BA’06), and Angus Reid (BA’01) with the Grey Cup-winning BC Lions. Mike Vilimek (BBA’02) plays in the big game for the losing Montreal Alouettes. 

Off to Edmonton
Jacques Chapdelaine (BSc’85) quits the BC Lions to become assistant head coach with the Edmonton Eskimos. Before turning to coaching he played seven CFL seasons with B.C., Montreal, Hamilton, and Calgary .aq

Wendy Newman Photograph by: Josh Devins, Outstanding Alumni Photograph by: Greg Ehlers/LIDC, Chad Ciavarro Photograph by: Dominic Wong/SFU

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