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News Release

June 16, 2006

Alumni Association Honours Four

The University of Guelph’s Alumni Association will present its 2006 awards June 24 during Alumni Weekend.

Peter Hannam, BSA '62, will be named Alumnus of Honour; Martin Bosch, B.Sc. '69, M.Sc. '71 and PhD '04, will receive the Alumni Volunteer Award; and the Alumni Medal of Achievement will go to Crystal Mackay, B.Sc.(Agr.) '92. The Ontario Veterinary College Alumni Association will honour retired pathobiology professor Carlton Gyles, DVM '64, as OVC Distinguished Alumnus for 2006.

The awards will be presented at noon during the President’s Lunch in Peter Clark Hall in the University Centre.

Hannam has become a pivotal figure in Canadian agriculture, specifically the soybean industry. He established First Line Seeds in 1982 and grew the company into one of Canada's largest soybean seed suppliers. His vision and strong belief in research have helped to propel soybeans to their position as Ontario's largest field crop and to develop value-added soybean products. In 2001, he assisted with the launch of Soy 20/20, a program designed to match soybean research with market opportunities.

Students are best acquainted with Hannam through his creation of Project SOY (Soybean Opportunities for Youth), a contest that encourages students to develop innovative uses for soybeans. His family also made a $1-million contribution to U of G that is being used to promote innovative medical, industrial and nutritive uses, as well as marketing strategies for Ontario soybeans.

Bosch is a three-time chemistry graduate and chair of the Guelph Soap Co. Inc., a company he established and developed into a major player in the privately labelled soap-processing industry. In 1987, he established the Guelph Soap Co. Inc. Scholarship, an annual award that recognizes a top chemistry student at Guelph. He has served as a volunteer director on the UGAA board, was an alumni senator, and played a significant role in developing and promoting the University's recent fundraising campaign, including funding and garnering support for the installation of the clock on Rozanski Hall.

In 2001, Bosch helped a team that submitted a successful application to the Canada Foundation for Innovation for a $3.2-million grant used to found the Electrochemical Technology Centre. He was also the visionary behind the Historical Plaque Project on campus and continues to work with the College of Biological Science and the College of Physical and Engineering Science to raise funds for the science complex.

Mackay has been an innovator in agricultural communications since graduating from the Ontario Agricultural College. She worked for the Ontario Farm Animal Council from 1993 to 1997, where she worked to improve public awareness and understanding of Canada's agricultural sector and spent more than 100 days a year speaking with audiences across the province.

In 1997, she joined Ontario Pork as a communications specialist and started her own company, Crystal Clear Communications. One of her greatest professional accomplishments was the development of the “Speak Up” team concept, which trained pork farmers to be agricultural ambassadors and media spokespeople in Ontario. She produced the first “Faces of Farming” calendar in 2001, featuring photographs of Ontario pork producers, which won a “Best in Show” in the public relations category at the Canadian Agricultural Marketing Awards ceremony. She was also a key member of the team that developed Ontario Pork's award-winning “Farm to Fork” campaign.

Gyles, who came to Canada from his native Jamaica in the late 1950s, has spent his entire career at U of G, where he successfully combined research with numerous administrative responsibilities as a department chair, associate director of the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety, dean of graduate studies and interim dean of OVC.

He began studying Escherichia coli more than 35 years ago and his widely-recognized research has focused generally on understanding how bacteria cause disease and especially on controlling the risk of contamination through food, water and human contact with animals. His contributions on the public health aspects of the bacteria have helped make Canada's food supply safer. Since “retiring” last summer, his work has focused on the creation of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses and planning for a new building to house the Animal Health Laboratory and the Department of Pathobiology.