Nasrin Husseini helps settle refugees fleeing Afghanistan.

When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in fall 2021, Nasrin Husseini watched in despair as change and progress in her native country unraveled, especially for girls and women.

“I was in shock, I was distressed,” she says. Husseini, a University of Guelph grad, knows first-hand how it feels to live amid threats from the Taliban and to be barred from getting an education.

She fled Afghanistan in 2010 when it became unsafe for her to continue working as a veterinarian. Husseini eventually made her way to U of G, earning an M.Sc. in immunology in 2020. She was among the first graduate students to receive the $50,000 Arrell Food Institute scholarship. Now a research assistant in U of G’s Department of Pathobiology, she is helping transform Canada’s beef industry.

But the resurgence of the Taliban has turned her attention to her homeland, where she fears for the future of women, girls and minorities in Afghanistan. She wants to make a difference.

“Right now, because of the crisis that has happened in Afghanistan, I didn’t think for a second—I just started helping and working for Afghan refugees,” she says. Husseini volunteers with Canadian Hazara Humanitarian Services, a non profit organization. She helped the group approach Danby Products Ltd. in Guelph and get the company’s support to settle Hazara refugees in the city Earlier in Afghanistan, she advocated for the rights of women, girls and minorities, and taught English and computer skills to women. As an Afghan veterinarian, she helped farmers raise healthier animals to increase productivity and reduce treatment costs. She says Taliban threats led her at times to cease teaching or to remove her business sign from the door. Her courageous efforts were recognized recently when she was named to the prestigious BBC 100 Women list for 2021.

The BBC 100 Women includes climate activists and grassroots leaders, international CEOs and “mega-stars” playing their part to “reinvent our society, our culture and our world after the global pandemic has forced so many of us to reassess the way we live.”

Husseini was among 50 exceptional Afghan women on this year’s list, which highlighted the struggles of Afghan women and girls under renewed Taliban rule. “I admire those Afghan women who are working from inside Afghanistan,” she says.

“For me to be considered on the same list with them is a great honour. They are putting their lives in danger, and I am just working from outside the country.” Husseini was the first woman to graduate from Kabul University’s veterinary medicine program, finishing at the top of her class in 2011.

She says after the collapse of the Taliban rule in 2001, girls and women experienced some improvements in their quality of life—albeit slowly and limited—such as being allowed to go to school and work.“It wasn’t easy. We had to work very hard, but it felt so good,” she says.

“I got into veterinary school in Afghanistan when it was a huge deal for a girl to be a veterinarian.” Eventually, discrimination forced Husseini to leave Afghanistan—for the second time. As a child, she had moved with her family to Iran to escape the ongoing war. Only when the family returned to Afghanistan could she attend post-secondary education.

Husseini is Hazara, which is one of Afghanistan’s largest ethnic minorities, accounting for up to 20 per cent of the country’s 30 million inhabitants. Husseini says the Taliban has a long history of violence and oppression toward the Hazara.

Since its return to power in 2021, conditions for the group and for women and girls in general have rapidly worsened, she says. Many people in the country have fled or gone into hiding. In late March, the Taliban closed girls’ high schools after having reopened them almost seven months earlier. Husseini said she feels “so blessed, so happy” to be working at U of G and living in nearby Kitchener.

“Finally, I am in a safe place that I can call home.

I love my work. I love working with animals,” she says. “But now my main concern is for the women and girls of my country and for the Hazara. Everyone is so upset, so afraid. Many are now in hiding. They are really in danger.” Husseini sees an opportunity for the Canadian government to assist Afghan refugees currently living in Iran—many of them academics with graduate degrees—to come to Canada, as well as minorities that fled Afghanistan and are now in a second country.

She plans to continue her advocacy. “With this BBC recognition, I think the weight is heavier on my shoulders, and I have to do more. People are counting on me.”

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From retracing the footsteps of the Franklin expedition in Canada’s Arctic to taking part in cocaine drug busts in the Caribbean, Lisa Tubb had her share of memorable moments during her first-ever deployment with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in fall 2021.

It was a voyage of firsts for Tubb, who grew up in landlocked Mitchell, Ont., before studying history at the equally landlocked U of G beginning in 2012.

Last year, besides marking her firsttime crossing of the Arctic Circle en route to sailing through the Northwest Passage during the maiden voyage of the HMCS Harry DeWolf, she notched her inaugural circumnavigation of North America. This was the second RCN ship to sail around the continent.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime deployment,” said Tubb. Now 27 and beginning her fourth year with the Navy as a public affairs officer, she is back in Ottawa on the issues management and operation desk.

But she hopes to get out on the water again soon. “I like to think the best is yet to come.” What she calls her inaugural “adventure” started in early August when she travelled to Iqualuit in Nunavut. There she met the vessel with its crew of about 80 people.

“We were introducing a new class of arctic and offshore patrol ship to Canada’s Northern regions,” said Tubb, whose job was to publicize the voyage with Canadians through social media, video and photos.

She had been on the ship for just over a week when she was charged with helping a CBC television crew headed by Peter Mansbridge to film a documentary of the Arctic. Tubb also led production of the Navy’s own documentary about the voyage called Into the North.

As part of Operation NANOOK, Canada’s signature Arctic exercise that included Canadian and American Coast Guard vessels, the ship visited Indigenous communities, including Pond Inlet and Cambridge Bay. Tubb helped run ship tours for community members.

“We’re there to serve Canadians, to conduct presence patrols in the Arctic, and to fortify our close

“It was a oncein-a-lifetime deployment,” said Tubb, who hopes to return to the water soon.

partnerships with federal, territorial and local communities.”

Each of the new class of ships is affiliated with various Inuit communities. For HMCS Harry DeWolf, that was the Qikiqtani region of Nunavut.

One moment during the ship’s passage through the Arctic archipelago resonated with her U of G history studies.

Referring to Sir John Franklin’s mid1800s attempt to find the Northwest Passage, she said, “We traced Franklin’s footsteps.”

She and others visited barren, wind-swept Beechey Island, where three members of the Franklin expedition were buried. Recalling the bleak surroundings and a hike over difficult terrain, she said, “You start to appreciate what those men went through. You can’t help feeling helpless for their situation, after struggling up that mountain, feeling the brittle rocks crack beneath your feet—their wintering place could not sustain them.”

After negotiating the Arctic, the ship continued down the western flank of North America to the Caribbean. There, the crew worked again with U.S. Coast Guard partners on Operation CARIBBE to counter illicit drug trafficking.

The team apprehended two small vessels transporting a total of more than 2,500 kilograms of contraband cocaine. Observing the activity from the deck of the patrol vessel, Tubb kept busy recording everything she could to tell the story later—and even donned gloves to help remove the narcotics from the boats.

“As the public affairs officer, I’m there on the bridge, taking notes, using my GoPro camera, hearing the voices of my friends crackling over the radio—and in the second event, seeing it unravel quite close by. I was up there with the guys the entire time

The Royal Canadian Navy vessel traversed Canada’s Arctic archipelago in 2021.

“My operations officer had to tell me to take care of myself, to go to bed. I didn’t want to miss a minute.”

Once through the Panama Canal, the ship headed up the Eastern Seaboard and docked in Halifax in early December.

“I joined the military because I wanted a challenge,” said Tubb, whose basic training as well as French language lessons and public affairs training occurred between 2018 and 2020 “The idea of service was already in the background.”

Her dad is the fire station chief back in Mitchell. Several relatives in her grandparents’ generation served during the Second World War; one great-uncle was in the Navy during the Korean War.

“Giving back to the community was something that really called me.”

Attending U of G sharpened her focus.“The whole idea to join the Forces started at Guelph,” said Tubb. One summer she worked with history professor Dr. Catharine Wilson on her Rural Diary Archive project, which
helped develop Tubb’s interest in personal accounts of history and led her to explore Canadian military stories especially.

Her U of G days also helped her learn about herself.

“I found out more about who I was as a person, my interests and values,” said Tubb. “Stories of the military and
heroes motivated me to push myself. I wanted to continue my study and storytelling of Canadian heroes.”

She ended up pursuing a personal project to investigate all the names inscribed on the cenotaph in her hometown, and she published a Historical Guelph article about her research on HMCS Guelph, a Second World War vessel.

On campus, she served as an orientation volunteer, worked for Hospitality Services and played on the University quidditch team that competed in nationals in Victoria. “Whenever I see Johnston Hall, Johnston Green and the Portico, I always picture it with quidditch in the background.”

After graduating in 2016, she completed a master’s degree at the University of Waterloo, studying the lives of workers at a wartime munitions factory in Ajax, Ont.

For last year’s deployment, she took along a Guelph Gryphons flag that found good use after one American naval officer flashed his own varsity colours. “I couldn’t let that go unanswered, I had to show the Gryphon off,” Tubb laughed.

“Our coxswain had said we could consider bringing something from home. The first thing I thought of was my U of G flag. It’s come with me to Victoria, to basic training—it’s my good luck charm.”

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The sensation of being immersed in water is something Chantique Carey-Payne, the recently named head coach of the University of Guelph’s swim program, has always loved. She took to swimming at age 3 as though she’d been born to it. Her athletic ability and intelligence drove her to perfection. Now she trains others to swim to the best of their ability.

“I just love being in the water,” she says. “Just the feeling of it is something I find pretty fantastic. I don’t know why I loved the sport of swimming so much, but I just never got bored with it.”

After a varsity career that saw her win numerous provincial and national medals, Carey-Payne was named as U of G’s head coach in 2017. At the relatively young age of 27, she had become the first Black woman in Canada to be named head coach of a university swim program.

“When I found out I got the job, I was so excited,” she says. “Being a head coach was my dream, but I never anticipated I would reach that goal as early as I did. Shock was my first reaction. And then, I was so grateful.”

While she had dared to dream of becoming a university coach, she understood the realities that made fulfillment of the dream a long shot. As a Black woman, she knew that her race and her gender might limit her chances.

“Being a female coach in the sport of swimming is not something that you see very often at higher levels. There are very few of us across all of Canada at the national and varsity level. So for someone to give me a chance as a very young, female Black coach was really amazing.”

“I try very hard to make sure everybody gets the same amount of attention and the same privileges.”

A multiple medal winner for the U of G swim team, Carey-Payne was an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) All-Star in each of the four years she competed for the Gryphons from 2007 to 2011. She earned 11 OUA medals and eight national university medals in her varsity career. Her specialty was the butterfly stroke, but she also excelled in freestyle.

After her competitive career, she began coaching with the Guelph Marlins Swim Club. She also served as a full-time assistant coach with the Gryphons and coached the Canadian Lifesaving Team.

“With the U of G team, I try to make it as inclusive as possible, and I carry a really large team for that reason,” she said. “I try very hard to make sure everybody is equal on the team – everybody gets the same amount of attention and the same privileges, whether they are making the U Sports national standard or struggling to make it to OUA championships. Everybody is valued.”

Carey-Payne longs for the sport to become more racially diverse, although it will take time and effort, she says.

“There are very few Black kids who are swimming and very few Black kids who are looking at swimming when they come to university. Getting more Black people involved in competitive swimming is something I’m very passionate about.”

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Two of Canada’s leading horticultural practitioners and communicators – Mark Cullen and his son, Ben – see one very good thing emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic: a sharp increase in gardening that has far-reaching implications for the well-being of the environment and people.

Interest in cultivating gardens and landscapes had been steadily rising for years, says Ben, a U of G agriculture diploma graduate. Then came the pandemic, sparking an unforeseen spike in gardening that has the horticulture industry unable to keep up with the demand for seeds, soil, tools and landscaping services.

“From what we’ve heard in the industry, they’ve never seen anything like what we’re seeing now in terms of year-over-year activity,” says Ben. “And I think this trend could stick, because gardening is one of those things that once you start, you don’t tend to stop. I think a lot of these habits are here to stay in the post-pandemic world.”

They foresaw some of those ideas in their 2018 book (Nimbus Publishing) called Escape to Reality: How the World Is Changing Gardening, and Gardening Is Changing the World. “We identified food, pollinators, native plants and other things as fast-moving trends a couple of years ago,” says Mark. “And then along came the pandemic and the trends just accelerated.”

Ben says low-grade anxiety about food is coded into our DNA. Natural disasters, economic uncertainty and global virus outbreaks heighten that anxiety. “Gardening can help with that,” he says. “It’s a cathartic experience in terms of developing the capability to grow your own food and your resilience in life.”

more young people are taking an active interest in sustainable growing methods.

He adds that pandemic-bound gardeners now have more time on their hands at home. “They’ve been forced by COVID-19 to slow down. From a mental-health standpoint, when you look at what’s available to you – when you can’t go anywhere and there’s nowhere to spend money – it’s one of the best things you can do with that new-found time. People who are embracing gardening during the pandemic are certainly benefiting and will continue to benefit.”

Mark says more young people are taking an active interest in sustainable growing methods, practising soil health and environmental protection and gaining practical skills to grow food. In precarious times, those are good skills to have, he says, likening pandemic gardening to the Victory Gardens of the Second World War. “This interest is something they perhaps had before, but now it’s more intense.”

For most of his own young life, Ben worked the soil with his professional gardener dad. In 2011, he completed his diploma at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus. His mother, Mary, is also a U of G grad, having graduated in 1979 with a degree in family and consumer studies. And his grandfather, Len Cullen, taught at the Ontario Agricultural College in the late 1940s. Mark is known across Canada as an expert gardener and award-
winning author, broadcaster and columnist (markcullen.com).

Ben went on to study commerce at Dalhousie University, which led him into the food industry.

In 2017, Ben joined his father in the family’s horticultural communications company, which aims to inspire others to nurture sustainable gardens and landscapes.

Together, Ben and Mark work hard to simplify gardening for people looking for easy-to-understand answers to their questions about “green” growing.

They recommend growing native trees, shrubs and flowers that require less fertilizer, pesticides and water than non-native plants.

They recommend growing native trees, shrubs and flowers that require less fertilizer, pesticides and water than non-native plants. Native species are better adapted to local soil and growing conditions, they say. These plants have developed defences that allow them to live with other species, and they more readily propagate themselves through seeds.

Native varieties also attract diverse insects, which in turn attract other animals, especially birds. “We really encourage gardeners to attract pollinators, the over 4,000 species of bees native to North America and other insects that are part of the pollinator universe,” Mark says. “It is so important to make a contribution to the pollinator corridor in your neighbourhood. Everyone can do it.”

Ben says seed-saving groups help to preserve local plant genotypes and seed stock. Recently, and especially during the pandemic, small seed-saving businesses have sprouted across Canada. “It would be lovely if every garden got to that level of commitment to natives.”

Growing sustainably requires looking after soil health year after year, says Ben, who last year on Father’s Day delivered a large contractor’s bag of compost to his dad. Ignoring soil quality is the fastest way to fail as a novice gardener. Growing in “garbage soil” – like the subsoil of a new subdivision – doesn’t give your seeds a fighting chance.

Many gardeners, and especially those gardening for the first time during the pandemic, worry about failing. Mark has heard those concerns ever since he began a gardening radio show out of Toronto in 1982. His first advice for beginners is to find the right state of mind – advice echoed by his son.

“The whole act of gardening is a leap of faith from start to finish,” says Ben. Climate change is making growing conditions more difficult to predict, with more frequent dry spells and extreme weather events. But he says you can still rely upon recurring conditions through the seasons.

“You have to have faith in the germination of what you sow but also have faith that good conditions are going to continue throughout the season and end in a successful harvest. What we tell new gardeners is, relax. Whatever you imagine the hurdles to be, they’re not that difficult to get over and not as high as you think.”

Chair supports sustainable food engineering at U of G

Besides gardening, Mark Cullen pursues sustainability through his involvement as a board member with the Barrett Family Foundation (BFF). The foundation works with qualified organizations that impact education, environmental sustainability and humanitarian well-being, including the University of Guelph.

In 2018, BFF supported the establishment of U of G’s Chair in Sustainable Food Engineering, the first of its kind in Canada.

Bob Barrett, president and CEO of Polytainers Inc., established the foundation with his wife, Francine Rouleau Barrett, and their daughters, Kim Barrett McKenna and Rebecca Barrett. A long-time friend, Cullen joined the board six years ago.

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“It’s not necessarily a physical covering,” says Kadwa, 24. She explains that while the practice of hijab does include covering the head, it also encompasses the way one speaks and presents themselves.

“It is you as a woman expressing your faith,” she says.

Originally from Scarborough, Ont., Kadwa acquired a deep appreciation for non-profit organizations and community-building while studying economics and international development at U of G. Her degree program instilled in her a passion for helping others and making a difference in the world.  

“A lot of people think economics is about numbers and finance, but there is so much of the social sciences involved,” she says. “The program at Guelph really encompassed that and that’s why I chose to go there.”

Her four years spent working as a residence assistant gave her hands-on experience in community development. She learned how to make a community of people feel safe and welcome and how to create programs and services that meet their needs. 

Kadwa started playing rugby in high school. She excelled in the sport, which she says gave her strength, confidence, determination and a strong sense of community.

In her first year at U of G, Kadwa tried out for the Gryphons camp, but a serious injury ended her dream of playing varsity rugby.

One summer while at university, she worked for Toronto Inner-City Rugby Foundation (TIRF), a non-profit organization that uses rugby to help improve underserved, low-income and priority neighbourhoods.

“It got me involved in this area of community development through sport, seeing the impact of sports in grassroots communities, with kids in schools and camps, in inner-city communities with low income. That got me really involved in that community.” 

Using that passion and experience, she started Hijabi Ballers in 2017 to give Muslim women and girls the confidence to participate in sports while showing their Muslim identity.  

Hijabi Ballers celebrates Muslim women playing sports and instills pride by sharing stories about what inspired them to play sports and the obstacles they faced, Kadwa says.

Kadwa learned how to make a community of people feel safe and welcome and how to create programs and services that meet their needs. 

“For a lot of women on the field, they choose to take off their hijab and don’t go out of their way to identify as Muslim because of the associated discrimination or stereotypes. And for many of these women, there are cultural pressures because participating in sports is frowned upon.”

During her playing days, Kadwa says, she was often the only person on the rugby field wearing the hijab. And while she says it didn’t create problems for her – because of the diverse community she lived in and the supports around her – other Muslim women in sport have a much different experience.

“When you are playing sports, if there are people staring at you when you’re on the field or making comments, it makes the experience of sport negative and makes it hard for them to be themselves while playing sports.”

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If hospital patients couldn’t meet family members face-to-face, she thought, they should at least be able to see their loved ones virtually.

Luo, who graduated this past spring with a bachelor of science degree, co-founded Frontline Connect Canada, a campaign to collect donated tablets and smartphones to help patients and their physicians communicate with families during the pandemic.

“A close friend and I started a GoFundMe campaign to donate personal protective equipment to our local hospitals and other health-care facilities after seeing the shortage in supplies,” Luo said. “I actually reached out to several of my past professors during our campaign, who were so supportive and willing to share or donate. I’m always so amazed by the sense of Gryphon community.”

Through that GoFundMe campaign, Luo connected with like-minded entrepreneurs and doctors who were passionate about making a difference during the pandemic.

This initiative has helped keep families united with their loved ones, whether it is in the emergency room or at the end of life.

Several of the doctors faced a new challenge caused by visitor restrictions. Normally, family members provide information about the patient, advocate for them and provide emotional support, she said.

“Obviously, this changed with COVID-19 infection control measures,” she said. “These doctors had to use their own phones to call family members or put family members on FaceTime so they could speak with their loved ones before they were intubated. As such, our group came up with a way to use donated devices and virtual communication apps like Zoom.”

With her own plans disrupted by the pandemic, Luo used her time to do something that could truly help the community.

“I loved this project because it’s such a simple solution to a huge need,” she said. “If I can use Zoom to attend my university lectures online, why can’t patients and physicians do that to connect with families?

“I imagine it must be an amazing feeling for patients and their family members to stay connected, even though they can’t be there in person. This initiative has helped keep families connected with their loved ones, whether it is in the emergency room or at the end of life. It’s been so rewarding to be a part of it.”

As of midsummer, about 300 donated devices had been placed in four hospitals and 63 other care facilities, all free of charge.

“We are continuing to work hard to collect donated devices and connect them with other care facilities in need, with no plans to stop anytime soon,” Luo added.

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An aviation specialist with Kamloops Fire Centre, Moreira crafts firefighting strategies using his knowledge of physics and math. In recent years, with longer, hotter and drier fire seasons in the province’s forests, his job has been intensely demanding.

Moreira, 30, is able to keep cool under pressure in part because of the practical skills he learned studying physics at U of G.

“Because of my degree, I was able to get a job with the BC Wildfire Service in the winter, a job that was directly applicable to physics,” says Moreira, who grew up in B.C.

THE 2017 AND 2018 FIRE SEASONS IN B.C. WERE THE MOST EXTREME IN THE PROVINCE’S HISTORY.

During fire season, he becomes the air operations branch director when deployed with Kamloops Fire Centre’s incident management team. He oversees helicopter suppression of fires, including transporting firefighters to hot zones and dumping massive buckets of water on fires.

Depending on the size of the fire, the response can involve anywhere from one to 30 helicopters. While Moreira is not a pilot himself, he sometimes finds himself in the co-pilot’s chair hovering over a blaze.

Because operation parameters change constantly, pinpoint calculations are needed to ensure the best possible response and outcome, he says.

“It certainly can be a lot of pressure, but we all accept that pressure as part of the job we have,” he says. “I am looking for the best possible way to control and suppress the fire and to protect life and property. You have to take it one task at a time.”

His U of G education gave him a good foundation for understanding physics and its many applications. He graduated in 2013. His job primarily involves the analysis and organization of complex and urgent firefighting strategies. The more fires burning, the more involved the strategy becomes.

The 2017 and 2018 fire seasons in B.C. were the most extreme in the province’s history, burning more forest and forcing more evacuations than ever before.

Climate change, he says, is contributing to the higher number and larger size of fires. Dry conditions caused by a lack of winter snowfall and extreme temperatures in spring and summer are the major contributors.

Extreme fire seasons are likely to become more common as global temperatures continue to rise, according to a recent study by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Each summer during his university program, Moreira returned to Kamloops to work for the BC Wildfire Service, summer employment he started while still in high school. He gained hands-on experience fighting fires.

“Being able to understand things from their basic principles and seeing the root cause helped me to solve unique problems that come up day-to-day in my work.”

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“If you’re asking me why I took four and a half years of my life and flushed it down the toilet, it was because I thought all lawyers were literally like Perry Mason,” says the 1997 bachelor of arts U of G alumnus, speaking of the lead character of a popular courtroom drama he watched when he was a kid.

A successful Hollywood writer, Hoselton was interviewed on speaker phone as he drove to Santa Monica from his home in Los Angeles to begin his writing workday.

He is part of a 12-member writing team currently working on Season 3 of ABC’s The Good Doctor. Each writer is assigned an episode. He’s crafting episode 5.

Hoselton got his big break in Hollywood when the screenplay he wrote with his law school buddy Lorne Cameron called Like Father, Like Son became a 1987 hit movie. He has been writing for movies and television ever since – more than 30 years.

“Being raised on TV, I actually thought a lawyer just appeared in court and there’d be a criminal on the stand and you’d force them to confess and save the day, like Perry Mason,” he says. “So, I thought it would be really cool to be a defence lawyer or criminal prosecutor. By the end of the first year of law school at the University of Toronto, I thought, ‘This is probably not going to land for me.’”

No quitter, Hoselton finished his law degree so he would have something to fall back on in case other pursuits fell through. Degree in hand, he leapt into screenwriting. As his Hollywood career took off, he began to see how his legal training applied to writing.

“Law is rooted in the analysis of facts and the presentation of two opposing viewpoints and how to support those two viewpoints,” he explained, as he cruised along the Pacific Coast section of his commute, remarking on the early morning surfers. “And that is really the basis of writing dialogue or dramatic conflict.”

He also made invaluable personal and professional connections both at U of G and in law school, including perhaps the most important one of his life. He met his wife, Brenda Skelly, at U of G in a criminology class. They have been married for nearly 36 years. “I told her I loved her on the U of G campus.”

Without really knowing why, Hoselton gravitated into poetry and creative writing courses at U of G, only understanding later their deep impact.

“The creative freedom I found at U of G was the freedom that took me all the way down to California.”

He met Cameron and his current boss, Dave Shore, in law school. “That ended up being my way into the movie and television industry.”

Hoselton’s family moved to Guelph when David started elementary school.

“The creative freedom I found at U of G was the freedom that took me all the way down to California.”

“My educational experience was basically all on College Avenue in Guelph,” he says. “I went to College Avenue Public School, then to Centennial CVI for high school, and then I took quite the big leap by going all the way up College Avenue past Edinburgh Road to the University of Guelph.”

He joked that the only thing that qualified him to be a TV

writer was his voracious appetite for TV-watching. He even spent his own money to buy copies of TV Guide when he was young.

For his work on The Good Doctor, Hoselton commutes each morning to a Santa Monica office, where writers work together in close quarters. It’s not unlike a typical office environment, but the work itself is very atypical.

“Writing is a lot of work, but the upside is it’s really creative,” he says. “You get to tell not only great stories, but you get to work with really great people. The writers are all smart, funny, enlightened people and you’re surrounded by them all the time.”

Hoselton has written for, produced or created stories for TV series including Bull, Houdini and Doyle, Chicago P.D. and House. He’s blunt about what it takes to survive in the business.

“The thing you come to understand about Hollywood is it’s based on money and very predictable that way. If they can make money off you, they want to be with you, and if they can’t, they don’t.”

Writing for a network show or a hit movie is about the best-paying writing gig you can get, he says. But the sense of creative fulfillment that comes from the work may be the most satisfying aspect of it.

“Every time I get on a new project, there is always that creative challenge of having to do something new and creative,” he says. “Writing something that challenges you and takes all your talents is what writing is all about.”

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Whenever Shauneen Bruder sets foot on the University of Guelph campus, it is like coming home to the place where her love of learning first had free rein. It is a seminal place in the life of the U of G alumna, who was appointed chair of the University’s Board of Governors this summer. She is the first woman to hold the position.

“U of G is such an important part of my life,” says Bruder, who graduated in 1980 with a BA before completing an MBA at Queen’s University. “To have this gift to come back and re-engage as I have over the last few years with the Board of Governors has just been a joy.”

She says she is thrilled to be heading an exceptional U of G governance team and to help navigate her alma mater through changing times.

“I am delighted that Shauneen Bruder has agreed to serve as chair of the University’s Board of Governors,” says president Franco Vaccarino. “She brings to the role her impressive experience as a top banking executive and genuine enthusiasm for this University as an alumna.”

He says the new chair is well-known for her commitment to collaborative decision-making, a quality that defines U of G and makes it a leading post-secondary institution.

Bruder is executive vice-president of operations for the Royal Bank of Canada. She is a director of CN and Andrew Peller Ltd. and has served as chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian American Business Council. A recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, she has been inducted into the Women’s Executive Network Top 100 Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame.

“universities are a fantastic place to thoroughly develop the whole person and a discerning, questioning curiosity about the big questions.”

“I am so honoured to be the first woman to hold this position and at such a dynamic time in our history,” she says. “We have come a long way since I was a student in the 1970s and a young woman starting my career. But there is more work to be done to ensure that we fully embrace diversity and inclusion. This will continue to be an important focus of this Board of Governors.

“The skills and experiences I gained as a student at Guelph well prepared me for the opportunities and challenges I have faced throughout my career. Teamwork, critical thinking skills and applied, collaborative learning through field trips built enduring confidence and capability.

“These are what I come back to – my ability to work in a team, to collaborate, to synthesize information, distill it down and make sense of it.”

Recalling her arrival at U of G, she says, “Like so many young people, I didn’t really have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I loved to learn. I was very fortunate to have come to Guelph, a university that really encouraged you to try a lot of different things – to engage with integrative learning and the exploration of different topics.”

An added and enduring bonus was meeting her husband, Michael Bruder, at U of G when she was 18, she says.

Shauneen Bruder grew up in Ancaster, Ont., as the eldest of five children, all of whom attended university. Both of her parents were education professionals.

“Our family put great emphasis on learning and challenging yourself to be the best you could be, on improving and growing. That’s how I was raised. The opportunity as a student to really explore some of the big questions, to do research and to acquire a discerning ability and really test facts is just so important.”

Bruder says one of the University’s strengths is its integrative and collaborative approach to learning.

“These are things that I think are huge differentiators that prepare people for a future that is going to demand these kinds of skills. The world needs people who are multidisciplinary, who can think broadly in an integrative way.”

She says her Board role will focus on supporting and advancing the University’s mission, nurturing a learning environment and fostering health and wellness throughout the academy.

“I think universities are a fantastic place to thoroughly develop the whole person and a discerning, questioning curiosity about the big questions. For me, that intellectual curiosity has made a huge difference in my life.”

Referring to the value of openness, curiosity and the desire to learn, she says, “I have been a lifelong learner and have been a student my whole life. In many ways, I feel like I just left as an undergraduate yesterday.”

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Still, some of her best informal testing happens when she looks in the mirror.

Miki has used the company’s product triad – moisturizer, facial serum and eye cream – every day since Veriphy was launched last summer. The result? “I’ve noticed a big difference through this winter. Normally my skin is so dry and this winter it’s keeping healthy through all this crazy weather we’ve been getting.”

Call it professional and personal validation for a product line whose active ingredient was discovered by physics professor John Dutcher, Miki’s former lab supervisor during her studies at U of G. That ingredient – produced under the trade name PhytoSpherix – consists of glycogen nanoparticles that retain water.

Dutcher, holder of a Canada Research Chair in Soft Matter and Biological Physics, found those particles in sweet corn in 2008. A year later, he launched Mirexus Biotechnologies to explore applications in cosmetics, food supplements and drugs.

That same year, Miki arrived from Kingsville, Ont., to begin her undergrad in the University’s brand-new nanoscience program directed by Dutcher.

Back then, she hadn’t envisioned working with cosmetics. Miki just wanted to pursue her interest in STEM disciplines, perhaps influenced by her dad, who had studied physics before becoming a math teacher.

She was attracted by what she describes as U of G’s cutting-edge nanoscience program that meshed aspects of engineering, chemistry and physics. “I like working with them all,” she says. “When you start blending fields, you get some interesting science out of that.”

During the third summer of her undergrad, she worked in Dutcher’s MacNaughton Building lab on flow properties of his nano-based materials. “That solidified for me that I enjoyed working in the lab,” says Miki, who saw results from that initial work published in a physics journal last year.
After completing her master’s degree in physics at McMaster University in 2014, she returned to Guelph. By then, Dutcher was working on taking PhytoSpherix to market.

Mirexus and Veriphy are now housed in a 12,000-square-foot facility opened in 2018 in Guelph’s Hanlon Creek Business Park. Besides skin care applications, Mirexus aims to develop markets for its nanoparticles in nutraceuticals and drugs.

Working with Veriphy’s product formulator and co-op students from U of G and other schools, Miki has studied anti-aging and moisture retention properties of PhytoSpherix. The company plans to add a new cleanser and mask to its product line.

As well, Miki works on potential biomedical applications for phytoglycogen under Glysantis, a Mirexus subsidiary. Alter the formulation of PhytoSpherix, she says, and it affects the skin in different ways. She’s looking at use of the product for immune-based skin disorders such as eczema, psoriasis and contact dermatitis.

“We still work closely with John Dutcher’s group on fundamental properties of phytoglycogen,” says Veriphy president Alison Crumblehulme.

That’s not the company’s only ongoing tie with the University. In 2018, the inaugural Veriphy Skincare Scholarship for Women in STEM was awarded to first-year science student Grace Coleman. The new annual award is intended to encourage young women to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at U of G.

Worth $1,000, the funding came at a good time for Coleman, who arrived last fall from her hometown Halifax.

“I am solely responsible for paying for my own education,” she says. “The Veriphy scholarship is part of the much-appreciated funding I need to get to the Class of 2022 finish line.”

For Dutcher, the award is “the whole full circle. It’s nice that activity that started in the lab can actually help to enhance the education of up-and-coming students. A new scholarship is always a good thing, and to have it come from technology discovered at the University of Guelph is really quite special.”

This past February, Veriphy’s eye cream was chosen as tops in 2018 by Toronto-based Fashion magazine.

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