Fall 2015

Deli-cious success in Shanghai
You’ve just slurped the last of your matzo ball soup when your overstuffed smoked meat sandwich arrives, piping hot, on rye, slathered with mustard, garnished with a pickle and a side of slaw. [Read more]

Helping spark a 'Soul Fusion'
Victoria Falana, BA’12 (Kinesiology), embraces uncomfortable situations. Raised by Nigerian “non-musical” parents in Brampton, Ont., Falana searched for her voice as a youth, listening to the sounds of Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé, as well as traditional radio pop. [Read more]

Listening through the years
Somewhere, I’m sure I saw a photo of the Duke Ellington Orchestra playing at Wonderland Gardens. Probably it was on the red-and-white bandshell itself, one night in the ‘80s when I was at the old dancehall off Springbank Road. [Read more]

Strength in our numbers
Western alumni are widely recognized by the campus community as important stakeholders in this public – and for us – very special institution. [Read more]

Taking on the Americas
Turns out, it wasn’t just another race for Sasha Gollish. Competing on the final night of the 2015 Pan Am Games, the Western Engineering alumna walked into CIBC Athletics Stadium at York University ready for her 1,500-metre race. She was on home turf – a Toronto woman taking on the best of the Americas on Canadian soil. Even so, she never expected what happened next. [Read more]

The fair way
How does Natalie Raffoul, BESc’01, approach her golf game? “With a sense of humour.” Don’t get her wrong. The Managing Partner at Brion Raffoul loves the game and her time on the courses of the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. In fact, she considers it a welcomed respite from her hectic world. “That’s my retreat,” she said. “That’s my sanity – right there.” [Read more]

Changing face of fast food
No one would accuse Matthew Corrin, BA’02, of lacking confidence. In May, the 33-year-old Corrin, founder and CEO of the better-for-you restaurant enterprise Freshii, penned an open letter to McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook essentially daring the burger-peddling behemoth to co-brand a Freshii store inside any of McDonald’s 14,000 U.S. locations. [Read more]

Haunted art with living impact
Visual artist Ed Pien, BFA’82, has been stalked by ghosts since he was a boy. “We are who we are based on the stories and the baggage we inherit, based on the stories and memories we build,” said the 56-year-old. “I’m looking for similarities among people. Once we find these common elements, or common grounds, we can then start to celebrate our differences.” [Read more]

Helping spark a 'Soul Fusion'
Victoria Falana, BA’12 (Kinesiology), embraces uncomfortable situations. Raised by Nigerian “non-musical” parents in Brampton, Ont., Falana searched for her voice as a youth, listening to the sounds of Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé, as well as traditional radio pop. [Read more]

Taking on the Americas
Turns out, it wasn’t just another race for Sasha Gollish. Competing on the final night of the 2015 Pan Am Games, the Western Engineering alumna walked into CIBC Athletics Stadium at York University ready for her 1,500-metre race. She was on home turf – a Toronto woman taking on the best of the Americas on Canadian soil. Even so, she never expected what happened next. [Read more]

The fair way
How does Natalie Raffoul, BESc’01, approach her golf game? “With a sense of humour.” Don’t get her wrong. The Managing Partner at Brion Raffoul loves the game and her time on the courses of the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. In fact, she considers it a welcomed respite from her hectic world. “That’s my retreat,” she said. “That’s my sanity – right there.” [Read more]

Adoration of guns offensive to Canadians
With so many Western grads contributing in positive ways to the world, I am offended by the article on Robert Bianchin who produces a product with only one purpose - destruction. The adoration of guns is offensive to most Canadians. Let’s see more articles about grads who are making the world a better place, not worse. [Read more]

Better stories to tell?
I am shocked that you are profiling a gun manufacturer in the Gazette who thinks that the only difference between us and Americans is the number of guns and bumper stickers we have. Surely you can find alumni with better stories to tell. [Read more]

Disappointed in gun article
As a grad (PhD’01, History) who now also lives in Pennsylvania, I'm disappointed that you would feature an alumni ("Big Shot," Spring 2015) who has embraced one of the most significant differences between Canada and the United States: the gun culture. It is not something to be celebrated, or at least viewed uncritically and opportunistically. While Canada can learn some things from its neighbour to the south, an enthusiasm for and marketing of deadly weapons is not one of them. [Read more]

Toronto loves Zane’s deli
Zane Caplansky was born to own a deli. Formerly a business consultant, political assistant, dot com millionaire, apprentice chef, night janitor and lots in between. Zane started Caplansky's Deli in 2008 out of frustration with the lack of good smoked meat in Toronto. [Read more]

Never too old to get a degree
Victor Young, 71, took 43 years to complete his [Read more]

Keeping big business honest
John Pecman doesn't hesitate to confront powerful commercial interests when they've used their clout in the marketplace to stifle competition and prey on consumers. [Read more]

Anderson, Garland named new deans
Western will welcome two new deans to campus during the coming academic year. [Read more]

Bentley earns Killam Research Prize
Decades later, David Bentley looks at it as one of the best decisions he’s ever made. As a second-year university student, the Western professor decided to switch the focus of his study – from Physics to English. [Read more]

Campbell appointed Vice-Provost
Karen Campbell was named to a four-year term as Vice-Provost (Academic Planning, Policy & Faculty), starting July 1, 2016. She began Sept. 1 as Special Advisor to the Provost and Vice-Provost-Elect, working closely with Alan Weedon during the final year of his term. Weedon has served as Vice-Provost since July 2002. [Read more]

Canada Post pays tribute to Munro
Western alumna Alice Munro, DLitt’76, the recognized short story master and first Canadian woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, is being celebrated on a new stamp that pays homage to her life and work. [Read more]

Maurice Stubbs: Intuitive Painter
Stubbs was a foundational member of the Australian modernist Perth Group, as well as director of the McIntosh Gallery in London, Ontario for most of his later life. [Read more]

88 Ice House Street
Donovan "Doc" O'Connell and business school classmate Bev Patterson develop a unique strategy to get Bev's diamond mining, half billion dollar inheritance out of Zimbabwe, where currency restrictions prohibit the transfer of large amounts of capital. [Read more]

A Complex Fate: William L. Shirer and the American Century
William Shirer (1904-1993), a star foreign correspondent with the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s and ’30s, was a prominent member of what one contemporary observer described as an extraordinary band of American journalists, "some with the Midwest hayseed still in their hair," who gave their North American audiences a visceral sense of how Europe was spiralling into chaos and war. [Read more]

Murder City: The Untold Story of Canada’s Serial Killer Capital
Like the mythic cities of Gotham or Gomorrah, London, Ontario was for many years an unrivalled breeding ground of depravity and villainy, the difference being that its monsters were all too real. [Read more]

A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes
A striking poetic debut that brilliantly illuminates and celebrates the intersection of poetry and science, and the ways they can mediate our discovery of the world and our place in it. [Read more]

Alice in Shandehland
By 1931, Ben and Alice Edelson had been married for two decades and had seven children, but for years Alice had been having an affair with the married Jack Horwitz. On the night of 24 November, Ben, Alice, and Jack met at Edelson Jewellers to "settle the thing." Words flew, a brawl erupted, and Jack was shot and killed. [Read more]

All Out
Can a man with a demanding job really be a good father? All Out is a bracingly honest answer from Emmy and Gemini Award-winning anchorman Kevin Newman, BA’81 (Political Science), and his grown son, Alex. [Read more]

Dialogic Materialism: Bakhtin, Embodiment and Moving Image Art
Dialogic Materialism: Bakhtin, Embodiment and Moving Image Art argues for the relevance of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of dialogism as a means of examining the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary moving image art forms. The volume comprises six chapters divided into two sections. [Read more]

Dr. Verity Lake’s Journey of a Thousand Revelations
The original romantic feminist adventure! Travel back to the 1930’s to meet Dr. Verity Lake, the eccentric and glamourous footloose and fancy-free psychologist who accepts the position of visiting professor in Ottawa – and her life is never the same. [Read more]

In the Tiger Park
Writing about ruins, compost, regeneration and football, Alison Calder explores the ways we learn, or invent, to feel our way through new experiences. [Read more]

Inscrutable
When two private detectives in New York City disrupt a foreign espionage ring, their life takes a decided turn for the worse. [Read more]

Measure Twice: Tips and tricks from the pros to help you avoid the most common DIY disasters
DIY projects seem quick and easy. You start thinking that you're repairing a crack in the ceiling, and before you know it, you're tearing out a dividing wall to make space for that new kitchen island. [Read more]

Phoebe & Dax
Children are invited to follow Phoebe and her goblin buddy Dax on an adventure as they conduct zany experiments, craft exquisite meals and create artistic masterpieces, leaving behind a mess almost as big as their imagination. [Read more]

Port Stanley: the First Hundred Years, 1804-1904
Several excellent books have been published dealing with the history of Port Stanley in the last century, but little attention has been paid to what was happening in Port Stanley in the previous hundred years. John Bostwick received his first land grant at the mouth of Kettle Creek in 1804. This volume deals with how the village changed and grew and developed in the subsequent hundred years. [Read more]

The Resourceful Mother’s Secrets to Emotional Health
It all starts with you, the parent, and your own emotional health. Meredith Deasley shows how we can come to understand ourselves and our past to ensure a healthier today for us and our children. She clearly explains how our emotional pain manifests itself in our appearance, behaviours and physical health. Most importantly, she teaches us how to heal by parenting ourselves and coming to love all parts of ourselves. [Read more]

The Gairy Movement: A History of Grenada
In 1979, a violent revolution in Grenada transformed the politics and life in the Caribbean. Subsequently, Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy was forced into exile in the United States and was able to return only after the revolutionary Prime Minister and others were executed by a firing squad in 1983. [Read more]

The Stone Merchants
What would you do if someone is trying to kill you and you have no idea why? A romance suspense thriller that weaves murder, romance, and intrigue into a sizzling fast-paced adventure that leads all the way to the White House. [Read more]

S is for Surfing
The ABCs of Surfing in Canada [Read more]

Who Stole Saturday
Callum loves Saturdays. One day, he discovers to his horror, that the Saturdays are disappearing. HELP! [Read more]

Per La Famiglia: Memories and Recipes of Southern Italian Home Cooking
This cookbook fetes the celebrations and foods of an Italian-Canadian through the years by writing down family recipes that can be shared with generations to come. While many are traditional, there are also new spins on some to fit the demands of younger generations without missing the love and stories that go into each dish. [Read more]

TRAINING FOR ARMAGEDDON
Over the past 225 years the oak savannah at the mouth of the Niagara River -- designated as a Military Reserve but regarded by the local citizenry as their common lands-- has witnessed a broad spectrum of military, political and cultural happenings. [Read more]

Combined athletic alumni community forms
Western’s two athletic alumni chapters, The W Club and the Women’s Athletic Alumnae (WAA), formally voted at their Annual General Meeting May 2 to unify as one organization of Western Mustangs Athletic Alumni. [Read more]

Congratulations alumni!
Each year, we recognize alumni achievements at the Annual Alumni Awards Dinner held at Homecoming. The Alumni Awards of Merit recognize four individuals who serve as outstanding ambassadors for Western in four categories. The Women’s Athletic Alumnae’s Elfrida Berzins Awards and ‘W’ Club Wall of Fame honour eight alumni for their achievements and contributions to athletics. The Don Wright Faculty of Music Wall of Fame honours the professional accomplishments of two talented Music alumni. [Read more]

Strength in our numbers
Western alumni are widely recognized by the campus community as important stakeholders in this public – and for us – very special institution. [Read more]

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