College News

It is with sympathy that we share the passing of Klaas Baan, B.Sc. (Agr.) 2006, on Monday, August 1st. His obituary is available here.

It is with sympathy that we share the passing of Keith Hutcheson on July 18, 2022. Keith was a member of the OAC Class of 1950 and was recently inducted into the Order of OAC to honour his philanthropic support of the college. His obituary is available here. 

Lillian Iris Chanasyk passed away on May 12, 2022 just shy of her 93 birthday. She is the wife of Victor Chanasyk who was the Founding Director of the first School of Landscape of Architecture in Canada at the University of Guelph (now the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development). She self identified as a “homemaker” which is an old fashioned term, but she felt her role was to love and support her husband and his career.

The OAC Dean’s Office is pleased to welcome Amir Bazrgar into the role of Statistics Consultant for OAC. In this role, Amir supports the use of statistics in teaching and research across the college. He consults with graduate students to provide advice on statistics and experimental design, and assist them in understanding and analyzing their data. He also facilitates workshops and training on a variety of statistical topics.

Four of this year’s five inductees into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame are OAC alumni. Congratulations to all inductees. A photo album of the event is available here. 

The Ontario Agricultural College has released findings from the Master’s Destinations Project: Degrees with a Difference, highlighting employment data of OAC master’s program graduates. It is the second report released under the Graduate Destinations initiative. 

It is with sympathy that we share the passing of Dr. Murry Miller, OAC Class of 1953, on May 29, 2022. Murray was an active member of the OAC Class of 1953, chair of the Deparment of Land Resource Science from 1966-1971 and a University Professor Emeritus. His obituary, detailing his many contributions to the University, and beyond, can be found here. 

It is with sympathy that we share the passing of James Rude (PhD ’93) on May 6, 2022. James completed his PhD in agricultural economics in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resouce Economics. His obituary is available here. 

Dr. Jesse Popp, professor in the School of Environmental Sciences and Chair in Indigenous Environmental Science, will join a group of more than 20 academics, Indigenous Elders and community members to monitor the progress of a strategic plan developed to ensure new models for Indigenous research and research training are informed by First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. The Indigenous Leadership Circle in Research, a group formed by the Canadian Research Coordinating Committee, will advise the country’s three federal research funding agenc

The University of Guelph’s Canadian Agri-Marketing Association (CAMA) student chapter placed second at the 2022 National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Student Marketing Competition held April 5-7 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The annual competition challenges students to develop a comprehensive marketing plan and presentation for a new agricultural product or service to improve producer income or productivity. 

This year, U of G’s CAMA team presented Frosée, a single-serve frozen rosé wine beverage.