MCM June 2023 Residency Recap
Every summer, the MCM community gathers at McMaster University’s beautiful Westdale campus for MCM Summer Residency to connect and reconnect, make new friends and rekindle long-standing relationships. This year, current MCM students, faculty and staff were joined by alumni and past professors. At our Saturday night Summer Gala, we paid tribute to Dr. Paul Bates, a cherished professor and co-founder of the MCM program, who passed away last year.
Residency began on Saturday with our traditional “wrap-up day”, where the courses that were ending gathered together to present the findings from each course, discuss key learnings and takeaways, and celebrate the end of challenging, but insightful courses. For the first year MCMers, Dr. Dave Scholz wrapped up his research methods course (COMM MGMT 712), and Professor Josie Cassano-Rizzuti finished her finance course (COMM MGMT 723). For the second-year students, Professor Mark John Stewart wrapped up his strategic management course (COMM MGMT 721), while Professor Bradford Horn finished his business ethics course.
On Saturday night, MCM students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered at Rockway Vineyards Winery for a lovely evening of food and conversation. The evening started on a sober note, as we held a tribute to Dr. Paul Bates, former Dean of the DeGroote School of Business and beloved MCM financial management instructor for many years. Dr. Bates was also a co-founder of the MCM program, helping to shepherd the program through the challenging approvals process within the university and at the ministerial level. Dr. Bates was a champion of business education and a true friend to everyone who requested his mentorship in the MCM community. Several MCMers stepped up to share their memories and feelings about the relationships they had with Dr. Bates, how he inspired and encouraged them, how he left an indelible mark on their lives, including his long-time tutorial assistant, friend and mentee Josie Cassano-Rizzuiti who has taken up his mantle in teaching financial management; Kyle Stewart, his only MCM capstone supervisee and now a teaching assistant in the MCM program; Dr. Terry Flynn, his long-time friend and co-founder of the MCM program; and Dr. Alex Sévigny, former MCM program director and current MCM data science professor. Dr. Bates’ wife, Sally Bates, and his daughter Charlotte Oickle, were our guests of honour. Sally delivered a moving address to the community about how much the MCM meant to Dr. Bates and how much he loved it. It was a beautiful evening of tribute to a great man. May his memory be eternal.
On Sunday, the summer term courses started. During the summer term, both first-year and second-year MCM students take one required course and get to choose one elective. First year students must take crisis communications, taught by Professor Aislinn Mosher (COM MGMT 741); and second year students must take the capstone research course, taught by Dr. Terry Flynn (COM MGMT 740). The electives presented this summer were digital and social media strategy, taught by Professor Martin Waxman (COM MGMT 742); and negotiations and conflict resolution, taught by Dr. Haniyeh Yousufpourfard (COM MGMT 734).
On Wednesday afternoon, during lunch, we held our MCM Master Class, offered by MCM alumna and successful entrepreneur, Tanya Seajay. She shared her long journey, starting as a journalist in Atlantic Canada to becoming a professional communicator in charge of communications for Sydney Tar Ponds Agency in Nova Scotia. After successfully completing the MCM program she took her learnings and inspiration from the MCM to start her first venture, an artificial intelligence company that analysed sentiment in social media to offer predictive analytics to the financial market. After selling that company, Tanya has now launched a new venture, 7 Centre, which uses data analytics to establish KPIs and benchmarks for ESG (environmental, social, and governance). The MCM community is proud of Tanya’s accomplishments and are glad to have had an impact on her progress. We will alway be there to support and encourage Tanya, as we are for all of our community’s students, alumni and friends.
On Wednesday evening, students, faculty, staff and some alumni gathered at the Phoenix Craft House and Grill, McMaster’s graduate student pub, to celebrate another fantastic residency of deep learning and relationship-building. We were joined by Dr. Christina Baade, Chair of the Department of Communication Studies and Media Arts, and Dr. Pamela Swett, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, which houses and administers the MCM program. We shared our thoughts and feelings, plans and progress, over drinks and hors d’oeuvres, under parasols on the beautiful Phoenix patio, surrounded by McMaster’s historic buildings and the gorgeous backdrop of the forested conservation area behind McMaster, whose trails lead to the Royal Botanical Gardens that lie on the westernmost shores of Lake Ontario.
Summer Residency 2023 was another beautiful chapter in the unfolding MCM story, that emerges, residency by residency, course by course, student by student, professor by professor, staff member by staff member. Each member of the MCM community has their own journey, but we are all linked by the shared experience that the MCM provides, enriching our professional and personal lives.
We look forward to the cycle beginning again in October when we will welcome our newest MCM cohort in the MCM Fall Residency.
