MCM June 2025 Residency Recap
Every summer, the MCM community gathers at McMaster University’s beautiful Westdale campus for MCM Summer Residency. On Saturday, June 15, our first-year students wrapped up their 2nd term courses in Financial Management with Prof. Josie Cassano Rizzuti, MCM, APR and Public Relations Research with Prof. Dave Scholz, MA, APR. Second-year students finished up their courses with wrap-up sessions in Strategic Management with Professor Mark John Stewart, MBA, ICD.D and Applied Ethics in Communications Management with Dr. Terry Flynn, APR, FCPRS.
On Saturday evening, the MCM community convened at Trius Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake for our Summer Gala dinner. Students, alumni, faculty and staff watched the sunset over the vines and engaged in lively conversation. Students had the opportunity to connect with some of the active members of our 220+ alumni community. After dinner, we were joined by MCM alumna Christine Szustaczek who delivered an insightful and inspiring keynote presentation on building a senior leadership career in communications. She presented a thoughtful three-step approach to leadership that covered managing self, managing teams and senior executive leadership.
On Sunday, our first-year students started their summer term in Crisis Communications and Issues Management with Dr. Flynn and teaching assistant Rebecca Cohen, MCM. Our second-year students embarked on their capstone journey with Dr. Alex Sévigny. He and teaching assistant Amber Daugherty will serve as guides, mentors, and cheerleaders for the students until they defend their MCM capstones over the course of the 2025-26 academic year.
Both first- and second-year students started their summer electives, including Negotiation: Theory and Practice, led by Dr. Haniyeh Yousofpour, MBA, PMP, PE with teaching assistant Gerald Mak, MCM, and Leadership, Persuasion and the Successful Executive, led by MCM alum Prof. Aislinn Mosher, MCM and teaching assistant Parm Chohan, MCM.
The MCM program is unique because it offers people who work full-time the chance to complete a professional master’s degree without taking a leave from their jobs. The program combines the core of McMaster’s MBA curriculum with courses in strategic communications and communications management.
On Wednesday, we were briefed on national trends and insights by Lisa Covens, MA, CAIP, Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs, Leger on navigating the future of Canada: Economic waves, consumer trends, and industry insights. Lisa’s engaging presentation style, insightful content and sense of humour kept the MCM community engaged. A dynamic conversation about the future of Canada and the current challenges we are facing at home and abroad was welcomed by all attendees.
On Wednesday, students joined Dr. Sévigny for a hike through the trails behind campus that lead to Cootes Paradise. McMaster University’s campus backs onto the lands managed by the Royal Botanical Gardens, one of Canada’s natural treasures. Later that evening, we had our traditional ‘alla prossima’ pub night at the Phoenix Bar and Grill, McMaster’s graduate student pub. Students enjoyed a final evening of laughter and shared experiences together, cementing their wonderful memories of another enriching MCM residency.
On Thursday afternoon, our Summer residency concluded and students, faculty and staff departed campus. It was a week full of new ideas, skills, and strategies that all can immediately apply in their practice as communicators and marketers.
A special alignment this year was the timing of McMaster’s summer convocation ceremonies that happened during residency this summer: MCM faculty attended to hood 11 members of MCM16 cohort who had studied with them as capstone advisees during the previous year. This is a meaningful tradition that serves as a final, formal gesture in the deep relationship that develops between capstone students and their supervisors. Convocation was a moving event, filled with enthusiasm and thoughtful remarks. Following the ceremonies new MCM alumni and their families enjoyed a dinner with MCM faculty at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel. There was a strong feeling of fellowship at the dinner, as each MCM graduate rose to thank their family and reminisce briefly about their time in the program and what it meant to them. MCM faculty also addressed the room, sharing how much teaching in MCM means to them. It was a sentimental and reflective evening.
The end of residency comes with mixed emotions, but everyone looks forward to seeing each other again soon, either at fall residency for next term’s classes or at graduation for those moving onto their capstone journeys.
