MCM Summer 2022 Residency: Connecting and Reconnecting, In-Person

MCM Summer residency marked our community’s return to in-person learning. It was a dynamic and diverse week of connecting and reconnecting for students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Read on to learn about the experiences and events that made this Residency special

Every semester, the McMaster-Syracuse Master of Communications Management (MCM) program hosts a week-long, in-person residency where MCM candidates, professors, teaching assistants, alumni and special guests come together to learn, bond, and grow through both classes and events. This experience went online during the COVID-19 pandemic but returned in-person to the McMaster University campus for the Summer 2022 semester from June 18 – 23, 2022. As a highlight of the program, this essay shares the experiences and moments that made this Residency Week special.

The first day of Residency Week began with the final day of class from the previous term. Summer Residency was held in the bright, modern L.R. Wilson Hall. Students from the MCM14 cohort (the 14th cohort to enter the program) were completing Strategic Management, taught by Mark John Stewart and teaching assistant Kristine Leadbetter-Gold, and Applied Ethics in Communications Management taught by Brad Horn and teaching assistant Kate Bondett.

Professor Brad Horn took advantage of the weather to host his final class in the Muskoka chairs outside of L.R. Wilson Hall. Applied Ethics in Communications Management investigates contemporary applications of the theory and philosophy of ethics in the practice of communications management, including contexts such as corporate communications, media relations, investor relations, advertising, brand journalism, government relations, public affairs and political communication.

Strategic Management, taught by Mark John Stewart, focuses on the adaptation and integration of strategy to for profit, not-for-profit, and public sector contexts with an emphasis on the role of strategic communication and the integration of values and principles to strategy. This year’s course featured special guests including May-Marie Duwai-Sowa, employment equity specialist at McMaster University, Margaret Zanel, partner, strategy and leadership at Wentworth Strategy Group, and Viola Labi, founder of Woven Worldwide. 

Students from the MCM15 cohort were completing Financial Management, taught by Josie Cassano-Rizzuti and teaching assistant Gerald Mak, and Public Relations Research, led by Dave Scholz and teaching assistant Julia Rim Shepard. The MCM program teaches core MBA courses, such as accounting and market research, with the assumption that students do not have any statistics or computer coding background.

The ‘management core’ courses advance the capabilities of students to the professional level by teaching quantitative and administrative skills in a way that makes sense to creative professionals.

As executive vice-president of Leger, the largest Canadian-owned market research and analytics company, Dave Scholz is a true expert on market research. His intensive course covers the nature, formation, and communications of attitudes and public opinion in public relations settings. Along with Julia Rim Shepard, director of strategic communications with the Future Skills Centre, they present methods for measuring attitudes, opinions, and public relations performances, including sampling, interviewing and data analysis techniques.

The expertise of MCM candidates and alumni is focused on communications but balanced by a diverse set of managerial skills. Josie Cassano-Rizzuti’s Financial Management course challenges students to integrate quantitative perspectives to communications leadership, and covers topics as diverse as reinforcing key accounting principles, considering a corporation’s responsibility to its various stakeholders, assessing financial health, and capital acquisition and its deployment.

On Saturday evening, the MCM group travelled to the Niagara-on-the-Lake region to attend the Summer Residency Gala Dinner at the Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery.

The highlight of the gala (besides the excellent food and company) was the opportunity to listen to guest of honour professor Emerita Maria Russell. In 1995, Russell spearheaded the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Relation’s first executive education program for working professionals, leading to a master’s degree in communications management. She was also co-founder of the MCM program, along with Dr. Terry Flynn, APR, FCPRS and former DeGroote School of Business Dean Paul Bates. Russell delivered an eloquent speech, sharing her thoughts about the past and future of the public relations and communications profession.

SUMMER TERM BEGINS

Sunday morning was ‘day one’ of the Summer Term courses, which consisted of both student-voted electives and core courses. 

Strategic Reputation Management is a key skill of MCM candidates and alumni, certainly owing in part to the excellent pedagogy of Jacquie Hoornweg and teaching assistant Kim Garraway. This course delivers best practices using a variety of theories, case studies and interactive exercises to identify successful techniques. Students benefit from Hoornweg’s extensive professional experience – she is currently executive director, Brilliant Energy Institute, Ontario Tech, and formerly vice-president of corporate relations for Ontario Power Generation.  

Digital Strategy and Management is led by experienced educator Martin Waxman and teaching assistant Ali Gelata and provides students with the critical, analytic, and technical skills they need to communicate transparently, build trusted, two-way relationships with various online and offline publics, and achieve organizational goals. This year, the class also learned from guests Gina Luttrell, associate dean of Research & Creative Activity at Syracuse University, and Dr. Adrienne A. Wallace who emphasized the importance of research, aligning communications to business goals, developmental measurement, and micro evaluations for digital PR.

As one of Canada’s leading crisis communications professors and practitioners, Dr. Terry Flynn, APR, FCPRS delivers an impactful and applied course on Crisis Communications and Issues Management, supported by teaching assistant Shannon Gallagher. The course shares expert guidance on ways to mitigate disruptions to an organization’s ability to efficiently and effectively achieve its mission. This year, students were treated to a viewpoint on this challenging topic from guest Andrea Farquhar, assistant vice-president communications and public affairs at McMaster University. 

A culminating project of the MCM journey is the ‘capstone’ research /independent study project, where students develop, present, and defend individual expert insights that add to the body of communications knowledge. This process is initiated with guidance from Dr. Philip Savage and teaching assistant Christine Bernard, who present process, tools, and strategies for students who will be working on their projects over the coming months, supported by their faculty capstone supervisor. 

In addition to intensive learning experiences, the Residency Week was punctuated by several additional special events and activities. 

Tuesday offered an MCM Residency Nature Walk led by Dr. Alex Sevigny, APR which included a tour of McMaster’s beautiful main campus and ventured into the trail system that lies just behind the undergraduate residences on the grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens. The hikers entered a forest area and made their way towards the waters of Burlington Bay, where they even got to see a great blue heron who was fishing in the marshland! 

On Wednesday the program hosted an MCM Masterclass with guest speaker Andrew Willis, former CCO of Brookfield Properties and currently senior business writer with the Globe and Mail. Willis spoke about his new book Unprecedented: Canada’s Top CEOs on Leadership During COVID-19. The book featured a collection of first-person stories by CEOs on how they dealt with the pandemic. He shared some of the key decision points highlighted in these stories and was asked challenging questions by students, resulting in a rich and insightful discussion.  

On the bittersweet Wednesday evening that marks Residency Week drawing to a close, the MCM community gathered for their Farewell Cocktail social event on the patio terrace at The Phoenix, McMaster’s graduate student pub. The patio backs onto a forested ravine and some of McMaster’s most beautiful older buildings. Alumni and guests, including dedicated program supporter and advocate, Dr. Christina Baade, chair of the Faculty of Humanities’ communication studies & media arts department, joined the students for the evening, sharing drinks, appetizers, and reflections on the week. The week formally finished with the last day of classes on Thursday.

Two years in the waiting, Summer 2022 Residency week was an incredible success, with both cohorts of students enjoying and learning from insightful lectures and engaging guest speakers, group work, and experiential education activities. Residency Week was capably hosted and organized by staff leads Lorraine Bell, Kayla Colanardi, and Lisa Gurusinghe. The MCM team is led by program acting director Dr. Alex Sévigny, APR, who also teaches the MCM program’s data science and analytics course.

The MCM team is looking forward to the Fall 2022 in-person Residency Week when we will be welcoming a new cohort – MCM16, and welcoming back the MCM15 cohort for their fourth term residency week!

REFLECTIONS 

“It was excellent to finally have a back to school experience! I’m glad that we were able to kick off our final semester of the MCM program in person. After two years of Zoom lectures, it was great to spend a week on the McMaster University campus and see our classmates and professors in 3-D. I am excited to be starting my capstone research study in the Fall.” 

– Melodie Edwards, MCM14 candidate 

“The MCM program is a powerful coming together of people, including professionals from different countries and different industries, and instructors who have seen everything that we’re about to see and who are excited about teaching us how to navigate this unpredictable world. What I love about the MCM program is the fact that we all listen to each other, we all pay attention to each other’s experiences, and we learn from each other – even our unique styles of operating, storytelling, and studying.” 

– Anita Erskine, MCM14 candidate

“What a week! There was so much learning and growth with this crew, and it was a real joy to get to know my fellow classmates in real life, who I now consider dear friends and colleagues. I feel very fortunate and deeply thankful for this opportunity and I plan to use everything I learn throughout this experience to be of service to our world. If I can play a small, impactful role in leaving it a bit better and kinder than when I entered it, and use what I’m learning as part of that work, this will all be more than worth it.”

– Nicole Longstaff, MCM15 candidate

“NOTHING SHORT OF MAGIC. That’s how I would describe my first in-person MCM Residency Week on campus after doing two of these virtually. There is something about being face-to-face that just can’t be replicated online. I left Hamilton with a full heart and an inspired mind. We started two new classes, Crisis Communications and Issues Management, and Strategic Reputation Management, and had a chance to mingle with the cohort above us. Thank you to our Program Directors Dr. Alex Sévigny, and Dr. Terry Flynn for putting together such a flawless week of learning, socializing, and stimulation.”

– Liv Hung, MCM15 candidate

The MCM team would like to thank Colin Czerneda/McMaster University; Melodie Edwards/MCM Candidate; Devin Flynn/FlyPrint; Shannon Gallagher/Teaching Assistant; and Dr. Alex Sévigny/McMaster University for supplying the photos for this essay.