Every summer, the MCM community gathers at McMaster University’s beautiful Westdale campus for MCM Summer Residency to learn, make new friends and rekindle long-standing relationships.
Read on to learn about the experiences and events that made this Residency special.
At our Saturday night Summer Gala, we were joined by the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. She was interviewed onstage by Dr. Alex Sévigny, APR. Minister Tassi spoke about women in leadership, change, self-reflection, integrity, and the importance of surrounding yourself with values-driven champions. Many of the attendees remarked that it was a thoughtful and inspiring conversation.
On Saturday, June 15, our first-year students wrapped up their courses in Financial Management with Professor Josie Cassano Rizzuti, MCM, APR and Public Relations Research with Professor Dave Scholz, MA, APR. Drs. Flynn and Sévigny attended the culminating presentations in Professor Stewart’s Strategic Management class, where students demonstrated their strategic fluency developed through the MCM’s core management courses. The presentations showcased sophisticated analyses and plans for companies, including a dynamic assessment of the future of the MCM program itself.
Our first-year students started their summer term in Crisis Communications and Issues Management with Dr. Flynn and tutorial assistant Amanda Richardson, MCM. Our second-year students embarked on their capstone journeys with Dr. Sévigny, who is teaching the capstone course this summer. He and tutorial assistant Amber Daugherty will be providing guidance and mentorship to the students until they defend their MCM capstones over the course of the 2024-25 academic year.
First and second-year students both started electives Strategic Reputation Management, led by Professor Jacquie Hoornweg, MCM, ABC, and Organizational Change Communications, led by Professor Brie Thorsteinson Ogle, MCM. These courses are supported by dedicated tutorial assistants Kim Garraway, MCM, and Colleen Killingsworth, MCM, APR, FCPRS.
The MCM program is unique because it offers people who work full-time the chance to complete a master’s degree without taking a leave from their jobs. The program combines the core components of leading MBA curriculum with courses in strategic communications and communications management.
On Wednesday, we enjoyed an engaging presentation from celebrated podcaster and media training specialist Warren Weeks. His warm and insightful workshop was full of actionable insights.
Social events and healthy meals fostered a sense of community and camaraderie among students, faculty, and alumni, reinforcing the MCM’s core values of community building, lifelong learning, and professional growth.
On Wednesday, we had our traditional ‘alla prossima’ night at the Phoenix Bar and Grill, McMaster’s graduate student pub, which looks and feels like Hogwarts. Brie Thorsteinson Ogle, MCM, Amanda Richardson, MCM, and Kim Garraway, MCM, all took part in McMaster’s light-hearted ritual of signing the Book of Names and sipping a beer from the McMaster chalice in honour of their completion of the MCM program. Students enjoyed a final evening of laughter, storytelling and shared experiences, reflecting on an engaging week together.
Summer residency ended with the satisfaction of a week well spent. The students went home full of ideas that they could immediately apply in their practice as communicators and marketers.
Parting is sweet sorrow, but everyone knew that we would all see each other again soon, either at fall residency for next term’s classes or at McMaster Convocation after capstone research projects have been successfully completed and defended!
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the graduates of the 15th cohort of the McMaster University MCM program, who celebrated their commencement on June 10, 2024. We are immensely proud of your accomplishments throughout your studies and eagerly anticipate the contributions you will make to the communications field. Here’s to your continued success and the bright futures ahead of you!