McMaster students and faculty have the opportunity to hear directly from a founder of Canada’s largest and most comprehensive graduate scholarship program on Tuesday when the McCall MacBain Foundation comes to campus.
Canadian philanthropists John and Marcy McCall MacBain, a B.Kin ’00 McMaster graduate, made history last year with a landmark gift of $200 million — the largest charitable gift ever made in Canada — to establish the McCall MacBain Scholars program, hosted at McGill University.
The program — aimed at the best and brightest students — will cover tuition and fees for any master’s program or a second-entry professional undergraduate program (i.e. medicine, dentistry or law) at McGill as well as a living stipend during academic terms. Scholars will be connected to mentorship, interdisciplinary learning and the global community they need to make a positive impact on the world.
In anticipation of applications opening in the fall, John McCall MacBain is personally leading a cross-country tour of top Canadian universities, including the Feb. 25 McMaster visit at 1 p.m. in the Concert Hall in L.R. Wilson Hall. Joining him are representatives from the McCall MacBain Foundation of which he is a founder, director and chair.
“We are excited to welcome Mr. McCall MacBain and his team from the Foundation to McMaster and look forward to sharing this extraordinary new scholarship opportunity with our community,” said Maureen MacDonald, dean of science, who is co-hosting the visit on behalf of the university.
Student representative Samidha Singhal, a 2020 McCall MacBain International Fellowship recipient, is also cohosting. Singhal, a humanities and business student, is a recipient of the international fellowship, a separate Foundation scholarship program, which gives undergraduates from McMaster or McGill universities opportunities to study abroad.
The McCall MacBains have strong connections to both institutions. John McCall MacBain has a degree in economics from McGill, a law degree from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Dr. Marcy McCall MacBain received her honours bachelor of kinesiology from McMaster before completing a master of science in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She completed her PhD in evidence-based health care at the University of Oxford. Dr. McCall MacBain is a founder, director and vice-chair of the McCall MacBain Foundation.