Dear members of the McMaster community,
As we finally turn the corner from winter and start to see the first green shoots of spring, I want to update our community on some green shoots we’re growing here at McMaster.
Our strategic planning team has been very busy through the fall and winter, organizing more than 100 consultations across campus and collecting input that will shape the new strategic plan, to be called Setting the Course. Once it’s complete and becomes official in June, Setting the Course will lay out McMaster’s ambitious, measurable goals for the next five years.
The volume and enthusiastic tone of the survey responses and other feedback is inspiring, and I have every reason to believe those five years will be filled with progress and achievement.
Something we can all look forward to is the opening of the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery at the DeGroote School of Business, now nearing completion. This new tower, supported by a gift from the McLean family, is packed with innovative and beautiful features to enhance the learning experience.
Every day on campus I meet students, staff and faculty members who express optimism about McMaster. Throughout the fall and winter, I have also been speaking to groups of alumni here in Canada and abroad, sharing news of McMaster’s progress and our plans for the future.
The positive feedback I’ve been receiving from all parts of our community indicates that McMaster’s momentum and profile are growing.
I was pleased to take part, for example, in the recent opening of the new Candu Core in the John Hodgins Engineering Building. This well-equipped and beautifully designed 5,000-square-foot space, supported by our partners at Candu Energy Inc., will help our Engineering students bring their ideas into physical reality.
Over the last several weeks, I have been glad to participate in three important events at the Ron Joyce Centre, the Burlington campus of our DeGroote School of Business.
The first celebrated our growing partnership with Purolator Inc., including the launch of the Purolator Chair in Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Management to advance research in improving logistics, a field which is vital for saving fuel, reducing delivery times and improving safety.
The second was the launch of the McMaster Women’s Network, which has been established to connect McMaster alumni and other community members for mutual benefit.
The third was the McMaster Co-op and Internship Awards Celebration, recognizing the important contributions of our employer partners who support student learning and career development through our co-op and internship programs.
We are progressing well in making the most of the federal government’s Impact + Research Chairs program, which will provide funding for McMaster to hire several top-tier international researchers and instructors in the spirit of McMaster research right across campus: solving urgent, complex problems for the benefit of society.
We are eager to welcome them to McMaster, especially as we work to help Canada boost its economic sovereignty by equipping our graduates with skills to meet the changing needs of our workforce and commercializing our research.
Our efforts to increase the positive impact McMaster makes to the economy, which were already strong and successful, received a significant boost with the publication of the report on Accelerating Commercialization and Entrepreneurship. We are in the process of hiring a new associate vice-president specifically devoted to Accelerated Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.
Amid the many positive developments of these past few months our community has also experienced sadness, with the passing of Chancellor Emeritus Lynton (Red) Wilson, who died Feb. 9.
Red, as he preferred to be called, was a giant in the world of Canadian business and a great friend to McMaster. Having graduated in 1962 with an undergraduate degree in Economics, he was a deeply committed supporter, in terms of significant philanthropic gifts, personal leadership and direct engagement with McMaster faculty members and students. We mourn his passing. McMaster is hosting a celebration of life honouring Chancellor Emeritus Wilson on May 12, which will be livestreamed from L.R. Wilson Hall.
As we approach the end of classes for the winter term, our students are finishing critical assignments and preparing for exams, and I hope you’ll join me in wishing them the best during this intense time of year.
I want to thank our student leaders from the McMaster Students Union and the McMaster Graduate Students Association for their important contributions to our community over this past academic year, and to recognize the student athletes who have represented McMaster so well.
The end of classes means we’re less than two months away from the beginning of Convocation season, when we celebrate our graduating students’ hard work and success. This year, we’ll have extra cause for celebration with the official installation of McMaster’s new Chancellor, Nicholas Brathwaite, a McMaster graduate and supporter who went on to great success in Silicon Valley. We are grateful for his leadership and commitment to McMaster.
Wishing all of you a wonderful spring,
Susan Tighe
President and Vice-Chancellor