The Alumni Association will help the University accomplish its three primary activities -research, teaching and community service - through participating in governance, acting as a vocal advocate and supporting fund-raising.

The Alumni Association will act as an agent for alumni involvement within the University, within the activities of the Association and in external activities representing the interests of the Alumni Association.

The Alumni Association will recognize the achievements of alumni, students and friends of McMaster University, and reward outstanding contributions to the Alumni Association.

The Alumni Association will provide products, services and benefits that renew and invigorate alumni affinity with the University.

The Alumni Association will undertake appropriate and timely communication with alumni to inform them of issues affecting the University and the Alumni Association, and to facilitate communications among alumni. The Alumni Association will initiate and pursue an appropriate and timely dialogue with senior officials and faculty of the University.

The Alumni Association will encourage current students to become involved in, and assist with activities of the Association to forge an early link with future graduands and it will encourage a lifelong association with the University primarily through the activities of the Student Relations Committee.

One of my favourite activities at McMaster over the past year was the #MyDayAtMac campaign on January 29, 2014, which captured a slice of life at McMaster, frozen in time through a great diversity of photos. Over 126 years, McMaster has experienced a lot of days – more than 46,000! As a former student and more recently as President of the McMaster Alumni Association, I’ve only personally been a part of a small subset of the many people, events, and days of McMaster. However, these experiences contained, like all of the McMaster days over the years, the intangible essence that is truly McMaster.

The maroon pride, the collaborative spirit, the commitment to academic excellence. I can’t exactly put it into words, but just like you, I know what being a part of McMaster feels like. I’m not too far away from my time on campus to remember long nights cramming at Mills Library, grabbing a Willy Dog between classes, and Thursday nights at Quarters (now TwelveEighty). Since graduating, I’ve been privileged to engage with alumni on different life paths, at different ages, and across the world, from Trinidad to Paris. We’ve all had different McMaster journeys, but we can all relate to a lifelong relationship with our alma mater.

Like #MyDayAtMac, this annual report is a quick portrait of a year at McMaster, intended to help you remember the highlights of your engagement with McMaster over the past year, and to keep you up to date with your fellow alumni. Enjoy the report, and I look forward to hearing more about your journeys soon.

I have a confession. I get excited when we start to work on our annual report each year which is probably the opposite of most people. The reason for my excitement is that I can take a few moments and look back at our year. When you run over 240 events per year, secure over 7,000 donors to McMaster and work with countless volunteers and friends, you sometimes forget to take a moment and enjoy the results.

It has been another terrific year of the McMaster Alumni Association under the leadership of our fantastic volunteers on the McMaster Alumni Association Board of Directors and our president Mark Stewart. To these leadership volunteers, I tip my McMaster beanie to you for your commitment to our alma mater.

I also want to take a few moments to thank the wonderful team of professionals I have the pleasure of seeing everyday in the office. Their commitment to delivering excellence in programming and securing philanthropic support for McMaster is second to none in Canada and I want each of them to know how much I appreciate their efforts and hanging out with them each day.

I hope you will take a few moments to learn more about the Association and its programming as you scroll through our online report. And, I hope that I will get a chance to say hello to you in person during our 2015 programming year.

To contribute to the University’s priorities of enhanced community involvement and experiential learning.

Networking:

• Brought campus partners together to review alumni mentoring to better coordinate and increase opportunities for alumni to connect with students.
• Recruited 100 alumni to join the online Mentorlinks program and supported launch of Student Success Centre’s one-to-one mentoring program pilot with Bachelor of Health Sciences students.
• Hosted networking events including Grad Student Networking event in November and an Entrepreneurial focused networking session in Toronto in May.

Community Engagement:

• Expanded alumni participation in MacServe Day of Service with service events in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa.
• Hosted first alumni service trip to Costa Rica in November with a full trip complement of 14.
• Supported community events including: Syposium with John Dunlosky; Women’s Leadership Conference; MSU event with Bill Nye; School of the Arts, Spotlight on the Arts event at the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra among others.

To investigate best practices to reach, engage and communicate effectively with internal and external audiences. Effective communications will demonstrate and promote the MAA’s relevance and value as well as have a particular focus in fostering pride for the University and the MAA.

Methods:

• Made effective use of Google Hangouts to engage alumni who are unable to attend in-person events.
• Increased use of video-taped event lectures to share with alumni on YouTube to increase access to McMaster’s researchers.
• Redesigned Alumni website, including mobile responsiveness to be implemented late May.
• Introduced “Connect2MAC” e’newsletter for alumni living outside of Ontario to share taped lectures and interviews with McMaster’s researchers focusing on topics of global interest.
• Introduced “Two Minute Tips” for MAC10s addressing career related topics with short, digestable content for this audience.

Target Audiences:

• Addressed life-cycle from pre-student to senior alumni with programming including: revised Mission2Mac send-off program; increased student relations program including regular Welcome Wednesdays and return of Life After Mac seminars.
• Conducted focus group on graduate student programming to inform school year 2014-15 programming.
• Surveyed MAC10 audience after two years of MAC10 to fine tune offerings.

Connection to Leaders:

• Online and event programming features McMaster researchers and access to leaders including MSU President (New York event); President Emeritus, Dr. Alvin Lee (Alumni trip host); Dean Waverman luncheon; Coach Ptaszek (Google Hangout & Student Leader Dinner).
• In 2014, Dr. Deane will continue his multi US & Canadian City tour convening a panel of alumni and faculty to discuss education in the 21st century.

Content:

• Continued focus on career related content for MAC10 program for series of Google Hangouts for 2013 graduates and Two-Minute Tips videos.
• Job readiness focus and skill development for students is focus for Life After Mac events including “Is your Networking Not Working”; Financial Planning for students; Entrepreneurship.
• McMaster Research stories highlighted monthly in Maroon Mail.

To review MAA programs and services to ensure they are positioned optimally for alumni at various stages in their relationship with McMaster.

Program Review, Theme & Educational Content:

• An overall review of the program against a review of best practices is to be conducted later in 2014.
• “The Power of Education” theme will be introduced to align with Annual Giving messaging.
• Continued strong focus within the program as a gateway to access educational content: Albert Lager lecture Series – in person and taped lectures; Alumni Book Club; Women’s Series; MAC10 Intellectual and stimulating Outreach events.

To develop better measures to better evaluate alumni engagement.

Measurement Tools, Metrics & Alumni Survey:

• Three providers have been researched as potential alumni survey providers. Survey timing to be reviewed in Fall 2014.
• An alumni engagement score and affinity index have been created and data will begin to be created in mid-2014 to set a benchmark for future reporting.
• Net Promoter Score post-event surveys were introduced in Fall 2013 and to date, report a 9.7/10 score for likeliness to recommend events to others.

Aligning with our strategic plan and goal of encouraging alumni to be a resource for community engagement, in 2013/14 we increased opportunities for alumni to engage in service. Our partnership with the MacServe Day of Service initially started with inviting alumni to work alongside students in the agencies and community placements that were arranged by Student Success Centre. Alumni were recruited as leaders in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and Mississauga for the September Day of Service events. New this year, we further expanded service opportunities for alumni by developing a MacServe service learning trip exclusively for alumni building on the student based trip. A total of 14 alumni, from recent grads to those out 20+ years, travelled to Costa Rica to work on environmental conservation project in the rainforest.

Daily News article on MacServe day of Service
Storify: Costa Rica trip

Our young alumni program, MAC10, serving our largest population of graduates, continues to grow and thrive. One of our favourite Mac10 events from 2013 was partnering with Dishcrawl Hamilton to offer a special evening of food tours in local neighbourhoods with a twist: you don’t know what restaurants are on the tour until the dinner starts! The sold-out event featured four delectable courses at downtown eateries and several local musicians who guided the group between restaurant stops. McMaster alumna and local arts & entertainment blogger Kristin Archer attended the event and provided a review of the evening. Read the review here.

Dr. Patrick Deane kicked off a multi-city tour, “Passport to the Future” – engaging local alumni in a panel discussion on the future of education visiting New York, Chicago, San Franciso, Vancouver and Calgary.

• Terry O’Reilly: 200
• Downton Abbey themed Etiquette Dinner: 125
• Bill Nye, the Science Guy: 215 alumni & hundreds more students!
• Spotlight on the Arts HPO concert: 400 alumni and guests
• Steve Paiken special event: 300

Professor W. Andy Knight is Director of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at The University of the West Indies and Professor and former Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. Based at the UWI St Augustine Campus in Trinidad from January 2013, a Barbadian by birth, Professor Knight has had a distinguished career as an academic and scholar in Canada, culminating in his heading the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. His work cuts across international relations, international law and global governance and is known for challenging the embedded orthodoxies of contemporary multilateralism. A much sought-after analyst, Professor Knight has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada – the highest honour afforded to Canadian academics.

Dr. Scott Lowrey is a product of, and life-long advocate for, publicly funded education in Hamilton, Ontario – Westwood, Westview, and Westmount. Currently, Scott is an elementary school principal with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. He received Canada's Outstanding Principals (COP) recognition in 2005, the inaugural year of the COP program for initiatives relating to early literacy and the creation of a multigenerational continuum of community services encompassing society’s youngest to society’s most senior. Scott completed his EdD studies (Educational Administration) at the University of Toronto within the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 2013. The title of his dissertation was Canada's Outstanding Principals: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Leadership Development, Transformational Leadership, and Principal Efficacy. He is also a recipient of McMaster University’s Lloyd Reed Prize in 1985. Scott credits Dr. S. Martin Taylor as his most influential Mac professor in terms of academic, life, and career trajectories.

Michael Madesker is a fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London and The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada. He is also a signatory of the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists and is motivated by his passion for youth philately. Between 1960 and 1975, Madesker was a frequent guest of Doug Patrick’s CBC Stamp Club, sharing his knowledge and establish his interest in working with young people. His devotion to youth and humanity was exemplified in the work he did with the disabled and underprivileged as he taught philately seminars and workshops in the local hospital and libraries. In conjunction with the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie, Madesker directed the International Youth Exhibitions in Toronto and Montreal and in 1992, was elected to the Presidency of the Fédération of Internationale de Philatélie Commission for Youth Philately, serving an unprecedented three terms ending in 2004. During his tenure, he helped to establish a philatelic program in Asia, similar to the one he created in Canada. Madesker is the recipient of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal and the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada’s President Medal for Outstanding Philatelic Achievement.

Kalpana Raina holds a B.A. Honors degree from Panjab University, India and an M.A. degree in English Literature from McMaster University. She has been Managing Partner of 252 Solutions, LLC, an advisory firm, since 2007. Previously, Ms. Raina was a senior executive with The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. She joined the bank in 1988 and held a variety of leadership positions, most recently Executive Vice President and Head of European Country Management and Corporate Banking. Prior to that, she served in Mumbai, India, as Executive Vice President, International. During her eighteen-year career at Bank of New York she had responsibility for clients in the media, telecommunications, healthcare, retailing, hotels and leisure and financial services industries in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Ms. Raina is also a director of RealNetworks, where she serves on the Audit Committee and chairs the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. She is a member of Women Corporate Directors, The National Association of Corporate Directors, a director of Information Services Group, Inc., a director of The World Policy Institute and a past member of The US-India Business Council.

Peter manages the combined position of Chief, Child and Youth Mental Health Collaborative at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, as well as Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. An expert in the study of autism and pervasive developmental disorders, he has worked in the field of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for over thirty years, and is a founding member of the Canadian Autism Intervention Research Network (CAIRN), a group of parents, clinicians and scientists attempting to develop a research agenda in early intervention of autism. A quest to discover the neurochemical and environmental pathways that lead to psychiatric disorders is at the core of Dr. Szatmari’s research and these prodigious research projects continue to expand his knowledge and influence in the field of child psychiatry. He has been editor of several important journals in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry and has consulted to government agencies in Canada, the USA and the UK. He is the author of the book “A Mind Apart; Understanding Autism and Asperger Syndrome”.

Simon Donato is a geologist, entrepreneur, television host, adventurer and ultra-endurance athlete. He has founded the Canadian Adventure Racing Association, providing insurance, safety and environmental guidelines to Canadian race directors; Adventure Science, a company that combines his passion for field-based research with ultra-endurance athletics as a way of giving back and making a difference; Stoked Oats Ltd., to fill the need for a healthy, gluten-free oatmeal option in grocery stores that was sugar, salt and preservative free, but still delivered a high amount of nutrients and protein; and television series Boundless, for which he travels the globe for 126 days competing in 8 grueling ultra-endurance races.

Fullerton is a designer, entrepreneur, and creative strategist. He is the Founder of Fullerton Media, a local leading-edge web services company providing digital marketing services and training to entrepreneurs and small businesses. Chad works for CORUS Entertainment as an Interactive Content Manager, managing three CORUS web properties including Y108.ca, 900chml.com, and Vinyl953.com. He continues to run the largest McMaster Student Community online, MacInsiders.com, which he founded in 2007. The service recently surpassed 27,000 members, and receives over 50,000 unique visitors a month.

Ian Hill is a nuclear physicist for an international organization, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). His work involves the preservation of data from reactor physics experiments. He is responsible for performing technical reviews of benchmark experiments, designing databases for benchmark information, and organizing international meetings to facilitate the sharing of experimental information. During his career he has acquired expertise in reactor design, reactor physics modeling, nuclear data processing, and code validation methods.

Ryan works for Hamilton-based marketing and branding firm Factor[e] Design Initiative, as a marketing strategy and communications specialist. During his MBA education, Ryan and partner won the national academic and professional contest, Canada's Next Top Ad Exec. Ryan has worked as the President and CEO of the McMaster Students Union, sales at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, and as an independent strategy consultant for the City of Hamilton and Workforce Planning Hamilton, and is founding member of Hamilton Hive.

Farhan is in his 5th year of the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Program. His achievements in public health, education and his altruistic extra-curricular activities have benefitted McMaster students, Canadians and others internationally. His highly developed organizational, executive and leadership skills have led to many diverse local, national and international initiatives that have contributed to the advancement of medical education and the broader Canadian public health community.

Chantal Labonté is a Level IV Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour student. Chantal is engaged in a variety of different ways, and through the McMaster Student Union, the University Planning Committee and Budget Committee, the Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour Society and her involvement with Welcome Week, has connected many fellow students to the life and spirit of McMaster. From changing the credit system for thesis students with an external supervisor, advocating for the creation of a student lounge, discussing improvements to career services for students, to planning a formal celebration ball and developing orientation activities for first year students, Chantal’s dedication to improving the student experience is evident in all she does.

Mariette Lee is an English major in her final year of studies. A driver of McMaster University student mental health initiatives, Mariette champions for stigma-free spaces for students experiencing mental illness. Her work with COPE: A Student Mental Health Initiative led the McMaster Student Union to enlist her help implementing its first ever Peer Support Phone Line – a service in which student volunteers are trained and certified to become Peer Listeners, supporting anonymous callers in issues pertaining to mental health. Mariette spearheaded COPE’s first 5k mental health awareness run, MOVE for Mental Health and coordinated McMaster’s first Mental Health Symposium in 2012. The significant strides she has made improving mental health awareness and understanding at McMaster University has achieved national recognition.

Joy Ortiz is a Level IV student majoring in both Political Science and Communication Studies. She has participated in countless opportunities to learn, grow and develop, not only academically, but in other aspects of her life, while at McMaster. Joy’s efforts as a member of the Student Relations Committee, a Student Success Leader, an Ambassador for Community Events, have made an impact by helping bridge the gap between students and the community. Her work as Vice-President of Marketing for both the McMaster Entrepreneurship Association and McMaster DECA U demonstrates her determination to learn, develop professional skills, engage the community and influence other students to do the same.

Zachary is in his final year of the Engineering Physics & Management program. He is a well-known student leader who constantly seeks to improve the student life experience at McMaster through his volunteering efforts. He tries to inspire through his work with Welcome Week, as an organizer of the National Conference on Women in Engineering, a mentor of at-risk youth with McMaster’s U-Turn program, performance in five musicals and his work as a teacher’s assistant in both the Faculty of Engineering and the DeGroote School of Business. He is highly involved in outreach activities, including May@Mac, the Engineering Experience Weekend, the Engineering & Science Olympics, and MARS Apprentice; first as a contestant, then as a mentor, and returned as co-chair.

Gary beveridge has harnessed his expertise in accounting to power his dedication to community service in Hamilton and surrounding First Nations communities to become an exemplary volunteer.

Gary is a two-time graduate of McMaster’s Degroote School of Business, both for his bachelor of commerce and his MBA. He is currently a partner at KPMG’s Hamilton office. The list of gary’s volunteer commitments is extensive. He currently serves on the boards of the Hamilton Burlington Brantford YMCA and the Good Shepherd, where he and his wife, mary, assist annually with the christmas dinner. Gary spends considerable time mentoring and working with current business students. At McMaster, he serves on the Business Advisory Council, focusing on the needs of students, and is a member of the resource team for the Mentor to Focus Consulting Group at the Degroote School of Business. Gary is also the coordinator for the Paul Martin Accounting Mentoring pilot project, which focuses on developing business expertise and mentoring in aboriginal communities to encourage aboriginal youth to complete high school and pursue careers in accounting. His commitment to education in our community is also demonstrated by his service as chairman of the Mohawk College foundation and, previously, as chair of the Board of Governors for Mohawk College.

Jeanette Eby, through her many volunteer contributions to the Hamilton community, demonstrates a tenacious commitment to building a better and more just world.

Jeanette graduated from McMaster’s Arts and Science program in 2009, as valedictorian, and just completed her Master’s in Human Geography, also at McMaster, focusing on neighbourhood gathering places and sense of place among single women in Hamilton. She has lived in Hamilton’s Beasley neighbourhood since 2007 and is co-president of the neighbourhood association. Over the past few years, Jeanette has worked tirelessly to help coordinate the effort to put together a community charter for the Beasley neighbourhood, which was the first in canada when it was released in 2011. Jeanette’s second home is in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where she has travelled several times to volunteer with a local organization and live with a host family.

Jeanette was pivotal to the organization, design and implementation of the McMaster Discovery Program, a free, non-credit university course that launched in 2011 for adults in Hamilton who have experienced barriers to learning. In addition to all of her work in Beasley and at McMaster, Jeanette is a part-time community mental health worker for Good Shepherd and she volunteers at the freeway coffeehouse in downtown Hamilton as a barista as well as their Community/Justice Coordinator.