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Office of the President

Setting the Course: Winter 2026 Community Update

Community consultations happening across campus and beyond

The second phase in the process to develop McMaster’s next strategic plan kicked off on Jan. 14 when more than 1,000 faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members attended the launch event marking the start of community consultations organized by members of the Strategic Planning Team (SPT).

Launch Event

Setting the Course: Kickoff to 2031 started in the Concert Hall at L.R. Wilson Hall where President Susan Tighe challenged everyone to ask themselves how to build on McMaster’s 138-year history. “What do we want to be? Where do we want to go?”

Mark John Stewart, industry professor in the Master of Communications Management program and advisor to the Strategic Planning Team, led a quick-fire digital survey of the concert hall crowd and of those watching the livestream, which recorded more than 727 live views of the event and hundreds more since.

One of the highlights was the panel discussion titled, Community Vision, which offered different perspectives on the next strategic plan. The panelists were all members of the Strategic Oversight Committee (SOC), which has oversight of the design and implementation of the Setting the Course consultation process, communication strategy, feedback themes, document drafts, final revised strategy and approval process.

Community Vision panelists, from left: From left: Darran Fernandez, University Registrar, Margaret Zanel, Vice-President, McMaster Alumni Association and Alumni Representative of Senate, Kusum Bhatta, President, Graduate Student Association (GSA), Piper Plavins, President, McMaster Students Union (MSU), Bhagwati Gupta, President, McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA), and Alex Lawson, Special Advisor to the President on Institutional Initiatives and a consultant to the Strategic Planning Team.

Following the formal launch event, faculty, staff, students and community members were invited to a drop-in session at Convocation Hall featuring four engagement stations that invited attendees to share their ideas for the upcoming strategic plan. The session was also an opportunity for everyone to speak directly with senior leaders in an informal setting.

Raising Awareness

A communications campaign was soon launched to support survey completion and participation at in-person and virtual consultation sessions through a variety of ways, including:

  • McMaster News
  • McMaster.ca/SettingTheCourse
  • A2L
  • Email
  • Social media
  • In-person

Posters were distributed throughout the university with a QR code to the survey, with various leaders being asked to post one to their doors to show their endorsement for the process. Sticker boxes were also placed in high-traffic spaces in each Faculty and various university areas. The box is designed to resemble a poppy box and invites people to complete the strategic planning survey. For participating, people are welcome to take a sticker as a small thank you, following the familiar poppy box custom of contributing and taking a token in return.

Hand removes sticker from sticker box in Provost's Office.
Setting the Course sticker box placed at the front desk in the Office of the Provost in University Hall.

Strategic Planning Team members also attended in-person events to engage directly with faculty, staff, students and other community members, including at the TMG Forum on Jan. 22.

Sue McCracken, co-chair of the Strategic Planning Team, presents on the strategic planning process during the 2026 TMG Forum at CIBC Hall on Jan. 22.

The first of more than 100 consultation sessions also began during this period, including meetings with Faculty Councils, Student Affairs directors, custodial staff, academic finance and administration managers, the Office of the Vice-President (Research) and the Office of the University Secretariat.

Engaging Students

To motivate students to complete the survey, a weekly draw was held for McMaster SWAG – a T-shirt from the Campus Store. Additionally, the student competition was launched with an announcement shared with students over email and posted on Avenue 2 Learn.

Week 1 winner, Noor, a third-year Science student.

A series of pop ups staffed by members of the Strategic Planning Team and supported by senior leaders were planned across the university:

  • Ron Joyce Centre Foyer (Burlington)
  • The Hub
  • David Braley Athletic Centre Mills Library
  • 10 Bay Graduate Student Residence (Downtown Hamilton)
  • David Braley Health Sciences Centre (Downtown Hamilton)
  • McMaster Innovation Park (Longwood)
  • Ewart Angus Centre, within the Health Sciences Centre
  • McMaster Automotive Research Centre (Longwood)
  • McMaster University Student Centre Atrium
  • Indigenous Student Services
  • Inspire from Within Conference (Liuna Station, Downtown Hamilton)
Strategic Planning Team members at a pop up at Mills Library on Feb. 3. From left: Arlene Dosen, Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Student Success, and Nancy McKenzie, Director, Strategic Planning in the Office of the President.

 

Post-it notes from students, faculty and staff at a pop up.
Two people stand next to a post-it board.
Professor Alex Sevigne, Associate Professor of Communication Management, and Joanne Gittens, Director, Institutional Research and Analysis, at the Inspire from Within conference at Liuna Station, downtown Hamilton.

Hundreds of McMaster students, faculty, staff and community members were engaged and shared their ideas for McMaster’s priorities.

Senate and Board of Governors

At the beginning of March, McMaster’s Senate and Board of Governors’ meetings included a consultation for the strategic plan development.

Speakers address McMaster's Senate meeting on March 11, 2026.
A strategic plan consultation is led by Margaret Zanel at the March 11 Senate meeting. Zanel is the co-founder and Partner, Leadership and Strategy at Wentworth Strategy Group, a strategy instructor with the DeGroote School of Business Executive Education and a member of McMaster’s Senate. She was joined by Sue McCracken, Professor at the DeGroote School of Business and co-chair of the Strategic Planning Team.
Professor Sue McCracken at the Board of Governors meeting on March 5, 2026.
Professor Sue McCracken conducts a strategic plan consultation at the Board of Governors meeting on March 5, 2026.

Engaging Our External McMaster Community

A separate version of the survey was adjusted specifically to ensure relevancy to alumni and external members of the McMaster community, including government officials, civil servants and employers who hire McMaster graduates and welcome co-op students and interns.

President Tighe, with support from McMaster’s University Advancement Office, added brief personal consultations to her previously scheduled meetings and events that were recorded on behalf of the strategic plan.

The consultation phase ends on April 2. The new strategic plan is due to be presented to members of the Board of Governors in June.