Telling McMaster's unique story is the focus of an initiative now under way.

“One of the critical success factors identified in McMaster's strategic plan, Refining Directions, is building and defining the University's reputation on a national and international level,” says Judith Chopra, branding advisor for the University. “The first step in achieving that goal is to define McMaster's reputation – What makes us different? Who succeeds here? What do we aspire to achieve? What promises do we make and keep?”

This week, an email questionnaire will be sent to students, staff, faculty and alumni, asking them to think about their McMaster experience. Focus groups have developed five concepts or statements about McMaster to be tested in this first phase of the project. The results of the questionnaire, intended to help define McMaster's distinctive reputation, will be shared with the McMaster community once they become available.

“McMaster has partnered with an outside company, Stamats Inc., to determine how best to tell people about the unique benefits of the University,” says McMaster provost Ken Norrie. “The goal is to define a distinctive reputation for the University, and we need your help to ensure we're on the right track.”

At the same time, work is moving ahead on refreshing the University's upper level web pages to align with a new student portal, which will provide personalized access to commonly used applications when it is launched in late 2006. From the mcmaster.ca home page, students will be able to log in directly to their personal schedules, calendars and a wide range of information for easy, direct access.

If you would like more information about the Distinctive Reputation Project, contact chopraj@mcmaster.ca.