DeGroote celebrates first Master of Communication Management graduating class

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BY Doug Calderwood-Smith

June 17, 2010

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/mcmgradpicfinal.jpg” caption=”The first graduating class of DeGroote’s Master of Communications Management (MCM) program walked across the stage at Hamilton Place last Tuesday at the Faculty of Business convocation.”]

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The DeGroote School of Business is celebrating the next evolution of Canada's public relations leaders and thinkers. The first graduating class of DeGroote's Master of Communications Management (MCM) program walked across the stage at Hamilton Place last Tuesday at the Faculty of Business convocation.

In partnership with Syracuse University, the MCM program is a two-year independent study master's degree that balances the core courses of a traditional MBA with a variety of accelerated communications management courses.

The first graduating class comprises six individuals working in senior roles in both the public and the private sector.

  • Heath Applebaum – Manager, Corporate Communications & Media Relations, The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited
  • Heather Ferguson – Former President, Hearing Foundation of Canada
  • Heather Pullen – Manager, Public Relations & Communications Department, Hamilton Health Sciences
  • Donald Smith – Director of Operations, Public Affairs Division, Canada Revenue Agency
  • Brittany Cadence – Communications Officer, Peterborough County-City Health Unit
  • Natalia Villegas – Employee Communications Specialist, Research in Motion

    • In addition to their successes in the classroom, three MCM students have also achieved success at international competitions.

    At the 2009 Case Study Competition in Corporate Communications sponsored by the prestigious Arthur W. Page Society and the Institute of Public Relations and held in New York City, graduate Heather Pullen received the Grand Prize and fellow student Brittney Cadence received the top prize for their thesis papers. They were the first Canadians to ever win the competition.

    Heath Applebaum was recently named a winner of a prestigious 2010 Gold Quill Award for excellence in business communication. The award was presented to Applebaum by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) on June 8 at their World Conference in Toronto.

    “It represents the first international communications award in our company's 50-year history and it's something we are quite proud of, particularly because there were some 900 entries from 28 different countries,” said Applebaum. “The award was a by-product of an MCM assignment at DeGroote. One of the great things about the MCM program is the focus not just on research, strategy and theoretical frameworks, but pragmatic assignments that empowered me to find solutions to current business challenges that I could utilize back at the office.”

    The MCM program was developed as a result of a strong partnership between the DeGroote School of Business and Independent Study Degree Program (ISDP) in Communications Management taught at Syracuse University.

    With this partnership, students enrolled in the MCM program at DeGroote benefit from Syracuse's esteemed faculty who come to McMaster to teach during on-campus residencies, Syracuse's historically successful interdisciplinary academic model of teaching, and lastly, upon completion of their master's degree, a tangible linkage with the University itself.

    Being alumni of both DeGroote and Syracuse University allows graduates to benefit from the prestige of the ISDP program, which is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the communications industry. Syracuse continues to offer one of the most competitive communications management programs in the United States today.

    Academic collaboration between the MCM program director Terry Flynn and Syracuse University brought the ISDP model to DeGroote.

    “The MCM program is the degree of difference for all communications and public relations managers and directors,” added Terry Flynn. “This program is unique because it provides the professionals in the program a competitive advantage over their colleagues. We really consider it the MBA for the professional communicator.”

    Enrolment in the MCM is limited to 15 students per year. The application deadline for the fall term is Aug. 1, 2010.

    For more information about the program, please visit the MCM website.

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