Faculty of Science Dean Maureen MacDonald did one better than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. 

At every meeting, Bezos would reserve a seat for the customer. He’d point at the empty seat to remind everyone who was the most important person in the room and to always start with the customer and work backward. 

When assembling the team to launch the Susan Cunningham Science Leadership Academy, MacDonald reserved two chairs for students and then recruited Kay McCallum and Visali Manimaran to fill the seats. 

When building an academy for aspiring and emerging student leaders, who better to have at the table than a pair of presidents who’d made their mark at Mac? McCallum was serving as the president of the Science Graduate Students Association while Manimaran was president of the McMaster Science Society. 

Their contributions proved invaluable, says MacDonald. “In every meeting, Kay and Visali helped shape our work in ways that simply wouldn’t have been possible without them. They proved yet again that students are our superpower.” 

MacDonald says it’s the role and responsibility of academic leaders to create safe and supportive spaces where students’ creativity and excellence can flourish. “Including student voices and perspectives is the key to making positive changes.” 

Change is what the Susan Cunningham Science Leadership Academy is aiming for as it helps undergraduate and graduate students in the Faculty of Science gain the confidence and skills to be leaders at Mac and throughout their careers. 

“Leadership is not something that scientists are usually given the opportunity to develop, yet it’s through leadership that we can often have the greatest impact and success on things we care about,” Cunningham said while announcing her $2.7 million gift to establish the academy. 

Leadership opportunities came early for Manimaran and a little later for McCallum. 

Manimaran first got involved in student council in elementary school. “My mom was very protective so being a student leader was a way to do lots of things before and after school.” 

After doing everything a leader could do in high school from sports to student council, Manimaran did nothing during her first year at Mac beyond hitting the books. “I thought all of my time and attention needed to be focused on academics.” That proved to be a mistake. Manimaran missed the camaraderie and constant learning that came with being in student government. So she got involved with the McMaster Science Society in her second year, moved into an executive role in her third year and became president in her final year at the encouragement of the outgoing president. “I’m proud of everything the MSS did for students and all of it was a total team effort. I was there to make sure the team had the support and encouragement they needed to do their work.” 

McCallum’s first foray into leadership happened after graduating from Brooklyn College in 2017 with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and history.  The freshly minted grad was hired as a lab tech at an environmental testing company. Within a year, McCallum was promoted to supervisor and now had to a team of 12 former colleagues where some team members were decades older than their new boss. The promotion gave McCallum a crash course in leadership. 

“That’s where I learned how to build rapport with everyone on a team.” Being a supervisor also cemented McCallum’s views on leadership – it’s less about talking and more about doing. “Leadership’s not about having a title, sitting at the head of the table and making speeches. It’s about stepping up, being the person who consistently shows up and is willing to do the hard work and heavy lifting.” 

In 2020, McCallum moved across the country, began grad studies at Mac and joined the Science Graduate Students Association as a student rep. McCallum’s supervisor Sarah Styler wasn’t just supportive – she actively encouraged McCallum to get involved. Supervisory support isn’t universal and it’s something McCallum advocated for on behalf of the Faculty’s 700 graduate students throughout their time on the association. 

Both McCallum and Manimaran say it was an honour to serve on the academy’s operationalization committee during their final year at McMaster. They got to work alongside, and learn from, academic and corporate leaders. 

The academy was also a legacy project for the two outgoing presidents – they helped build something that’ll unlock the potential of science students who may not yet think of themselves as leaders. “Anyone can be a leader and it’s never too late” says Manimaran. “Every student has leadership potential. The academy is there to unlock that potential and help students grow as leaders.” 

McCallum believes students going into the academy already have a key leadership trait. “As scientists, we’re trained to find problems and then work within teams to come up with solutions. What’s true for scientists is true for leaders.” 

Applications for the first cohort in the Susan Cunningham Science Leadership Academy open June 2.  Up to 25 graduate students and undergraduate students who’ve completed their first year in the Faculty of Science are welcome to apply. Students who participate in workshops, seminars, events and one-on-one coaching throughout the academic year will be eligible for a Science Leadership Certificate of Completion. 

For more information, go to https://leadershipacademy.science.mcmaster.ca/