A season to celebrate our community and curiosity

A photo illustration at night, looking through a window from outside in the snow into a brightly lit automotive engineering workspace where students are working. Text alongside reads

Our community has come together time and time again for shared purposes this year. That spirit of hope and a common mission will continue to guide us into 2024.

December 15, 2023

Dear McMaster community members,

During times of great challenge, human connection becomes more important than ever.

While 2023 presented many obstacles, our community continued to find ways, time and time again, to come together for shared purposes: A class assignment. A club or team competition. Conducting research. Maintaining our campus. Saving lives in hospitals.

It’s that continued spirit of hope and common mission that will guide us into 2024.

We remain linked by our shared sense of curiosity, by our common search for answers, and by our drive to make a transformational impact, in our communities, in our country, internationally and even beyond that.

This year, an interdisciplinary group of Mac students and researchers from four different Faculties watched as the tiny NEUDOSE satellite they designed and built went to space. It is now beaming data back to McMaster and potentially influencing our approach to long-term space travel.

Professor Jon Stokes and his team recently used AI to identify a new antibacterial compound to combat one of the world’s most dangerous superbugs, a discovery the New York Times listed as one of the year’s most important scientific advances worldwide.

On campus, our collective commitment to sustainability has led to meeting our carbon reduction targets two years ahead of schedule and ranking 78th out of more than 1,400 universities around the world in the recent QS Sustainability Rankings.

And, as the Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Studies takes shape, we will continue to develop the next generation of leaders who can anticipate complex changes, and work across the public, private and non-profit sectors to build a positive future for Canada and the world.

We want to thank our entire community for finding ways to come together, for supporting and caring for one another, and for continuously working to create a more hopeful, healthy, just and sustainable world. Our community is stronger because of you.

We wish you all a safe and relaxing holiday season and look forward to all we will accomplish together in the year ahead.

Sincerely,

David Farrar, President and Vice-Chancellor
Susan Tighe, Provost & Vice-President (Academic)
Saher Fazilat, Vice-President (Operations and Finance)
Andy Knights, Acting Vice-President (Research)
Lili Litwin, Vice President (University Advancement)
Paul O’Byrne, Dean & Vice-President (Health Sciences)