Category Archives: Research

McMaster-Syracuse MCM February Residency: Record Cohort and 7 Capstone Defenses

Another successful residency of the McMaster-Syracuse MCM program drew to a close on Thursday afternoon. We had a wonderful time sharing ideas, debating the latest industry challenges and opportunities and simply building friendships and professional collaborations. This residency saw three key events: Seven students successfully defended their capstone research projects. The capstone project is the …

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McMaster launches a new Bachelor of Professional Communication (BPC)

Our world is changing at light speed and it need a new class of highly qualified, well-educated, ethical professional communicators. This change is creating the need for highly competent and well-educated professional communicators, whose role in winning battles in the court of public opinion will work in parallel with lawyers who fight in the court …

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Students don’t read anymore. What does this mean for democracy?

I have spent most of the last week marking papers. As professors, we sometimes grumble and complain about this task, but it is important to consider how vital evaluation and feedback is to student growth. The thing is, marking work is a two-way street. I have been thinking a lot about the value of assignments …

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Descriptions and times of courses I am teaching in the Autumn Term!

I just put the final touches on my courses for this year. I am pretty excited about what the year portends! On Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:30pm, I will be teaching CMST 1a03: Intro to Communication. I absolutely love teaching this giant course. It is the first course that I ever taught at Mac, on the …

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Gave a Speech on Social Media Risk Management in Ottawa

Last night I had a wonderful experience, giving a Mac on the Road alumni lecture on “Social Media Risk Management” in the St. Laurent Room of the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa. There was a great, diverse crowd of people out, ranging from professional communicators from the Ottawa area to different generations of McMaster alumni, …

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A mind forever voyaging… seeking the Good in your life.

The antechapel where the statue stood Of Newton with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind for ever Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone. – William Wordsworth “An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.” – C. S. Lewis I have often reflected on the meaning of these verses, …

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Inaugural issue of JPC going live very soon!

I am just putting the final edits and final page layout tweaks for the inaugural issue of the Journal of Professional Communication. We have excellent content and many lively debates represented. We also have a serious policy white paper, Pathways to the Profession, which details educations pathways as outlined by the Canadian Public Relations Society. …

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A Big Day: Visit to Cormex Research & PR/Social Media Talk

Today was an eventful day. First, I taught my French semantics class this morning. Then I got a little work done in my office until the COMM-Lab managers, Shelagh Hartford and Arun Jacob, joined me in my office and we drove in to Toronto to have a research visit with our lab industry partner, Cormex …

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Gave guest lecture at the Canadian International Council (CIC-Hamilton) on Wikileaks.

I just got home after a wonderful evening that blended all the things I like: politics, public affairs, government, food and fascinating people who wanted to talk. I spoke on the topic of “Wikileaks: Has government communication changed forever?” I was speaking to the Hamilton Chapter of the Canadian International Council. I was amazed to …

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My beautiful trip to DC

Last weekend, I traveled to Washington, DC, one of my favourite cities in the world. It was a bit of a working vacation for me, since I have been going quite hard, with research and teaching. I arrived on Saturday morning, flying on Jetblue out of Buffalo. It was a funny flight, because I was …

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