About McMaster University
McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on 121 hectares (300 acres) of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It operates six academic faculties: the DeGroote School of Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Science, and Science. It is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.
The university bears the name of William McMaster, a prominent Canadian senator and banker who bequeathed C$900,000 to its founding. It was incorporated under the terms of an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1887, merging the Toronto Baptist College with Woodstock College. It opened in Toronto in 1890. Inadequate facilities and the gift of land in Hamilton prompted its relocation in 1930. The Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec controlled the university until it became a privately chartered, publicly funded non-denominational institution in 1957.
McMaster University has over 27,000 undergraduate and over 4,000 post-graduate students. Alumni and former students reside across Canada and in 139 countries. Its athletic teams are known as the Marauders, and are members of U Sports. Notable alumni include government officials, academics, business leaders, Rhodes Scholars, Gates Cambridge Scholars, and Nobel laureates.
McMaster’s Caribbean Connections
McMaster’s links to Jamaica and the Caribbean go back many decades to the 1970s and 80s when the university embarked on a robust student recruitment program in the Caribbean. This program brought many talented students from a range of Caribbean nations to McMaster, creating a vibrant community of scholarship, and training distinguished researchers and professionals that continue to make valuable contributions to Canada, the Caribbean, and the world.
For the past decade, our university has enjoyed a unique connection to Jamaica and the Caribbean through the archives of the incomparable Louise Bennett Coverley, known to the world as “Miss Lou.” This remarkable collection has brought with it many meaningful opportunities to support and advance important research and scholarship, preserve and share Miss Lou’s extraordinary legacy, and – most importantly – to build valued and lasting relationships with the Jamaican community, both in Canada and in the Caribbean. Just last year, McMaster hosted an event in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence.
In 2017, McMaster established a partnership, which included Grenada’s T.A. Marryshow Community College, the Government of Grenada, and the PETNA Foundation. Made possible by funding from McMaster graduate, Nicolas Braithwaite, this unique partnership established a series of staff and faculty exchanges that led to the development of programming to enhance teaching and learning at Marryshow College. It also provided valuable opportunities for our two institutions to learn from each other and explore new ideas and strategies aimed at addressing many of our shared teaching and learning challenges.
McMaster’s connections to the Caribbean have been strengthened over the years by the work of members of the African-Caribbean Faculty Association of McMaster (ACFAM), the goal of which was to create a richer educational experience for Black students by supporting and advocating for a more diverse complement of instructors. In 2022, McMaster established the Black Faculty Hiring Initiative in partnership with the ACFAM. This initiative resulted in the hiring of 18 exceptional scholars across all six of our Faculties, a number of whom have deep connections to the Caribbean.
McMaster’s campus is also enriched by the McMaster Association of Caribbean and West Indian Students, who provide opportunities for McMaster students to learn about and experience Caribbean culture. As well, the university supports international experiential learning opportunities throughout the Caribbean through the McMaster African and Caribbean Leadership Exchange Program, which provides work-study placements to students from historically under-represented communities.
In 2022, McMaster achieved another milestone in enhancing ties with the Caribbean by becoming the Canadian lead of the Canadian-Caribbean Institute. McMaster’s membership and leadership role within the CCI represents further opportunities to build on the university’s long history of research and academic partnership with Caribbean institutions, and will be foundational in forming exciting new collaborations in a number of areas of critical importance to both regions.
News from McMaster University
McMaster University CCI Director – Dr. David Farrar, President and Vice-Chancellor, McMaster University
McMaster University is represented on the CCI Board of Directors by Dr. David Farrar
David Farrar joined McMaster in 2017 as provost before assuming the role of president and vice-chancellor in 2019.
A professor of chemistry, Dr. Farrar has served in senior leadership roles at some of Canada’s top research-intensive universities including as provost and interim president at the University of British Columbia, and as vice-provost, students at the University of Toronto, where he was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry for 26 years.
Since arriving at McMaster, Dr. Farrar has led a campus-wide strategic planning process and championed a number of important university priorities including McMaster’s Net-Zero Carbon Roadmap, the reimagining of the university’s approach to virtual learning, and the strengthening of McMaster’s world class infectious disease research and academic programs.
Dr. Farrar has also supported the development of a wide range of initiatives that advance equity, diversity and inclusion at McMaster. These include the creation of the Black Student Success Centre, and the Black Faculty Hiring initiative led by the African-Caribbean Faculty Association of McMaster.
Under Dr. Farrar’s leadership, McMaster recently became the lead Canadian partner in the Canada-Caribbean Institute (CCI). Participation in the CCI builds on McMaster’s long-standing academic and research ties with nations across the Caribbean, and will establish new partnerships to address the critical environmental, social and economic challenges faced by both regions.