Faculty of Humanities and the Arts & Science program

Akosua Asafu-Adjaye Frimpong is graduating with an Honours degree from the Bachelor of Arts (BA) program in Justice, Political Philosophy, and Law, with a Minor in Sociology and a Minor in Globalization studies (Health Concentration). During her period of studies, she passionately served as the Vice President of Administration for the McMaster Humanities Society. She took on various volunteering roles in academic and peer mentorship, charity work, and community service. She also served as the president and chaplain of the McMaster Gospel Choir and was a member of the JPPL society. Outside of McMaster, Akosua worked at several (law) firms and clinics, in both Canada and Ghana. Akosua is most grateful to God for the opportunity to deliver the valedictory address and would like to thank her father, mother, brother, extended family, professors, peers and friends for their never-ending support throughout her journey at McMaster. 

Brandon Bernard is a community-oriented individual that aims for the betterment of students on McMasters campus. During the 2022-23 school year, Brandon was the Co-President of the Black Student-Athlete Council, a group that fostered equity and inclusion for black-identifying student-athletes along with students as a whole. Brandon was also a part of the executive student leadership group, a group which met with the administration within athletics to foster innovative ideas and ensure the longevity of various groups within McMaster’s athletic department. 

Brandon was also a marauder mentor, speaking to kids about the balance of being an athlete and student along with other tips about maintaining good health both mentally and physically. 

Brandon also volunteered at the Black Student Success Centre with a variety of different events that spoke to the equity and inclusion of black-identifying bodies on campus. 

Brandon will be graduating with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies.  

Dr. Peter Cockett is an Associate Professor in the School of the Arts with a passionate commitment to anti-oppressive, decolonial and social justice pedagogies, and the belief in the power of the arts to engage with and enact social change.  

Dr. Cockett’s contributions include the development of McMaster’s new Integrated Arts (iArts) programs, and multiple innovative arts-based platforms that connect the decision-making processes behind theatre practice to the social and historical contexts within which theatre is made. Each year Dr. Cockett directs the School of the Arts’ annual Fall Major production and facilitates the School’s festival of student plays – the Honours Performance Series. These productions involve students from the program and across campus in Performance as Research (PaR) projects focused on issues of social justice. He guides these projects from inception through to final production, facilitating the students’ development of their scripts, their sound, lighting, costume and set designs, and the direction of the actors. 

In creating the iArts foundational module on Indigenous sovereignty and the arts, he collaborated with local Indigenous artists and undergraduate research assistants, attesting to his care and mentorship of student voices in designing and creating a strong arts program grounded in relational politics and social justice. He has mentored students by involving them in all aspects of performance practice. One student notes, “Peter always fostered inspiration and collaboration while respecting the needs of his students. He would always look to hear our input on the complexities of creating productions and art while encouraging us to step outside of our comfort zones, try new things, and grow as artists. As a theatre artist in the program, he continuously provided mentorship on both theoretical and practical skills and offered outside-the-class opportunities for development.” 

 His Performance as Research (PaR) work emphasizes playfulness, experimentation, and risk-taking. It encourages students and scholars to trust in process over product, and to seek the happy accidents that surprise, take research in new directions, and open new social possibilities.

Dr. Alpha Abebe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies & Media Arts and teaches in other programs including Global Peace and Social Justice, and Integrated Business and Humanities. She is a student-centered practitioner with an impeccable record of leadership and innovation in pedagogy and curriculum design, whose contributions extend well beyond her departmental and Faculty communities. 

As a Faculty Lead and Instructor for the Humanities Leadership curriculum and the Concurrent Certificate in Leadership, Equity and Social Change, Dr. Abebe worked with leadership in the Faculty of Humanities to build upon the curriculum for the Certificate, including enhancing its focus on equity and establishing partnerships across campus. As a Faculty Lead of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Africa and Black Diaspora Studies (ABLDs), Dr. Abebe built upon the work and legacy of the African Caribbean Faculty Association of McMaster (ACFAM) and established new partnerships to strengthen the program. This included collaborating with Intercession Learning to establish two new core ABLDs courses, and working through the Interdisciplinary Minors Committee to promote the minor across campus. She is also part of a team of ACFAM members who are working to further expand the Minor through development of more prospective courses, hiring and mentoring post-doctoral fellows, and laying the groundwork for an ABLDs Research Institute. 

Dr. Abebe is also engaged in a number of service activities focused on enhancing the Black student experience at McMaster. She has supported the launch and expansion of the Black Student Mentorship Program, a mentoring program that provides support and leadership development opportunities to participants, and is an active faculty partner of the Black Student Success Centre. 

Nominated by her students for an MSU teaching award in 2022, Dr. Abebe’s approach has been described by her students as “transformative,” with one student noting that her “practices encourage students to question social norms and ways of thinking that can be damaging to equity-seeking groups. Alpha’s approach to teaching empowers students to identify areas for personal growth—and she holds space in the classroom for students to learn as whole people.” 

In her time at McMaster, Dr. Abebe has built meaningful relationships with students, faculty and staff across the university community, which will undoubtedly foster the development of greater inclusive excellence in teaching across campus. 

David Mikhail is interested in the intersection of health and society. During his studies in the Arts & Science program, David explored the humanities and social sciences, while also nurturing his interests in the basic and health sciences. 

David extended his learning of the medical humanities by volunteering at a cardiology clinic in the Hamilton community, leading numerous initiatives for patients and advocating for knowledge translation and healthy living. Further, he conducted research in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, & Impact under the supervision of Dr. Dena Zeraatkar. He has worked on multiple projects including a paper to identify primary outcomes for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients to develop a core outcome set assisting in diagnosis and treatment.  

David completed his Honours Arts & Science degree at McMaster and will continue his education as a medical student with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. 

Gabrielle’s interests include ancient Greek language, physics and mathematics. Over the past year, she has conducted an independent study creating an interpretive poetic-prose translation of Homer’s Odyssey. Gabrielle has a passion for the outdoors. As the Gear Coordinator for the McMaster Outdoors Club in 2020-22, she created outdoor educational programing for the McMaster and Hamilton communities and ran a gear-lending program to make the outdoors more accessible to McMaster students. 

Gabrielle has served as both a peer reviewer and co-editor in chief for the Aletheia journal, a peer reviewed academic journal which showcases the work of Artsci students. She has also composed original music for the Arts and Science musical. 

Gabrielle has completed her Honours Arts and Science degree with a minor in Classics and intends to pursue graduate studies in Classics or Museum Studies. She plans to take the upcoming year to develop a business centered around original jewelry that she has designed and created.  

Katherine D’Agostino is a strong supporter of the arts and is especially passionate about music performance and composition. She was principal trumpet for both McMaster Musical Theatre and the McMaster Concert Band, most recently taking part in the concert band’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Katherine also collaborated with her peers to form a student-run brass quintet, performing at several concerts and events. In the broader community, she also plays lead trumpet for the Hamilton All Star Jazz Band and has performed with Sinfonia Ancaster. 

Katherine is similarly interested in music pedagogy and research. She was employed as an undergraduate teaching assistant in music theory and analysis and has written two prize-winning essays on topics in musicology. In 2022, she received a Humanities Undergraduate Student Research Award, for which she assembled a comprehensive scholarly edition of a collection of letters written by composer Sir Michael Tippett.  

Katherine has also contributed to faculty governance, having served as the undergraduate School of the Arts representative for the Faculty of Humanities during the 2022-23 academic year. 

Katherine is graduating from McMaster University with a degree in Honours Music and a minor in Linguistics.  

Emily Eng is graduating from McMaster University with an Honours degree in Cognitive Science of Language and a minor in Psychology. Emily is passionate about language development and communication and is currently pursuing a career in Speech-Language Pathology.  

Last summer, Emily contributed to a research study at Holland Bloorview Kid’s Rehabilitation Hospital investigating speech using non-invasive brain stimulation. Her interest in communication also led to various volunteering roles at Glenwood Special Day School, March of Dimes, and Lear Communication.  

On campus, Emily had the opportunity to mentor and engage younger students as a teaching assistant in the MELD program. She worked with first year international students looking to further develop English grammar skills. Additionally, Emily served on the executive leadership committee of a Christian fellowship on campus.  

This fall, Emily is looking forward to beginning her graduate studies in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Toronto. 

Marina Orde is the General Manager of two rock climbing gyms, Gravity Hamilton and Gravity Niagara; she has worked there full-time throughout her career at McMaster. In her free hours, she is interested in cultivating meaningful and deep relationships with those around her, in climbing rocks all over Canada and the States, and in exploring this wide and beautiful world.

Marina completed her Honours Linguistics degree at McMaster University, after conducting what she calls “the University tour” with years spent at both Waterloo and Queens before she landed, happily, at Mac. In June of 2023, her family purchased a local outdoor retailer in the beautiful heart of the Dundas Valley. She will be working as the general manager of Adventure Attic, alongside her family, for the years to come.

Former President of Liberia, Africa’s first elected female head of state, Nobel Laureate and a global inspiration who served as Chair of the Economic Community of West African States. 

After starting her career in public service, Sirleaf briefly served as the President of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment before being imprisoned multiple times for standing up to dictator Samuel Doe. After being forced into exile, Sirleaf became an influential economist for the World Bank and held senior positions with private corporations including Citibank and   Equator Bank. 

Sirleaf eventually returned to Liberia and led the Commission on Good Governance in preparing for the country’s first truly democratic elections. She was elected president in 2005 and won re-election in 2011. 

During her two terms as President she led Liberia through reconciliation and recovery following a decade of civil war, as well as the Ebola Crisis. She earned acclaim for achieving economic, social and political change, particularly in expanding freedom of speech and strengthening women’s rights. President Sirleaf also spurred a national rebuilding movement by attracting more than $16 billion in foreign direct investment. 

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s list of awards and honours reflects a life and career that have had a profound and global impact. She shared, with Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, The Nobel Peace Prize  2011 “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has. spoken and worked against so many dark forces, including corruption, oppression and sexual  violence, has  had,  through  six  decades  of  activism  and leadership, a relentless message of optimism and hope.