Media releases

• Children’s health champion, former SickKids President to be honoured at Fall Convocation

  Monday, October 05, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE – Oct. 5, 2026 — R0090

  Throughout her career, Mary Jo Haddad’s work has been centred on care.

  From her time as a nurse to her progressive leadership roles over four decades with the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), she has made it her mission to support families in the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

  When Haddad retired as the long-standing President and Chief Executive Officer of the nation’s top pediatric hospital in 2014, she didn’t rest on her laurels.

  Instead, she used her expertise to create further impact, providing strategic leadership and advisory services to health-care systems around the world as President of MJH & Associates and also lending her expertise as Corporate Director at Telus and past Director at TD Bank Group.

  Haddad will share lessons in leadership with Brock University’s graduating class when she delivers the address at Fall Convocation on Friday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. During the ceremony, she will also be recognized with an honorary Doctor of Laws for the indelible mark she’s left on Canadian health care and beyond.

  “I am truly honoured and grateful to be receiving an honorary degree from Brock,” Haddad says. “It’s a great honour to share my congratulations and address the graduates at such a pivotal time in their lives. I hope to bring them a heartfelt message of inspiration and optimism on all that the future holds at this incredibly exciting time.”

  Haddad says she’s learned much over her rewarding career, with one of the most profound takeaways being that “leadership matters.”

  Enabling people to be their best self in their working environment begins with strong leadership — no matter the field, she says. She hopes to inspire Brock’s graduates to see themselves in leadership roles, whether civic or professional, and reflect on ways they can have a positive impact on the world, including in their local communities.

  Haddad has been recognized for her innovative leadership and contributions to children’s health care, being named a Member of the Order of Canada (2010) and receiving the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2014), among her many accolades.

  Now residing in Niagara-on-the-Lake, she maintains a strong commitment to giving back as a mentor and leadership coach and as an advocate for children and youth through her volunteer work as past Director of the Board of Kids Health Links Foundation, as former Director at Capitalize for Kids, with the SickKids capital campaign and as founding Chair of Children First Canada, a not-for-profit organization committed to helping make Canada the best place for kids to grow up.

  Brock’s 120th Convocation will include two ceremonies held Friday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the Ian Beddis Gymnasium of Brock’s Walker Sports Complex.

  All ceremonies will be livestreamed online at brocku.ca/livestream

  For more information and a full schedule of Brock’s Fall Convocation, visit brocku.ca/convocation

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  *Melinda Cheevers, Communications Specialist, Brock University, [email protected] or 289-241-5855

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  Categories: Media releases

• Stage set for Canada’s first international double degree program in Musical Theatre and Education

  Friday, September 25, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE – Sept. 25, 2026 — R0089

  The curtain is rising on a compelling new act for musical theatre education in Canada.

  Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) is launching the country’s first International Double Degree in Musical Theatre and Education.

  “We are thrilled to be building the future of musical theatre education alongside our partners at the University of Portsmouth, offering the opportunity for students to engage in cutting-edge musical theatre training,” says DART Chair and Professor Jennifer Roberts-Smith.

  The innovative degree pathway allows Brock students to study in the U.K. at Portsmouth and Portsmouth students to study at Brock during the third year of the program, graduating with two Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees: in Dramatic Arts from Brock and Musical Theatre from Portsmouth.

  Blending courses in music and dramatic arts, the program will prepare students for their future careers with professional training in singing, movement and contemporary musical theatre creation.

  “We are equipping the next generation of theatre educators and artists with a high level of practical theatre training as well as critical training in how to teach music and theatre; you need both to produce dynamic musicals in any creative setting,” Roberts-Smith says.

  While studying at Brock’s state-of-the-art Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, students will learn and create in a fully equipped professional arts facility that houses a 242-seat theatre, four rehearsal studios, a scenery studio and wardrobe, production and lighting shops.

  Roberts-Smith says a key element of the program involves students working alongside leading industry professionals and engaging in work-integrated learning opportunities, notably with Canadian professional theatre company Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ont.

  Students will collaborate on the development of a professional musical theatre production through Theatre Aquarius’ National Centre for New Musicals, a transformative force in both Canadian and international theatre.

  Mary Francis Moore, Artistic Director of Theatre Aquarius, says education has always been central to the company’s mission and is essential to building a vibrant theatrical future.

  “The combination of musical theatre training with education, together with Brock’s partnership with the University of Portsmouth, represents an exciting and much-needed addition to Canada’s post-secondary landscape,” she says. “We see tremendous potential for students to benefit from meaningful engagement with both Canadian and international approaches to musical theatre creation.”

  During their time at Brock, students will also help to rewrite the script for theatre education in Canada by participating in the Canada-wide Staging Better Futures/ Mettre en scène de meilleurs avenirs project, which is co-led by DART.

  “This new program and our partnership with Theatre Aquarius will continue to shine a spotlight on minoritized voices by supporting reconciliation, equity, anti-racism and access in post-secondary theatre education,” says Roberts-Smith.

  Admissions for the new International Double Degree Musical Theatre and Education program are through a workshop-based invitational which includes a vocal audition. More information about the program is available on the DART website.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Melinda Cheevers, Communications Specialist, Brock University, [email protected] or 289-241-5855

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  Categories: Media releases