Academic Summary

The MIR program is designed to equip us all with the knowledge and skills required for success as future Human Resources and Labour Relations professionals.

Every professor specifically tailored the course material to relate theory back to real life experiences and to promote the development and applicability of skills. Although every class offered something different in terms of activities and assignments, there were some projects that particularly stood out. For example, in “Accounting and Financial Literacy,” Professors Len Andersen and Andrew Graham, created lots of exciting group projects for the class including an investigation into infamous acts of accounting fraud, writing a business plan, and acting as professional consultants to make a pitch for a job. In “Unions and Collective Bargaining” and “Negotiations and Conflict Resolution,” Professor Hickey always kept the class motivated with weekly simulation exercises designed to put us into the roles of bargaining agents and to develop the skills required for strategic negotiation. Some of my best moments from the program were spent in these simulations arguing across our imagined bargaining table, and becoming more and more furious with my colleagues who appeared to lack all reason and refuse to see things my way.

Another great project from the program came from Professor Leighton in our second semester of Labour Law when we performed mock arbitrations in front of the class. The assignment itself was challenging, nerve racking, time-consuming, but in the end it was worth every moment that we spent worrying about it and doing our best to prepare. Not only did the project introduce us all to the basic process of labour arbitration, an experience I expect most of us will have to repeat at some point in our careers, but it gave us all the opportunity to apply the knowledge and theory we had spent the year learning to a real-life scenario. Professor Leighton also taught two of the three skill seminars from the summer: Mediation and Moot. Both of these classes emphasize the development and application of skills to case studies and have involved mediation and labour arbitration professionals to provide feedback to every participating student.

Of course, this would not be a true recap of our academic year if I failed to mention all of the dreaded statistics and labour economics assignments, which pushed us all to our mental capacities and absolutely spiked our stress levels. I for one am happy to have taken the classes and survived, but I sincerely hope that I never have to look at another regressions table for the rest of my life! Other honourable mentions go to Professor Fisk’s poster session, which helped us develop new kinds of presentation skills and Professor Peggy Smith for all of the interesting exercises she designed each week to help us learn about human rights in the workplace.

All in all, we’ve come a long way since September and I look forward to watching each of my colleagues apply their knowledge and skills to the workplace and continue to grow. I expect great things from each and every one of them!