McGill is a fascinating place – especially if you are a writer. There is no shortage of amazing stories about amazing people doing, yes, amazing things.
At the McGill Reporter, our job is to tell these stories as best we can and share them with our readers. While there are just too many stories to cover, we do our best. By the end of the year, we will have posted almost 400 stories on the McGill Reporter website. These stories have been read almost 600,000 times by people in 214 countries or territories around the world.
While the bulk of our readers come from Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France and India, our reach is pretty remarkable. Thanks to the miracle of analytics, we know that we have had readers from exotic, lesser-known parts of the world like Mayotte, the Solomon Islands, Guinea-Bissau and Kiribati. Our reach spans from A (Antarctica, 1 click) to Z (Zambia, 40 clicks).
Rankings rule
As with most years, the Reporter’s Greatest Hits for 2022 are heavily rankings based. Six of the top 10 most-clicked stories this year were rankings stories. Posted in June, our article on the QS World University Rankings rating McGill as the best university in Canada and 31st in the world, has garnered over 38,000 page views, easily the most popular Reporter story of 2022.
Our coverage of the annual Award for Equity & Community Building ceremony in May is our highest-rated non-rankings story in 2022. The first in-person, Equity & Community Building award ceremony since 2019, the gala celebrated McGill’s EDI champions in four categories: team, student, administrative and support staff, and academic staff.
Over the course of 2022, we met – virtually and in person – a host of people with incredible and inspiring stories.
Few stories were as inspiring as Manyang Lual Bok, a native of war-torn South Sudan, who spent 12 years in a Kenyan refugee camp beginning when he was nine. In 2017, as part of a World University Service of Canada program, Jok was relocated straight from the refugee camp to Montreal, where he started at McGill. This past fall, Jok strode across the stage during McGill’s Spring 2022 Convocation to collect his BA in Computer Science and Economics.
Here are the top three McGill Reporter stories per month:
January
- 15 McGillians appointed to Order of Canada
- McGill named one of the world’s most international universities
- Protective gene variant against COVID-19 identified
February
- To celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we offered a small sample of the incredible work being done at McGill by women in STEM
- McCall MacBain Scholarships announce 50 finalists
- McGill named one of Montreal’s top employers once again
March
- Undergrad team uses machine learning to create a better hospital ventilator
- On International Women’s Day, members of the McGill community pay tribute to the women who have had a positive impact on their lives
- Cindy Blackstock named one of Canada’s women of influence
April
- McGill’s strengths highlighted in annual QS Rankings by Subject
- McGill aims for new collective agreement with MUNACA
- Student appetite growing for World of Chemistry: Food course
May
- McGill’s EDI champions feted in style – and in person
- Prime Minister Trudeau, Premier Legault visit campus to welcome Moderna to the Greater Montreal Area
- 2022 Spring Convocation Hon Docs announced
June
- QS World University Rankings:McGill is Canada’s top university
- The incredible journey of Manyang Lual Jok
- Guylaine Beaudry appointed next Trenholme Dean of Libraries
July
- Shanghai rankings rate McGill among world’s best universities
- Melanoma map shows skin cancer is on the rise in Canada
- Astronomers detect a radio “heartbeat” billions of light-years from Earth
August
- Provost honours 33 professors with Distinguished awards
- McGill Reads, Summer 2022 Edition
- HIV doctor named grand marshal of Fierté Montréal
September
- Libraries infrastructure updates
- Two McGill researchers are awarded through the TRANSCAN international grant competition
- Three McGill professors receive Royal Society of Canada medals
October
- McGill ranked 46th best university in the world: Times Higher Education
- Maclean’s ranks McGill Canada’s top Medical Doctoral university for 18th straight year
- McGill welcomes newest Loran Scholars
November
- McGill appoints H. Deep Saini as new Principal and Vice-Chancellor
- McGill celebrates its Highly Cited Researchers
- McGill top Canadian school for undergrad female start-up founders
“A look back at the year that was” included many important McGill events and activities.
May I ask when the McGill Reporter covered two of the year’s most important events?