2019-20 ACTIVITIES
SMILEY PROFESSIONAL EVENTS
Despite our programming abruptly ending at spring break due to COVID-19, we had a successful year of Pro Events. SUMMARY The following table reports on Pro Events activity, as measured by number of events and student attendance,for the last two years.
Elizabeth Martin, Ph.D. Student Engagement Director School of Business and Economics
Smiley Professional Events
One of the most distinctive things about the School of Business and Economics (SBE) is our year-long schedule of speakers, workshops and special events known as the Smiley Professional Events (Pro Events) program. The program has become well-known on campus, with other departments asking for our help in promoting their events and with the Health Promotion and Wellness unit of the School of Health Sciences and Wellness enrolling their students in the program. By partnering with our Career Services staff, local businesses and alumni, we offer an outstanding array of Pro Events throughout the semester. This allows our students to choose Pro Events fitting their interests and thereby customize their career exploration and job-search preparation. With an average of ten Pro Events per week available, there is always something exciting happening! The learning from Pro Events strongly complements students’ classroom learning; hence, we refer to Pro Events as co-curricular programming. For instance, a student will learn about marketing theory and techniques in class and then may connect with a local marketing professional at a Pro Event. The graphic below, based on data from students on our Pro Events Advisory Board, shows the relative weights of the broad array of learning occurring at Pro Events:
Fall 2019
Spring 2020
Total 2019-20
% change -27.9%
Fall 2018
Spring 2019
Total 2018-19
Events
200
118
318
228
213
441
Student Check-Ins
3,382
1,906
5,288
-12.9% 3,303
2,766
6,069
The decline in the number of events offered is not as alarming as it might seem. Besides the early end to Pro Events programs in the spring 2020 semester, SBE students completing internships began presenting their reports simultaneously at one large event (our Internship Expo) instead of at multiple events spanning two weeks. Likewise, the moderate (-13%) drop in the number of student check-ins at events indicates continued strong student participation in Pro Events given the unexpected campus closure in mid-March due to COVID-19. NEW INITIATIVES While we offer some fundamental Pro Events every semester, we also strive to introduce exciting new events and opportunities to our students. Important innovations from the past year included: • Inviting community members to our first Business and Society lecture by award-winning author/ journalist Bethany McLean.
Learning Outcomes from Pro Events
Over 50 community members joined students and faculty for a sold-out keynote address by McLean on “Why Business Goes Bad: Lessons from 20 years of covering frauds, scams and other disasters.” McLean is credited with exposing the Enron scandal and has covered stories about scandals at Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae and the energy sector. The lecture engaged our alumni and generated significant publicity for SBE. A small group of students also had the opportunity to chat informally with McLean after her lecture at a nearby restaurant.
While it is not uncommon for business schools to offer speakers and workshops, we do even more in this regard. We integrate Pro Events into our academic curriculum, resulting in our students earning credit for valuable professional skill-building. From their first year through to graduation, all our students are continuously engaged in career planning and development.
4
Anderson Classroom to Career Center
Annual Report 2019-2020
5
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