Become CAREER-READY WITH Pro Events
Smiley Professional Events is our ongoing schedule of speakers, workshops and special activities outside of classes. Students earn academic credit by choosing events that fit their schedules and interests such as etiquette dinners, networking banquets and local company tours. With over 300 Smiley Professional Events each year, there’s always something exciting happening!
Smiley Professional Events
Lunch with a Leader
Lunch with a Leader is a unique networking opportunity where students reach out to community leaders for lunch. This gives students a one-on-one opportunity with leaders who are very graciously donating their time to meet with students who may not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet with someone in their position. Topics discussed range from professional development to guidance and resources.
By setting up a “Lunch with a Leader” you will be expanding your network and gaining valuable professional knowledge. Your lunch might even lead to an internship or job opportunity – as past students have reported!
Business and Society Lecture Series
Liz Nilsen
Fall 2022
Liz Nilsen, co-author of “Strategic Doing,” presented a special Pro Event on “Leadership Is an Action, Not a Job Title.” Learn how to show leadership, even in the beginning of your career, by using the 10 skills of agile leadership.
More than 300 events to choose from
By the Numbers
Advisory Board
Meet the Pro Events Staff
We are located in the Anderson Classroom to Career Center on the first floor of the College of Professional Studies Building (128 CPS).
Elizabeth Martin
- Professor – Business
- Director – Anderson Classroom to Career Center
- [ More… ]
Mark and Julie Smiley
Mark and Julie Smiley met while attending UW-Stevens Point in the early 1980s. Mark is a 1985 business administration alumnus and Julie is 1987 communication alumna. Since their time at UWSP, the Smileys settled in Baraboo and founded a manufacturing company headquartered in Port Washington called Badger Paperboard Inc., which continues to grow and expand to new locations throughout the U.S.
Mark and Julie also raised a daughter and a son, both of whom now take active leadership roles in the family business. Mark traveled back to Stevens Point to participate in an School of Business and Economics (SBE) alumni panel discussion in 2014 as part of what is now known as the Smiley Professional Events. Since that time, Mark and Julie have established two UWSP scholarships in business and communication as well as a program fund to support a variety of SBE student opportunities such as soft skill development and professional preparedness workshops and dinners, peer-to-peer financial coaching and professional organization membership.