Stevenson University’s Career Services is partnering with the members of M.I.L.E., the male initiative of leadership and excellence, and Phi Beta Lambda, a national business honor society, to host the annual etiquette dinner on March 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Rockland Banquet Room.

“The etiquette dinner is a workshop teaching students and a couple staff members from student activities and career services proper etiquette at a meal. So that covers manners and place settings,” said Jackie Goetz, events and marketing coordinator for Career Services.

Members of M.I.L.E and Phi Beta Lambda will learn the basics of dining in a professional environment. This includes how to sit properly at the table, how to use cutlery properly, what to do when the meal is finished, and where to place utensils after a meal.

The skills and knowledge that members will learn can be used in an interview with a future employer or lunch with colleagues.

The menu will consist of a salad, bread, an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. A speaker from the International School of Protocol will be in attendance “to help facilitate the dinner and to incorporate the historical context into the dinner,” said Anne Scholl-Fiedler, vice president of Career Services.

“It’s very precise. There are a lot of standards you have to know,” said Nigel Read, president of M.I.L.E. “You would probably have to take notes if you miss something because it is detailed, but very helpful.”

This will be the second time that the groups have partnered with Career Services for the etiquette dinner.

Read says that he is excited “to see the guys learn more about etiquette skills and the importance of it. Not many of them know how important it is to have business etiquette dinner skills.”

Calvin Smith, president of Phi Beta Lambda and chair of communications for M.I.L.E., is glad that the dinner will “give other students the opportunity to learn more about etiquette.” Smith says that in the past, the dinner was open only to select majors. He is glad that the dinner gives students from many majors the opportunity to learn etiquette dining.

The Office of Career Services welcomes the opportunity to partner with any student clubs who would like to host an etiquette dinner in order to learn the skills as well.