Eat Your Way into Success

Annual “Backpack to Briefcase Etiquette Dinner” educates students on the importance of proper manners and etiquette when dining with professionals.

By Miah Jung, AMCP Ch. Pres.
May 3, 2011

The School of Pharmacy’s student chapter of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore Office of Student Development and Leadership hosted its annual “Backpack to Briefcase Etiquette Dinner,” April 20 at the Southern Management Corporation Student Center. The program’s purpose was to educate students on some of the basic principles of proper etiquette in a professional or social dinner setting.

More than 100 students from the University of Maryland’s Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing, Medicine, Social Work, Law and the Dental School attended the event. AMCP Chapter Advisor, Fadia T. Shaya, PhD, MPH, associate professor in pharmaceutical health services research, gave the opening address and urged students to continue participating in more interdisciplinary opportunities throughout their academic careers.

Guest speaker, Carol Haislip, director and co-founder of the International School of Protocol in Hunt Valley, Md., provided pearls of wisdom on proper manners and etiquette in a business dinner setting. She demonstrated both Continental and American styles of dining as well as proper positioning of place settings, napkin know-how, appropriate conversation at the table, and dining faux pas.

She explained the roles and responsibilities of the host and the guests and how to engage in multiple conversations.

Janessa Smith, APhA-ASP chapter president, said, “The etiquette dinner is a great way for students to better develop both their interpersonal and professional skills, and APhA-ASP is proud to promote this event as part of our Professionalism Series.”