For those who hope to be business professionals when they graduate, playing golf with the boss and meeting clients over lunch may one day be a job requirement.

For this reason, the College of Business has planned a week to help with such professional issues as table etiquette and business interaction on the golf course.

The eighteenth annual Business Week will feature events from Sept. 17—23, intentionally overlapping with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences/Business Career Day on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

All of the events planned for the week are open to the general student population, except a barbecue on Wednesday and a golf tournament on Friday, which are open only to business students, said Dan Hatt, senior in management and business week co-chairman.

“This is a week for us to celebrate the fact that we’re business students and establish our presence on campus,” Hatt said. “It’s a chance for students and faculty to get to know each other outside of the classroom, as well as for the students to meet business recruiters before [Career Day] interviews.”

Some of the planned events include an Etiquette Dinner at the Memorial Union Monday, a series of sports tournaments throughout the week, a barbecue, several professional speakers and a tour planned for high school students interested in business.

Inviting high school students from throughout Iowa has been a part of Business Week for three years now, with this year being the most successful, Hatt said.

“The first year, we had only about ten high school students who came to ISU to participate,” he said. “It increased slightly the second year, but this time we have between 30 and 40 people planning on attending.”

The high school students will get tours of the ISU campus, the new Gerdin Business Building and will choose between a visit to a residence hall and a greek house.

“The high school students will also get a chance to sit down and talk to a panel of advisers to ask questions and discuss any concerns they may have,” Hatt said. “Later on in the day, they will get to do the same type of thing with a student panel, where they can ask more about college life in general.”

The sports tournaments, including basketball, softball, billiards and golf, are held for a variety of reasons, said Karen Terpstra, the adviser for Business Week.

“The golf and softball tournament are provided for the faculty, students and Career Fair recruiters to interact in a different venue,” said Terpstra, who is also the student service specialist for the College of Business. “The basketball and billiards [tournaments] are just for fun and get students out with people they may not normally socialize with.”

For those who are interested in learning the polite way to chow down in front of clients or bosses, Charles Dobbs, professor of history and assistant to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, will share tips at the Etiquette Dinner.

“There will be a variety of menu items to choose from at the dinner, and it’s open to all students for $12,” Hatt said. “There may be a time in anyone’s future where they may have to have dinner with a recruiter or interviewer.”

The College of Business has done all of the fundraising in preparation for this week, said Meredith Arney, senior in marketing and co-chairwoman for business week. Much of the money has been solicited from local businesses and people the students know or have worked with from the Ames community.

“As soon as Business Week ends each year, we immediately start out again in preparation for next year,” Arney said. “We begin interviewing students to be on the committees and work to get the word out about the events. Although not as much happens during the summer, we do get a lot of fundraising done.”