Women’s Week at UMD-Smith Opens March 28

Activities to Offer Career-Personal Growth Insights, Networking

COLLEGE PARK, Md., March 17, 2016 - Women earn a majority of college degrees at many levels in the United States, but not in business schools. To support business- and career-minded women, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is staging a Women’s Week series of speakers and activities geared to professional growth, Monday-Friday, March 28-April 1 in Van Munching Hall (VMH) on UMD’s College Park campus.

“The series is designed to engage women in a breadth of topics to inform and help grow their professional networks,” says Sharon Strange Lewis, the Smith School's Senior Director of Women and Diversity Programs and an executive MBA graduate (’05) of the school.

The following programs are free, with participation limits as noted:

• Monday, March 28, Flexing Your Personal Finance Muscle: Blue Ocean Global Wealth CEO and Smith School alumna Marguerita Cheng, ‘93, gives a talk on developing successful financial strategies. Sponsored by the Office of Women and Diversity Programs and Smith’s Black MBA Association. Noon–2 p.m. VMH 2517
• Tuesday, March 29, Self Defense for Women: Fitness trainer and Smith executive MBA alumnus Uriel Casas, ’13, covers personal safety dos and don’ts for a daily routine. Sponsored by the Office of the Dean. Noon–2 p.m. 3rd Floor Atrium
• Wednesday, March 30, Women Affirming Women: Women at Smith call out and share affirmations with professors, co-workers or classmates for exhibiting such qualities as strength and executive presence. Sponsored by the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets. 8:30–10 a.m. Grand Atrium
• Thursday, March 31, Textron Fireside Chat (For pre-registered UMD Students):UMD alumnae from Textron, a leading multi-industry company, discuss how women are succeeding in the defense industry and their career opportunities in business, engineering and technology. Sponsored by the Office of Women and Diversity Programs in conjunction with Smith’s Office of Career Services. 5–6 p.m. VMH 2333
• Thursday, March 31, Women Leading Women: Giving career insights in this fifth annual forum are UMD alumna who were keynote speakers for previous programs in the series: Andrea Brody ('87) senior vice president of Global Marketing for BravoSolution; Brenda Freeman, ('87, MBA '91), chief marketing officer for National Geographic Channel; Kristen Welch ('90, MBA '96) senior vice president of Global Content Operations at Discovery Communications; and Lisa Anders (MBA '95) vice president of business development for McKissack & McKissack. Sponsored by Textron. 6:30 p.m. Frank Auditorium (Reserve a seat here. Read more here.)

• Friday, April 1, Executive Women’s Roundtable: TheSmith Association of Women MBAs and the Smith Executive Coaching Program hosts this networking opportunity and presents strategies to navigate issues including executive presence, leadership styles, negotiation, mentorship, sponsorship and work-life balance. Refreshments included. 6 p.m. VMH 2517

Women’s Week complements the Smith School’s “50/50 by 2020” pledge to achieve gender parity in Smith MBA programs by the year 2020. The target year coincides with the hundredth anniversary of women's suffrage and “represents our commitment to close the gender enrollment gap and inspire and support high-potential women in their career goals,” Lewis says.