The Social Enterprise Symposium (SES), hosted by the Center for Social Value Creation at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, is less than a month away, on March 3, 2017. If you’re someone who likes to push the envelope, explore big ideas and wants to create a better world, SES is definitely for you. Here are five reasons why you should attend #SES17:

We received more than 250 submissions for the third iteration of the Smith Photo Contest at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. After a month of online voting and judges’ deliberation, we are proud to share the 20 winning photographs from the talented Smith community. Winners were selected in six categories: action, architectural, campus, global, landscape, and portrait. Of the 20 winners, two were selected through online voting on Smith’s Facebook page as the People’s Choice award.

Building the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and then the National Museum of African American History and Culture changes a person. Lisa Anders, an MBA graduate at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, led both projects and will discuss her experiences at a Black History Month celebration 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 8, 2017, at the campus’ Riggs Alumni Center.

Each year, the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship hosts Pitch Dingman Competition, an opportunity for University of Maryland student entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses shark tank style to an expert panel of judges to compete for a total of $30,000 in seed funding. Pitch Dingman applications open at the beginning of the academic year, with a short quarterfinals phase in late September. A vetting process from alumni entrepreneur judges leads to a selection of 10 semifinalists. The Pitch Dingman Semifinals on Nov.

Victor Mullins, associate dean of the undergraduate program at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, recently interviewed Smith Senior Jessica Hairston’17 to discuss how she is “embracing her experience” during her Smith journey. So what does the Smith journey entail? During their freshman year, Smith students begin to build their personal brand through the SmithStart program. Sophomores dedicate their second year to pioneering their path to success by focusing on an overall academic and career strategy.

Roland T. Rust, Distinguished University Professor and David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, was recently interviewed by the American Marketing Association (AMA) in the “Marketing Legends” video series.

On Jan. 24, 2017, a day before classes began at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, freshmen in the Business, Society and the Economy College Park Scholars program enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of the Verizon Center and the Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MS&E) organization in Washington, D.C.

On Friday, Jan. 13, 2017, a group of undergraduates at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business completed The LeaderShape Institute. This annual six-day program is held on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay at YMCA Camp Letts in Edgewater, Md., and offers an intense ethics-based leadership curriculum that encourages students to build community, practice bold visioning, and develop a healthy disregard for the impossible.

All faculty, program directors, deans, department chairs, alumni, and students of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are invited to nominate deserving Smith School faculty members (i.e., tenured, tenure-track, clinical, Professor of the Practice, lecturer, adjunct, or Ph.D. student) for one of several teaching awards. Nominations are due by March 3, 2017, and awards will be presented in May. Allen J. Krowe Award for Teaching Excellence

Victor Mullins, associate dean of the undergraduate program at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, is in Cape Town, South Africa, with 20 students participating in a two-week course: Social Value Creation in the Context of Contemporary South Africa.