Bill Wade, Post-Gazette photos Heidi Kracker, 22, left, gets dessert before the main course and laughs after being teased by table mates Courtney Czapor, 21, center, and Elisa Cortazzo, 21, right, all seniors at a meal etiquette session at Westminster College.

By Bill Schackner
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette NEW WILMINGTON, Pa -- Courtney Gilmore is learning in college how to tackle advanced calculus and numerical analysis. She's also getting pointers on how to spot a salad fork.

	Cary Horvath, an assistant communication professor at Youngstown State University, teaches a meal etiquette session at Westminster. Click photo for larger image. Listen in Listen to comments by students and staff about the Dine 'n Shine college manners event: The importance of manners Excerpts of a conversation with Lindsey Davis Excerpts of a conversation with Curtis Yenyo Excerpts of a conversation with Valerie Kokai Excerpts of a conversation with Heidi Kracker

Her Westminster College classmate, Jeff Brownlee, is learning what to do if he jabs his fork too fiercely into a cherry tomato and it rolls across a restaurant table during a job interview.

They and 90 peers, about a third of the senior class, looked a bit like Miss Manners recruits Wednesday night as they gathered around formally set tables on the private liberal arts campus. That's because dining etiquette has become a serious subject for the nation's colleges.

If you want to succeed, students at schools large and small are being told, beware what you eat. And how you eat it.

"Mopping up sauce with your bread may be something you do at home and you really enjoy it," said Cary Horvath, who teaches undergraduates about dining etiquette. "But it looks really nasty in public."

From the Big Ten to the Ivy League, schools are making sure their students know it's proper to pass the communal bread before ripping off a chunk. It's a good life skill, they say. It also could be the difference between getting that first big job break and a brush off.

Noncredit seminars on basic interviewing etiquette have long been around. But demand for them appears to be growing, including at Westminster, which advises on the perils of ordering French onion soup (way too messy) and provides other eating advice, as well as a fashion show on business attire.

Organizers drummed up interest with a humorous invitation that proclaimed, "Don't be a dork. Use the right fork!"

Educators say there is growing recognition that teaching communication skills extends beyond good speaking and writing to controlling nonverbal signals such as slouching in a chair and plopping elbows on the table. Maybe it's just in time for an era with fewer sit-down dinners and declining decorum.

"I think we kind of assume our students would learn these things at home," Westminster Dean of Student Affairs Neal Edman said. "It's an erroneous assumption."

Dr. Edman said he, too, gets confused on occasion when choosing a fork.

He has his own list of foods to avoid in business settings, including lobster -- "It's barbaric" -- and entrees with spinach, poppy seeds "or anything that gets caught in your teeth and you end up looking like a deranged pumpkin."

At the school's Dine 'n Shine dinner, the crowd seated in a campus center meeting room heard a 30-minute talk on business dining from Dr. Horvath, an assistant communication professor at Youngstown State University. The students, some of whom took notes, later noshed on salad, bread and butter, an entree of chicken florentine or manicotti marinara, topped off with chocolate mousse and cheesecake.

Valerie Kokai, 22, left, and Ben Barbetta, 21, both seniors, start on their salads after the meal etiquette session at Westminster College. Click photo for larger image.

No bread or silverware became airborne, but there were laughs when the urge for dessert became too great for Heidi Kracker, 22, a senior neuroscience and psychology major from Warren Ohio, who's giving up sweets for Lent and wanted one last indulgence. She bolted from her table toward a tray with chocolate mousse even before her dinner entree was served.

"We were one of the last tables to get food and I was starving," she said with a laugh. "I saw them bring out this chocolate mousse of wonderfulness and I just ran and got some. I forgot that I was here for etiquette."

Dr. Horvath stressed the importance of dinner conversation and avoiding such topics as politics. She said alcohol was generally a bad idea, even if one is asked to imbibe.

If you commit a faux pas, don't overreact, even to a toppled entree or spilled coffee cup.

"Just apologize," she said. "Try to laugh it off. And move on."

What's important, said Jackie Meade, who directs Westminster's career center, is that students gain skills to make them well rounded. She said the demand was obvious from how many schools are finding ways to raise the subject.

Yale University invited an outside expert last fall to tutor its forestry and environmental studies students over a catered three-course meal. Northwestern University and its alumni association brought to campus a descendent of none other than the late etiquette icon Emily Post.

The University of Missouri-Columbia went as far as to post illustrations on its business college Web site depicting silverware and glassware items, plus a how-to graphic explaining the proper way to cut into meat when dining American or continental style.

Even brainy Massachusetts Institute of Technology leaves little to chance when it comes to table manners.

"Mental preparation is key!" its career office Web site warns students. "You should know how to conduct yourself when you bite into an olive and discover a pit."

MIT's recommendations include a few obvious ones, such as, "Don't eat the garnish," "Don't blow your nose in your napkin," and "Never make slurping or yummy sounds (even if the food is wonderful and you're very, very hungry."

Florida State University manages to cast a question about french fries -- fork or fingers? -- as a matter of campus pride.

"You're a Seminole," says a Web page for student athletes. "Put your best fork forward."

Schools often offer the dinners for free to students or impose a nominal fee to ensure they show up. Many are sponsored by career centers or business schools, but it's not just future Wall Streeters lifting a knife and fork.

At Washington and Jefferson College, the annual Fork in the Road etiquette dinner draws a wide group from campus, from student athletes and future chemists to a sorority that regularly brings its pledge class. There's usually a waiting list to get one of the 80 seats, said Roberta Cross, director of career services.

Business attire, or at least a tie, is required. Slightly more relaxed rules apply for freshmen.

"You don't get graded on how you eat, but we do throw in some challenges," she said. "The food service people wanted to use Cornish hens to challenge them. I drew the line there."

At Westminster, business major Ryan McKnight, 21, of Nevillewood, said he loves a great meal with conversation. With a bit of bravado, he said he isn't bashful about showing a little of who he is, nor is he reluctant to order what he likes.

"If you can twirl pasta on a spoon, that says something about you," he said. "If you eat onion rings, you're a down-to-earth man."

But he said there are limits.

"If you eat hot wings, you can't have an interview," he said. "If you're eating wings, you're in it for the wings."

Classmate Sherri Slafka said she's generally confident about her table skills but can be intimidated in restaurants "where there's more silverware than food." She signed up for Wednesday night's dinner hoping to brush up her skills for a career in public relations.

"The thing I worry about the most is keeping strong eye contact with the interviewer," said Ms. Slafka, 22, of Irwin. "If you get nervous, you can't be sipping your drink every five seconds. You have to keep the conversation flowing."

"I would not order a hamburger, something you have to physically keep lifting to put to your face," she said. "If you're busy chowing down, that's not going to look professional."