The TCU College of Science and Engineering is offering students a new opportunity for professional development.

The Fireside Forum is a new speaker series. There will be five series throughout the 2014-2015 academic year. Each series will have two speakers, with Dean of the College of Science and Engineering Phil Hartman as the host. The series will provide an opportunity for students to hear from successful entrepreneurs, managers and chief executive officers from a variety of science and engineering disciplines.

“I hope that the students will start actively thinking about what it takes to get a job,” Hartman said. “We need to get the students to start thinking longer range about what job they want and how do they get it.”

The word “fireside,” used for the title of the series, comes from when President Franklin Roosevelt had his historic fireside chats with the nation, Hartman said.

“Even though there isn’t going to be a fire there, it will be a play on that,” Hartman said.

George Fassett Jr. and Carlo Capua Jr. will be the first speakers of the series. The speakers will share their experiences and give advice to students on how to achieve success in the work force.

Fassett is the CEO and president of THUMBTECHS Corp. while Capua is a co-owner and general manger of Z’s Café, Bella Cafe, Food 4 Life and Old World Sausage Company.

“We want to draw in people who have been through the process of landing a job and getting in to grad school,” Hartman said.

Hartman said he looks for speakers who are willing to share their experiences in either the work force or in graduate school. The Forum will give students the opportunity to meet key professionals and ask them questions, Hartman said.

“I hope to leave and have a better idea of what will happen once I get the B.S. degree I expect to obtain here at TCU,” sophomore engineering major Tomás Carafí said.

The speaker series will begin Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the Brown-Lupton University Union Auditorium with Fassett and Capua’s “Graduation is in your Future.” Refreshments and a meet-and-greet session will follow at 4:45 p.m. The next series, “You’re hired! Employer expectations and entry-level focus,” will be Thursday, Oct. 9 at 3:30 p.m.