Derek Smashey doesn’t expect to become a millionaire by spending an hour and a half with Warren Buffett.

But he figures it couldn’t hurt hearing what the second-richest man in the world has to say.

Smashey, a Kansas University MBA student from Mission, will be among about 110 KU students who will travel to Omaha, Neb., next month for a special question-and-answer session with Buffett, the multibillionaire CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway holding company.

“I’m just looking for a couple of little nuggets, really,” Smashey said. “I don’t think you’re going to make a million dollars by going to these events, but it doesn’t hurt. For those who follow his advice over the years, their IRA or 401(k) is probably better than those who just watch CNBC every day.”

The meeting comes as a result of efforts by Mark Hirschey, a business professor at KU since 1988. He has taken groups of students to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting since 1990, and he’ll travel to Omaha again with 180 students April 30.

But this year, Hirschey convinced Buffett to go beyond the usual invitation to the annual meeting. In last year’s letter to shareholders, Buffett had mentioned how he’d enjoyed meeting with a group of students from the University of Tennessee. Hirschey had written to Buffett requesting a similar meeting for KU students but Buffett had declined.

But in this year’s letter to shareholders, Buffett — who is worth an estimated $42.9 billion — mentioned meetings he’d had in the past year with students from Stanford and the University of Chicago.

“When I read that I said, ‘Hey, what about us?’ ” Hirschey said.

Buffett, 74, eventually agreed to the question-and-answer session, set for May 6. The investment guru’s only stipulation was that the meeting be predominately for students and not for faculty or alumni.

“He loves interaction with students,” Hirschey said. “That’s a very refreshing and generous thing to do.”

It’s especially generous, considering that a lunch with Buffett was auctioned off for $500,000 several years ago, with proceeds going to charity.

Hirschey said students plan to eat at Dairy Queen — a Berkshire Hathaway company — before the meeting. He also plans to order 150 Dilly Bars to have delivered to Buffett’s office after the meeting.

Before then, 180 students are headed to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting next weekend. That’s considerably more than in the past, Hirschey said.

The additional interest, he said, probably is due to news that American International Group admitted it had made an improper transaction with General Re Corp., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary.

Other Berkshire Hathaway interests include Geico, Coca-Cola, Gillette, Wells Fargo, Pampered Chef, Fruit of the Loom and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

The meeting is famous for a comical video featuring Berkshire Hathaway companies and a five hour question-and-answer session with Buffett and Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.