Iris Padilla and Benjamin Smallheer recently graduated from the year-long Amy K. Cockcroft Leadership Development Program at the University of South Carolina College of Nursing. The program provided them with proven skills, strategies and techniques for success as a healthcare leader. It also equipped them with a critical foundation for leading through periods of change, building partnerships and circles of influence and forging collaborations. The program helps to develop competencies in organizational communications, applying systems concepts, resolving and negotiating conflict and developing alternative models of leading, managing and following, in lateral versus hierarchical systems.

The Amy V. Cockcroft Leadership Development Program is the first of its kind in the Nation. Established in 1994 by Amy V. Cockcroft, the founding dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina, the program has evolved to prepare nurse executive leaders to meet the urgent demands of today's healthcare environment. This progressive leadership program prepares participants to lead and navigate complex organizations, academic institutions and other community settings.