Susan Patton, director of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas, was selected to participate in the AACN-Wharton Executive Leadership Program.

AACN refers to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Patton holds a doctorate in community health promotion from the U of A and is a licensed advanced practice registered nurse, a certified clinical nurse specialist and a certified nurse educator. She was one of 30 academic nursing leaders chosen for the program.

The four-day program offered by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia took place earlier in the August. Wharton faculty present relevant and timely content designed to advance chief academic administrators to a higher level of leadership.

According to Patton, the program addressed issues around managing and leading change, influencing and galvanizing a diverse set of stakeholders, and building enterprising relationships in highly volatile environments. She felt that the program equipped her with an advanced set of negotiation, leadership, and influencing skills, as well a set of new colleagues from 20 states and 30 nursing programs.

The program was established in 2012.

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing offers a Doctor of Nursing Practice online, a Master of Science in Nursing online and an R.N. to B.S.N. degree-completion program online as well as an on-campus Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The nursing school is located in the Epley Center for Health Professions, a facility that opened in 2012 with five high-fidelity simulation labs in which mannequins simulate patient conditions and offer scenarios for nursing students to address.