Her nursing career spans 24 years and includes practice in the ICU as a nurse and clinical nurse specialist, and in staff development before joining academia 14 years ago. Kandy received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Masters in Nursing from Emory University and a Doctorate of Nursing Science from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Having taught across the curriculum in both undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, Dr. Smith is passionate about developing emotional competencies in nursing students and nurses in practice. She participated as a Fellow in the Helene Fuld Leadership Initiative in Nursing Education Fellowship, and has presented numerous workshops, papers and posters on the subject of developing social and emotional competencies. Research interests include leadership development and