In 2018, NEW Leadership will add a policy focus as a new element, according to co-director
Karen Kedrowski. Since its inception in 2013, the program has been sponsored by the John C. West Forum
on Politics and Policy that is housed at Winthrop and has trained more than 100 women
from 21 South Carolina colleges and universities.
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA — Planning is now underway for the upcoming sixth year of
the NEW Leadership South Carolina program, which is a partnership between Winthrop University and the College of Charleston.
The program provides training for the next generation of South Carolina's female policy
makers and government leaders.
In 2018, NEW Leadership will add a policy focus as a new element, according to co-director Karen Kedrowski. "Adding a policy focus will enable NEW Leadership participants to apply what they
learn to a specific policy area. We want college women to have confidence in their
abilities to quickly master the key issues in a complex policy and advocate for their
beliefs. This element was missing in previous years and we are excited to add it to
the curriculum."
Since its inception in 2013, the program has been sponsored by the John C. West Forum on Politics and Policy that is housed at Winthrop and has trained more than 100 women from 21 South Carolina
colleges and universities. The program's participants have ranged in age from 16 to
54. They come from diverse backgrounds and fields of study.
More than half of the women receive scholarships to participate in NEW Leadership and almost half are minorities. Of this year's class, 16 of the 21 young women received
scholarships to attend, either from Winthrop's Johnsonian newspaper staff of 1970 or from a Duke Energy Foundation grant of $2,500.
During the four and a half-day program held annually in May on the Winthrop campus,
the women have listened to speakers, discussed readings and visited Columbia where
they have been introduced to the S.C. House and the Senate and met with female leaders
and the judiciary. This spring, the group heard from S.C. Circuit Court Judge Stephanie
McDonald; Catherine Templeton, a candidate for governor and former cabinet member
under former S.C. Governor Nikki Haley; both major party state executive directors;
and a group of women journalists.
NEW Leadership South Carolina is affiliated with the NEW Leadership Development Network established by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
For more information about the South Carolina program, contact Kedrowski at kedrowskik@winthrop.edu or the other co-director, Katarina Moyon, at moyonk@winthrop.edu.
