In 2025, Frontier Nursing University honored the 100-year anniversary of the inception of the Frontier Nursing Service. We are grateful for the alumni, students, couriers, donors, volunteers, friends, and employees who have made an incredible impact on FNU’s century-long journey. We celebrated this milestone year by capturing and sharing some of the countless stories that make up our history. Whatever your connection to FNU, we hope you enjoy these stories.
Among the major milestones moments in Frontier Nursing University’s emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion came on October 1, 2017, when Dr. Maria Valentin-Welch was named the university’s first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO). Prior to her appointment, Dr. Valentin-Welch had served as a course coordinator at Frontier since 2013 and as the co-chair of FNU’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
“Research tells us that in order to incorporate an effective culture of diversity and inclusion, you must have top administrators at the highest level in the organization leading the charge,” then-FNU President Dr. Susan Stone said upon announcing the creation of the CDIO position.
As the CDIO, Dr. Valentin-Welch was immediately added to the university’s executive team alongside the President, Dean of Nursing, Chief Operations Officer, and the Executive Vice President for Finance and Facilities. She was tasked with leading the implementation of a program to increase the recruitment, enrollment, retention, and graduation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This broad-scoped program was supported by a Health Resources and Services Administration grant totaling $1,998,000 that was awarded to FNU earlier in 2017.
Dr. Valentin-Welch came to FNU with more than 30 years of public health, clinical, and teaching experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts Boston, a Master of Public Health and Nurse-Midwifery from Boston University, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Frontier Nursing University.
During her career, she has worked with vulnerable populations such as pregnant homeless women, uninsured, underprivileged, and undocumented women from various cultures. She was the State Maternal Health Consultant for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services from 2008-2013. Maria has worked as a Certified Nurse-Midwife teaching OB/GYN residents and student nurse practitioners at Duke University and as an assistant professor at Boston University, where she taught student nurse-midwives and residents. In 2013 she was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
As CDIO, Dr. Valentin-Welch helped develop support systems, a mentoring program, and tutoring programs for FNU students. Her success was nationally recognized and resulted in her being named one of the “Top 25 Women in Higher Education” by Diverse Magazine. Led by Dr. Valentine-Welch, FNU received its first Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine in 2018. FNU has since received the HEED Award for consecutive years (2018-2024).
Dr. Valentin-Welch held the position of CDIO at FNU for two years. She remains a part FNU as a consultant working with students, FNU’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and clinical sites to develop programs, curricula, and preceptors that support Hispanic populations.
