Frontier Nursing University fosters a Culture of Caring built on five main elements: Professionalism, Inclusivity, Respect, Positive Communication and Mutual Support. When we create a Culture of Caring — as students, alumni, faculty, staff, donors and friends — we enjoy a committed and loyal community where all of us feel valued, confident, empowered and accepted. We embrace this culture to fulfill our full potential, both individually and collectively. Together, we exemplify the caring behaviors we hope to bring to the wider healthcare system.
“At Frontier Nursing University, our Culture of Caring is more than a set of values. It is the foundation of who we are and how we serve one another. Through professionalism, inclusivity, respect, positive communication, and mutual support, we create a community where every individual feels valued and empowered to thrive. This culture not only shapes the experience of our students, faculty, and staff, but also influences the compassionate care our graduates bring to communities across the nation.”
CULTURE OF CARING: THE 5 ELEMENTS
Professionalism
Excellence | Responsibility | Transparency | Consistency
Inclusivity
Equitable | Awareness | Sensitivity | Humility
Respect
Importance | Uniqueness | Friendliness | Genuine interest
Positive Communication
Understanding | Thoughtfulness | Openness
Mutual Support
Helpfulness | Awareness | Patience | Concern | Kindness
Diane John
PhD, ARNP, FNP-BC, FNU Associate Professor
“I have worked in brick and mortar academic organizations in the past, and communicating was always an issue. At FNU, a lot of effort is put into communication and transparency.”
Mary Rudd Chricton
FNP
“One of the reasons I chose FNU is because of the focus on the underserved, rural population. The faculty were easily accessible and encouraging. Classmates became family. FNU is more than a university, it’s a community of caring of which I am proud to belong!”
Iniko Sallee
CNM
“The Frontier network has not only provided the education I needed to become a nurse-midwife, it has helped put into place a community of support as I began to practice as a midwife.”
Maria Labadie-DeGennaro
DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, CHPN
“Frontier is one of the best things to ever happen to me. I read about the amazing sense of community you get during your time at FNU, and I knew it was the place for me. It is unlike any other online education program.”
Frontier Nursing University’s Culture of Caring: Come Join Us!
We invite all community members to actively participate in carrying out the FNU mission with a Culture of Caring as our foundation.
Exceptional People Make an Exceptional University
FNU is recognized as a Great College to Work For in 2025 for the fifth year in a row. The Great Colleges to Work For program is one of the largest and most respected workplace-recognition programs in the country. FNU is a great place to work because of the outstanding people who are fully committed to our students and our mission.
FNU is a recipient of the 2025 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award from Insight Into Academia magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The annual Health Professions HEED Award is a national honor recognizing U.S. health colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging, and community-building across all levels of campus life.
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).