Ruth Beeman was born on January 10, 1925, in Harriston, Virginia. After graduating from high school, she entered the Army Nursing Corps in 1943, beginning a lifelong career in nursing. After her stint in the Army, she received a Diploma in Nursing from Baltimore General Hospital (1946), a Nurse Midwife Certificate from the Maternity Center Association School of Nurse-Midwifery in New York (1950), a B.S. in Public Health Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania (1950), a Diploma in Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium (1953) and a MPH from Columbia University (1957). Ruth’s career as a nurse-midwife and educator spanned six decades and multiple countries. Ruth served as Dean of the FSMFN from 1983-1989. After her stint as Dean, she became the first person to be named to the Chair of Midwifery position at Frontier.
A Century of Stories: Dr. Michael Carter
Dr. Michael Carter’s long history with Frontier Nursing University dates to 2003 when he joined what was then the Frontier Nursing Service Board of Governors. Dr. Carter has been a board member ever since and has served as the Board Chair since 2009.
A Century of Stories: Jean Fee
Jean Fee was born in 1937 in rural Alberta, Canada. In 1958, Jean traveled to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to attend the Frontier School of Midwifery. Fee later returned to Kentucky in 1973, settling in McKee. Jean applied her blend of experience in both public health and hospital acute care working in the private practice of a local family physician and at Manchester Hospital. In 1980, Jean’s knowledge, skills, and experience were accepted for certification as one of the first Family Nurse Practitioners licensed by the state of Kentucky.
A Century of Stories: Dr. Cathy Cook
As a graduate, regional clinical faculty, preceptor, and faculty member, Dr. Cook has done it all. After earning her MSN from Case Western Reserve, she came to Frontier to obtain her CNM (1998). She later returned to Frontier for her DNP (2020). She worked as a certified nurse-midwife from 1998-2020, specializing in natural childbirth and providing individualized education and prenatal care to expectant mothers. She has since received Full Practice Authority and opened her own aesthetic and hormone optimization clinic. Cook has precepted an incredible 270 Frontier students.
A Century of Stories: Delphine Jewell
Former FNS nurse-midwife Delphine Jewell worked at Hyden Hospital in Kentucky from March 1956 to March 1957, and became a Certified Nurse-Midwife at Frontier. She then went on to do missionary work in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. She coordinated the establishment of an in-house birth center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Delphine was a maternal-newborn nurse educator, serving as chair of the nursing education program for 12 years. She retired in 1992. Delphine is currently 94 years old and lives in a retirement center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
A Century of Stories: Pandemic Heroes Part 2
When the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the United States in early 2020, the public responses ranged from panic to denial. As businesses and services were restricted or completely shut down across the country, FNU alumni stepped forward. True to the Frontier mission, they were determined, creative, and brave in their efforts to serve their communities.
A Century of Stories: Pandemic Heroes Part 1
When the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the United States in early 2020, the public responses ranged from panic to denial. As businesses and services were restricted or completely shut down across the country, FNU alumni stepped forward. True to the Frontier mission, they were determined, creative, and brave in their efforts to serve their communities.
A Century of Stories: Leslie Copp, MSN, FNP, DNP (Class 57)
Frontier Nursing University alumni go on to do so many amazing things that it is sometimes easy to overlook the incredible accomplishments they achieved before graduating. Current DNP student Leslie Copp is a prime example. In the summer of 2023, Copp, whose husband Justin is a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army with 24 years of service, was one of 60 U.S. service members, veterans, and military spouses chosen as a Tillman Scholar.
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).