Holding on to the Star: Celebrating 100 Years of the Frontier Nursing Service is a three-part series covering the history of Frontier Nursing University. In this series, we explore the Frontier Nursing Service’s history from 1925 to 2025 through a chronological journey, highlighting the enduring themes that capture both the core mission that FNS stakeholders have consistently embraced, and the many ways that the service has changed. Read about the “Pressing Need for an Innovative Educational Shift” and “Frontier in the 21st Century” in this segment of the series.
Holding on to the Star: Celebrating 100 Years of the Frontier Nursing Service (Part 2 of 3)
Holding on to the Star: Celebrating 100 Years of the Frontier Nursing Service is a three-part series covering the history of Frontier Nursing University. In this series, we explore the Frontier Nursing Service’s history from 1925 to 2025 through a chronological journey, highlighting the enduring themes that capture both the core mission that FNS stakeholders have consistently embraced, and the many ways that the service has changed. Read about The War Years, Major Changes for the FNS Community at Midcentury and Family Nurse Practitioner Education in this segment of the series.
Holding on to the Star: Celebrating 100 Years of the Frontier Nursing Service (Part 1 of 3)
In this article, we explore the Frontier Nursing Service’s history from 1925 to 2025 through a chronological journey, highlighting the enduring themes that capture both the core mission that FNS stakeholders have consistently embraced, and the many ways that the service has changed. Indeed, whether we examine FNS leaders’ and staff members’ goals and accomplishments in the early years or recent years, we see throughlines of a focus on rural health, a dedication to primary care of the family, a commitment to graduate education of nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners, and flexibility and adaptiveness in navigating obstacles. This is the first article in a three-part series.
A Century of Stories: Mary Showalter, MSN, CNM
The story of the mission and founding of the Frontier Nursing Service in 1925 shines a light on the importance of providing healthcare to areas where there is little if any access to care. Mary (Strubhar) Showalter, MSN, CNM (Class 39) is among the many Frontier graduates who have been inspired by the mission to serve the underserved. Showalter said that she chose to attend Frontier because of its community-based distance educational platform.
A Century of Stories: Maggie Wilk, DNP (Class 49), PMHNP-BC (Class 188)
Maggie Wilk is a two-time graduate of FNU, obtaining both her DNP and PMHNP-BC. She is a U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officer stationed at Perry Point (Md.) VA Medical Center working as a PMHNP. Wilk has earned much recognition, including being named an American Psychiatric Nurses Association 2022 Board of Directors Student Scholar and receiving the 2021 NIH Director’s Award. Wilk works in a fast-paced outpatient setting providing much-needed mental health care.
A Century of Stories: Dr. Susan Graham and Dr. Jon Kucera
Married physicians Drs. Susan Graham, MD, and Jon Kucera, MD, understand the importance of quality healthcare and the challenging lack of access that many people face. Dr. Graham is a cardiologist and Dr. Kucera is an Internist. Both have over 35 years of experience and practice primarily in Buffalo, New York.
A Century of Stories: Michael Steinmetz
Michael Steinmetz served Frontier Nursing University from October 2009 to August 2022, when he retired. He was hired as the Chief Financial Officer, then became the Vice President of Finance, and then Executive Vice President for Finance and Facilities. From August 2013 to August 2022, he also served as the Chief Financial Officer for Frontier Nursing Service, Incorporated, helping to oversee the charitable foundation’s planning and investments.
A Century of Stories: Dr. Kendra Faucett, DNP, CNM, APRN, CNE, FACNM
Dr. Kendra Faucett is a 2012 graduate of Frontier Nursing University’s certified nurse-midwifery (CNM) program, but her FNU story neither ends nor begins there. Long before she became a nurse-midwife, she was a doula for nine years. During that time, she attended 90 births and soon learned that clients who had midwifery care had significantly better experiences.
Dr. Faucett started graduate school with three small children and a job as an RN. Not only was Frontier the right place for her, but it was also likely the only place.
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).