As FNU has settled into its campus in Versailles, Ky., university staff and faculty have become very active locally while extending our Culture of Caring to those who live in our community. Here are a few of the ways we have engaged with our community over the past few months.
Student Spotlight: Jazmene Landing Advocates for Mental Health Awareness
Just a 20-minute drive from the Frontier Nursing University campus, registered nurse Jazmene Landing works at a comprehensive outpatient addiction clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. There, she cares for an underserved population of urban patients who are often stigmatized and overlooked due to addiction and mental health issues. When she noticed a strong need in her community for advanced practice nurses who look like the patients they serve, Landing decided to become a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). At Frontier, Landing found valuable support in joining student organizations, especially the Professional Organizational Mentoring Program (POMP), which matches faculty mentors with students from underrepresented groups.
Graduate Spotlight: Susan VanZandt builds a sense of trust with underserved patients
Susan VanZandt, APRN, FNP-C, AG-ACNP, earned her MSN in FNU’s Family Nurse Practitioner program in 2018. VanZandt is a gastrointestinal (G.I.) hospitalist in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has worked in both clinical and hospital settings and various urgent care facilities. VanZandt encounters patients with a spectrum of healthcare needs. From managing cardiovascular patients on anticoagulation with gastrointestinal bleeds to caring for those with alcoholic cirrhosis in need of urgent liver transplants, she navigates complex cases with compassion and expertise. Additionally, she provides ongoing support and education to younger patients grappling with chronic gastrointestinal issues, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
Graduate Spotlight: Cheyenne Allen pursued DNP to positively influence next generation of nurses
FNU graduate Dr. Cheyenne Allen, DNP, PMHNP-BC, serves as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) in private practice while also lending her expertise as undergraduate nursing faculty at Pennsylvania Western University. Her dual role allows her to not only provide direct care, but also to mold the next generation of mental health nursing professionals.
Frontier Preceptors Making a Difference
Frontier Nursing University preceptors carry forward our mission and play a significant role in shaping the dedicated nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners of tomorrow. To celebrate their invaluable contributions, our students nominate a preceptor to be recognized as the “featured preceptor of the term”. Here are six exceptional preceptors we’ve featured over the past year.
Graduate Connie Becker supports Frontier through planned giving
August is National “Make-a-Will” Month, a perfect opportunity to update your current will or to create one if you haven’t done so already. As a crucial estate-planning tool, a will simplifies the process of transferring assets to not only loved ones, but also charitable causes and institutions that matter to you. For Connie Becker, CNM, FNU is one of those cherished institutions. A Frontier graduate, Becker was with the Frontier Nursing Service from 1971 to 1973. Her experience included four months in the second class of the Family Nurse Practitioner program and eight months in the Certified Nurse-Midwife course.
Celebrating Frontier Nursing University Preceptors
This Preceptor Celebration Week (August 12-16, 2024), Frontier Nursing University proudly honors the exceptional preceptors who play an essential role in the journey of our students. At Frontier, we are proud to work with nearly 4,000 preceptors nationwide each year. Among the many dedicated preceptors in the FNU community, three outstanding nurse practitioners won Frontier’s preceptor contest this summer for their unwavering commitment to midwifery and nurse practitioner education and their positive impact on students.
Alumni Spotlight: ‘A true labor of love,’ Tammie McDonald-Brouwer opens her own clinic in Virginia
Since graduating from FNU in 2009, Tammie McDonald-Brouwer, CNM, WHNP, has spent the last 15 years compassionately serving the healthcare needs of women in her community. McDonald-Brouwer earned her MSN in Nurse-Midwifery and her Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner Post-Graduate Certificate from FNU. Balancing her studies with raising four children, she said she appreciated the flexibility FNU offered, allowing her to complete her coursework from home.
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).