We are pleased that you are considering Frontier Nursing University!
Frontier Nursing University requires faculty, staff, and students attending on-campus events to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 according to CDC Guidelines and as permitted by applicable law unless an exemption has been granted. This includes employees and all students attending Clinical Bound and/or Frontier/DNP Bound. Frontier/DNP Bound and Clinical Bound attendance is required to be in-person.
Accepting our Offer of Admission includes a requirement to attend an in-person three-day student orientation called Frontier/DNP Bound. The session is held on our beautiful campus in Versailles, KY. Frontier Bound is an exciting session where you meet your classmates, faculty, and staff. Time is spent learning skills needed for distance education, making lifelong friends, reviewing courses, asking questions, and developing your plan to be a successful Frontier student after returning home. Each Frontier/DNP Bound session brings students together from all over the United States with a different group of students arriving on campus each week. We know from our research that attending the on-campus orientation results in a better student experience and improved success as an FNU student.
On May 11, 2023, the United States Department of Health and Human Services ended the COVID public health emergency. The agency reported that COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive force it once was and that since January 2021, COVID-19 deaths have declined by 95%, and hospitalizations are down nearly 91%. As a result, FNU is updating its review process for vaccine exemptions beginning Summer 2023 term. FNU will continue to require that all students, faculty, and staff members attending on-campus events are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless a reasonable accommodation has been approved. The policy intends to comply with all applicable laws and is based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and state and local health authorities.
Individuals who believe they may qualify for an exemption to FNU’s vaccination policy will have the opportunity to submit their exemption request form as part of their new student onboarding process.
Any student submitting an exemption request must also sign and submit an attestation indicating they understand their vaccination status may impact their ability to secure clinical placement and FNU can not guarantee that a student will secure a clinical site that does not require a COVID vaccination.
FNU is committed to complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (and corresponding state laws) and will grant reasonable accommodations where they do not cause an undue hardship or pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Will boosters be required? Not at this time.
I had the COVID-19 virus and have the antibodies, am I required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination? Yes
Who do I submit my COVID-19 vaccination card to? CastleBranch. CastleBranch is an external company and you will receive directions as part of your onboarding Frontier Bound requirements in your Offer of Admission.
What is the deadline to submit proof of vaccination? The same time all other Frontier Bound requirements are due. Requirements and deadlines will be provided with your Offer of Admission.
What happens if proof of vaccination isn’t submitted by the deadline? Failure to submit the required prerequisite health documentation by the published deadline date (provided in your Offer of Admission) will generate a rescission of your Offer of Admission.
Is there an option to submit a religious or medical exemption? Yes. Vaccine exemptions completed by a medical provider or a request for a religious exemption can be submitted with other onboarding requirements after applicants have accepted their offer of admission to an FNU program. Frontier Nursing University will evaluate exemption requests on a case-by-case basis. Any applicant/student submitting an exemption request must also sign and submit an attestation indicating they understand their vaccination status may impact their ability to secure clinical placement and FNU can not guarantee that a student will locate a clinical site that does not require a COVID vaccination.
Any approved exemptions will be shared with student clinical sites, as this is a part of the affiliation agreement between FNU and clinical sites. Not receiving the required immunizations may impact a student’s ability to secure clinical placement and FNU can not guarantee that a student will locate a clinical site that does not require a COVID vaccination.
What is the probability that religious or medical exemptions will be approved? Exemptions are reviewed on a case by case basis and results of requests are confidential between FNU and the applicant. Any student submitting an exemption request must also sign and submit an attestation indicating they understand their vaccination status may impact their ability to secure clinical placement and FNU can not guarantee that a student will locate a clinical site that does not require a COVID vaccination.
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).