On September 24th, we held our first in-person Commencement ceremony in three years. Over 1,000 people attended the ceremony in Lexington, Ky. From September 2021-September 2022, FNU graduated over 1,060 students.
The commencement ceremony also included the presentation of the university’s annual leadership awards, honoring the students who provided exceptional leadership to their peers. Here are the 2022 FNU Student Leadership Awards winners:
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Kitty Ernst Nurse-Midwifery Student Leadership Award
Joanna Wilder, CNEP
Class 189
Tigard, OR
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Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award
Shauntey Singletary, WHCNP
Class 196
Seaford, DE
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Family Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award
Catherine Underwood, FNP
Class 189
Wahiawa, HI
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Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award
Kaitlyn Rychlowski, PMHNP
Class 191
Fond Du Lac, WI
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Doctor of Nursing Practice Student Leadership Award
Dr. Estella Wetzel, DNP, APRN, FNP-C DNP
Class 39
Beavercreek, OH
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Doctor of Nursing Practice Exemplary Project Award
Dr. Melissa Morris, DNP
Class 42
Silver Plume, CO
Increasing Effective Care for Emergency Department Patients with Opioid-Related Diagnoses Using World Health Organization Guidelines
Dr. Joshua Faucett
Dr. Kendra Faucett
NP Week Proclamation
NP Week Proclamation
Midwifery Week Proclamation
Midwifery Week Proclamation
AANP
AABC
We celebrated many accomplishments of our faculty and staff. We are so proud of them! Here are a few:
- Dr. Rachel Risner was selected for the National League for Nursing & Walden University College of Nursing Institute for Social Determinants of Health & Social Change.
- Dr. Cathy Collins-Fulea was inducted as an American Academy of Nursing Fellow.
- The National Academies of Practice inducted Dr. Vicky Stone-Gale as a Distinguished 2022 Fellow.
FNU staff members came together in March of 2022 for a retreat and again in October for an in-person full staff meeting.
In celebration of Earth Day, staff planted trees around campus and by our 5k walking trail.
It truly has been a year to remember. We are so proud of the FNU community! We look forward to 2023.
To view our 2022 year in review video, please visit this link.
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).
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