“Back to Basics: Heritage, Culture & Self Care”
FNU Diversity PRIDE Program hosted its 
6th annual Diversity Impact event June 2-5, 2016. This year’s theme focused on “Back to Basics: Heritage, Culture & Self-Care” where students, alumni, faculty and staff united for team building topics, cross-cultural activities and discussions related to increasing diversity in nursing. Event participation included student organizations like FNU Student Council, Wide Neighborhoods Student Ambassador Program, SAGE Network Mentors, FNU Alumni and Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society. Frontier’s Courier internship program also brought in student interns from across the country from Bethel University in Minnesota, Ohio State University graduate-entry Nursing Program in Ohio, Williams College in Massachusetts and University of North Carolina in North Carolina.
The conference started off with an impactful welcome address by FNU President Dr. Stone as she inspired students with goals of increasing diversity in healthcare professions to match the growing U.S. population, along with increasing cultural competency with patients from different backgrounds. FNU PRIDE student Fawn further explains, “Diversity Impact puts us in a microcosm of society and we learn from each other, we discuss our differences but we find we have more similarities.”
Students enjoyed a field trip to Pine Mountain Settlement School in the appalachian mountains, to explore Native American herbal medical use of plants for humans wellness. Students investigated bioactive compounds in plants that prevent and treat disease and plant-based solutions to improve human health. Students also enjoyed a nature tour to learn on early-settler life and the foundation of Pine Mountain Settlement School.
Education sessions were led by FNU 
faculty and students, with a range of diversity topics. One session focused on how patients view the world. News events like the Flint Water Crisis, Black Lives Matter protests, LGBT health, Immigration Reform, and Political Elections opened discussions into building patient/provider trust with diverse communities to address health inequity. FNU Diversity PRIDE student Sara shares, “Everybody is open, everybody is willing to talk…it’s really opened my eyes a lot about things I had assumed. Now since I’ve talked to people, I’ve realized I see things from their point of view and I understand.”
Students journeyed back to the basics in patient care with speaker and FNU Faculty Dr. Nena Harris, in understanding basic necessities of how water, sleep, and nutrition impact patient-care outcomes related to health disparities.
Keynote speaker Dr. Lily Hsia explored the historical evolution nurse-midwives went through, how far midwives have come, and how much more is needed to move forward. She challenged students to make a commitment to strengthen their continuing education and self-improvement in order to function competently in tomorrow’s diverse global community.
Students rolled up their sleeves and used creativity to express their unique role as a nursing professional. Workshop speakers and FNU Faculty Dr. Diane John, along with Associate Dean, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing Dr. Pat Cunningham, encouraged students to use art to display what Diversity and Inclusion looks like from a patient and provider perspective in healthcare.
An enthusiastic session on the integration of work, school, and life responsibilities had students singing and jogging in place as they learned theoretical and practical ways to achieve optimal performance in their lives, presented by Dr. Tonya Nicholson, FNU Associate Dean of Midwifery & Women’s Health. Students gained insights into stress and race as it relates to infant mortality in African American women, presented by FNU student Essence Williams, along with understanding and packing cultural competence in with International medical mission trips, presented by FNU alum and Dr. Katrin Moskowitz.
By the end of the conference, students, faculty and staff left feeling more empowered and focused on making a positive change in their communities. FNU Courier Intern Jonathan, expresses his gratitude for attending Diversity Impact 2016, “I’m learning from nurses all across the country who have seen different forms of diversity in their hospitals…healthcare is about providing the solution to specific needs in the community, and Frontier Nursing University specializes in training nurses to provide specific solutions to people in need.”
To learn more about Diversity Impact and FNU’s Diversity PRIDE Program visit frontier.edu/DiversityImpact.
View Photos from Diversity Impact Here.
What do Diversity Impact attendees say about the event? Watch this video to find out.
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).