Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is pleased to announce the 2019 Fall Term Circle of Caring Award Winners: staff member Lonnie Brown and faculty member Judith Butler.
The Circle of Caring Award is given each term as a recognition for faculty and staff who go above and beyond their job duties and strive to uphold FNU’s mission and Culture of Caring every day.
Award winners are anonymously nominated by fellow FNU faculty and staff. Nominations are voted upon by a committee based on the following Culture of Caring characteristics: professionalism, mutual support, respect, positive communication and inclusivity.
Staff Winner: Lonnie Brown
Lonnie, a long-time member of FNU’s maintenance staff, exhibits a strong work ethic and a constant smile. He is known to go above and beyond to help students, faculty and staff on campus. His nominations cited several instances of Lonnie embodying FNU’s culture of caring.
“While we were preparing for the faculty meeting recently, a reception was set up in the wrong location due to a miscommunication. Between the end of dinner service and the event, Lonnie and the housekeeping/kitchen staff moved the entire event–including large numbers of crystal glasses and wine bottles–to the correct location, so the event could begin seamlessly.”
Another nomination stated, “A student had a flat tire and was instructed by her rental car company to bring the car back to trade it in, a task that couldn’t be accomplished without a drive to Hazard. Lonnie took the tire to a local Hyden repair place while the student was in her CB classes, had it fixed, and reinstalled it so she didn’t have to make the trip.”
“We had a lovely snow the second day of Bridge Bound,” said another nomination. “The next morning, Lonnie cleaned the snow off all the cars! He displayed amazing inclusivity and respect for students, faculty and staff this morning and it was greatly appreciated.”
Faculty Winner: Judith Butler, DNP, CNM, WHNP, CNE
Judith is an assistant professor and course coordinator at FNU. She also practices at a hospital midwifery unit in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz. Judith obtained her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from FNU in 2015 and has served in hospitals and birth centers for more than 20 years.
She was nominated by a colleague after helping in a recent time of need. “Judy stepped up and carried the entire DNP clinical leadership load for a full week while we all dealt with very serious life emergencies (including stroke, loss of a grandparent, and two out for surgery). Judy picked up the pieces, carried the weight that all four of us manage together, and did it gracefully and without complaint. She went out of her way to care for us, even while her own plate must have been overflowing.”
Judith credits the culture of caring she and her colleagues put into practice daily.
“I am sincerely grateful for this award but would like to include my amazing DNP team, who upon learning of the need to step up, jumped in and covered everything without hesitation,” she said. “FNU has instilled a culture of caring among us all. It’s not just words – we all walk the walk.”
Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations. To submit your nomination for the winter term Circle of Caring Award, click here!
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).