Frontier Nursing University (FNU) attended the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) National Conference held June 20-25 in Philadelphia. We were excited to see so many FNU students, alumni, faculty, preceptors and friends at this event.
The FNU Exhibit Hall Booth was popular!
At the booth we handed out superhero capes to anyone who is a current FNU preceptor or who signed up to be a preceptor, while any alumni preceptors received an additional gift of a bag or tumbler. FNU students, graduates, preceptors, and faculty members had the opportunity to pin their location on a map in our booth to show our representation at AANP from across the U.S. We had a Cape Fitting Station (photo booth) at the conference which stayed pretty busy as NPs had fun taking fun photos and posting to social media. We showcased our psychiatric-mental health Post-Graduate Certificate and DNP programs and were able to talk to many people about these programs.
Alumni and Friends Breakfast Reception
Frontier Nursing University hosted our annual alumni reception as a breakfast event on Friday, June 23rd. We had more than 60 in attendance. During the event attendees enjoyed a buffet breakfast and heard updates from FNU Dean of Nursing Julie Marfell and Associate Director of Alumni Relations Angela Bailey.
Kitty Ernst Honors Nurse Practitioner with Purple Hat
The special guest for this event was our very own Kitty Ernst who also spoke to all nurse practitioners in attendance about the value of being a preceptor and the care that NPs provide. As a big surprise for everyone in attendance, Kitty bestowed her honorary purple hat to FNU graduate, Kelly Thayer, CNM, FNP. A longstanding tradition among midwives, the purple hat is a special honor as it is awarded to one midwife every year. This year marks the first year that a purple hat has also been awarded to a nurse practitioner. We hope to continue this as an annual tradition among our FNU nurse practitioners.
Another special guest who wewere honored to have attend our breakfast was Captain James LaVelle Dickens, DNP, RN, FNP-BC. Captain James Dickens serves in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Regional Office (HHS), Office of the Secretary, Region VI Dallas, TX as a Senior Public Health Advisor for the Office of Minority Health (OMH). He recently was the premiere speaker at the FNU 2017 Diversity Impact event.
PRIDE Student Ambassadors at AANP
FNU’s Diversity PRIDE Program hosted an essay contest and awarded two students with an expense covered trip to the AANP National Conference. The two PRIDE student ambassadors were Rachel Lien and Stefanie Anderson. They helped at the FNU booth and at the breakfast reception. They also attended many sessions at the conference and enjoyed networking with NPs from across the country.
FNU Honors and Presentations
Many faculty members, alumni and students should be recognized for their accomplishments at the AANP National Conference. Congratulations to the following members of the FNU community! We would especially like to recognize Dr. Vicki Stone-Gale for being inducted as an AANP Fellow.
Faculty Kudos
- Vicki Stone-Gale – inducted as AANP Fellow
Student Kudos
- Rachel Lien and Stefanie Anderson – PRIDE Ambassador AANP Essay Contest Winners
- AANP student volunteers selected from FNU included Heidi Bickford, Wesley Davenport, Margaret Galvez, Kathleen Henderson, Sarah Jenik, Rachel Lien, Erin Lyons, Apryl Moss, Nichole Nolan, Tina Olson, Brandy Robertson, Mandi Ruscher, Bethney Seifert, Angela Seigler, Rebekah Simmons, Regina Steele, Shelly Truhe, Deborah Young
Alumni Kudos
- FNU graduate Kathleen Schachman, Ph.D., FNP-BC, PCPNP-BC – inducted as AANP Fellow
- FNU graduate Cydne Marckmann along with Dr. John and Dr. Krabak – Poster Presentation: Telemedicine, A Qualitative Initiative for Concussion Management: A Washington State Pilot.
- FNU graduate Diana Lamboy – poster presentation
- FNU graduate Dustin Spencer – poster presentation
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).