FNU President Dr. Brooke A. Flinders Delivers Welcome Speech at Commencement Ceremony
Despite Hurricane Helene and the ensuing high winds and heavy rains that befell many states as the storm moved north, more than 1,600 people attended Frontier Nursing University’s 2024 commencement on Saturday, September 28, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
Dr. Brooke A. Flinders, FNU President, welcomed the graduates and their guests with these opening remarks:
“Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Frontier Nursing University’s 2024 Commencement Ceremony! Welcome to all of the friends and family members who are here to support our 2024 graduates. Welcome to our distinguished speakers, whose words of wisdom we look forward to hearing and reflecting upon. Welcome to our faculty and staff, whose committed and diligent work has supported our graduates in getting to the finish line. And welcome, 2024 graduates! We are so happy and proud that all of you are here to celebrate this wonderful day!
“I’d like to acknowledge the members of our Board of Directors who are here with us today. Thank you for your dedication and your guidance.
“I’d like to recognize Dr. Susan Stone, our President Emerita and Distinguished Chair of Midwifery and Nursing, for her leadership and her decades of service to Frontier. We are grateful for all you’ve done, Dr. Stone, to make Frontier the university we all know and love today.
“I’d like to take a moment to thank our dedicated faculty and staff, who have worked so hard to make this day extraordinary in every way. I’d also like to convey my personal gratitude to Sharon Tankersley, who has planned for every detail of this incredible event.
“Days like this are special for so many reasons. For our graduates, this day marks the end of one journey and the beginning of another – a brief transition period to reflect on your Frontier experience and to imagine all that lies ahead. It is also an opportunity to thank those who have helped and supported you – the Frontier faculty and staff, your classmates, your friends, and your families.
“On behalf of Frontier Nursing University, I would like to thank all of the friends and family members who are here and those who couldn’t be here today for all you have done to support our students. It is a team effort.
“And although this is my first commencement ceremony as President of FNU, this is my fourth commencement ceremony at Frontier. As a Frontier grad myself, I know firsthand about the sacrifices you’ve made, that this milestone is not reached alone, and that this is a momentous occasion in the trajectory of your careers.
“You were successful, confident, and competent nurses before you came to Frontier. You were already serving the people of your communities. You were already making a difference. But you were called to do more, and you answered that call.
“I understand that you would not be here today without your unyielding drive, commitment, and dedication. And while I’m quite sure that it has not always been easy, you can now pause for just a moment to say to yourself that it was worth it. Because every time you impact a patient, every time you provide compassionate, expert care to help a family, and every time you are present in an underserved community as an advanced practice nurse... it will be worth it. Every time.
“We want you to know that Frontier will always be here to support you and to cheer for you. You are forever part of the FNU family. Please take the time to check in with us now and then. Let us know how and what you’re doing, and share your accomplishments with us. Stay connected to your classmates and your faculty on our social media platforms. Ensure that we have your preferred email address so you can stay informed via our e-newsletters and the Quarterly Bulletin. Look for career and continuing education opportunities on our alumni portal. And take it from me, you never know when or how you might return to Frontier. We look forward to it!
“Now, let us focus on this incredible opportunity to celebrate with your friends and loved ones today. We are all here to celebrate you. Your graduation is a remarkable accomplishment. Your continued education will propel you and will enable you to both extend and deepen your reach as a healthcare provider. You are equipped, you are prepared, and you are now qualified to do all that you dreamed of doing when you set out on this journey.
“We are all so very proud of you. Congratulations!”
Dr. Paula Alexander-Delpech Addresses the 2024 Graduates
Dr. Paula Alexander-Delpech, FNU Dean of Inclusive Excellence and Student Success, then addressed the graduates and encouraged them to be active agents in improving healthcare in their communities, large and small:
“To the graduates before me, you have already faced many challenges in your journey, and now you are preparing to tackle the complexities of our healthcare system. It is a system that desperately needs transformation, which must be led by practitioners grounded in inclusive excellence. I truly believe that being an effective healthcare professional means caring for your patients and each other. You can serve your patients better when you are part of diverse, inclusive teams. To do this, you must be equipped with the skills to overcome health disparities and dismantle structural, systemic, organizational, and environmental barriers to achieve optimal health outcomes for every patient.
“Too many of us wear hidden masks that make us afraid to be ourselves because we belong to marginalized groups—whether through race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious preference, cultural background, or disability. These hidden masks can degrade our working environments and ultimately harm our patients. I am proud of Frontier Nursing University’s unwavering commitment to inclusive excellence. These are not just words; they are the foundation of who we are.
“As you enter the next phase of your careers, I challenge you to act as guardians of Inclusive Excellence in your practice and your lives. Understanding and harnessing the power of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging are critical in creating a better future for you, your patients, and society.”
FNU Presents Honorary Doctorate to Keynote Speaker Dr. Bernadette Melnyk
Dr. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, gave the keynote address at the 2024 Frontier Nursing University commencement ceremony. Dr. Bernadette Melnyk is Vice President for Health Promotion and Chief Wellness Officer at Ohio State University, where she is also the Helene Fuld Health Trust Professor of Evidence-based Practice in the College of Nursing and Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry in the College of Medicine. She is also the founder of the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare.
During the ceremony, Frontier awarded Dr. Melnyk the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, In recognition of her “impactful, broad-reaching, and lasting contributions to the profession of nursing.”
Dr. Melnyk is recognized globally for her expertise in evidence-based practice (EBP), child and adolescent mental health, clinician well-being, and intervention research, as well as her innovative approaches to population health and well-being. She is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences and has presented hundreds of workshops on EBP, mental health, intervention research, and health and wellness throughout the nation and the globe.
Dr. Melnyk is the editor of seven books focused on child and adolescent mental health, EBP, intervention research, evidence-based health assessment, and leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship. She has more than 540 publications and over $36 million dollars of sponsored funding from NIH, AHRQ, and foundations as a principal investigator. She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Nursing that has recognized her three times as an Edge Runner (twice for her evidence-based COPE programs), the National Academies of Practice, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Dr. Melnyk served a four-year term on the United States Preventive Services Task Force, the National Advisory Council for the National Institute for Nursing Research, and the Behavioral Health Standing Committee of the National Quality Forum. In addition, she served as dean of The Ohio State University College of Nursing for 12 years where she led the college to top 10 U.S. News & World Report and NIH funding rankings.
Dr. Melnyk has served as an elected board member and vice chair of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and received an honorary doctor of science degree from the State University of New York in 2022. She is editor-in-chief of the top-ranked journal Worldviews on Evidence-based Nursing.
Dr. Melnyk was appointed to the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-being and Resilience in 2017, on which she continues to serve, and is the founder and current president of the National Consortium for Building Healthy Academic Communities.
She received her bachelor of science in nursing from West Virginia University, her master of science in nursing degree and pediatric nurse practitioner education from the University of Pittsburgh, and her PhD in clinical research and psychiatric nurse practitioner education from the University of Rochester.
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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).