Each fall, Frontier Nursing University’s (FNU) Chi Pi Chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (STTI) awards several students with a $750 scholarship. To qualify for STTI membership, students must have completed at least a quarter of their degree program, hold a 3.5 or higher grade point average and demonstrate academic excellence.
Congratulations to Frontier’s Fall 2020 Chi Pi scholarship recipients! The FNU community is proud of your dedication to hard work despite the obstacles of COVID-19.
Here is what FNU students had to say about receiving this scholarship:
“I am honored and grateful to be a recipient.,” said Amanda Isbell. “This scholarship will help me tremendously as I have recently become a single mother of three and have been faced with worries that I may not be able to continue this journey and take care of my family. My financial situation is very tight and includes an extensive commute with room and board costs while completing my clinical courses. Due to these extra costs, I have been afraid that I would be forced to drop out of my program when I have come so close to the finish line. I will be putting this scholarship money towards my travel expenses so that I can finish out my clinical and continue to be successful in my program. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, this scholarship is life-changing for me and will give me the opportunity to proceed with my hopes and dreams!”
“I am so excited to receive this award! I plan to use the scholarship funds for books and a new computer as my current computer is at the end of its life,” said Sarah Vialpando.
“This scholarship could not come at a better time- I am filled with gratitude and relief from the support it offers,” said Georgia Noonan. “I started my clinical journey over a year ago, filled with hope and excitement after FNU’s clinical bound. I was so eager to get started. Then, in March, COVID restrictions and safety protocols locked me out of my clinical sites with no return date. It has been an emotional and challenging journey, but one program track switch and 38 preceptor/site contacts later, I finally found a preceptor willing to work with me during a global pandemic. I’m about 100 hours away from my dreams, and this scholarship has given even more wind to my sails. I’m coming up on a full year without an income, so this kind of financial support is a huge help to me and my blossoming family. Thank you again for this opportunity. I feel supported and upheld by my Sigma Community.”
“After I finish my NP, my partner and I are going on the road in our tiny home on wheels; we will be staying in rural communities in Mont.,” said Stephanie Canning. “I am praying that while I’m there, I can help with access to care for families from babies to elders. I plan on completing my DNP, so I can become more knowledgeable in program implementation and help address the needs of the local systems. This scholarship will be a big help in assisting with travel plans and paying off student loans.”
“I was lucky enough to be a member of the University of Iowa’s Sigma Theta Tau Gamma chapter while in nursing school, so it feels very special to also be a part of FNU’s Chi Pi chapter,” said Audrey Katz. “I am so thankful for this generous scholarship and the opportunity to be a member during my time at FNU. This spring, my husband is finishing medical school at Medical College of Wisconsin, so extra funds are low with both of us in school. This scholarship decreased the financial strain for the clinical portion of my degree during this transitional time. Besides tuition assistance, I utilized a portion of this scholarship to enhance my hands-on skills during clinical rotations. I purchased and completed the Resolving Shoulder Dystocia course through Spinning Babies, and I am also interested in the Suturing for Midwives Online Workshop. I am very grateful for the opportunity to make our Chi Pi chapter proud!”
To find out more about Chi Pi and apply for the 2020 scholarship, please visit our Honor Society Page.
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).
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