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 financial scholarships. 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.
This year, three nurse practitioner students received the scholarship, including Jazmin Townes, Joanna Wilder, and Sarah Logan. Congratulations to FNU’s Fall 2021 Chi Pi scholarship recipients! The FNU community is proud of your dedication to hard work.
Meet Our Scholarship Recipients:
Jazmin Townes, from South Carolina
Jazmin Townes is in FNU’s Nurse-Midwifery program. In her scholarship essay, Townes detailed her goals for after graduation of opening a birth center on the island of St. Thomas, allowing women to have more choices regarding their birthing and overall health needs.
“I give all glory and honor to the Most High for allowing this blessing to fall upon myself and my family. As a new mother of a sweet baby boy, this scholarship will aid in the completion of my master’s degree as clinical rotations are on the horizon. Becoming a Certified Nurse-Midwife has been a dream of mine as I admired many women who were midwives and doctors growing up in the Caribbean. My grandmother was a midwife on the island of Anguilla. When she migrated to the United States Virgin Islands she gave up her passion to care for her 4 children by working in a jewelry store. Her story motivates me to excel in Frontier’s Midwifery program. With clinical rotations approaching I will be 192 miles away from my 5 month old baby boy. Not only is this heartbreaking but nerve-racking. I want to make my husband and son proud of this accomplishment and receiving this award is just the beginning of that. The funds from the scholarship will pay for the preparation of my Clinical Bound and travel expenses to my clinical site. I am humbled and honored to be a Chi Pi recipient. “ – Jazmin Townes
Joanna Wilder, from Tigard, Oregon
Joanna Wilder has been a nurse since 1990, working in a hospital setting and at a birth center, and is now working towards becoming a Certified Nurse-Midwife. After graduating, Wilder plans to continue her education and get her DNP, focusing on the role of pregnancy and birth in the healing of childhood trauma. She would ultimately like to teach future midwives the sacred work of holding healing spaces during pregnancy and birth.
“I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the Chi Pi scholarship, which I have been awarded twice during my master’s program. I am a Certified Professional Midwife, and had to close my practice when I started the Frontier nurse-midwifery program. I worked as a nurse educator during the didactic terms, and then made the hard choice to stop working to give my full attention to clinicals. We have been carefully budgeting my husband’s disability/social security income. The scholarship money came exactly when the need was the highest. It was incredibly humbling; and reminded me that this journey is to be made with open hands. Holding a space of curiosity, I can wonder how our needs will be provided; rather than try to figure it out by the strength of my will. Watching our needs be met has led to deep conversations with my 3 teens at home, and with my adult kids who are intimidated by grad school costs. If I can graduate with my MSN at 55, and move into the Companion DNP, then they can too! Frontier truly embodies the culture of caring. So grateful for this community.” – Joanna Wilder
Sarah Logan
Sarah Logan is an FNU Certified Nurse-Midwife graduate and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Logan has been involved in nursing education for several years now and has taken on many leadership roles. With the help of a colleague, she is working towards opening an outpatient mobile clinic to serve the migrant population in her city with prenatal and well-visit care. With the scholarship, Logan plans to continue working on projects that make a lasting impact in her community.
To find out more about Chi Pi and apply for the 2022 scholarship, please visit our Honor Society Page. We encourage all students and prospective students to check out the various scholarships offered at FNU.
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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