Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is built on a Culture of Caring with a mission to educate nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives who will go out and care for diverse and underserved communities. In 2010, FNU took a step further in defining goals of expanding diversity and inclusion throughout the university and the greater healthcare community by implementing the Diversity Impact Program.
FNU leadership designed the Diversity Impact Program to promote an inclusive learning and workforce environment at FNU with the goal of increasing diversity in the nursing and midwifery professions by recruiting and retaining underrepresented students and employees.
In alignment with the Diversity Impact Program, FNU launched the first annual Diversity Impact Conference in 2010. This year celebrated the 10th year of the event. Although it moved to a virtual platform due to COVID-19, it was still a wonderful time dedicated to spreading awareness and understanding minority identities. This year’s conference took place June 11-13 and carried the theme ‘Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020: Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’. Some of this year’s topics were: “What is Race Literacy – 4 Dimensions of Racial Conditioning,” “Addressing Health Disparities: The Role of Healthcare Providers & Educators,” and “Microaggressions in Nursing Education and Health: Why They Matter and What We Can Do About Them.”
Other virtual events hosted by FNU throughout the year also highlighted diversity within the nursing community, including, Racial Disparities in Maternity Care: Where Do We Go From Here? during National Midwifery Week, and Dismantling Implicit Bias to Promote Optimal Health Outcomes during National Nurse Practitioner Week.
Additionally, prior to COVID-19 and the turn to virtual events, FNU student Shamekia Wilson volunteered to host an exhibit at The 41st Minority Health Conference in Chapel Hill, NC. During the show, potential students visited the FNU booth to learn more about their various educational programs and diversity initiatives. Wilson said the event helped her further understand the importance of diversity in healthcare education for ensuring that patients from diverse backgrounds receive quality care.
This year, Frontier’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) also launched a new mentoring program, the Professional Organization Mentoring Program. Through this program, students are selected to join a faculty member at a virtual professional nursing conference to network and learn more about their chosen field. To qualify for the program, students must complete an application and submit an essay, which will be graded by the Office of DEI. If selected, the Office of DEI will cover the conference’s cost and the student’s membership for a related professional organization. Students interested in this opportunity can begin the application process here.
The Office of DEI is also currently in the pilot phase of a comprehensive mentoring program designed to support and retain students of color by meeting their specific professional and academic needs. FNU is excited about expanding this program and believes it will help the university continue to grow a more diverse population within their community and the nursing field.
For these initiatives, as well as the university’s holistic dedication to supporting and understanding students, faculty and patients from all backgrounds, FNU was honored to receive the INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s Health Profession’s Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award for the third year in a row. Upon receiving the award this year, FNU President Dr. Susan Stone made the following statement:
“We know that culturally competent care improves health outcomes and begins with a more diverse healthcare system. We are proud to be taking a leadership role in this movement by educating an increasingly diverse student body, but we fully recognize that we have much to learn and areas to improve. The HEED Award confirms that we are continuing to move in the right direction and to make meaningful progress.”
FNU is proud to continue to push programs, events, and mindsets that promote equality for people of all races, cultures, and gender identities.
To learn more about the steps Frontier has taken to celebrate diversity and promote inclusion, visit the university’s diversity page. Additionally, if you are interested in joining a university with a passion for including and supporting students, patients and staff of all backgrounds, please visit the FNU admissions 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).