FNU welcomed its first DNP students in October 2008. In the 15 years since the first class enrolled, FNU’s DNP program has continued to grow and excel. In 2022, 190 students graduated from the DNP program, while 202 more students enrolled in the DNP.
FNU completed a re-accreditation process for the school’s DNP program in 2022 through the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). ACEN site visitors issued their recommendation for re-accreditation, along with special recognition for the strength of FNU’s DNP program, including the Frontier mission, faculty, and organizational capacity.
“ACEN’s thorough re-accreditation process is a great opportunity for us to measure the successes of the program while also gaining valuable expert external recommendations for areas of improvement,” said FNU Dean of Nursing Dr. Joan Slager, CNM, DNP, FACNM, FAAN. “We are very proud to have earned re-accreditation with high praise from ACEN and are excited to see the continued growth and success of the DNP program at Frontier.”
The decision to add the DNP to FNU’s program offerings in 2008 came in response to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s endorsement of the Position Statement on the Practice Doctorate in Nursing, which called for advancing the level of preparation for advanced nursing practice roles from the master’s degree to the doctorate level by 2015.
The DNP is the highest degree for clinical nursing practice and is designed for clinicians who want to expand upon their leadership skills and clinical expertise. FNU’s DNP curriculum provides education in evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and systems leadership.
“One of the advantages to a DNP is that it specifically sets you up to be a change agent and a leader,” said clinical faculty Dr. Diana Jolles, Ph.D., CNM, FACNM. “This degree specializes in preparing people to make a change in their community and to serve the needs of the people, which is very, very complicated. Our program is designed to help mentor, support, nurture, and really build resilience and grit so that people have the skills and the tools to make the changes that need to happen in this healthcare environment that we know is so broken.”
“Our expectation is to teach you leadership and quality improvement skills that you can apply to any other problem you see in your environment,” said DNP Program Director Dr. Khara’ Jefferson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, CHC. “I think that’s what makes us really special.”
Dr. Jefferson’s passion for FNU’s DNP program comes naturally, as she herself completed the program in 2017.
“I enjoyed my entire experience so much that I’ve never left,” she said.
As part of the curriculum, DNP students complete an eight-week Quality Improvement Project, generally in the hospital or clinic where they are currently working. This allows the student to tailor their project to their practice and the patient population which it serves.
“Students implement their Quality Improvement Project for the larger community that they live in, but the unique thing for our students is that probably 98% of them are actually doing their project at the place where they work,” Dr. Jefferson said. “They know the inherent problems that they see every day. By collaborating with the quality department and other key stakeholders, they are able to really narrow in on what is needed, not just something that they’re passionate about, but something that can truly drive change and impact care.”
Learn more about FNU’s DNP program in this Q&A video:
FNU alumnus Dr. Elizabeth Akinyemi, DNP (Class 39), FNP, said that the DNP program opened her mind to a different way of thinking. Her DNP quality improvement project focused on improving hypertension in patients at the family medical clinic in which she worked.
“The way I think about healthcare has definitely been transformed, and this is a result of going through Frontier’s very objective DNP program,” Dr. Akinyemi said. “I came out of the program feeling more confident about my ability to contribute positively to any clinical quality improvement initiative. The DNP helps you become more analytical and a problem solver who tries to figure out root causes and solutions.”
Dr. Akinyemi’s analytical mindset directly aligns with FNU’s data-driven, evidence-based approach to program and curriculum development. The success of the DNP program is an important part of FNU’s mission “to provide accessible nurse-midwifery and nurse practitioner education that integrates the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We transform healthcare by preparing innovative, ethical, compassionate, and entrepreneurial leaders to work with all people with an emphasis on rural and underserved communities.”
“As a DNP student, you don’t just leave Frontier Nursing University with a DNP degree,” said Dr. Jefferson. “You leave it with your DNP degree, quality improvement and leadership skills, new friends, and a whole community of support.”
To learn more, visit the DNP program page on our website.
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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).