Frontier Nursing University has endowed a new scholarship to support African American, Black, Native American, and Alaskan Native students. The scholarship, which will support 10 students per year, was established and approved by FNU’s Board of Directors during their quarterly meeting in April 2021.
The scholarship is in keeping with the University’s mission, which is “to provide accessible nurse-midwifery and nurse practitioner education to prepare competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate leaders in primary care to serve all individuals with an emphasis on women and families in diverse, rural, and underserved populations.” The University’s focus on diverse, rural, and underserved populations is in response to the persistent health care disparities in the United States.
“While our other endowed scholarships are needed by and available to students of all backgrounds, this particular scholarship is in direct response to the health disparities for the designated groups,” FNU President Dr. Susan Stone said. “Data demonstrates that culturally concordant care improves health care outcomes, which is why we have made increasing the diversity of the health care workforce a strategic priority at FNU.”
A November 2020 study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that, among women with a college education or higher, Black women have a pregnancy-related mortality rate that is over five times higher than that of White women. The pregnancy-related mortality rate for Black women with a completed college education or higher is 1.6 times higher than the rate for White women with less than a high school diploma.
Disparities are also prevalent elsewhere. A 2019 report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that non-Hispanic Black persons were more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic or Pacific Islander persons to die of heart disease in 2017. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that, in 2018, American Indians and Alaska Natives were 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease than their white counterparts. The CDC also shared a report that found that 34% of COVID-19 deaths were among non-Hispanic Black people, though this group accounts for only 12% of the total U.S. population.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been a top priority at FNU for more than a decade,” FNU Board Chair Dr. Michael Carter said. “Not only do we know that these DEI initiatives are the right thing to do ethically, but the data clearly indicates that a well-prepared, diverse health care workforce is vital to improve medical outcomes for all people. The decision to endow this scholarship was data-driven and in direct alignment with the mission of the University.”
To establish this scholarship, FNU will designate $2.5 million to provide $100,000 in scholarships per year. This will be used to deliver ten $10,000 scholarships annually. Additionally, the fund will grow over time from investment and ongoing fundraising targeted for scholarships.
The new scholarship joins a comprehensive list of financial support for FNU’s students. Through the generosity of its supporters and donors, FNU will provide nearly $500,000 in endowed scholarships to students in 2021.
“These scholarships are particularly important because, on average, despite our comparatively low tuition rates, many of our students graduate with nearly $60,000 in student loan debt,” Dr. Stone said. “Through awareness, fundraising efforts, and scholarships, we are committed to helping alleviate that burden. We want our graduates to be able to fully focus on being essential healthcare providers in their communities. However, due to the startling health outcomes for these specific groups, we knew we needed to address the needs of these particular students.”
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).