At Frontier Nursing University (FNU) we do our very best to provide a Culture of Caring, a way for every member of our community, from prospective students to preceptors, to know that they are valued and supported. We have found that our Culture of Caring can best be described by considering five basic principles: Professionalism, Inclusivity, Respect, Positive Communication, and Mutual Support. We believe that when we intentionally act under these principles, our university will develop dedicated healthcare professionals and compassionate providers.
Professionalism
At FNU, we believe professionalism should be foundational for everyone working, or studying to work, in the healthcare field. FNU was built on a foundation of service to women with inadequate healthcare resources and with a commitment to demonstrating consistency and excellence daily. This legacy of professionalism lives on at FNU today.
On top of providing extraordinary care, we encourage students to speak with transparency and a sense of responsibility in order to establish trust and respect from patients and peers. A true professional should be able to explain diagnoses and the next steps in a knowledgeable way and support their findings with scientific evidence. At FNU we expect our students and faculty to act professionally with the understanding that we make the greatest impact on the larger healthcare system when we provide consistent and authentic care.
Inclusivity
Reaching underserved populations has always been one of FNU’s foundational commitments. Our curricula has a built-in emphasis on providing quality care to every patient without barriers, judgments, or exceptions. We believe all people are created equal, and we approach our peers, students, and faculty of all races, genders, religions, and cultures with sensitivity and humility. We teach students to approach their patients with empathy, always considering the perspective and background of the patient. We understand many patients may have had negative past healthcare experiences, and teach our students to acknowledge and respect each individual’s past experiences and current expectations.
Respect
Every individual deserves to feel valued and respected. As nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives, we earn the respect of our patients by first showing them respect. It is our responsibility to let each individual know how important they are. We can show respect in simple and effective ways: being friendly, showing genuine interest in their families and personal lives, and remembering small details that let them know they are seen as valued individuals.
Positive Communication
Positive communication is vital to our interactions as faculty, students, and healthcare providers. Our faculty are known for their commitment to communicate often with students through phone calls, emails, and online chats, and for giving them the support they need- no matter where they are.
Via our curriculum and faculty, we emphasize the value of positive communication between nurse practitioners/nurse-midwives and their patients. Communicating with optimism, offering helpful suggestions, and taking time to listen to patients helps to open the door for a beneficial long-term provider-patient relationship.
In 2019, FNU implemented the TeamSTEPPS framework in its curriculum to broaden and enhance healthcare team communication and teamwork skills. We believe teaching these skills will have a significant positive impact on healthcare systems throughout the U.S. Ultimately, the goal of implementing interpersonal skills training in the health care setting is to empower all team members and improve patient outcomes.
Mutual Support
At FNU, we find that one of the best ways to grow as individuals, healthcare providers, and a community is through providing mutual support to one another. True mutual support can be found when we treat each other with kindness and patience as we learn together. Mutual support is found in awareness of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and by providing helping hands and thoughts whenever we can. We also support each other by showing compassion and concern as we face our personal life challenges and support our patients through theirs; we rejoice with successes and remain steadfast through mistakes and misfortune. These are principles we instill in our students as they support their patients’ needs, both physical and emotional. Mutual support persists after graduation, as FNU alumni have access to valuable resources and connect both professionally and personally through our extensive alumni network.
Our Culture of Caring is evident in everything we do at FNU. Operating with professionalism, inclusivity, respect, positive communication and mutual support aligns us with our mission of preparing competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate healthcare providers and leaders who serve all individuals with an emphasis on women and families in diverse, rural, and underserved populations.
If you are interested in experiencing our culture of caring for yourself, please visit our admissions page, and be sure to check out our Culture of Caring page for more information on how these values have led us to educational and healthcare success.
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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).
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