On Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) hosted its first virtual commencement ceremony. The event celebrated the 817 wonderful nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who completed the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, Master of Science in Nursing degree, or Post-Graduate Certificate programs this year.
Despite the hardships this past year has brought, it is an exciting time to graduate from FNU as the University celebrates the 50th anniversary of their Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program and the birth of the FNP program in the United States.
It has also been a year when the world has recognized just how vital nurses and other healthcare professionals are to society, as FNU President Dr. Susan Stone shared in her address to the graduates.
“You represent the calm in the storm. You are the stabilizing force, the givers of care, and of hope,” said Dr. Stone.
This sentiment was further described by the keynote speaker for the commencement, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Rear Admiral (RADM) Sylvia Trent-Adams, Ph.D., RN, FAAN. RADM Trent-Adams served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health from January 2019 until August 2020 and has held various positions in the United States Department of Health & Human Services. A large portion of her work has been to improve access to care for poor and underserved communities, and her values align closely with the FNU mission. As expected, Trent-Adams gave a moving speech in which she inspired students to go forward into their communities and compassionately serve those who need it most.
“We as a profession stand in the crossroad of community and healthcare systems,” said Trent-Adams. “We have an obligation to deliver the best possible care with intention that includes being self-aware and conscious of our actions, our word, and our intent.”
Additional videos of faculty and staff congratulating and encouraging this year’s graduates can be found here.
Although the event took a virtual format, FNU was committed to a ceremony that retained all of the major elements of previous commencements. One of many traditions kept was honoring the students who have gone above and beyond to provide exceptional leadership to their peers. Here are the winners of this year’s Leadership Awards:
The Kitty Ernst Nurse-Midwifery Student Leadership Award: Autumn Fuselier
Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award: Gina Kristiansen
Family Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award: Brandy Camperlino
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award: Kristin McColly
Doctor of Nursing Practice Student Leadership Award: Dr. Minyon Outlaw
Exemplary DNP Project Award: Dr. Kristin Gianelis.
A special congratulations is in order for Dr. Gianelis, who was also recently appointed as a new member of the FNU faculty!
As part of the annual commencement activities, FNU also honors the faculty members who have inspired and impacted students throughout the year. Here are this year’s student choice winners:
Student Choice Excellence in Teaching Academic Faculty Award: Dr. Eileen Thrower
Student Choice Excellence in Teaching Regional Clinical Faculty Award: Dr. Kevin Scalf.
Congratulations again to all of the spectacular students who put in the time and effort to reach these wonderful accomplishments. We are so proud to have you as part of our FNU family and cannot wait to see how you will impact nursing, nurse-midwifery, and the future of healthcare.
To watch FNU’s 2020 commencement ceremony in full, click here!
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).