At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.
Through her role as Student Services Coordinator at Frontier Nursing University, Sharon Tankersley has demonstrated a commitment to the success of students at the university. Because of her deep commitment to students, Tankersley was a recent recipient of FNU’s Circle of Caring Award.
A resident of Versailles, Kentucky, Tankersley has worked at FNU for approximately five years. In her role, she helps onboard incoming students, provides staff support to the FNU Student Council, and coordinates annual commencement ceremonies.
“It’s very rewarding to welcome new students, ensure they feel supported, and assist as they find their way to resources that support academic goals,” she said. “Secondary to that, I enjoy those spots where my work intersects that of fellow employees, and finding ways to lighten their load when I can.”
Helping the Helpers
Before joining the FNU staff, Tankersley worked as a certified prevention specialist with 15 years of experience in youth and family mental health promotion. After working on the front lines in a helping profession, Tankersley said she often witnessed the impact of poor health and lifestyle choices, which began to take a toll on her.
“I had said goodbye to far too many clients to addiction,” she said. “I was burned out and needed some margin in my life.”
However, Tankersley said she didn’t want to leave the healthcare profession entirely and wanted to continue the work of fostering healthier communities.
“I sought a role where I could ‘help the helpers’ and serve in a supportive, behind-the-scenes way,” she said.
An Inclusive Environment
Through her work with FNU, Tankersley said answering the call for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is essential. This emphasis is inspired by her own personal experiences as a member of a mixed-race family, as someone who grew up traveling often due to her family’s military status, and as someone who deals with a chronic illness that impacts movement, sensory processing, hearing and vision.
“We have much work to do to make our communities equally supportive of all types of individuals,” she said. “I’m thankful to be with an institution that seeks to grow more and more inclusive.”
In addition to FNU’s emphasis on DEI, Tankersley said she also is proud of the university’s Culture of Caring.
“We truly strive to use it as a guiding compass for how we treat everyone, how we make decisions, how we change and grow in response to the needs of our students,” she said. “I hope that in my small way each day I model the Culture of Caring.”
Outside of her work with FNU, Tankersley enjoys creative writing and traveling. She has been married to her college sweetheart for 32 years and is a devout Christian.
Thank you, Sharon, for your unwavering dedication to the students at FNU and your embodiment of the Culture of Caring in your daily work.
FNU is recognized as a Great College to Work For and a 2022 Honor Roll Institution. Learn more about career opportunities at Frontier Nursing University.
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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