Frontier Nursing University (FNU) seeks to empower its students to make a difference in their communities and in their field.
We are proud to highlight six students who have been recently recognized for their significant accomplishments and pursuits to better their education and the care they provide.
FNU Students receive AANP scholarships
The following students received AANP Scholarships in 2018:
Nadezhda Kravchuk, RN, BSN
Rachel Powell, APRN, MSN
CFNP student Nadezhda Kravchuk, RN, BSN of Nampa, Idaho received a 2018 Master’s in Nursing Scholarship. Nadezhdra is in CFNP Class 154 at FNU.
DNP student Rachel Powell, APRN, MSN of Richmond, Ky. was the recipient of a 2018 Doctor of Nursing Practice – Post Master’s Scholarship. Rachel is a student in FNU’s DNP Class 29.
Congratulations, Nadezhda and Rachel! See the complete list of AANP Scholarship recipients here.
PMHNP student honored as Litchfield County Leader Under 40
Katrin Moskowitz, DNP, FNP
Congratulations to FNU alumna and PHMNP student (Class 161) Katrin Moskowitz, DNP, FNP for being named one of the Northwest CT Chamber of Commerce: Leaders Under 40.
Katrin was recently named Assistant Clinical Director of Community Health and Wellness Center, where she started the Medication-Assisted Treatment program and led the effort to decrease the number of deaths from opioid addiction and to increase vital access to care for such.
In 2016, she was chosen as a Fellow of the year-long Duke-Johnson and Johnson Nurse Leadership Program, which enabled her to network and grow her skills. She has returned to FNU to obtain her PMHNP.
Great work, Katrin! Read the full story here.
FNP student named the recipient of NEF scholarship
Elizabeth Balleweg, BSN
Congratulations to CFNP (Class 158) student Elizabeth Balleweg, BSN for earning the Geraldine Labecki scholarship from the Nurses Educational Funds, Inc.
Elizabeth was one of 26 scholarship recipients across the United States.
Elizabeth works as an acute dialysis nurse in Boise, Idaho, where she provides plasmapheresis, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) for patients in five local hospitals.
As an FNP, Elizabeth plans to focus on disease prevention and early intervention in a primary care setting. She is passionate about providing care to the underserved, specifically low-income clients, refugees and migrant workers. Elizabeth plans pursue a DNP to further build her clinical skills and serve as a preceptor for nurse practitioner students.
The NEF Scholarship recipients have been selected from among a significant group of highly-qualified candidates. Their selection represents exemplary academic, clinical practice, community service, and professional accomplishments and places them among an elite group of NEF scholarship awardees, present and past.
Read more about Elizabeth and the NEF scholars here.
Two FNU graduate nursing students receive March of Dimes scholarships
Isabel Brewster, RN
Kristin DeArruda Wharton, RN
The following FNU students were recipients of 2018 March of Dimes Graduate Nursing Scholarships for post-graduate and doctoral studies in the field of maternal-child nursing:
CNEP (Class 154) student Isabel Brewster, RN of Canterbury, N.H. received one of the four MoD scholarships. Isabel works with a population of women and babies at risk from opioid use in pregnancy, which causes significant health problems including premature birth and neonatal abstinence syndrome.
After graduation, Isabel plans to focus on preconception and perinatal care in a clinical setting that provides care for women with substance use disorders.
CFNP (Class 164) student Kristin DeArruda Wharton, RN of Grand Marais, Minn. was the highest-scoring scholarship applicant in 2018 and recipient of the Margaret C. Freda Scholarship. She is committed to improving maternal-child health in rural communities in northeastern Minnesota.
Kristin is working to resolve the challenges and risk factors facing rural women and their babies, such as preterm birth rates and other poor health outcomes that are disproportionately high in rural communities in the U.S.
Well done, Isabel and Kristin! Read about each of the four scholarship recipients here.
Congratulations to each of these students for representing FNU in their hard work.
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).