Purpose
The purpose of the Department of Midwifery and Women’s Health is to significantly increase the numbers of nurse-midwives and women’s health care nurse practitioners to meet the needs of women and families residing in all areas with a particular focus on rural and underserved areas as well as those choosing birth center care by:
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- Offering a structured off campus education program for nurse-midwives and women’s health care nurse practitioners to nurses who choose to learn in their community and who learn best through self-directed independent study.
- Preparing nurse-midwives and women’s health care nurse practitioners to establish and manage a practice, service or free standing birth center.
- Commitment and collaboration between FNU’s centralist academic structure and community-based clinical preceptors.
- Demonstrating innovative non-traditional models for completion of graduate education through our community-based distance education program.
Philosophy
Health is a dynamic process reflecting one’s physical, mental, and psycho-social state. Together these parameters determine a person’s well-being and risk of illness.
Comprehensive, safe and culturally sensitive primary health care that emphasizes prevention is a right of all people. It begins with the individual and addresses the ongoing and evolving needs of the family and the community.
Continuity of care for the childbearing family and for women throughout their childbearing years and beyond with emphasis on education, safety, comfort, and satisfaction, is the right of every woman. It is our firm belief that women have access to safe and sensitive health care where they are active participants in their care.
Education for nurse-midwives and women’s health care nurse practitioners that is offered by a qualified faculty with a curriculum comparable or superior to academic standards established by the professions may take place in a variety of settings.
Active clinicians in a variety of settings can be prepared to serve as preceptors.
Learning occurs at a rate which varies with individuals. It is effective when self-directed with students assuming major responsibility for their own learning practice and evaluation.
Adult learners are self-motivated drawing upon multiple experiences which may not fit traditional learning structures.
The community is the classroom for the student. Community-based education meets the needs of those learners for whom conventional residential programs are not available, or who learn best through self-directed study, and provides a rich learning environment for the student.
The faculty-student relationship consists of mutual respect, responsibility, and growth. Faculty and students share responsibility for creating a climate of mutual trust and open communication.
CNEP and CWHCNP are joint ventures between students, their families, and faculty. We are a “community” dedicated to the goal of improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare to women and children by increasing the numbers of nurse-midwives and women’s health care nurse practitioners who can provide safe, sensitive care to women and families.
The Department of Midwifery and Women’s Health Care is committed to the recruitment and retention of faculty and students from cultural ethnic minorities who express their dedication to service within their own communities.
Objectives
The objectives of the Department of Midwifery and Women’s Health is to prepare graduates who will be able to:
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- Demonstrate safe, culturally sensitive health care for newborns and women across the lifespan.
- Use critical and reflective thinking skills to provide evidence based care.
- Lead knowledge generation in clinical practice to improve outcomes.
- Emulate the hallmarks of midwifery and women’s health care practice.
- Apply ethical principles to guide and evaluate decisions.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the political and economic environment within which nurse-midwives and women’s health care nurse practitioners provide care.
- Evaluate health care practice through peer review and quality improvement initiatives.
- Advocate for empowerment of women, families and communities.
- Establish and maintain quality services in birth centers or other practice settings in a fiscally sound and financially responsible manner.
- Mentor and teach nurse-midwifery students or women’s health care nurse practitioner students In the clinical setting.
- Demonstrate leadership to initiate and guide change in clinical practice.
- Demonstrate Information literacy skills in complex decision making.
- Demonstrates an understanding of the appropriate use of technology to implement and evaluate health care.
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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).