For the fourth consecutive year, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) has been named one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to the Great Colleges to Work For® program.
The results were released on September 19 at GreatCollegesList.com. The results were also distributed on September 20 via a special insert of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The results are based on a survey of 216 colleges and universities. In all, 75 of those institutions achieved “Great College to Work For” recognition for specific best practices and policies. Results are reported for small, medium, and large institutions. FNU, with an enrollment of 2,700, is included among the universities with 500 to 2,999 students.
“We are so proud to be designated as a Great College to Work For for a fourth consecutive year,” said FNU President Dr. Brooke A. Flinders, DNP, RN, APRN-CNM, FACNM. “We look forward to participating in the Great Colleges to Work For program because it provides fantastic insight into the satisfaction of our faculty and staff. Their anonymous responses to the surveys shine a light on what we are doing well and where we need to improve. We value our employees greatly and are honored to be a great place for them to work and are grateful for all they do in service to our mission, our students, and alumni.”
Additionally, FNU, which has over 250 employees, earned designation as an Honor Roll institution by excelling in eight of the 10 categories evaluated by the Great Colleges program:
- Job Satisfaction & Support
- Compensation & Benefits
- Professional Development
- Mission & Pride
- Supervisor/Department Chair Effectiveness
- Confidence in Senior Leadership
- Faculty & Staff Well-being
- Faculty Experience
The survey results are based on a two-part assessment process: an institution questionnaire that captures employment data, benefits, and workplace policies from each institution and a survey administered to faculty, administrators, and professional support staff. The primary factor in deciding whether an institution received recognition was employee feedback.
The Great Colleges to Work For® program is one of the largest and most respected workplace recognition programs in the country. For more information and to view all current and previously recognized institutions, visit the Great Colleges program website at GreatCollegesProgram.com and GreatCollegesList.com. ModernThink, a strategic human capital consulting firm, administered the survey and analyzed the results.
Dr. Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, will be the keynote speaker at the 2024 Frontier Nursing University (FNU) 
Preserving History
An Age-Friendly University
Just a 20-minute drive from the FNU campus, registered nurse Jazmene Landing works at a comprehensive outpatient addiction clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. There, she cares for an underserved population of urban patients who are often stigmatized and overlooked due to addiction and mental health issues.
Susan VanZandt, APRN, FNP-C, AG-ACNP, earned her MSN in FNU’s Family Nurse Practitioner program in 2018. VanZandt is a gastrointestinal (G.I.) hospitalist in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has worked in both clinical and hospital settings and various urgent care facilities.
VanZandt said she chose FNU after extensive research. She felt the university best matched her goals and sense of community and belonging. She found a sense of belonging and purpose within her cohort and emphasizes the importance of staying connected to her roots and fostering a culture of lifelong learning, citing the Class of 128 Facebook page as a valuable resource for ongoing connection.
Thank you, Susan, for your dedication to healthcare leadership and to caring for the underserved in your community.
FNU graduate Dr. Cheyenne Allen, DNP, PMHNP-BC, serves as a 
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).