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Dr. Joan Slager has lived the full Frontier Nursing University experience. As a student, she was part of Frontier’s first Community-based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program (CNEP) graduating class in 1991, led by fellow Alumni Hall of Fame inductee Kitty Ernst. As a practitioner, she precepted over 100 FNU students. As an instructor and administrator, she returned to Frontier, serving first as a faculty member and Director of the Doctor of Nursing Program, and then as the Dean of Nursing before retiring in February 2025.

“I am so thankful for the support and friendship I have received from the FNU community,” Dr. Slager said in announcing her retirement. “My journey as a nurse-midwife began with Frontier and it has been so rewarding to have had the opportunity to come full circle back to FNU at the end of a satisfying and fulfilling career.”

Strangely enough, that career started in a barn. Growing up on a farm in Lake Odessa, Michigan, Dr. Slager was drawn to the wonders of the birthing process. She would frequently help care for the cows during the calving season and grew to love the experience.

“It was fascinating to me, and I just loved being there and watching. I think that’s what drew me to midwifery,” she said.

She earned her Bachelor of Nursing Science (BSN) in 1980 from Nazareth College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She enjoyed the maternal/child rotations and worked in the neonatal intensive care unit after graduation. She subsequently worked three years (1981-83) with the Kalamazoo County Health Department clinics and later took a position as a staff nurse at the Borgess Medical Center Family Birthing Center (1984-91).

While at the birth center, she worked with Kalamazoo’s first midwife and was inspired to become a midwife herself. Having heard about Frontier’s new Community-based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program (CNEP) from fellow Alumni Hall of Fame inductee Kerri Schuiling, she applied and became part of Class 1.

“I was intrigued that I didn’t have to travel 150-plus miles to go to school, and I could complete my education in my home community. It sounded too good to be true,” she said.

Dr. Slager was part of Frontier’s first CNEP graduating class in 1991. She began working as a nurse-midwife in Battle Creek, Michigan, eventually becoming the Director of Nurse-Midwifery at the Family Health Center of Battle Creek. She assisted Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo in developing a midwifery-led service in 1993, where she served as the Director of Nurse-Midwifery at the Bronson Women’s Service for 27 years, helping build it into one of the largest midwifery practices in the country.

Bronson also became a frequent location for Frontier students to find a preceptor, a role which Dr. Slager was happy to play.

“Each of us has our own reasons for why we chose a career in healthcare, but common amongst us is a shared desire to serve others,” she said of precepting. “We are heartened by the mission of Frontier Nursing University to care for underserved people and provide care to all those in need. We all chose to answer the call to serve. It is not an easy road to travel, and all of us relied on the support of others – friends, family, classmates, instructors, and preceptors – to achieve our goal of becoming nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives. How can we thank all the people who helped us achieve our goals? We can thank them by being devoted and skilled professionals, yes, but also by paying it forward to those who come after us.”

For Dr. Slager, paying it forward also meant helping other midwifery practices. She learned how to run a business, including the complicated world of knowing how to use billing codes accurately, and shared her knowledge via the Slager Consulting Business, which she established in 2000 while maintaining her everyday role as a nurse-midwife.

After 28 years as a practicing nurse-midwife, Dr. Slager contacted CNEP Class 1 classmate and fellow Alumni Hall of Fame inducted Dr. Susan Stone about a faculty position at Frontier. She was hired as the Director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, then became the Interim Dean of Nursing and finally the Dean of Nursing in August 2018.

“Dr. Slager’s expertise and leadership were essential in helping guide Frontier during a difficult time in our history,” said. Dr. Stone. “We were in the process of moving to the Versailles campus and dealing with the COVID pandemic. Dr. Slager’s calm professionalism and extensive experience were invaluable to the university.”

“It was very emotional for me to have that first group come to the new campus,” Dr. Slager said. “After all the planning and the waiting through the pandemic, we finally had students on campus. That was probably one of the most notable accomplishments at Frontier that I was able to be a part of.”

Dr. Slager’s long list of accomplishments include being honored as the Dorothea Lang Pioneer Award recipient from the American College of Nurse-Midwives Foundation in 2008 and the Distinguished Service to Alma Mater award recipient from Frontier Nursing University in 2015.

She served two terms as Chair of the Business Section of the Division of Standards and Practice for the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) and four years as the Division Chair. She was a member of the ACNM’s Finance and Audit committee for 12 years including six years as Treasurer on the Board of Directors. She is a Fellow of the ACNM as well as the American Academy of Nursing. In 2007, she was presented with the Best Book of the Year Award for her Administrative Manual for Midwifery Practices by ACNM.

Now, she is a proud and deserving member of Frontier Nursing University’s Alumni Hall of Fame.

“First, it’s an honor to be included in such an auspicious group,” Dr. Slager said. “Second, I think we all share a nearly lifelong commitment to and love for midwifery and Frontier — and for Sue (Stone), Kerri (Schuiling), and me the inability to say ‘no’ to Kitty (Ernst)! Third, attaining ‘fame’ or becoming ‘famous’ was never a goal for any of us. The career pathways we chose don’t typically lead to notoriety, except for whenever or wherever we could make a difference for the families or students that we touched along the way.”

The history of Frontier Nursing University cannot be told without discussing the contributions, vision, and leadership of Kitty Ernst.

Eunice Katherine “Kitty” Macdonald Ernst was born on July 21, 1926, in Waltham, Massachusetts, and became a dynamic and committed pioneer in midwifery education and practice. She was passionate about ensuring that all families receive the best possible care during pregnancy and birth.

After graduating from the Waltham Hospital School of Nursing in Massachusetts, Kitty made the decision to embark on an adventure by working at Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) in Kentucky. During her time as a nurse at FNS, she was introduced to nurse-midwifery and inspired by the nurse-midwives who travelled on horseback in the rural mountains of Kentucky to deliver care to mothers and families. This led to her decision to attend the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery, a part of the FNS, in Hyden, Kentucky, in 1951.

During her time as a student at FNS, Kitty realized the impact of midwifery on the health of women and families. Throughout her life, Kitty often told the story of how awestruck she was when she first witnessed the power of a woman birthing in her own mountain home. Those first births Kitty witnessed as a midwifery student set her on a lifelong course of promoting and supporting normal birth, in a safe and comfortable setting, and educating midwifery students in these principles. Kitty knew that educating new nurse-midwives was essential to transforming health care not only for mothers but for their families as well.

Following her time at FNS, Kitty went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in education from Hunter College in 1957 and a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University in 1959. From 1954-58, Kitty served as a nurse-midwife for the Maternity Center Association (MCA) in New York City. She started her own family, marrying Albert T. Ernst in 1961. Together, they had three children, Rosemary, Albert “Ted” Jr., and Kate. During this time, Kitty worked as a parent educator, teaching some of the first childbirth education groups of the International Childbirth Education Association. As a field consultant for MCA, she developed family-centered maternity care provided by an obstetrician nurse-midwife team at the Salvation Army Booth Maternity Center in Philadelphia.

Kitty was passionately committed to birth centers as a key solution to challenges in maternity care. Generations of midwives learned from Kitty that birth centers are safe options to practice midwifery model of care and must be a part of the health care system. Kitty co-founded the National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC) in 1983 now the American Association of Birth Centers. As Director of the NACC, she steered the development of the Commission for Accreditation of Freestanding Birth Centers in 1985.

In the 1980s, Kitty became particularly concerned about two issues: the small number of nurse-midwives being educated each year, and the fact that the majority of nurse-midwives being educated in large tertiary care centers had a lack of out-of-hospital experience. To address these issues, she led the design and implementation of the first distance education program for nurse-midwives, which was adopted by the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, now known as Frontier Nursing University. Over many years, Kitty graciously shared her personal story, her passion, and her vision with every single class of incoming FNU students.

Kitty, who often quoted one of the key beliefs of FNS that “all health care begins with the care and education of the mother,” maintained strong ties with FNU throughout her life. She served on FNU’s Board of Directors from 1975-2021, was awarded an honorary doctorate from FNU in 2011, and occupied the Mary Breckinridge Chair of Midwifery.

“Kitty’s impact was significant and everlasting upon every person she met and every organization she served,” said Dr. Susan Stone, FNU President Emerita and Distinguished Chair of Midwifery and Nursing. “For me, she was a dear friend, mentor, and mother figure. For Frontier, she was the innovator who led the creation of our distance learning model, our loyal supporter, inspirational leader, and was kind and gracious to all. We are thankful for her countless contributions to FNU and to midwifery. She will forever be part of the Frontier Nursing University community and will live on in our hearts and many traditions.”

Kitty served as the president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) from 1961-63 and again from 2007-2008. Since 1998, ACNM has annually presented the Kitty Ernst Award to “an exceptional, relatively new CNM/CM who is an ACNM member, has been certified for less than ten years and has demonstrated innovative, creative endeavors in midwifery and/or women’s health clinical practice, education, administration, or research.”

The criteria for the ACNM Kitty Ernst Award are befitting of Kitty’s contributions to the profession. She was a leader in education and administration, conducting the first wave of accreditation for nurse-midwifery education programs and developing the first “What is a Nurse-Midwife” brochure. Over the course of her career, she published valuable information defining the role of a nurse-midwife and played a crucial role in the first accreditation of nurse-midwifery programs in the U.S. As the Director of the pilot Community-based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program (CNEP), she developed a model for meeting the overwhelming need for experienced birth center nurse-midwives committed to innovative family-centered maternity.

Kitty’s impact spread far and wide. She traveled across the U.S. and abroad to Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Belgium, Russia, and Haiti to provide consultation and workshops on the midwifery model of care in birth centers.

“Kitty Ernst led with passion, perseverance and commitment, and perhaps most importantly, by her presence,” said Dr. Joan Slager, former FNU Dean of Nursing (2018-2025). “She always made herself available and tirelessly shared her wisdom and advice with students, alumni and friends. As we celebrate her legacy, it is important that we continue to learn from her example and adopt the same vision for the future that she had.”

Kitty’s many accolades included the Martha Mae Elliot Award for Exceptional Health Service to Mothers and Children from the American Public Health Association. ACNM presented Kitty with the Hattie Hemschemeyer Award, which honors an exceptional certified nurse-midwife or certified midwife who is an ACNM member who has provided continuous outstanding contributions or distinguished service to midwifery. She received the Childbirth Connection Medal for Distinguished Service and was awarded the Maternity Center Association’s Carola Warburg Rothschild Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the health and well-being of women and their families.

Kitty’s impact was significant and everlasting upon every person she met and every organization she served. She was a dear friend, loyal supporter, inspirational leader, and was kind and gracious to all. She will forever be part of the Frontier Nursing University community.

Just one glance at Dr. Susan Stone’s history at Frontier Nursing University is all it takes to understand why she is a member of FNU’s first Alumni Hall of Fame inductees. Her more than three-decade journey at Frontier started in 1991 when she graduated as a nurse-midwife from FNU’s first distance learning class.

She served as Dean from 2000-2014 and as President from 2001-2024, holding both positions simultaneously from 2001-2014. Today, as FNU President Emerita and FNU’s Distinguished Chair of Midwifery and Nursing, she promotes midwifery and nursing both nationally and internationally.

“Dr. Stone is a dedicated advocate for access; access to education for nurses who want to become advanced practice nurses, and access to quality healthcare for all,” said FNU graduate, Board member, and fellow FNU Alumni Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Kerri Schuiling. “Over her tenure these last two decades, she has been nationally recognized for exponentially increasing the number of 2025 FNU Alumni Hall of Fame Inductees nurse-midwives and other advanced practice professionals practicing in areas of highest need.”

Dr. Stone came to Frontier in 1991 after 10 years of working as a maternity nurse in a small rural hospital in Upstate New York. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing as well as a Master’s in Nursing Administration from SUNY College of Technology. She served as an obstetrical supervisor at Little Falls Hospital in Little Falls, N.Y., and as the program director of the Prenatal Care Assistance Program at Bassett Health Care in Cooperstown, N.Y. After completing her Post-Master’s Certificate in Nurse-Midwifery at Frontier, she practiced as a full-scope nurse-midwife at Bassett Healthcare for nearly a decade. She later earned a Doctor of Nursing Science from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

While practicing as a certified nursemidwife at Bassett HealthCare, Dr. Stone continued her affiliation with Frontier, serving as course faculty; regional clinical coordinator; assistant clinical director; and program director of the Community-Based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program. She
was appointed as the Nurse-Midwifery Program Director in 1996. She relocated to Kentucky in 1998 to devote her full effort to the education of advanced practice nurses and midwives at Frontier. In 2001, Dr. Stone became president of Frontier, serving as both the president and dean before relinquishing the dean duties in 2014 to focus solely on her role as president.

During Dr. Stone’s tenure as President, Frontier Nursing University transformed from a small school offering one certificate program in nurse-midwifery to one of the largest and most successful graduate schools of nursing in the United States. Under her leadership, five new advanced practice nursing programs were added, the certificate granting programs transitioned to degree granting, and the curriculum transitioned to an award-winning community-based distance-education model. This innovation allowed students to pursue their advanced degrees at Frontier while remaining in communities where they lived and worked. With students from all over the country able to attend, enrollment rose rapidly from 200 students to more than 2,700 today.

“Susan Stone has left a legacy of growth and transformation at Frontier,” said former FNU Dean of Nursing and fellow Alumni Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Joan Slager. “She has demonstrated vision and leadership that have resulted in the exponential expansion of our programs while remaining staunchly true to our mission.”

Dr. Stone’s influence extends far beyond Frontier. She is a past president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) from 2019-2020, where her agenda included increasing the midwifery workforce through educational quality and capacity strategies, midwifery advocacy focusing on the maternal mortality and morbidity crisis, and growing diversity in the healthcare workforce. She was inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Medicine Class of 2018 as one of only two nurses in her class. She is a Fellow at both ACNM and the American Academy of Nursing. She was the recipient of ACNM’s Kitty Ernst Award in 1999, which recognizes “innovative, creative endeavors in midwifery practice and women’s health care.” Other honors include the 2011 American Public Health Association’s prestigious Felicia Stewart Advocacy Award, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a strong commitment to advocacy on behalf of reproductive health and rights.

Dr. Stone’s accomplishments and reputation as a leader and advocate have made her a frequently invited speaker at national conferences. Among her many engagements, she has presented at such prestigious events as Beyond Flexner (2018, Atlanta); the American College of Nurse-Midwives annual meeting (2017, Chicago, Ill.); the International Midwifery Conference in Education in Research (2012, Nottingham, England); and the International Confederation of Midwives 28th Triennial Congress (2008, Glasgow, Scotland).

“Dr. Stone is the epitome of a leader,” said FNU President Dr. Brooke A. Flinders. “Her vision for the purpose and growth of the university is exceeded only by the passion and expertise with which she brought that vision to life. We are forever indebted to Dr. Stone for her service and to relentless commitment to the mission and values of Frontier Nursing University.”

There is little doubt of the importance of Dr. Stone’s legacy at Frontier, but none of her accomplishments matter to her more than the Stone Family Scholarship. This fund was established to commemorate the enduring love and support of her late husband, Larry Stone. Dr. Stone’s ongoing donations to the fund are a heartfelt tribute to her late husband, her children, grandchildren, and extended family.

“Being a member of the first class of inductees into the Frontier Nursing University Alumni Hall of Fame is an incredible honor,” Dr. Stone said. “Graduating as part of the first class in Frontier’s distance learning program was a life-changing opportunity. It not only allowed me to achieve my dream of practicing as a nurse-midwife but also opened the door to a deeply fulfilling career—one focused on educating Frontier students and helping expand access to highquality health care across communities near and far. To be recognized for that work is truly humbling and profoundly meaningful.”