Members of the Frontier Nursing University (FNU) community recently gathered on campus for the unveiling of a new sculpture honoring FNU’s century of service and education, as well as its ongoing commitment to delivering high-quality education that prepares nurses to become nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who work with all people, with an emphasis on rural and underserved communities. The sculpture, crafted by Kentucky artist Christine Kuhn, depicts a horse, a symbol emblematic of FNU.
The horse stands proudly outside of the FNU Community Center, welcoming students to campus. The art displayed on the horse marries past and present and includes images from the past 100 years of Frontier, with Kentucky wildflowers used as an overlay.
The statue pays tribute to both Kentucky’s rich equestrian heritage and FNU’s storied past, symbolizing Frontier’s 100-year legacy in the Commonwealth and the vital role horses played in its early history. In the early days of the Frontier Nursing Service, nurse-midwives and Couriers traveled on horseback to reach families in remote mountain communities, often crossing rugged terrain and streams. Their saddlebags carried the essential supplies needed to provide care during labor and birth, making the horse an enduring symbol of service, resilience, and dedication.
While Frontier’s horse sculpture is not officially part of the Horse Mania public art project in Lexington, her presence adds to the vibrant equine-themed art culture of the region. Horse Mania, organized by LexArts, features artist-painted horse statues displayed throughout the city and has become a beloved celebration of creativity and Kentucky’s deep-rooted connection to horses.
Based in Lexington, Kuhn is a muralist, sculptor, and mixed media artist whose work has been exhibited across the United States as well as in Ecuador, Bulgaria, and Venice, Italy. She has collaborated with the U.S. State Department and the Rock Paper Scissors Foundation, creating murals around the world, from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Vietnam to her home state of Kentucky and surrounding regions. Her work is also featured in numerous private collections throughout Europe and the U.S.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for Frontier’s campus in Versailles, Kentucky, was held on September 9, 2022. Since then, it has not taken long for Frontier’s Versailles campus to feel like home.
“Another thing we wanted to do was to recognize that we are in Kentucky and pay tribute to Kentucky, so there’s art around campus that is a connection to the state,” Dr. Alexander-Delpech said. “In the administration building you will see images of horses, which is not only a connection to the thoroughbred industry, but also to our history of Frontier midwives traveling on horseback through the mountains to provide care to the families living there.”
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FNU Preceptor Cassandra Klakken Viramontes, ARNP, FNP, provides care for area residents at the Grand Coulee Clinic in Washington. The clinic provides comprehensive health care, including family medicine, preventative care, and disease management, and is part of Coulee Medical Center, a 25-bed critical access hospital.
In an ongoing effort to improve community health and increase healthcare awareness through engaging conversations, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) has launched a new podcast — 
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).