The 2018 Couriers officially ended their time of service at Frontier Nursing University with one final weekend of celebration and ceremony from August 8-11 in Hyden, Ky. The three Couriers served from June 18 to August 11, providing services to rural, underserved communities in Appalachia during their two-month tenure. Their final days consisted of the ceremonial “Courier Crossing,” as well as a graduation service and presentations of their individual experiences.
Although bittersweet about ending their eight weeks of service, Couriers James Rasmussen, Molly Craig and Dania Cervantes Ayala made several new memories to hold onto for a lifetime. During the Osborne Brothers’ Hometown Festival that was held the same weekend, they had one last opportunity to volunteer and serve at Frontier’s Wendover Bed & Breakfast and Retreat Center table, handing out informational brochures and promotional information on the B&B. The Couriers also felt the spirit of Appalachia come to life on the festival’s stage through the rousing Bluegrass music performances.
The regularly-scheduled Courier Crossing program continued with the Couriers’ graduation and traditional closing ceremonies. As in years past, each Courier walked across a local swinging bridge in Wendover to symbolize the crossing of their journey as a Courier.
A final Courier Crossing event was held at the Livery in the Wendover B&B. Each Courier gave a Powerpoint presentation, discussing their service and experiences as a 2018 Courier. The presentations truly reflected the passionate service and dedication this year’s Couriers had given to Appalachia! They can be watched here.
After the presentations, Frontier staff and Hyden community members sent the Couriers off with a community cookout.
The Courier Program and Frontier Nursing University would like to thank all community partners, advocates, and sponsors of the Courier Program. A special thanks goes to Breckinridge Capital Advisors for sponsoring this year’s Couriers and covering program fees, various travel expenses to service events in the Appalachian area and community project costs. Together, we are all serving Appalachia!
This has been yet another successful and service-filled summer of the FNU Courier Program. The program will begin recruiting for service learners interested in serving the Appalachian communities in the Hyden and surrounding areas in November 2018. If interested, please send all inquiries and questions to courier.program@frontier.edu!
In 1928, Mary Breckinridge, founder of Frontier Nursing University established the Courier Program, recruiting young people to come work in the Kentucky Mountains and learn about service to humanity. Couriers escorted guests safely through remote terrain, delivered medical supplies to remote outpost clinics, and helped nurse-midwives during home visits and births. Frontier has benefited tremendously from the 1,600 Couriers who have served since 1928.
National Nurse Practitioner Week is November 11-18, and Frontier Nursing University is once again celebrating with its annual virtual event. 
This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation and is approved 
By: Dr. Susan Stone, Frontier Nursing University President
With the above statistics in mind, it is more important than ever to develop and begin working toward attainable solutions. 
One of Frontier Nursing University’s (FNU) esteemed alumni, Dr. Holly Powell Kennedy, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN, spoke at the 
In the commencement address, Dr. Kennedy spoke about how her experience as an intern and nurse practitioner with the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) inspired her to become a nurse-midwife. She told stories about traveling to FNS for the first time in 1978, where she broadened her horizons by learning about rural health and the importance of establishing patient-provider relationships.
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) was proud to award 800 graduate degrees at the 2018 commencement ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 20. 
Staff and faculty members at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) recently conducted presentations and workshops on various aspects of midwifery at the 2018 ACNM Midwifery Works Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. on October 11-14, 2018.
On October 5, alumni, family and friends gathered at Frontier Nursing University’s (FNU) campus for its annual Homecoming celebration. Among the weekend festivities were a reception, cookout, award ceremony and many opportunities to network with present and former FNU students. 
Versailles, Ky. 
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).