OUR STRATEGIC PLAN:
Building the Next Frontier
Return to Strategic Planning homepage
PILLAR 1: Academic and Clinical Excellence
Overarching University Goal: Continuously improve and strategically expand academic programs and partnerships to further our mission
Goal 1: Design, evaluate, and sustain student-centered academic programs that are deeply aligned with evolving healthcare needs.
Goal 2: Develop and sustain academic and healthcare partnerships to support mission-driven program development in order to impact healthcare delivery in rural and underserved communities.
Goal 1: Strengthen the curriculum to prepare nurse practitioners and certified nurse-midwives for professional and clinical excellence in alignment with our mission.
Goal 2: Operationalize a competency-based education (CBE) framework to support student development by aligning the curriculum with emerging healthcare technologies and trends.
Goal 3: Refine curricular development and approval processes to foster innovation, ensure the incorporation of faculty expertise, enhance efficiency, and maintain high-quality.
Goal 4: Responsibly integrate artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies across the curriculum.
Goal 1: Establish an accredited simulation center and position the university as a recognized leader in simulation-based education.
Goal 2: Advance clinical readiness, including professional development, through simulation and interprofessional collaboration across the academic tracks.
Goal 1: Optimize the student clinical placement process to enhance quality and improve efficiency with a focus on rural and underserved communities.
Goal 2: Identify and execute innovative initiatives to attract and retain quality preceptors and ensure their long-term commitment to the university.
PILLAR 2: Student Success
Overarching University Goal: Cultivate a seamless, student-centered ecosystem grounded in inclusive excellence and our foundational Culture of Caring to support every student from enrollment through graduation and beyond
Goal 2: Improve proactive and integrated communication with prospective and existing students across a broad range of services including: admissions, financial aid, registration, academics, and advising/academic coaching.
Goal 1: Provide equitable support to all students, recognizing their diverse backgrounds, experiences, and strengths.
Goal 1: Increase student retention through data-driven analysis, targeted interventions, and quality improvement measures.
Goal 2: Enhance institutional structures, resources, and policies to support equitable student success.
Goal 1: Reconsider and capitalize upon opportunities for students to engage with faculty, staff, peers, and alumni during formal orientations, Bounds, at professional conferences, and through university-sponsored events.
Goal 2: Maximize opportunities for virtual and face-to-face student engagement in extra-curricular and social activities.
PILLAR 3: Innovation, Operational Excellence, and Strategic Positioning
Overarching University Goal: Advance a dynamic institutional culture that champions innovation, drives operational excellence, and promotes strategic positioning, ensuring long-term sustainability, measurable return on investment, and continued success for the university
Goal 1: Establish and maintain intentional external partnerships to advance the mission of the university.
Goal 2: Establish a center to serve as a sustainable infrastructure to support innovation, teaching excellence, service, and scholarship.
Goal 3: Explore initiatives and opportunities for potential campus development.
Goal 4: Responsibly integrate artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies across university operations to support students, staff, and faculty.
Goal 1: Assess and strategically redefine designated campus spaces to promote equitable student access, optimize staff and faculty collaboration and efficiency, and ensure sustainable utilization of the university’s infrastructure.
Goal 2: Review and refine university policy structures to standardize development, revision, and publication practices, supporting consistent and effective administration.
Goal 3: Evaluate and consider revisions to shared governance structures to productively, efficiently, and appropriately incorporate student, staff, and faculty voices.
Goal 4: Create and leverage internal systems to improve communication, facilitate informed decision-making, streamline operations, and increase efficiencies.
Goal 1: Identify new opportunities to strategically increase visibility and interest in our educational programs through an updated market analysis.
Goal 2: Develop a targeted brand awareness initiative for each academic track/program to strengthen the university’s reputation and strategically increase enrollment.
Return to Strategic Planning homepage
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).