Each spring and fall, Frontier Nursing University’s (FNU) Chi Pi chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (STTI) awards exceptional students with a $750 scholarship for their strong academic success. All recipients have previously qualified for STTI membership by completing at least a quarter of their degree program, holding a 3.5 or higher grade point average, and demonstrating academic excellence.
Join us in celebrating all of this year’s spring scholarship recipients:
- CE Durfee, MSN (Nurse-Midwifery), Class 179
- Dominique Wilson, MSN (Nurse-Midwifery), Class 181
- Cathy Cook, DNP, Class 34
- Devon Vandewiele, MSN (Nurse-Midwifery), Class 182
- Chelsey Hymas, MSN (FNP), Class 179
- Hannah Morrison, MSN (PMHNP), Class 179
- Amy Guzman, MSN (Nurse-Midwifery), Class 178
Congratulations to all of the recipients! Keep up the great work – we can’t wait to see what big things your futures hold!
Here are some of the things this year’s winners have to say about receiving the scholarship and how it will help them in their healthcare journey:
“Wow! Thank you so much! I am a Class 17 CNEP graduate. I always felt I was ‘called’ to FNU from the moment I called Frontier that very first day and spoke to Judy Pennington; I just felt like Frontier was ‘home’. I have been honored to serve women and their families for over 30 years, first as a registered nurse and then a midwife. Four years ago I had the opportunity to come home once again as a Regional Clinical Faculty member. I now enjoy midwifing our Midwife and WHNP students; it is amazing to see ourselves surpassed. I had no real plans (as I didn’t expect to win) for the scholarship money, however, I will use it to purchase regalia to wear at graduation! Thank you once again for the scholarship and the chance to tell everyone how much FNU means to me.” –Cathy Cook
“Thank you so much for this opportunity. This scholarship will greatly help me as a single mom as I prepare to get through my clinical rotations this summer/fall of 2020 and next winter/spring 2021. I need financial help to pay for the certifications I will need for clinicals – neonatal resuscitation program, my BLS renewal, and the money I need to take my boards. I am a single mom and am doing this graduate school program without any financial help or support from anyone. This money will help me be able to keep our household afloat. I have a 16-year-old son and will be spending a lot of money on gas as I travel to and from clinicals which will be an hour away. I may also need to upgrade my phone as we will be using apps for our clinical resource tools and I may have to purchase extra apps to help with clinicals. Thanks again for this much needed financial support and for the valued support of my academic goals from Chi Pi.” –Amy Guzman
“Wow! Thank you so much! I plan to use the scholarship money to help cover the cost of attending Clinical Bound this fall. I’m so excited!” –Chelsey Hymas
“I am SO honored, thank you so very much! This scholarship will help me with tuition, which in return will allow me to quit my job and focus my energy on my clinical time in and out of a hospital birth center in San Francisco, California. I will be learning to provide evidence-based, culturally competent, group prenatal care, while also attending births outside of the hospital setting. With the help of this scholarship, I will be able to focus my time on the building blocks of my future career as a Certified Nurse Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. My goal is to then use this foundational knowledge to work all over the world with underserved communities because I believe that by empowering expecting mothers and their families, we can benefit entire communities. Thank you so much for your generosity.” –Devon Vandewiele
For more information about Chi Pi and how to apply for upcoming scholarships, visit Frontier.edu/Honor-Society.
Each fall, 
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).