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Frontier Nursing University Receives 2018 Health Professions HEED Award

October 18, 2018 By frontieredu

Versailles, Ky. – Today, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) received the 2018 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the annual Health Professions HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, nursing, veterinary, allied health, and other health schools and centers that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — FNU will be featured, along with 34 other recipients, in the December 2018 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

“We are deeply honored to receive the prestigious HEED Award,” said FNU President Dr. Susan Stone. “We believe in the benefits of a diverse university and in the positive impacts our diverse graduates can make in communities across the country. Our graduates serve people of all races and cultures and are increasingly coming from diverse backgrounds. It is imperative that our students, faculty and staff have cultural awareness and competency in order to effectively advance our mission of servant leadership. We have demonstrated our ongoing commitment to diversity by implementing programs and structure to ensure we reach our goals. The HEED Award is a validation of those efforts and provides additional inspiration to maintain our commitment to achieving and exceeding our diversity and inclusion goals.”

Since the implementation of the FNU PRIDE Initiative (Promoting Recruitment and Retention to Increase Diversity in Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner Education) in 2010, which spearheaded many targeted recruitment activities, FNU has increased the student of color enrollment from 9% in 2010 to 23% in 2018. This success has been achieved through a comprehensive marketing effort targeting prospective students from underrepresented groups. Advertisements, conferences, events, and public relations have been focused on reaching and recruiting new students from underrepresented groups.

FNU has also held annual three-day Diversity Impact Student Conferences since the PRIDE Initiative began. The purpose of the Diversity Impact Conference is to ensure that nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives understand the challenges and opportunities offered by diversity in rural and underserved healthcare systems. Moreover, Diversity Impact advances solutions to problems posed by contemporary health care policy.

To further demonstrate its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, FNU created the position of Chief Diversity Inclusion Officer (CDIO) in 2017 and named Dr. Maria Valentin-Welch to that office. Dr. Valentin-Welch was named one of the Top 25 Women in Higher Education by Diverse Magazine earlier this year.

“The Health Professions HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both; continued leadership support for diversity; and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a Health Professions HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for schools where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being accomplished every day across their campus.”

About Frontier Nursing University:

The mission of FNU is to provide accessible nurse-midwifery and nurse practitioner education to prepare competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate leaders in primary care to serve all individuals with an emphasis on women and families in diverse, rural, and underserved populations. FNU offers graduate Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse-Practitioner distance education programs that can be pursued full- or part-time with the student’s home community serving as the classroom. Degrees and options offered include Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or Post-Graduate Certificates. To learn more about FNU and the programs and degrees offered, please visit Frontier.edu.

About INSIGHT Into Diversity

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine is the oldest and largest diversity publication in higher education today and is known for its annual Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, the only award recognizing colleges and universities for outstanding diversity and inclusion efforts across their campuses. In addition to its online job board, INSIGHT Into Diversity presents timely, thought-provoking news and feature stories on matters of diversity and inclusion across higher education and beyond. Articles include interviews with innovators and experts, as well as profiles of best practices and exemplary programs. Readers will also discover career opportunities that connect job seekers with institutions and businesses that embrace a diverse and inclusive workforce. Current, archived, and digital issues of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine are available online at insightintodiversity.com.

FNU Diversity Impact Celebrates 8 Years

July 16, 2018 By frontieredu

Frontier Nursing University (FNU) continued its initiative for a more diverse, culturally-conscious health care workforce through the 8th annual Diversity Impact Student Conference, held from June 7-10, 2018.

Diversity Impact is hosted by FNU’s PRIDE program (Promoting Recruitment and Retention to Increase Diversity in Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner Education). The conference is open to any FNU student who wants to make a difference in providing care to rural and underserved communities.

The theme for Diversity Impact 2018: We Are One: Uniting Dreamers with Diverse Voices. The four-day program was designed with workshops and activities to help attendees explore how to fully experience, live and create meaningful connections within diverse communities.

Presenters at this year’s conference spoke on mental health and cultural care, transcultural nursing and the current state of mortality rates in the African American community. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Nancy López, Ph.D, titled Intersectionality: Examining Race, Gender, Class, Ethnicity, and the Results of Inequalities. Nursing students were challenged to foster their leadership skills to improve minority health among underrepresented and marginalized groups.

The conference programming also includes interactive learning opportunities for attendees. On the second day of the conference, participants took a cultural field trip to the memorial site of the 1970 Finley Mine Explosion in Hyden, Ky., tracing historical events to further explore rural health in the Appalachian region.

Another group activity promoted cross-cultural communication in an emergency environment. Student groups recreated the scene of a natural disaster or global epidemic and used artistic expression to inform an international population about a disease outbreak in a foreign country.

To finish the conference, students engaged in collaborative discussions to address health disparities and find proactive solutions to improve minority health among underrepresented and marginalized groups. This year, the featured topics for the forum discussions were: environmentally-sustainable healthcare; mental health in patient and police interactions; and vulnerable populations and sexual IQ risk reduction.

The 2018 Diversity Impact conference reinforces FNU’s strong initiatives to improve health care for mothers, babies and families. See local news coverage of this year’s Diversity Impact.

Photos from the event can be viewed here.

Interested in how you can get involved? Visit the Diversity Impact Student Conference page.

Listen to recordings from the live premier speaker sessions here:

FNU President Susan Stone Discusses Maternal Mortality on Nursecast Podcast

June 25, 2018 By frontieredu

Dr. Susan Stone, DNSc, CNM, FACNM, FAAN, certified nurse-midwife, President of Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and President of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), recently sat down with Andrew Bennie of Springer Publishing Group to continue the ongoing conversation about how to end maternal mortality. Dr. Stone has been working in the field of reproductive health care for women for over 30 years, and is an advocate for women seeking an emotional and physically satisfying childbirth.

The conversation, recorded on a “Nursecast” podcast episode by Springer Publishing, is linked here.

Dr. Stone recently published pieces on maternal mortality on DailyNurse.com and KYForward. As evidenced in those articles, she explains that the United States has been seeing a dramatic rise in the maternal mortality rate. According to data, 700 women around the U.S. die of pregnancy complications per year, while 50,000 cases are near misses. Many of these cases are disproportionately correlated to race.

“Maternal mortality happens with women of color three to four times more than it does Caucasian women,” said Dr. Stone. Moreover, the overall health of women in the U.S. has taken a downturn in the last twenty years.

“We are seeing women with more medical complications when they enter labor,” said Dr. Stone. “You have in-hospital issues such as hemorrhages, hypertension, gestational diabetes, obesity – those are contributing to the sentinel events that are occurring.”

Dr. Stone’s main focus is how to prevent women from getting to the point where complex problems challenge their health outcomes in pregnancy. Social issues, lack of access to healthcare through insurance, lack of accessible clinic care in rural areas and poor communication are among some of the biggest culprits in the rising maternal mortality rate.

To chip away at the problem, Dr. Stone points to the need to diversify the healthcare workforce to provide race-concordant care. Patients are more receptive to care from a health provider who understands their culture and socioeconomic background. Currently, only 6% of midwives are women or men of color. FNU’s initiative to diversify not only the field of midwifery, but the healthcare workforce as a whole, has made great strides. To date, 22% of FNU students are men and women of color – up from just 9% in 2010.

As President of ACNM, Dr. Stone is also working on several legislative agendas to bring about change. Maternal mortality review committees, which ACNM would like to see established in every state, could be a key to getting down to the cause of maternal mortality.

“The idea is to do root-cause analysis on every single mortality that happens, and then you start to see trends,” said Dr. Stone. “When you start to see trends, you can start to create programs to address those problems. And then you can start to see some results.”

Nurses around the nation are urged to step up to be a vessel for positive change.“Make sure you are a member of an organization,” said Dr. Stone. “We all need to be able to lobby, vote and participate on different committees.”

Though still an uphill climb, Dr. Stone is hopeful about the changes that are already being put into place to lower the rate of maternal mortality.

“I can see more collaboration now, even across all disciplines, than I have ever seen in my nearly 35 years of working in this industry,” she said. “Together, we really can make a difference.”

Read about Dr. Stone’s FNU Digital Summit presentation, “Maternity Workforce Shortages: Consequences and Possible Solutions,” here.

To listen to more maternal mortality-related podcasts, visit Nursecast.com.

FNU to host 8th Annual Diversity Impact Student Conference

March 6, 2018 By frontieredu

If you want to make a difference in providing care to rural and underserved communities, consider this your personal invitation. On June 7-10, 2018, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) will hold the 8th annual Diversity Impact Student Conference, a one-of-a-kind experience designed to “Promote Recruitment and Retention to Increase Diversity in Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner Education.”

When: June 7-10, 2018

Who: If you are currently a FNU student or FNU Alumnus, this event is FREE for you! Hosted by FNU’s Diversity PRIDE student organization, Diversity Impact 2018 will open the door for nurse-practitioners and midwifery students to engage in collaborative discussions, address health disparities, and find proactive solutions to improve minority health among underrepresented and marginalized groups. You will hear an inspiring lineup of speakers, and engage in a variety of ways with other students as well as FNU faculty and staff members.

Where: The conference is hosted at Frontier’s campus, nestled in the scenic mountains in eastern Kentucky. With such beautiful surroundings, you can take time to engage with nature during your free time between conference sessions.

What: Throughout the four-day conference, you will:

Attend sessions hosted by nationally recognized nursing leaders
Engage in cross-cultural activities and intercultural workshops
Participate in team-building exercises, cultural competency awareness training, and open dialogues
Network with available FNU students, community leaders, faculty and staff
Learn nurse-leadership strategies to care for diverse patient populations

How to Register: Click here to register for the 2018 Diversity Impact Student Conference. All attendees (students/alumni) will be responsible for arranging their mode of transportation to and from campus (i.e- flight, rental car, etc.). Seating reservations, campus room and board will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis until the conference has reached maximum capacity.

Take me to the 2018 Diversity Impact Student Conference home page

Meet FNU’s New Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO) Dr. Maria Valentin-Welch, DNP, MPH, CDP, CNM, FACNM

January 2, 2018 By frontieredu

Dr. Maria Velentin-Welch

Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is seeing yet another one of its diversity initiatives realized through Dr. Maria Valentin-Welch in her new role as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Maria’s new position, which she assumed on October 1, is designed to guide the institution on matters of equity, diversity and inclusion.

Dr. Valentin-Welch has over 30 years of teaching experience, including her role at Frontier as an assistant professor since 2013. Through extensive work with marginalized and underserved populations, Maria has garnered several awards and accolades. She completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at FNU in 2015. Her DNP capstone project was a national online tutorial pilot program for ethnically diverse student nurse-midwives.

Frontier spoke with Maria about her passion for diversity and inclusion, how she will strategize those initiatives at FNU, and the challenges she expects to face in her inaugural post as CDIO.

What has been your career path so far and how has it led you to your current role as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer?

“A medical encounter shaped my understanding of the need for diversity in the medical world. There was a man that was restrained; he was trying to pull his IV because he was trying to get to his true hospital. I advocated for this man, explained the situation…I was told, ‘Well, we don’t have a translator, so we didn’t understand him,’ which was unacceptable. We found a translator, and the man proceeded to have his IV removed and was transferred to the hospital where he belonged. This experience really taught me how to be a voice for the voiceless, and to be an advocate for those who need advocacy.”

How has your professional background influenced your passion for diversity and inclusion?

“While working with homeless pregnant women, I felt like I wanted to do more with my hands, and that was my inspiration, my calling, into nurse-midwifery. Also my love for education has influenced my passion for diversity and inclusion. I have always been a teacher in my heart. I have taught and precepted many students…teaching is in my blood.

Another changing encountered occurred during my first visit at Frontier. In 2012 I came to Frontier’s Diversity Impact Weekend for the Pride Program as a keynote speaker, and there I not only fell in love with Frontier, but I also fell in love with the students who encouraged me to go back to school and go back to teaching. Now, I am an alumni of Frontier; I went to their doctorate program, and my capstone project was on tutoring and mentoring students of color. So, all of this was instrumental in bringing me to this point in my life.”

Learn more about Maria’s journey to Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer in this video.

Where did your passion for diversity and inclusion begin?

“My passion for diversity and inclusion began really by being raised in New York City. It was a wonderful, diverse area to be brought up in, and it taught me that we are more alike than we are different. Another encounter in my life that really brought passion of diversity in my life was being moved from New York to Boston, Massachusetts in the seventies during the busing times. A historical era with a lot of racism and hatred in Massachusetts which has definitely improved since. However, that time period was really sad and showed me how ugly division can be.

A school incident took place that taught me that I am neither white, nor black, nor ‘other.’ I am Maria, and no one can label me. I am myself and that goes for every single person; we are all each personally unique and individual.”

Learn more about Maria’s passion for diversity and inclusion in this video.

How do you define diversity and inclusion at Frontier Nursing University?

“When our differences come together in a respectful and appreciative way for what each of us bring to the table, that’s when we reach diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion in a nutshell is the power of unity, and FNU will be more powerful for including it in its strategic plan.

Diversity is like a beautiful tapestry made up of each and every one of us. We are all different in so many ways, beautiful ways. However, when our differences are united in a positive way, we create a powerful, enhanced atmosphere that otherwise would be lacking due to missing parts. So, diversity and inclusion is the glue of unity.”

Learn more about how Maria defines diversity and inclusion in this video.

What are you most excited about with your new position?

“I am most excited about the programs I hope to establish for students. Initially, these programs that I’ll be implementing will be pilot programs for our nurse workforce diversity grant students. We’ll work out the kinks and basically expand them to all students.

I’m also excited about bringing diversity to the forefront of Frontier. Our Community of Inquiry model will be stronger for it.”

What strategies do you feel will have the most positive impact on the FNU community?

“The strategies that I feel will have the most positive impact on Frontier are building these excellent student services, as well as diversity and inclusion training strategies and tactics to enhance our courses by threading diversity and inclusion issues along the way. We want to thread the subject matter even further throughout the curriculum. We will be stronger individually and as a whole because of the introductions of these plans.”

Learn more about Maria’s planned strategies as CDIO in this video.

What are the biggest challenges that you will face in your new role?

“Uniting folks while our nation is receiving messages of division and promoting actions of division and lack of compassion – to me, that will be my biggest challenge. However, I feel midwifery and nursing have always held an important role in not only listening to people, but also advocating for what is right. Frontier is better and stronger than the division being promoted across the nation.”

Learn more about the challenges Maria anticipates in her new role in this video.

What is a fun fact about you?

“My intersectionality is a fun fact. What is intersectionality? Intersectionality is a diversity term that basically explains that an individual has many hats that they bring to the table, not just what you see in front of you. So I’m not just a latina, female professor of a certain age. I’m also a mother, a wife, grandmother, and – here’s the fun fact – I’m even a great-grandmother of three great-grandchildren!”

Learn more about Maria in this video.

Best of luck in your new role, Maria! We are fortunate to have your influence here at FNU!

PRIDE 2017 – Year in Review

December 18, 2017 By frontieredu

This year has been a busy one for the Frontier Nursing University (FNU) Diversity PRIDE program, an initiative designed to promote diversity in nursing and midwifery. FNU is proud to recruit and retain underrepresented students who have the goal of becoming nurse-midwives or nurse practitioners.

“It is imperative that as providers we develop the relationships needed to support the lives and outcomes of the diverse and often ignored populations in our communities,” said FNU student and PRIDE participant Jeanine Valrie-Logan.

Each year, the PRIDE program sponsors essay contests where students may enter in hopes of attending a conference as a program ambassador. As an ambassador, students are asked to help at recruiting events, welcome alumni and friends to FNU receptions, network with experienced nursing professionals, gain continuing education, and chronicle their learning experience with video diaries.

PRIDE had a presence at these conferences in 2017:

MHC-Minority Health Conference, Chapel Hill, NC
KSU-Kentucky State University Nurse College/Career Fair, Frankfort, KY
KYANNA Black Nurses Association, Louisville, KY
ACNM-American College of Nurse Midwives, Chicago, IL
AANP-American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Philadelphia, PA
NAHN-National Association of Hispanic Nurses, Phoenix, AZ
NBNA-National Black Nurses Association, Las Vegas, NV
AWHONN – Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses Conference & Exhibit, New Orleans, LA
AAMN-American Assembly for Men in Nursing, Las Vegas, NV
AABC-American Association of Birth Centers, Anchorage, AK

ACNM 2017, Pride Group Photo

The events are not only great channels to enhance the student educational experience, but also provide opportunities to share FNU’s diversity initiative PRIDE program with prospective students and healthcare professionals. The staff and faculty at FNU hope these opportunities enhance the careers of these future CNMs and NPs.

While being a member of the FNU Diversity PRIDE program may not appear to be a vehicle for change, I would argue that it is,” said Elena Prendergast, FNU graduate. “This group represents a microcosm of our society as a whole. While our skin color, culture, beliefs and experiences may all be different, we are taught within the safety of this group that we all share one goal: to provide quality, compassionate care to our patients whoever and wherever they may be.”

FNU is dedicated to increasing diversity in nursing and midwifery, and we want to better prepare our students to care for a diverse group of women and families. Stay tuned for updates on the PRIDE program throughout the year! Learn more about FNU’s Diversity PRIDE program here.

See more from our PRIDE ambassadors on our YouTube channel!