Connie’s first baby, “David” born in 1972, and a 16-year-old mother.
August is National “Make-a-Will” Month, a perfect opportunity to update your current will or to create one if you haven’t done so already. As a crucial estate-planning tool, a will simplifies the process of transferring assets to not only loved ones, but also charitable causes and institutions that matter to you.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a will can help you:
- Appoint the guardian of your minor children.
- Avoid a lengthy probate process.
- Minimize estate taxes through gifts to family members and/or charitable organizations.
- Decide who will be the executor of your estate to ensure your affairs are in order.
- Make gifts or donations that reflect your personal values and interests.
Connie in her red jeep “Devon” on her way to a home visit.
For Connie Becker, CNM, FNU is one of those cherished institutions. A Frontier graduate, Becker was with the Frontier Nursing Service from 1971 to 1973. Her experience included four months in the second class of the Family Nurse Practitioner program and eight months in the Certified Nurse-Midwife course.
Becker then went on to become a part-time instructor for nurse practitioner and certified nurse-midwifery students, while also working part-time as a nurse in FNU’s original home of Hyden, Kentucky. Following her time at Frontier, Becker continued her career in various nurse-midwifery roles, retiring at 55 after over 30 years of service and the remarkable achievement of delivering 3,765 babies.
Even in retirement, Becker remains vibrant and active. She enjoys hiking, pickleball and traveling, with trips to South Africa and Scotland on the calendar.
Connie during a home visit with George and Elmira.
Appreciative of the education and experience she gained at Frontier, Becker has chosen to include FNU in her estate planning, ensuring that future generations will benefit from the institution that played such a significant role in her life. Connie’s estate gift will support a student from Kentucky who attends Frontier via a scholarship.
“I started with a financial planner, helping to make a lifelong plan,” she said. “As age crept up, I needed to get my affairs in order. I hired a lawyer and now have an estate and trust plan.”
Becker is among countless individuals from diverse backgrounds who have included FNU in their planned giving. Those who make a planned gift provide enduring support for future generations of healthcare professionals who will continue the legacy of caring for thousands of mothers, babies, and families, just as FNU and FNS alumni have done for a century.
Connie and her first baby “David” born in 1972.
There are various options to support FNU through planned giving, such as naming FNU in your will; designating FNU as a beneficiary of a retirement asset, life insurance policy, or gift annuity; or donating appreciated assets. You can direct your gift to particular funds or areas of greatest need, and our Advancement staff is available to assist you in creating a legacy that aligns with your values while supporting FNU students in achieving their goals.
For more information, please contact our Chief Advancement Officer Bobbi Silver at bobbi.silver@frontier.edu or at 859-251-4739. To learn more about ways to give to FNU, visit frontier.edu/give-to-fnu.
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).