Frontier Nursing University (FNU) celebrated the 1,064 students who graduated in 2022 at the university’s first in-person commencement ceremony since 2019. The 2020 and 2021 ceremonies were held virtually due to the pandemic. All graduates from 2020 and 2021 were also invited to attend the 2022 ceremony, which was held at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, on Saturday, September 24. Approximately 1,500 people were in attendance, including 264 graduates, over 1,000 family members and friends, and FNU faculty and staff.
“The past two years have been incredibly difficult for so many people, and we are very proud of the determination and desire you have displayed in earning your degree,” said FNU Dean of Nursing Dr. Joan Slager, CNM, DNP, FACNM, FAAN. “We can all agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the invaluable roles that nurses and midwives play in providing healthcare around the globe. After today, each of you will be able to say you graduated during an unforgettable time in our history. You are ready to make a significant difference and contribution to your community, and that is what Frontier Nursing University expects from all members of our community. We make a difference by answering the call to serve.”
Dr. Slager went on to introduce the keynote speaker, Dr. Tim Raderstorf, DNP, RN. Dr. Raderstorf is the Talent Partner for AndHealth, a digital health company focused on helping people reclaim their lives from chronic illness. He also holds volunteer positions as the Head of Academic Entrepreneurship at the Erdős Institute and the Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit NursesEverywhere. He is a member of the American Nurses Association’s Innovation Advisory Board. In his previous role, Tim was the Chief Innovation Officer at The Ohio State University College of Nursing.
Dr. Raderstorf is also the founder of the Innovation Studio, a maker space that democratizes innovation, providing every interprofessional team that pitches their innovation with the funding, tools, and mentorship needed to turn ideas into actions.
His new textbook, co-authored with Bern Melnyk, Evidence-Based Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Nursing and Healthcare: A Practical Guide for Success, was a #1 new release on Amazon and the American Journal of Nursing’s Management & Leadership Book of the Year. Dr. Raderstorf was recently inducted into the 2020 Class of 40 under 40 by Columbus Business First and was inducted as a 2021 Fellow at the American Academy of Nursing.
“Your voice matters. If nursing collectively as the largest healthcare profession can unify our voice, then we have the capacity to change the country,” Dr. Raderstorf said in his keynote address. “I hope to see you impact the lives of many throughout the communities that you serve.”
The commencement ceremony also included the presentation of the university’s annual leadership awards, honoring the students who provided exceptional leadership to their peers. Here are the 2022 FNU Student Leadership Awards winners:
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Kitty Ernst Nurse-Midwifery Student Leadership Award
Joanna Wilder, CNEP
Class 189
Tigard, OR
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Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award
Shauntey Singletary, WHCNP
Class 196
Seaford, DE
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Family Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award
Catherine Underwood, FNP
Class 189
Wahiawa, HI
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Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Student Leadership Award
Kaitlyn Rychlowski, PMHNP
Class 191
Fond Du Lac, WI
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Doctor of Nursing Practice Student Leadership Award
Dr. Estella Wetzel, DNP, APRN, FNP-C DNP
Class 39
Beavercreek, OH
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Doctor of Nursing Practice Exemplary Project Award
Dr. Melissa Morris, DNP
Class 42
Silver Plume, CO
Increasing Effective Care for Emergency Department Patients with Opioid-Related Diagnoses Using World Health Organization Guidelines
Commencement also always features the presentation of the Excellence in Teaching Awards. Each year, the Student Council leads the student body in selecting faculty members to receive Excellence in Teaching awards. These awards are given annually to faculty members who inspire and impact their students. The students select both an Academic Faculty Award and Regional Clinical Faculty Award. Here are the 2022 FNU Excellence in Teaching Award winners:
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Academic Faculty Excellence In Teaching Award
Dr. Joshua Faucett DNP, MBA, FNP-BC, CNE
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Regional Clinical Faculty Excellence In Teaching Award
Dr. Tammy Whitehead, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, CNE
Commencement 2023 is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 23, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
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).