Students, staff and faculty in the Frontier Nursing University (FNU) PRIDE Program represented FNU at two nurse association conferences in July.
The PRIDE Program at FNU promotes diversity in nursing and nurse-midwifery by recruiting and retaining underrepresented students with the goal of becoming nurse-midwives or nurse practitioners.
PRIDE members attended both the National Black Nurses Association and the National Association of Hispanic Nurses annual meetings in July of 2018.
FNU booth representatives with NBNA President Eric J. Williams
The 46th annual National Black Nurses Association Conference and Exhibit was held in St. Louis from July 31 – August 5. FNU Diversity PRIDE Program Coordinator, Wilvena Bernard, along with FNU Faculty Dr. Diane John and FNU PRIDE Student Ambassador Homecia St. Clair, attended the conference. The trio represented FNU as they gave out information to prospective students on the DNP program and employment opportunities at the university.
FNU students at NBNA
FNU also sent students from the NWD HRSA Professional Mentorship program to the NBNA conference. The mentorship program is a new university initiative to connect currently enrolled nursing students with faculty mentors at FNU. The mentorship program allowed FNU students Shani Pitts, Essence Williams, Catherine Orji and Ameenah Jackson to attend the conference with faculty mentor Dr. Tracy Hicks. Each left with invaluable experiences.
Student Ameenah Jackson presents at NBNA
Student Catherine Orji attended a Nurse Doctorate Symposium as part of her NBNA itinerary.
“l have a deeper understanding of the difference between a doctoral prepared nurse DNP and a PHD nurse,” she said. “l also embrace the importance of networking in my career.”
During the conference, student Ameenah Jackson presented a session entitled “A Nursing Call to Action: Black Maternal Mortality Crises.” Wilvena Bernard and Dr. John gave a presentation called “Unconscious Bias: The Impact of Communication and Healthcare Outcomes.” Both sessions received an enthusiastic regards from attendees.
FNU students also received honors at the conference. PRIDE member Essence Williams, RN, BSN, CBC, CCE, SNM was presented with the NBNA “Under 40” Award, and newly-admitted student Crystal Norman, BSN, RNC-OB received the “Staff Nurse of the Year” Award.
See photos from FNU at the NBNA Conference
FNU booth representatives at NAHN
On the same weekend, the 43rd annual National Association of Hispanic Nurses Meeting and Exhibition was held in Cleveland, Ohio. The conference began July 31 and concluded August 3. FNU Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Dr. Maria Valentin-Welch attended as a mentor for several students in the NWD mentorship program, and all represented FNU with information on its specialty tracks and educational opportunities.
FNU attendees with NAHN President Anabell Castro-Thompson
The students attending through the mentorship program were Leticia Fernandez, Onidis Lopez, Elizabeth Martinez, Elizabeth Aviles, Martha Travieso, & Kalena Lanuza.
This year’s conference theme, “Latino Health Care: Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity,” focused on addressing timely issues surrounding Latino healthcare regarding equity, diversity and inclusivity to bring awareness to health inequities affecting Hispanic communities of color.
Students attended workshops and sessions diving into that theme, and came away with powerful reflections.
Kalena, a DNP student at FNU, created a video sharing a synopsis of what she learned at the conference and why her mentorship experience was important.
FNU students with renowned Nursing Caring Theorist Dr. Jean Watson
“Seeing a group of dedicated, mostly Latino nurses, working together to navigate the current healthcare nursing landscape, while seeing to it that their cultural values and traditions were infused into the process was one of the highlights of this experience!,” she said.
See photos from FNU at the NAHN Meeting
Thanks to our students and mentors who attended and represented 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).