Frontier Nursing University Awarded 2018 Health Professions HEED Award
Frontier Nursing University (FNU) was recently awarded the 2018 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine is the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education, and the HEED Award is a national honor recognizing US medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, nursing, veterinary, allied health, and other health schools and centers that demonstrate outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
FNU President Dr. Susan Stone tells Frontier.edu, “We are deeply honored to receive the prestigious HEED Award. 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.”
FNU will be featured in the December 2018 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine along with 34 other higher education institutions. FNU was awarded for the implementation of its FNU PRIDE Initiative (Promoting Recruitment and Retention to Increase Diversity in Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner Education) in 2010 which spearheaded targeted recruitment activities and increased student of color enrollment from 9% in 2010 to 23% in 2018.
The university has also held three annual Diversity Impact Student Conferences to ensure that nurse practitioners and nurse midwives understand the challenges and opportunities offered by diversity in rural and underserved healthcare systems. To further demonstrate ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, FNU created a Chief Diversity Inclusion Officer (CDIO) position in 2017 and appointed Dr. Maria Valentin-Welch to that office.
To learn more about Frontier Nursing University being awarded the 2018 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, visit here.