Brooke A. Flinders, a double graduate of Frontier Nursing University, will become its next president on Aug. 1
Kentucky Health News
Brooke A. Flinders, who earned her advanced degrees from Frontier Nursing University, has been named the next president of the Versailles institution.
Flinders has extensive experience as an advanced practice nurse, educator, and college administrator. She will leave her position as a nursing professor and associate provost at Miami University in Ohio and become president of FNU on Aug. 1. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from FNU.
“We are thrilled that Dr. Flinders has accepted the offer to become the next president of Frontier Nursing University,” said FNU Board Chair Michael Carter. “Dr. Flinders’ wealth of experience as an educator, practitioner, and administrator will be a tremendous asset to our students and to our faculty and staff who support them. We are extremely excited about the future of Frontier under Dr. Flinders’ leadership.”
Flinders will succeed Susan E. Stone, who was with the university for more than 30 years, the last 23 as president. Stone will be president emeritus and chair of midwifery and nursing on FNU’s board.
Flinders obtained her Associate Degree of Science in Nursing (1994) and Bachelor of Science in Nursing (2003) degrees from Miami. In addition to acute care and community-based care experience as a registered nurse and full-scope practice as a certified nurse-midwife, Flinders has been a nurse educator, nursing department chair, and associate dean.
“I am proud and honored to accept the position of president of Frontier Nursing University,” Flinders said. “My connection to Frontier extends nearly two full decades, and I am so proud to be one of its more than 9,000 graduates. . . . I believe wholeheartedly in Frontier’s mission to provide accessible nurse-midwifery and nurse practitioner education that integrates the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I am excited to carry it forward.”
Flinders received the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award from Miami’s nurisng department, and in recognition of their service efforts during the Covid- pandemic, she and each of her nursing colleagues received the President’s Service Medallion. Flinders became a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 2021, as a recognition of her demonstrated leadership, clinical excellence, scholarship, and professional achievement.
“As a proud graduate of Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing and Frontier Nursing University, I am eager to build upon the amazingly strong foundation that already exists,” Flinders said. “Health-care provider shortages and the maternal mortality crisis plague our country. Frontier has a long history of finding unique solutions to complex problems, and we will continue to be a leader in identifying and implementing solutions by producing highly prepared nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who have answered the call to serve.”
FNU was founded in 1939 as the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery by the Frontier Nursing Service, a group of nurses and nurse-midwives who have served rural areas of Kentucky since 1925. Formerly located in Hyden, FNU completed its transition to Versailles in 2022 and is “one of the largest not for profit universities in the United States for advanced nursing and midwifery education, its website says.
Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
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