Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing News

Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletin, Fall 2003 by Stone, Susan

It has been an exciting Fall for the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. Two new classes of students were admitted on September 9th and November 4th adding a total of 59 new students to the FSMFN roster.

Graduation was held on October 18th. This graduation was a historic event for our school as it was the first time that the FSMFN granted the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. Along with that first went the adornment of the graduates, faculty and Board of Governors in formal academic regalia. The ceremony included the hooding of the MSN recipients. Over 150 family and friends joined our graduates to celebrate their achievement. It was a wonderful day full of "pomp and circumstance". A memory that will last forever came after the ceremony. Upon arriving back up on the hill I saw a large group of students with their families and holding their babies and grandbabies as they rang the Chapel Bell. This brought the graduates full circle as they had all rung that bell upon starting the program over 2 years ago. It was a wonderful sight to see.

A new project that we are working on for our current students is to update our clinical learning laboratory located on the first floor of Mardi Cottage. The models that students use to practice their skills on have become very old and worn. We are hoping to re-equip the learning laboratory with new simulators that will allow students to practice physical assessment skills, suturing skills, microscope skills etc. Many generous donations from our alumni and other supporters are assisting us with this project.

The accreditation process continues to be our most important goal. We are currently pursuing re-accreditation with the American College of Nurse-Midwives, accreditation for the MSN program from the National League for Nursing and accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This worthwhile process consumes many administrative hours. We will keep everyone informed of our progress. Best wishes to everyone for a happy and peaceful holiday season.

Ruth Beeman Named Dean Emerita

Ruth Beeman is a graduate of the Maternity Center Association (MCA) School of Midwifery, the University of Pennsylvania in Education, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium and Columbia University School of Public Health.

Ruth Beeman is the epitome of Mary Breckinridge's public health nurse midwife serving in fields at distance as a missionary in a small bush hospital in the Belgian Congo (Zaire) Africa, and the home birth service of MCA in New York City. She helped to transition the MCA school and service to the State University of New York Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. She has served as public health consultant for training many of the family planning nurses in New York State and in supervising the lay midwives practicing in Arizona. She developed graduate studies in maternity nursing at Indiana University, New York Medical College and Arizona State University.

In 1983 Ruth Beeman brought her talents and extraordinary academic and clinical experience to the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing (FSMFN) where she served as Dean until she retired in 1988. At the FSMFN she was responsible for all aspects of the nurse midwife/family nurse practitioner program including obtaining funding, accreditation from the American College of Nurse Midwives and the American Nurses Association. She served on the faculty of case Western Reserve University and originated the affiliation between Frances Payne Bolton School Nursing and the Fronter School. She continued to serve there as liaison and guest lecturer until 1992, working on research, the community based program curriculum and special projects.

In 1989 Ruth Beeman was called out of retirement to serve as faculty for the distance learning program. There is no person more worthy of being the first Dean Emerita of the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing than Ruth Coates Beeman.

-Kitty Ernst

by Dr. Susan Stone, President & Dean