Samantha Crouch, DNP, Garners National Recognition for Efforts to Advance Nurse-Midwifery Profession
| When Samantha Crouch enrolled at the Oregon Health and Science University to pursue an advanced degree in nurse-midwifery, the Fayetteville native understood that she faced an uncertain future in her home state.
“Many people in the health care field encouraged me to do my thing, but they told me not to expect it to be a viable career if I wanted to come back to Arkansas,” said Crouch, DNP, CNM, assistant professor in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Nursing and director of its Nurse-Midwifery Program, which will launch in fall 2026.
Crouch ultimately decided to return to Arkansas in 2017, and she has since served as a vocal advocate for the expansion of nurse-midwifery care throughout the state. Her leadership, clinical excellence and professional achievements recently garnered national recognition as she was inducted as part of the 2025 class of Fellows in the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
Samantha Crouch stands with Shalyn Calaway, a nurse-midwife at UAMS, after Crouch’s induction as a Fellow in the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
Crouch’s induction took place Oct. 11 during the professional organization’s annual meeting in Palm Springs, California. She was one of 69 members in this year’s class.
“This induction validates the work I’ve done over the past eight years,” she said. “There have been a lot of times when I could’ve taken a less challenging route, but I’ve tried my best to help advance this profession.”
After moving back to Northwest Arkansas, Crouch landed a job at a women’s health clinic and built a private practice as the facility’s only nurse-midwife. She left the clinic in 2022 to work with the seven-member team of nurse-midwives at UAMS.
When the College of Nursing began its effort to establish a nurse-midwifery program, Crouch assisted in curriculum development and served on the search committee for the program’s first director. She eventually was asked to take the role herself.
“I’m thrilled to be doing this job,” she said. “I’m fulfilled and excited about my work in a way that I haven’t been since I left private practice.”
The master’s-level program, which recently received preaccreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education, will help practicing registered nurses enter the nurse-midwifery profession after two and a half years of graduate training. The program will start with six students in each of its first two classes, though Crouch said she hopes to see that number rise in future years as graduates join the workforce and create more clinical training opportunities for the students who follow them.
“These first couple of cohorts will be the face of this program,” she said. “They’re really going to represent what we’ve spent years building.”
The program’s creation is part of a statewide effort to reduce Arkansas’ rates of maternal and infant mortality, which rank among the highest in the nation. In recent years, the Arkansas Legislature has moved to expand access to midwifery care by granting full-practice rights to nurse-midwives and allocating $500,000 in state funding for the Nurse-Midwifery Program.
Crouch also praised her colleagues at UAMS for supporting the advancement of midwifery care. She said Patricia Cowan, Ph.D., RN, professor emerita and former dean of the College of Nursing, and Teresa Whited, DNP, RN, associate professor and associate dean of academic programs for the college, were instrumental as mentors and as fundraisers for the program. And Ryan Cork, MSHA, vice chancellor of the UAMS Northwest Region, helped her open a nurse-midwifery clinic at the Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville, where she sees patients for a few hours each week.
“I think the landscape is primed for nurse-midwives to make a big difference in our state,” Crouch said. “We’re seeing an incredible amount of support for our profession right now, and there will be a lot of opportunities for students who come out of this program.”