SCO welcomes Professor and Lifetime Achievement recipient Lisa R. Wade, OD '84, back to campus as Director of the Hayes Center for Practice Excellence. Dr. Wade spent 20 years at SCO prior to her retirement in 2006, including serving as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and overseeing the campaign to fund construction of The Eye Center. She spent the last decade as the Dealer-Principal of Southern Thunder Harley-Davidson, one of the region's most successful motorcycle dealerships. Joining the Hayes Center as Program Coordinator is Anthony Hubbard, who previously served as Career Services Coordinator for Davenport University. SCO thanks Jerry Eisenstatt, OD '84, for leading the program prior to his return to private practice last year, and to Glenn Goldring, OD '78, for leading the program in the interim. Read more about the new Hayes Center leadership in this news blog post. On a related note, the Hayes Center is accepting applications for the 2nd annual Practice of Excellence Award. Learn more about the criteria and application form here.

Nearly two dozen representatives of state and national optometry associations visited campus earlier this week for SCO's annual State Day event. A number of alumni participated, including former AOA President Joe Ellis, OD '86, one of several speakers at a campus-wide assembly of students in which attendees were encouraged to become more active in advocacy efforts to advance optometry. Other alumni networked with students at an evening reception with tables set up for each respective state; participants included SCO Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Terry Swinger, OD '64, pictured, a former Missouri legislator. SCO extends its appreciation to all alumni, state association representatives and industry participants for their support of this vital program.

Faculty and SCO Updates

SCO currently enjoys three leaders of national optometry organizations: AOA President David Cockrell, OD '81, NOSA President Brittany Tounsel, '15, and the election last week of AOSA President Hunter Chapman, '16, the first SCO student to serve as AOSA president since Jeffrey Dunn, OD '94. With SCO President Richard W. Phillips, OD '78, the incoming president of ASCO, SCO's alumni and students are active leaders at the national scale, a theme noted in this news blog post.

The AOA Foundation recently announces its 2015 scholarship program award recipients, including two SCO students: Amy Puerto, '15, winner of the Dr. Pat & Patrick Cummings Scholarship Grant, and Kyle Stott, '16, second place winner of the 2015 InfantSEE Scholarship Grant.

Registration will open soon for SCO's Spring CE weekend, to be held April 17-19; look for an email with more details.

Look for more information in next month's newsletter, but make plans to join SCO at our annual reception for alumni and friends at SECO on March 6 in Atlanta.

Marie Bodack, OD, reviewed "Visionary Kitchen: A Cookbook for Eye Health" in Optometry and Visual Performance.
 
Chris Borgman, OD, authored an Optometry Times article entitled, "Why residency was the best thing I ever did for my career."

Mike Christensen, OD, PhD, reports that several faculty members received very high to perfect peer survey evaluations for their recent presentations at the fall meeting of the American Academy of Optometry.

Malinda Fitzgerald, PhD, was named an ARVO Gold Fellow, presented a poster at the Society of Neuroscience, and published a paper in the Frontiers in Psychology, section Perception Science.

Paul Harris, OD, recently traveled to Australia to present an Optometric Extension Program in multiple venues; he also was wed earlier this month to Memphis realtor Debra Provow in a ceremony officiated by fellow faculty member, Marc Taub, OD.

Cynthia Heard, OD, completed certification training as an ACOE consultant.

John Mark Jackson, OD '99, MS, published an aritcle entitled, "Keep Reinforcing GP Lens Compliance" in the December 2014 issue of Contact Lens Spectrum.

Alan Kabat, OD, was interviewed last month by ABC-24 in Memphis about BlephEx as a treatment being offered at SCO's TearWell: Advanced Dry Eye Treatment Center. Dr. Kabat also recently participated in the Dry Eye Summit along with 27 other experts hosted by BioScience Communications and 12 industry partners.

Chris Lievens, OD, MS, co-authored an article in Optometry Times entitled, "Managing Healthy Aging and Vision."

Glen Steele, OD '69, chaired the InfantSEE Committee meeting last month in St. Louis.

Marc Taub, OD, published an editorial, "Not all journals are created equal" in Optometry and Visual Performance, which he also edits along with Pam Schnell, OD '01.



In Memoriam:

• Murray Schulman, OD '42, Pacific Palisades, CA
• Sylvester W. Hora, Jr., OD '49, Corinth, MS
• Darrell Broadway, OD '49, Marked Tree, AR. Dr. Broadway served many years on the board of directors of the Arkansas Optometric Association, including terms as president. He received the association's Lifetime of Excellence Award in 2012. He also served on the State Board of Optometry and received the Paul Harris Award from the Rotary Club.
• William H. Causey, Jr., OD '49, Monroe, LA
• Harold Don Montgomery, OD '49, Dallas, TX
• Robert G. Settimi, OD '60, Brookfield, WI
• Roger Deshaies, OD '67, Memphis, TN
• Rachana Shah, OD '13, Nashville, TN

 

• Feb. 7-8: Destination CE, New Orleans
• March 4-8, SECO, Atlanta
• April 17-19, SCO Spring CE, Memphis