NEW GRADUATING STUDENTS PROGRAM

This month we will celebrate the accomplishments of another graduating class of optometrists. If you happen to be one of these new doctors and are reading this page, the Academy wants to be among many to congratulate you. The Academy has long recognized that learning doesn’t end with graduation. It is a life-long process. From its very beginnings in 1922, Academy Fellows have gathered at annual meetings to see and hear the latest scientific findings in vision, and apply them to the care of their patients. During the year, Fellows have access to additional new discoveries in optometry’s premier journal, Optometry and Vision Science. The Academy is committed to providing the life-long learning opportunities you will need throughout your career. To that end, the Academy is pleased to inform all graduates that, this spring, graduating optometry students can become Candidates for Fellowship immediately upon graduation. New optometrists can hone their clinical skills through the process of becoming a Fellow, and, as a graduation gift, the Academy is waiving the first year’s Candidate dues and application fee. The Academy would like to promote this new “Conversion of Students to Candidates Program” on the Academy’s Facebook page. We need your help! If you are on Facebook, please post short statements of how Fellowship has benefited you in practice. In addition, we need enthusiastic practicing Fellows to supplement the presentations at the optometry schools by briefly speaking about how Academy Fellowship has benefited them in practice. If you are not on Facebook yet and would like to send a quote for the Facebook page or speak about the benefits of Academy Fellowship at your local school or college of optometry, please contact the Chair of the Membership Committee, Dr. Melissa Bailey. [To Top] LEADERSHIP KEY #3: “CHANGE-LEADERSHIP CULTURE” IS NOT A FAIRY TALE Merton C. Flom, OD, PhD, FAAO Once upon a time, one of our Academy Fellows was interested in church architecture. He went to Milan, Italy to observe the construction of a modern look in Italian churches. A group of architects had gotten together and decided they wanted to change the traditional look of Italian churches — but at the same time respect the history of the great medieval and renaissance cathedrals of Italy. These architects had developed a reputation for not only being brilliant in their creative designs, but masterful in producing a culture in which workers shared in a new kind of architectural vision. When our Fellow arrived at the construction site, he saw the beginnings of a building, and scores of workers. When he asked a mason what she was doing, the mason replied in Italian, “I am building one of the most beautiful churches in all of Italy, and the world. It will be modern, but it will follow in the tradition of our classical Italian churches, world-famous since the thirteenth century.” Another worker was hauling mortar. To the same question, he answered, “I am building a modern and spectacular cathedral with stained glass by Michelangelo and a cross by da Vinci. Each of its four bell towers will stand 1300 feet tall, the closest to heaven of any in the world.” Nearly all of the workers answered similarly to “What are you doing?” An occasional exception, for example, was a mason who curtly replied, “I am laying bricks.” Our Fellow returned home. He was struck by a similar experience when he attended the Academy’s Annual Meeting. From many observations and conversations, he noted that only a few colleagues seemed to be laying bricks — that is, passively and with apparent detachment taking courses, attending section and general meetings, seeing the scientific posters, and walking through the exhibits. Nearly all Academy Fellows, on the other hand, seemed to be building a cathedral. They did the same Academy things, but with involvement and verve. They spoke of a sense of change in the Academy — of achieving a new vision in clinical optometric patient care for the good of society. They saw themselves and the Academy leading the way to achieving this vision, while respecting the past. In this tale, nearly all of the construction workers and Academy Fellows are exhibiting a “change-leadership culture.” Nearly everyone actively participates in a common shared change process. Achieving a “change-leadership culture” in our Academy is a potential treasure, not a fairy tale. [To Top]