Michael G. Harris Family Award for Excellence in Optometric Education

Purpose

This award is presented by the American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) to an optometric educator who has demonstrated ongoing and consistent excellence in educating optometry students and/or the advancement of optometric education. Each candidate is judged by his or her contribution and excellence in optometric education by virtue of performance in any or all of the following areas: teaching (classroom, laboratory, clinic, distance learning), scholarship that enhances optometric education, organizational work that enhances optometric education.

Nomination Process

The submission window opens April 1, 2021

Each Dean or President of each School or College of Optometry may nominate one individual. This nomination should include a letter of recommendation from the Dean or President stating why this person is worthy of the award. This individual’s current curriculum vitae should also be included. No awardee can be from the same institution within a four-year time frame.

  • A letter of nomination from a Dean or President of a School or College of Optometry, explaining why the nominee is particularly deserving of the award.

  • A copy of the CV of the nominee.

  • These two items should be emailed to helenv@aaoptom.org.

Recipients

2020: Clifford W. Brooks, Jr.
2019: Heather A. Anderson
2019: Donald O. Mutti
2018: Patricia Hrynchak
2017: Lorraine Lombardi
2016: Timothy B. Edrington

2015: Edward S. Bennett, Steven Schwartz
2014: Edward J. Revelli
2013: Barbara M. Junghans
2012: Dennis L. Smith
2011: Michael Earley
2010: Richard E. Meetz
2009: Gunilla Haegerström-Portnoy
2008: Charles Wormington
2007: Karen Walker-Brandreth
2006: Lyndon W. J. Jones
2005: Mark Rosenfield
2004: Lawrence Gray (posthumous)
2003: Kent M. Daum
2002: Douglas K. Penisten
2001: Victor Malinovsky

Photo Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (NEI/NIH)

brooks-cliffordClifford W. Brooks Jr. , OD, FAAO