Faculty Resources

As the optometric educators, we are responsible for the shaping new optometrists and thus significantly affecting the future of optometry. Recognizing that faculty serve as important role models and how they often mentor students one-on-one, the American Optometric Association has formed a Faculty Relations Committee (FRC). Among its charges is to represent clinical faculty at all of the schools of optometry. In the Fall of 2004, the FRC distributed a survey to explore how the AOA could provide better support for optometry school faculty. From this survey, two issues became apparent. First, while many resources are available to faculty, as faculty we often are not aware of what is offered. Second, while there are many common topics that we teach, in the past, there has not been a lot of sharing of materials due to a lack of contact between the different schools. Starting now, we'd like to work to improve communication and inter-collegial contact between the various optometric schools. One way we're attempting to do this is by creating a web site which has gives faculty access to teaching resources, announces and describes events open to faculty and overall helps facilitate faculty working together at the various institutions. The usefulness of this website will be completely dependant upon faculty being willing to share their resources. If you have material that you think that others may find useful, please contribute. Please indicate your full name, position and the institution where you teach. If you utilize any of resources found in this web page, we ask that you cite the original creator as well as their school of optometry.

If you would like to make a contribution either through providing materials or constructive criticism, please e-mail Dr. Meredith Whiteside, FRC representative, University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry.