Director of Publications

Southern College of Optometry Honors Two Distinguished Alumni

With Lifetime Achievement Awards

Memphis, Tennessee (September 15, 2007) – Optometric leaders J. Wayne Buck, OD, and Michael Jones, OD, were honored with the Southern College of Optometry (SCO) Lifetime Achievement Award during SCO’s Homecoming weekend held Saturday, September 15, 2007 in Memphis.

Southern College of Optometry’s Lifetime Achievement Award honors alumni who have shown extraordinary leadership skills and who have made lasting contributions to the profession of optometry and SCO. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the college upon its alumni.

SCO President Richard W. Phillips, OD, presented the awards at a ceremony during the college’s alumni luncheon. He also shared some highlights from each recipient’s career:

J. Wayne Buck, OD, is a 1978 SCO graduate. Dr. Buck practices at Advanced Eye Care Associates in Crossett, Arkansas.

In 1989, Dr. Buck served as president of the Arkansas Optometric Association. He has received a number of honors from his state association, including the Special Service Award in 1995 and the Distinguished Service Award in 1996. He was named his state’s Optometrist of the Year in 1998.

In 1993, Dr. Buck served as president of Southwest Council of Optometry. Five years later, he was named Congress Chair of the AOA Congress Committee, and he served three years in that capacity. From 2002 through this year, Dr. Buck served as a member of the AOA Board of Trustees.

Dr. Michael Jones is a 1971 SCO graduate. Originally from Bristol, Tennessee, Dr. Jones now resides in Ellisville, Missouri.

After graduation, Dr. Jones practiced in East Tennessee, and served on the staff of Woods Memorial Hospital in Etowah. During the 1980s, Dr. Jones served as chair of the TOA’s Legislative Committee and also chaired the state’s Therapeutic Certification Panel.

At the national level, he served as the American Optometric Association’s spokesperson concerning scope and physician reimbursement issues. Dr. Jones was the AOA representative assigned to the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research in the development of its Cataract Guidelines. He also was a member of the AOA’s Clinical Practice Guideline Coordinating Committee.

Dr. Jones served in all offices of the Hiwassee Optometric Society, the Tennessee Optometric Association, on the Board of Trustees for the Southern Council of Optometrists and in all offices of the AOA; he’s one of 10 SCO graduates to have served as AOA president, and he’s spent nearly 10 years as executive director.

He was named TOA’s OD of the Year in 1991 and received TOA’s Distinguished Service Award in 1992. The following year, he earned Southern Council’s OD of the South Award, and in 1999, he received AOSA’s Dr. Raymond L. Myers Award. Dr. Jones served as adjunct faculty for SCO from 1985 to 1998, the year he received the college’s Doctor of Ocular Science degree.

Southern College of Optometry salutes J. Wayne Buck, OD, and Michael Jones, OD, for their contributions and leadership to the profession of optometry.

Celebrating its 75^th anniversary in 2007, Southern College of Optometry was established in Memphis, Tennessee in 1932. SCO is an independent, not-for-profit institution of higher education with a mission to educate men and women in the art and science of optometry.

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