Southern College of Optometry will honor three notable alumni at its annual Convocation ceremony on Friday, October 4, 2013.
- Receiving the college's Lifetime Achievement Award will be U.S. Senator John Boozman, OD '77, and recently retired SCO Professor James Newman, OD '73.
- Receiving SCO's Young Alumni Award will be U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Emily Sprague, OD '04.
About SCO's Lifetime Achievement Award recipients
U.S. Senator John Boozman, OD ’77, played football for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks before attending SCO. After his graduation, he co-founded Boozman-Hof Regional Eye Clinics in Rogers, Arkansas and established the low vision program at the Arkansas School for the Blind. Following public service at the local level, he was elected in 2002 as the nation’s only optometrist in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2010, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, the highest office ever attained by an optometrist. He serves on a number of key committees and is still active in his support of optometry.
Jim Newman, OD ’73, received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Memphis before graduating from SCO 40 years ago. He began practicing full time and joined SCO’s faculty on a part-time basis before teaching full time in 1977. Rising to the rank of tenured professor, he taught Optometry Theory and Methods, among others, and was an active clinical presence in Adult Primary Care and Advanced Care Ocular Disease. In later years, Dr. Newman transitioned in serving as Director of Academic Support Services. He retired in June 2013 after 40 years of service to his alma mater.
Young Alumni Award
U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Emily Sprague, OD ’04, graduated magna cum laude in 2004. Commissioned into the Navy, she served as the department head at the Optometry Clinic at the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton in California before being assigned to Pearl Harbor. There, she advanced to Assistant Director for Administration at the Naval Health Clinic before completing a residency in Ocular Disease at the Baltimore V.A. In 2012, she was assigned to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the only full-time eye doctor of any discipline for the entire naval station.
Previous Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients:
1996: Robert A. Koetting, OD ’47, FAAO
1996: Jack Runninger, OD ’47, DOS, FAAO; William D. Sullins, Sr., OD ’39
1997: Richard L. Hopping, OD ’52, DOS
1998: John E. Casto, OD ’60; Marjorie S. Ross, OD ’51
1999: James A. Boucher, OD ’61, MS, DOS, FAAO; Robert H. Thurmond, OD ’50, DOS
2000: Colonel (RET) Billy C. Greene, OD ’49, DOS; William (Bill) G. Hendrix, OD ’55, FAAO
2001: Fredric M. Rosemore, OD ’48, DOS, FAAO; James D. Sandefur, OD ’65; Glen T. Steele, OD ’69 , FCOVD
2002: Joyce Russo Adema, OD ’49, MBA, FCOVD; W. David Sullins, Jr., OD ’65, DOS, FAAO
2003: T. Joel Byars, OD ’63; L. Allen Fors, OD ’69, MEd, FCOVD
2004: John A Gazaway, OD ’67, DOS; Robert Smalling, OD ’74; Terry Swinger, OD ’64
2005: Jimmy Bartlett, OD ’74; Denson Smith, OD ’50
2006: Martha Rosemore Greenberg, OD ’74
2007: Michael Jones, OD ’71; J. Wayne Buck, OD ’78
2008: Jerome Hayes, OD ’73; William E. Cochran, OD ’68
2009: Howard Flippin, OD ’59; Lisa Wade, OD ’84
2010: WC Maples, OD ’68
2011: A. L. Spivey, III, OD ’67; Sidney J. Stern, OD ’71, FAAO
2012: Nathan F. Ford, OD ’50
Previous Young Alumni Award Recipients:
2010: Paul D. Mormon, OD ’01
2011: Christopher W. Wroten, OD ’02
2012: Kelly Kerksick, OD ’02