By Wendy Clark Gil Pierce, clinical associate professor of optometry, is assisted by optometry student Angela Gullifer in conducting an examination during the Special Olympics held on Ohio State's Columbus campus last summer.

Keeping an eye on the future

Optometry reaches out to young and old

The College of Optometry's outreach and engagement activity is reflected in its mission statement, which reads: Good vision changes perception ... by giving people the gift of sight, we enable them to be independent and self-sufficient.

The college's many outreach efforts include free on-site vision screenings to school children and Special Olympics athletes, eye examinations for homebound elderly, and free examinations and glasses offered to children under 18 at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center and to homeless adults at Faith Mission.

The spirit with which the college approaches outreach may best be exemplified by its participation in the 2001 Ohio Special Olympics Summer Games, held at Ohio State June 22-24. Optometry faculty, staff and student volunteers conducted 159 complete eye exams, issued 81 pairs of sport goggles and made 69 pairs of glasses for athletes in the games.

Karla Zadnik, who holds the Glenn A. Fry Professorship in optometry, was among the 24 faculty members who volunteered to conduct eye exams and assist students conducting exams. She said the athletes and the coaches accompanying them were very appreciative, which made the experience gratifying.

"The athletes gave up 45 minutes to do this (exam), so that told me that they felt this was a valuable service," Zadnik said.

Her 16-year-old daughter, who helped register the athletes and process paperwork, also accompanied Zadnik. "I think she liked it because it was set up so she could do something useful," Zadnik said. "It also increased her confidence in dealing with people with disabilities."

Would Zadnik do it again?

"You bet. And my daughter would, too. In fact I've already told LeVelle that I'm interested," Zadnik said, referring to LeVelle Jenkins, community outreach director and assistant professor of optometry at Ohio State.

Prior to the state Special Olympics, Jenkins was appointed clinical director for the Opening Eyes Division of Special Olympics and assumed responsibility for recruiting volunteers and appropriating equipment and lenses for the eye exams. Those assignments were on top of her regular duties at Ohio State.

Jenkins also traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, to coordinate eye exams for athletes during the Special Olympics 2001 Winter World Games. She was among 50 doctors from all over the world who volunteered for the games, and collectively made 427 pairs of glasses on-site.

The trip included a grueling one-week training session prior to the 10-day games. "It was like going to Boot Camp," Jenkins said, recalling long days that started very early.

While the Special Olympics was an intensive, but short-range, outreach effort, the College of Optometry participates in many activities over the long haul. For example, the college has conducted vision screenings for more than 30 years, providing screenings each year for more than 125 pre-school and elementary school children at 35 to 40 schools. For 20 years, the college has provided eye examinations to patients who are homebound.

Newer programs include an eye clinic at Fort Hayes, established in 1996, that offers children under 18 a free eye exam and a free voucher for a pair of glasses. The college provides free comprehensive eye examinations and glasses to the homeless through its eye clinic at Faith Mission, and is establishing an eye clinic this year at the School for the Blind. Optometry also provides eye care to patients at the Twin Valley Psychiatric System.

Further supporting the University's outreach and engagement initiative, NetWellness experts from the College of Optometry in April answered their 500th question on eye and vision care through the NetWellness Ask an Expert feature. NetWellness is a nonprofit consumer health Web site (http://netwellness.org/) that provides high-quality information created and evaluated by health profession faculty from Ohio State, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Cincinnati.

But not all of optometry's outreach efforts have to do with eye care -- some just touch the heart. The college's Coats for Kids program was created in 1999 to allow faculty, staff and students to serve children in need. In 2000, $1,100 was raised and 27 coats and 21 pairs of boots were purchased for children at Sullivant Elementary, which has a large population of homeless children who are bused from area homeless shelters to attend school.

With faculty, staff and at least 14 student organizations participating in outreach, it's pretty easy to recruit volunteers from optometry, Jenkins said.

"The key is to get faculty excited," Jenkins said. "In turn, they get the students pumped up."

And while the student volunteers are changing the lives of many different populations by making them independent and self-sufficient, they're also enhancing their education.

Jenkins, a 1988 OSU optometry graduate, said that when she attended Ohio State, volunteerism took the form of home visits, which were done on an "as-needed" basis. Now, the visits are part of a formal program incorporated into each student's primary care or service learning rotation. Students earn credit and grades for their work, which is evaluated by instructors.

"The significance to students is that it broadens their horizons," Jenkins said. "They get a chance to see diseases that we see in text books but otherwise would never get to see in a person."

Compensation remains 'Job One'

State of the University address today will include details

The following statement is an excerpt from President Brit Kirwan's remarks to the Board of Trustees on Oct. 5. Kirwan's complete remarks are online at www.osu.edu/osutoday/0110/octbotremarks.html.

Last spring, we identified compensation as Job One for the next several years. Recognizing that state funds will be scarce, at least in the short term, we said that, if necessary, we were prepared to generate compensation funds internally. We still are, even though events of recent months and their impact on Ohio's economy have made our task much more difficult and our future much less certain.

Our faculty salaries have fallen to near the bottom in comparison to our benchmark peers. Similarly, the average salaries for many categories of staff have fallen below the median of their benchmark comparison groups. Thus, our goal is to achieve -- within the next three or four years -- the median level in faculty compensation among our benchmark institutions and the median level in compensation by job category among the designated staff comparison groups.

We estimate that, at present, our salaries are on average 3 percent to 4 percent below that goal. Thus, over the next several years we must not only increase salaries at a rate that keeps pace with our benchmarks, but also add, each year, roughly an additional 1 percent.

In carrying out this salary plan, we will be guided by the following six principles:

1. The Academic Plan will be the driving force behind everything we do.

2. Individual compensation will be based on merit.

3. Compensation markets are differential. Therefore, compensation targets may vary among the colleges and units.

4. The responsibility for generating resources must be shared between the central administration and the colleges and support units.

5. Compensation decisions must be carefully coordinated with the budget restructuring initiative.

6. We must give priority to protecting the academic core and academic excellence in these uncertain and volatile financial times.

I will have more to say about the details of this redirection-of-funds strategy in my State of the University address to the Senate on Oct. 11.

However, I do want to make two points very clear today. First, our compensation strategy will be more than just the development of a competitive structure in a statistical sense. We have a large body of people -- ranging across all disciplines and support units -- who make important contributions to the University. We must recognize their good work in our compensation plan.

In short, all faculty and staff making contributions to the advancement of the University goals will receive compensation increases that move them to more competitive levels.

And second, we will pursue this strategy in an open and consultative fashion. We will ensure that funds are redirected within each college and support unit in a way that most effectively meets that unit's compensation and other needs as it advances the Academic Plan.

As far as the timing of this redirection is concerned, the colleges and academic support units will provide us with detailed information and specific plans in January.

Between now and then, we will extensively discuss and consult on such topics as compensation targets with faculty, department chairs, deans, Senate leaders and vice presidents. College and support unit plans will be discussed thoroughly and in detail throughout winter quarter. As usual, we will ask this board to adopt salary levels in May for Fiscal Year 2003.

In order to give our faculty and staff the support they deserve and to move the University toward its ambitious goals, we must demonstrate leadership and be willing to make tough choices. I want to assure the board and this community that we will do precisely that!