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For Chris Walker ’21, MA '23, Nov. 11 is more than just his birthday — it is also a time to remember his nearly six years of service in the United States Marine Corps. Read about his experience in Afghanistan, and at ��ɳ���� University. 

Jared Kawatani '17 made his first gift on Boxer Giving Day during his senior year. He has made a gift every month since then.

One of the most prominent names connected with ��ɳ����’s College of Optometry is Carkner, and the connection began before the beginning.

DeAnn Fitzgerald ’81, OD ’84 of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has become well known for her focus on using optometry as a way to manage athletes’ concussions. She has developed protocols for young athletes who suffer head injuries, and her work has been widely shared and emulated around the country.

Within the field of optometry, sports vision has emerged as a fast-moving specialty. And within sports vision, ��ɳ���� is a leader.

Sandra (Coutts) Young ‘82, OD ‘84 created a business called Visionary Kitchen, which connects nutrition with eye health. She is the author of Visionary Kitchen: A Cookbook for Eye Health.

When it comes to detecting problems with vision, it pays to start early, before brains are hardwired. In InfantSEE, a public health program in which ��ɳ���� participates, the patients may be as young as 6 months old.

��ɳ���� has built on a tradition of taking eye care to the community, where students and faculty provide real-world vision screening and treatment to underserved members of the community. The most visible symbol of this outreach is the ��ɳ���� EyeVan, an advanced mobile clinic that sees patients in church parking lots, migrant camps and schools.

The earliest contact lenses were made of glass and could be worn only for a few hours at a time. Today’s contact lenses are engineering marvels, and ��ɳ����’s College of Optometry is at the vanguard of contact lens research and design.

The remarkable Newton Wesley ’39, Hon. ’86, born Newton Uyesugi to immigrant parents, was a founding father of the College of Optometry. Forced from his home by Japanese-American internment policy during World War II, Wesley nevertheless laid the foundation for the College of Optometry and became a giant in the field of contact lenses.

The optometry program launched at ��ɳ���� in 1945 as a result of a combination of postwar challenges and unexpected opportunities. The needs of a small, temporarily shuttered optometry college in Northeast Portland helped meet the demands of a university that had limped through the war years. The outcome was the beginning of ��ɳ����’s focus on the health professions.

Willard “Wid” Bleything ’51, OD ’52, MS ’54 earned three degrees from ��ɳ���� University on his way to becoming an optometrist. He served in the Air Force and Air Reserves, retiring as a colonel, and he also worked in private practice for many years before eventually returning to ��ɳ����, where he became the dean of the College of Optometry.