Travel Awards

The Mertz New Educator Travel Award originated in 2003 when AOCLE, at the annual meeting, elected to honor Dr. George Mertz for his strong support of optometric education. Earlier that year Dr. Mertz had unexpectedly passed away too early. George had been very active in his support of AOCLE as well as other educational initiatives in his role heading up the Academic Affairs Department for Vistakon.

In honor of Dr. George Mertz, AOCLE funds the travel and meeting expenses of one new contact lens educator to attend the annual AOCLE meeting and workshop. The nominated educator must have a significant role in the contact lens program at the affiliated school or college of optometry and have not attended an AOCLE workshop previously. An application supporting an educator’s nomination should be prepared by the contact lens clinic chief from that person’s school or college. The executive committee then selects candidates to receive the award. See attachment for more information.

Eligibility: A new contact lens educator who has never attended an AOCLE workshop. There should be no more than one application per school or college.

Application: Nominations of no more than one page outlining his/her qualifications and contribution to contact lens education (didactic/laboratory/clinic) at your institution should be submitted by the chief or other administrator at your institution.

Deadline: All information must be received by March 10 and should be submitted electronically to the AOCLE Chair.

Judging: All applications will be reviewed by the AOCLE Executive Committee. Recipients will be notified soon after the AOCLE mid-year planning meeting in early April.

Travel Award: More than one travel award may be granted per year. The recipient(s) will be invited to that year’s annual workshop and their travel, accommodation and workshop expenses will be covered by the travel grant. The recipient is expected to attend the entire meeting.

Report: A brief paragraph detailing their experience is expected from the recipient and may be posted in a future AOCLE newsletter &/or on the AOCLE website.

In 2017, the AOCLE membership voted to establish the Harue J. Marsden New Educator Travel Award at the annual meeting. Dr. Marsden had passed away earlier that year after a long battle with cancer. She was a Professor and Associate Dean of Clinical Education at the Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO) at Marshall B. Ketchum University in Fullerton, California. Dr. Marsden was a contact lens educator and devoted member of the AOCLE, and the association wanted to honor her contribution to the AOCLE and profession by inviting a new contact lens educator to attend their first AOCLE workshop. This opportunity would help a novice CL educator, who otherwise would not be able to attend, network with other educators from all the North American schools and colleges of optometry.

This award was created in honor of Dr. Harue Marsden, a devoted member of the AOCLE. AOCLE funds the travel and meeting expenses of one new contact lens educator to attend the annual AOCLE meeting and workshop. The nominated educator must have a significant role in the contact lens program at the affiliated school or college of optometry and have not attended an AOCLE workshop previously. An application supporting an educator’s nomination should be prepared by the contact lens clinic chief from that person’s school or college. The executive committee then selects candidates to receive the award. See attachment for more information.

Eligibility: A new contact lens educator who has never attended an AOCLE workshop. There should be no more than one application per school or college.

Application: Nominations of no more than one page outlining his/her qualifications and contribution to contact lens education (didactic/laboratory/clinic) at your institution should be submitted by the chief or other administrator at your institution.

Deadline: All information must be received by March 10 and should be submitted electronically to the AOCLE Chair.

Judging: All applications will be reviewed by the AOCLE Executive Committee. Recipients will be notified by early April.

Travel Award: One travel award will be granted per year. The recipient will be invited to that year’s annual workshop and their travel, accommodation and workshop expenses will be covered by the travel grant.  The recipient is expected to attend the entire meeting.

Report: A brief paragraph detailing their experience is expected from the recipient and may be posted in a future AOCLE newsletter and/or on the AOCLE website.

AOCLE Memorial Award

The AOCLE Memorial Award was established in 2021 to honor the memories of all the AOCLE leaders who are no longer with us.

Eligibility: To be presented annually to a young contact lens optometric educator of the AOCLE who has demonstrated potential leadership in contact lens education. One application per school, must be first time AOCLE workshop attendee.

Application: Nominations of no more than one (1) page outlining his/her qualifications and contribution to contact lens education (didactic, laboratory, clinic) at your institution should be submitted by the chief or other administrator at your institution. The nominee should have less than 10 years of service in optometric contact lens education and have contributed significantly to contact lens education at their school and to contact lens education in general.

Deadline: All information must be received by March 10 prior to the annual workshop and should be submitted electronically to the AOCLE Chair.

Judging: All applications will be reviewed by the AOCLE Executive Committee. Recipients will be notified soon after the AOCLE mid-year planning meeting.

Travel Award: Only one travel award may be granted per year. The award may not be given every year. The recipient will be invited to that year’s annual workshop and their travel, accommodation and workshop expenses will be covered by the travel grant. The recipient is expected to attend the entire meeting.