Posted:  Fullerton, CA, June 28, 2012---SCCO Associate Professor and Alumnus Tony Carnevali, O.D., received the American Optometric Association’s (AOA) Optometric Educator of the Year Award during the Opening General Session of the 115th Annual AOA Congress & 42nd Annual AOSA Conference: Optometry’s Meeting® recently held in Chicago, IL. The Optometric Educator of the Year Award recognizes a deserving individual AOA member educator for performance of outstanding services on behalf of the profession, optometric education and the visual welfare of the public. This is the first year the Optometric Educator of the Year has been awarded.
SCCO Associate Professor and Alumnus Tony Carnevali, O.D., received the American Optometric Association’s (AOA) Optometric Educator of the Year Award.

Dr. Carnevali spent 20 years in private practice after graduating from the Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO) in 1975. In 1995, he became a full-time faculty member at SCCO and launched a new chapter in his career dedicated to educating future optometrists.

Over the years, Dr. Carnevali has become a leader in optometric education.  He is a tenured Associate Professor and is an instructor in ethics and on state laws relating to the practice of optometry, has acquired extensive experience in delivering full-scope optometric services, and mentors students by providing career guidance and counseling.

Dr. Carnevali was also the director of the Optometric Center of Los Angeles until August 2011 (he now teaches two days per week), an SCCO facility that provides vision and health care to an underserved community. More than half of fourth-year SCCO optometric interns rotate through the Center, providing free or low cost eye health care each year to thousands of patients in need.

As a special consultant to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, he wrote the comprehensive report that became the foundation for guidelines adopted by the California State Board of Optometry that permits California optometrists to receive training and become glaucoma certified.

Dr. Carnevali served as president for the California Optometric Association (COA) 1991–92 and is currently the president of the Public Vision League, the litigative arm of the COA.

Dr. Carnevali has been recognized with many awards and honors including: COA Young Optometrist of the Year, 1981; Commendation of Service from the City of Los Angeles, 1995; Lion’s Club Kiyoshi ‘Kay’ Iizuka award, 1998; COA Optometrist of the Year, 2000; SCCO Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, 2001; SCCO Centennial Honoree, 2004; the SCCO Dr. Walter Chase Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, 2005; and the COA Excellence in Optometric Education Award, 2012.

About the Southern California College of Optometry

Established in 1904, SCCO is a private, non-profit, educational institution dedicated to educating today's minds to provide tomorrow's eye, vision and health care.  SCCO grants a four-year, professional degree, Doctor of Optometry (OD) and a Master of Science in Vision Science (MS).  In August 2011, the College announced plans to start a Physician Assistant program – the first in Orange County – via a two-year graduate degree.

The College's superior clinical education program provides patient care experiences in community optometric clinics; exposure to the delivery of optometric care in multi-disciplinary settings; and experiences in practices serving a wide variety of ethnic and socio-economic patient groups.  SCCO owns and operates two premier eye and vision care centers – the Eye Care Center located on its campus in Fullerton, CA, and the Optometric Center of Los Angeles located in south-central LA.

A special component of SCCO's educational program is community service.  Annually, SCCO faculty and optometric interns provide eye and vision care to thousands of uninsured or underinsured children and adults in our local communities through collaborations with other nonprofit organizations.