September 27, 2012 (CHICAGO) — Illinois College of Optometry faculty member Geoffrey Goodfellow, OD, will be installed as the president of the Illinois Optometric Association at its annual convention in Springfield. Dr. Goodfellow will take the reins of the state association from Oak Lawn native Sandra Bury, OD, on Saturday. He follows the path of many ICO alumni but is the first full-time faculty member chosen to lead the association.
“Illinois is a strong optometric state, and I’m looking forward to playing a continued role in its successes,” says Dr. Goodfellow, who previously held the positions of vice president and president of the IOA’s local society at ICO, and served as the IOA’s education trustee for six years. “ICO has had lots of alumni throughout the state serve as IOA president, but we’ve never had a faculty member that has been in this position, so it’s exciting for the college.”
During his tenure as IOA president, one of Dr. Goodfellow’s primary goals is to breathe new life into the organization’s committees, thereby getting more members involved.
“There are still some committees that are pretty active, but others, for one reason or another, fell into disuse,” he says. “I’ve worked hard with the other trustees and with the IOA office to try to resurrect the committee structure again. We particularly want to involve the local society presidents from around the state and have them each serve on a committee and move action items forward. With any organization, the more you can get people involved, the better the organization is.”
For more information about Dr. Goodfellow, view his biography.
