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Home • In the Classroom • Faculty • Erica Ittner, OD, FAAO Erica Ittner, OD, FAAO Associate Professor Ittner is an assistant professor at ICO, teaching third- and fourth-year optometry students in a primary care setting with a focus on ocular disease. Photography Contest 2007 Beta Sigma Kappa Optometric Honors Fraternity 2007 Tomb and Key Honors Society Professional WA Stone, EA Ittner, BA Teitelbaum, LV Messner: Progressive, asymptomatic papilledema as the presenting

a full-time faculty appointment at the Illinois College of Optometry, where he serves as associate professor 1992 Loyola University, BS Experience 2006-present Illinois College of Optometry 1997-2010 Midwest Eye Professionals Optometric Association Optometric Glaucoma Society Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Professional Ophthalmol and Eye Dis. 2012:4 1-14.

Dr. Borish graduated from the Northern Illinois College of Optometry – a predecessor to ICO – in 1934. He served on the school’s faculty for eight years, including as assistant dean. He then established a private practice in Kokomo, Ind., and was instrumental in starting the Indiana University School of Optometry and the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. Dr. Borish’s influence has been felt at ICO and every other optometry school in the nation for decades. He authored numerous textbooks, including the much-used Clinical Refraction, and was granted five patents for contact lenses, including bifocal contacts. He was a founding member of the Indiana Chapter of the American Academy of Optometry, was a president of the Indiana Optometric Association and the editor of the Indiana Journal of Optometry. He served as adjunct faculty at several schools. When Dr. Borish retired from IU in 1982, he assumed the Benedict Professorship of Optometric Practice at the University of Houston. The school later established the Irvin M. Borish Chair in Optometric Practice, an endowed chair with more than $1 million of support. In 1995, Indiana University honored him by establishing the Borish Center for Ophthalmic Research. Dr. Borish received numerous awards during his career, including the the prestigious AOA Apollo Award for the visual betterment of mankind in 1968 and the AOA Distinguished Service Award in 1989. He was inducted into the National Optometry Hall of Fame in 1998. Dr. Borish is survived by his daughter, Fran Goldman, of Dallas, Penn. #FatherofModernOptometry #IrvinBorish #obituary

Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) proudly announces that Tracy Matchinski, OD, FAAO has been named the inaugural recipient of The Rosenbloom Family Endowed Professorship in Low Vision Rehabilitation. This is the first named professorship in ICO’s history. This professorship – made possible through the generosity of the Rosenbloom Family, strengthens ICO’s long-standing commitment to advancing low-vision rehabilitation through research, education, clinical innovation, and community-based care, whether locally, regionally and/or internationally. Its impact is especially timely, as an estimated 51.9 million adults in the United States report difficulty seeing even with corrective lenses (American Foundation for the Blind, 2025), and more than 2.2 billion people worldwide live with some form of visual impairment (World Health Organization, 2019). Dr. Matchinski, a 1995 graduate of ICO, completed a Vision Rehabilitation residency at the Feinbloom Low Vision Center of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. Since completing her residency in 1996, she has dedicated her career to low vision rehabilitation. As a tenured faculty member at ICO, Dr. Matchinski teaches the vision rehabilitation course and lab, and provides clinical care at the Rosenbloom Center, located at ICO’s Illinois Eye Institute (IEI). Additionally, she practices at The Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind, is a Low Vision Diplomate of the American Academy of Optometry and has served as chair of the Low Vision Section and Diplomate program of the American Academy of Optometry. She has published and lectured nationally and internationally on Low Vision Rehabilitation. Her commitment extends deeply through her leadership in Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH). She is past president of VOSH/International and VOSH Illinois. As the faculty representative for Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (SVOSH). Dr. Matchinski mentors ICO students as they participate in local and international volunteer clinics. Dr. Matchinski was appointed by Dean Stephanie Messner, OD, with the approval of ICO President Mark Colip, OD. “The ICO community is extraordinarily proud of Dr. Matchinski’s commitment to advancing care for individuals with low vision,” said President Colip. “Her work at the Illinois Eye Institute—and around the world through SVOSH and VOSH— continues to inspire the next generation of students to live the ICO mission so that all patients receive optimal care.” About the Rosenbloom Family Alfred A. Rosenbloom, OD, a pioneer in low-vision rehabilitation, is a 1954 graduate of ICO and served as its president from 1972 to 1982. To honor his and his wife Sarah’s lasting impact, their children—Alfred Rosenbloom III and Susan Tobert—established the Rosenbloom Family Endowed Professorship in Low Vision Rehabilitation. This professorship builds on the legacy, which includes the Dr. Alfred and Sarah Rosenbloom Center on Vision and Aging at ICO’s Illinois Eye Institute, established in 2015, to advance specialized care for individuals with low vision and age-related vision needs. About the Illinois College of Optometry Founded in 1872, the Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) is the nation’s oldest continuously operating optometric educational institution. With more than 8,000 alumni, ICO is dedicated to excellence in education, research, patient care, and service to the community. Located in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood on the city’s South Side, ICO provides rigorous clinical training and serves over 85,000 patients annually through its teaching clinic, Illinois Eye Institute. For more information about Illinois College of Optometry, visit www.ico.edu.

MA, DOS, dean of Illinois College of Optometry from 1955 to 1971, and president from 1972 to 1982, died