Last modified: Monday, October 6, 2008
IU School of Optometry celebrates new Atwater Eye Care Center with dedication ceremony
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 6, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--The Indiana University School of Optometry will celebrate its newly finished Eye Care Center on the Bloomington campus with a formal dedication ceremony on Wednesday (Oct. 8). The event, which will take place at the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union at 4:30 p.m., will be followed by a reception at the new clinic located at 744 E. Third St.
The new Atwater Eye Care Center is located at 744 East Third St. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Hill, art director for the Office of Creative Services.)
"For more than 50 years, the School of Optometry's Eye Care Centers have served not only IU students, faculty and staff but residents of Bloomington and the surrounding area," said IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson. "In the new Atwater Eye Care Center, the school's core academic missions of research, teaching and service will be evidenced in clinical practice. The patients who come through its doors will benefit enormously from the expertise of our outstanding optometry faculty and the excellence of the school's students."
Wednesday afternoon's ceremony will include speeches from Hanson, Interim School of Optometry Dean Sarita Soni, former Optometry Dean Gerald Lowther, Director of Clinics Steven Hitzeman and IU President Michael A. McRobbie. After the speeches, University Architect Robert Meadows, IU Board of Trustee Member Sue Talbot and McRobbie will dedicate the building.
"With the addition of this new eye care clinic, the IU School of Optometry will continue to increase its influence in teaching, service and research in new and extraordinary ways," said Soni. "It opens up new opportunities to educate future optometrists who will serve our state and nation, and it provides much needed space for patient-based research."
The School of Optometry faculty will continue to focus on their clinical teaching and research in a number of key areas including infant vision development, age-related changes in vision, macular degeneration and the effects of diseases such as glaucoma or diabetes. The school has clinical and research programs in Bloomington and at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
The Atwater Eye Care Center will open its doors to patients in mid-December. Featuring state-of-the-art diagnostic technology, the 20,000-square-foot, $3 million building includes an upgraded eyewear center, modern clinical facilities, examination rooms, special testing areas and conference rooms. The building also provides a ground level entrance and parking facilities to ease access for elderly and visually challenged patients.
Special thanks go to the Clinic's Design Builder, Weddle Bros. Design & Build LLC, the Principal Architect, VPS Architecture, the Design Architect/Design Manager, Bright | ARCHITECTS, the Civil Engineers Bledsoe Riggert Guerrettaz, the MEP Engineering firm, Durkin & Villalta Partners Engineering, the Structural Design team from Arsee Engineers, the Landscape Architects from Rundell Earnstberger Associates and the IU Architect's office.
For more information please contact Robin Gress at rgress@indiana.edu.
