Motivation & Inspiration
As Jeff Walline (OD, MS’98, PhD’02) begins his service to the college as interim dean, we wanted to go beyond his resumé (established leader, highly talented scholar, respected researcher, etc.) and chat about motivation, inspiration, and his favorite eye fact.
- Question You are the president-elect of the American Academy of Optometry and now the interim dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry. Do you seek leadership positions?
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Answer
I have benefitted greatly from the optometric profession over the years. I have had the opportunity to travel the world and meet multitudes of people through optometric pursuits. Because of those opportunities, I want to give back to the profession. Through leadership, I am able to help others take advantage of the same opportunities and hopefully provide new ones as well. I always wonder if I give as much to the profession as I get, which leads me to believe that leadership provides me an outlet to give more and potentially influence the future of the profession.
- Question You serve a lot of roles in optometry. How do you fulfill so many expectations of your time?
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Answer
Some people can simultaneously accomplish a large number of tasks in order to effectively serve a number of roles. Unfortunately, I am not that kind of a parallel processor. Instead, I am able to switch rapidly among a number of different things. Some people may think of it as attention deficit disorder, but I consider myself a serial processor who spends time working on a variety of tasks. During stressful times, I write lists of very small tasks. That helps me to work on a variety of issues while focusing on important tasks.
- Question What do you hope to achieve during your time as interim dean?
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Answer
The Ohio State University College of Optometry has been expertly lead by Dean Zadnik, and it is her intention to return to the College of Optometry as Dean when she fulfills her other roles. In the meantime, along with members of the Executive Committee – Associate for Academic Affairs Mike Earley (OD/MS’88, PhD’92); Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs Greg Nixon (OD’96); Interim Associate Dean for Research Heather Anderson, OD, PhD, and Assistant Dean of Administration & Finance Jim Woods – I will strive to maintain the extremely high standard of excellence for optometry alumni, students, staff, and faculty. I will lead by example, provide open lines of communication, and proactively seek solutions. I am extremely eager to serve as Interim Dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry!
- Question What was your first research project?
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Answer
As an optometry student, I determined that the best way to ask someone if they were myopic was to use a series of questions about spectacle wear developed by Drs. Zadnik and Mutti for the Orinda Longitudinal Study of Myopia. Those questions provided a good balance of determining whether someone was or was not myopic. Asking people if they were “myopic” was only good at determining non-myopic individuals, whereas asking people if they were “nearsighted” was only good at determining myopic individuals.
- Question What’s your favorite eye fact?
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Answer
When eye length is only 0.1 mm – about the thickness of a piece of paper – too long for the optics of the eye, our distance vision becomes slightly blurry!
