Portrait of Patience Glatt, President Emeritus of the State University of New York at Fredonia, and the late Oscar E. Lanford.
Patience Glatt’s ambitious journey into higher education is reflected in impressive numbers that have led her to be named the recipient of the 2024 Presidential Rumford Award.
President Stephen H. Collison Jr. said the award is the highest honor bestowed upon a graduate of the State University of New York at Fredonia. Dr. Collison added.
Established through the Fredonia University Foundation through a generous gift from the late President Emeritus Oscar E. and Mrs. Ranford, this award recognizes each graduate who embodies the ideals of Fredonia University and achieves well-rounded accomplishments. Ms. Glatt will receive the Rumford Award at the commencement ceremony on Saturday morning, May 18th.
It has been my dream to become an optometrist since I was 14 years old. ” – Patience Glatt
Perhaps the first number that stands out on Mr. Glatt's college transcript is the 160 credit hours he will earn at the end of the semester, far exceeding the minimum 120 credit hours required to meet graduation requirements. Ms. Glatt began earning credits at Jamestown Her Community College while attending Jamestown High School, where she graduated 13th in her class and ranked in the top 5% of graduates.
Credit hours were also earned during the two semesters spent at another SUNY comprehensive before transferring to SUNY Fredonia, where he graduated with 94 credits, an overall 3.97 GPA, and a major in psychology. Expect to earn a 4.0 GPA. She earned her 9 Advanced Placement credits as a high school student. Ms. Glatt has been named to the dean's list every semester since entering the university.
The smallest but perhaps most important number, 2, is the number of acceptances Mr. Glatt received from optometry schools. She plans to attend Kentucky College of Optometry in August to earn her Doctor of Optometry degree. During Ms. Glatt's junior year, she took all her courses and focused on studying for her optometry entrance exam.
“It has been my dream to become an optometrist since I was 14 years old,” Glatt said.
To advance that dream, Glatt spent the summer of 2022 working as an optometrist at Family Eye Health and Contact Lens Center in Lewiston, Maine. She assisted optometrists in performing preliminary examinations using autorefractors, non-contact tonometers, and optomap retinal imagers. Mr. Glatt also prepared the examination room for the optometrist by installing a phoropter and recording equipment.
Glatt completed three consecutive internships at 716 Eye Care in Fredonia, New York, starting with an entry-level observation-based opportunity. From there, she expanded her teaching learning goals by exploring different elements of her practice and the industry in general. She served as a medical scribe in all three of her internships, assisting optometrists by recording their notes during exams, developing assessments and plans based on doctors' notes, and checking in and out of patients. I also checked the insurance.
As Glatt got to know the community better through her internship, she began to think of Fredonia more like home than just a college town. She has had the pleasure of getting to know the many Fredonia residents who come for her eye exams.
“Now, I can hardly go to a store or restaurant in town without seeing the patients I meet. When I'm in class and not writing, many patients ask my boss where I am. ” Glatt said.
Glatt completed her research in the spring and fall semesters of 2022 with Darrin Rogers, an associate professor in the psychology department who primarily studies sexual aggression. Her research project was presented at the campus' Student Research Expo in 2023. Case studies on eye diseases that she researched. It will be presented in poster format at the 2024 event and will examine patients with macular holes and their prognosis as a result of treatment.
Campus engagement and community service are also two areas where Glatt excels. She was inducted into the Sci Chi Honor Society, an international honor society for psychology students, and Tau She Sigma, an honor society for transfer students, for achieving her 4.0 GPA in Psychology.
“I do everything I can to help people I can relate to, so it was important to me to be involved in helping transfer students adjust to Fredonia,” Glatt said. She also volunteered at Dining in the Dark, a fundraiser for the Chautauqua Association for the Blind, simulating her experience with low vision through the campus Health Professionals Advice Club.
Mr. Glatt has received academic awards through the Fredonia University Foundation, including the Adele Maytum Hunter Scholarship, the Alice Sam Biology Scholarship, and the Class of 1929 Bioethics Scholarship.
The Chautauqua Area Community Foundation also awarded Mr. Glatt a grant from the Margaret E. Olson Memorial Foundation, the Wyman L. Ansley Scholarship Fund, the James and Delores Erickson Scholarship Fund, and the Rosemary K. Kappa Lindstrom Memorial Scholarship Fund. Scholarships are awarded. She was also the recipient of the George and Helen Wilde Memorial Scholarship and the Walter and Grace Hazzard Scholarship, also through the Foundation.
