After nine years at the helm of AFB’s Journal of Visual Impairment
& Blindness (JVIB), Sandra Lewis, Ed.D., Florida State
University (retired), has expressed her intention to step away from
her duties as the journal’s editor in chief. Robert Wall Emerson,
Ph.D., Western Michigan University, the journal’s research editor
since 2012, will step into the role in July 2024.
“For over nine years, Dr. Lewis has served as a steady presence
for the many people who interact with JVIB, and we thank her for
her years of service to AFB and the field,” said AFB CEO Eric
Bridges. “The hallmark of Dr. Lewis’s tenure as editor-in-chief of
the journal has been the warmth and dignity in her interactions
with the journal’s editors, reviewers, and authors. Her steady
leadership, including through moments of uncertainty, her ability
to make difficult decisions, and her capacity as an editor has
helped shape the literature of the field in countless, meaningful
ways that will never be forgotten.”
As editor-in-chief, Dr. Lewis oversaw the transition of the
journal’s submission and peer review procedures from an in-house
operation to a more efficient, web-based system that shortened the
processing time for acceptance decisions. Dr. Lewis also welcomed
the continued commitment to JVIB by AFB’s Board of Trustees, which
culminated in their successful search for sustaining funding for
the journal through a generous gift by the Marilyn and Francine
Gruder trust.
With a background in the education of students with visual
impairments, in 1993, Dr. Lewis completed her doctoral program in
special education: visual impairment at the University of
California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University, under the
supervision of Philip Hatlen. That same year, she began working as
assistant professor and coordinator for the Program in Visual
Disabilities, Department of Special Education, Florida State
University (FSU). She became a full professor in 2010 and retired
from FSU in 2021. Despite her busy schedule, Dr. Lewis graciously
accepted the role of editor-in-chief of JVIB in 2015. Prior to
accepting that role, Dr. Lewis served as chair of the journal’s
Editorial Advisory Board, from 2014 to 2015, and she first became a
board member in 2006.
In addition to mentoring the journal's authors and her own
students, as well as overseeing the publication of countless
journal articles, Dr. Lewis authored and edited textbooks,
including ECC Essentials: Teaching the expanded core curriculum to
students with visual impairments, which she co-edited with Carol
Allman in 2014; published journal articles; and contributed
numerous book chapters and conference presentations over the course
of her distinguished career.
Dr. Lewis has been recognized by her peers for her important
contributions to the field of visual impairment, with the 2023 Alan
J. Koenig Research in Literacy Award, which she received at the
Getting in Touch with Literacy conference; the 2018 Distinguished
Service Award, bestowed by the Division on Visual Impairments and
Deafblindness, Council for Exceptional Children; the 2014
University Undergraduate Teaching Award, given by FSU; and the 2010
Mary K. Bauman Award, for significant and outstanding contributions
in education, given by the Association for Education and
Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER).
In retirement, Dr. Lewis will enjoy her new life at Latitude
Margaritaville in Daytona Beach, Florida, with her husband, Paul,
and their dog, Benny. They have five grown children and ten
grandchildren.
After many years working as an orientation and mobility
instructor and vision teacher, in 1999, Dr. Wall Emerson earned his
doctoral degree in education and human development, with a
specialization in orientation and mobility, from Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, Tennessee. From 2000 to 2004, he held the
position of research assistant professor at Vanderbilt Bill
Wilkerson Center for Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences,
Vanderbilt University. In 2004, he moved to Western Michigan
University, where he currently works as a professor in the
Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies.
As a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) and a
teacher of students with visual impairments, Dr. Wall Emerson has
conducted blindness-related research for over 25 years. His areas
of interest include accessibility of roundabouts and channelized
right-turn lanes, traffic gap perception and decision to cross,
accessible pedestrian signals, acoustics in blind navigation,
assistive technology for navigation, availability of braille
transcribers, biomechanics of long cane use, braille literacy,
braille production methodology and systems, cortical visual
impairment, description of mathematics images for students who are
blind, the effect of hybrid or quiet vehicles on performing
orientation and mobility tasks, the effect of slope on veering,
surface guidance materials for people who are blind, and technology
for description of visual media for students with visual
impairments. He has published over 85 peer-reviewed articles and
nine book chapters, and he is an editor for the fourth edition of
the Foundations of O&M textbook. Notably, two of his
Statistical Sidebar contributions are among the most downloaded
items published in the pages of JVIB.
“For the past 12 years, in his role as research editor, Dr. Wall
Emerson has evaluated and critiqued the methodology of every
research article submitted to JVIB. Taken together with his vast
areas of expertise, Dr. Wall Emerson is the natural choice to
succeed Dr. Lewis as editor in chief of the journal. All of us at
AFB look forward to working with Rob as he takes the reins and
steers the journal into the future,” Bridges added.
Dr. Wall Emerson is originally from Canada but has been in the
United States since 1994. He counts himself lucky to have Catherine
as his wife and partner, learning from her work as a COMS and as a
new clinical social worker, as well as having her as a wise
sounding board. They live in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with their
daughter, Paisley, son, Alex, and two dogs, Nutmeg and Toffee.
Founded in 1921, the American Foundation for the Blind creates
equal opportunities and expands possibilities for people who are
blind, deafblind, or have low vision through advocacy, thought
leadership, and strategic partnerships. In addition to publishing
the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB), AFB
is also the proud steward of the Helen Keller Archive, which is
available on the AFB website at www.afb.org.
Contact:
Tony Stephens, Director of Communications
212.502.7627 | tstephens@afb.org