Dr. Philip H. Hatlen received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees at San Francisco State University (SFSU), majoring in elementary education and special education, with an emphasis in the education of students with visual impairments. He subsequently earned a doctorate in education at the University of California, Berkeley. In the mid-1950s Dr. Hatlen began his career as a teacher of students with visual impairments who were included in regular classrooms. He served as principal of the California School for the Blind from 1962 until 1966. At that time he accepted a position as professor at SFSU. During his twenty-four year tenure at this university, which hosts one of the leading personnel preparation programs in the U. S., he prepared students and orientation and mobility instructors for work with blind and visually impaired students. In 1990 he left SFSU to become Superintendent at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Dr. Hatlen has been active in several professional organizations. He has served as president of the Division on Visual Impairments of the Council for Exceptional Children; and as president of the Association for the Education of the Visually Handicapped (AEVH) during the last two years this organization was in existence. He was very active in the formation of the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). Dr. Hatlen founded the Hatlen Center for the Blind, and he has also served as Executive Director of the Blind Babies Foundation. He has served as co-chair of the National Agenda and is the author of the Expanded Core Curriculum. In addition, he is past-president of the Council of Schools for the Blind.

During his career he has been actively involved in guiding legislation and setting policy which is beneficial to blind and visually impaired individuals. He has written extensively on curriculum for students with visual impairments and on education placement issues.

Division 17, AER, awarded Dr. Hatlen the Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Award in 1994. In 1997 Dr. Hatlen was the recipient of the prestigious Migel Medal by the American Foundation for the Blind. In 2000, the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired awarded Dr. Hatlen the Mary K. Bauman Award, its highest award for an educator. In 2003, the Division on Visual Impairments, Council for Exceptional Children, honored Dr. Hatlen with its Distinguished Service Award. In 2004, CEC awarded Dr. Hatlen with its Outstanding Leadership Award. In 2009, Dr. Hatlen received the Wings of Freedom Award, presented by the American Printing House for the Blind.

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