About the College of Optometry

General Information

The College of Optometry is one of the university's fourteen schools and colleges. Established in 1952, the college moved in 1976 to its new building, now named the J. Davis Armistead Building, one of the most modern optometric facilities in the world. One hundred students are admitted to each entering class from the United States and from other countries. The college not only educates students planning to practice optometry, but also offers Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degree programs in physiological optics for students planning careers in teaching and research. Students who have a degree in science or a special interest in vision or who are graduates of an optometry school or other professional health program may want to consider entering the graduate program. The faculty of dedicated research scientists and expert clinicians is complemented by research laboratories, teaching clinics, and an extensive college library of scientific literature.

Doctors of Optometry are independent primary health care providers who specialize in the examination, diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases and disorders of the visual system, the eye and associated structures as well as the diagnosis of related systemic conditions.

Graduates may enter family practice or serve in multidisciplinary primary care clinics. Graduates also find careers in public health, teaching and research, and health administration. Residencies/fellowships are available in pediatric, primary care, contact lenses, rehabilitative, or hospital-based optometry. Special services for children, the elderly, and the partially-sighted can each be exclusively practiced. Helping to care for vision, our most treasured sense, makes optometry a rewarding profession for students interested in a health career.

Curriculum Rationale

Optometrists are health care professionals who competently solve human eye and vision problems. Most optometrists work in primary care practice, serving patients who need eye and vision care, who seek periodic evaluation of their eye and vision status, or who are referred by other professionals. The optometrist cares for most of the public's eye and vision problems. The practice of primary care optometry is concerned with the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases and disorders of the vision system, eye and associated structures as well as the diagnosis of related systemic conditions. In order to properly function as an optometrist, mastery of several bodies of knowledge is necessary. An understanding of the stimuli that initiate vision, the anatomy and physiology of the structures that mediate vision, and visual information processing represents a portion of the appropriate knowledge base called vision science. Understanding of optical physics for the provision of appropriate visual images is critical for the correction of refractive errors and binocular vision anomalies. Understanding pathophysiological processes, pharmacological processes, and systemic physiology and pathology are necessary for the proper diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases and the recognition, co-management or referral of systemic diseases with ocular and visual manifestations.

Other responsibilities exist beyond the individual patient/practitioner relationship. Often visual health is a societal phenomenon, and optometrists must educate the community concerning what constitutes a good visual environment. For example, optometrists have been involved in the designing of more easily seen traffic signals and signs, highway lighting and marking, classroom design, and much more. They also are involved in community-wide visual screening of both school children and the general population. The major educational goal is to produce health care practitioners who have appropriate knowledge, skill, and competence to fulfill the role of delivering primary eye and vision care; who counsel patients concerning health promotion; and who manage curative or preventive regimens in consultation with other health care practitioners.

Educational Programs

The college's goals are to provide educational programs essential to rendering high-quality, comprehensive opto-metric care; to add to the body of knowledge and the applications of the vision sciences; and to provide leadership in the improvement of optometric patient care.

All programs and activities of the college serve one or more of these educational, research, or service purposes.

The college's institutional objectives are to achieve and to sustain standards of excellence in teaching, research, and patient care; to create a climate in which faculty and students cooperatively pursue processes of inquiry that result in effective learning; and to help lead the optometric profession toward its highest potential for human service.

Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Programs

In addition to the professional program in optometry, the college offers a graduate program in physiological optics that prepares students to earn a Master of Science or a Doctor of Philosophy degree or both and thereby embark on a career in teaching and research in the basic science of vision. Students who have a Bachelor of Science or higher degree from a field such as optometry, physiological optics, medicine, ophthalmology, anatomy, physiology, bioengineering, and biophysics are eligible for admission to this program. The need for new knowledge in the vision sciences is great, and teaching and research opportunities are numerous in an array of academic, industrial, and professional settings. Students interested in a career in teaching and research in physiological optics may obtain additional information about the graduate program by referring to the section on the graduate program in physiological optics and by contacting the associate dean for graduate studies and research.

Other Educational Programs

The university also recognizes a responsibility to provide postgraduate clinical training, to bring continuing education to optometrists in the state and region, and to participate in the training of allied personnel.

Accreditation

The College of Optometry is accredited by the Council on Education of the American Optometric Association.

Last updated: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 11:38 AM
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