ACOE_Self-Study

ranges from 12 to 1 to 6 to 1 depending on the course requirements. For third-year clinics, the student to faculty ratio is 3-4 to 1 and for fourth year it is 4 to 1.

As evidenced by the growth in extramural research funding over the past decade or so ( Appendix III-3a ), there are sufficient faculty resources to provide those faculty members with research credentials adequate release from teaching and administrative responsibilities for research. Faculty research assignments in the Clinical Vision Research Center provide between 0.1 and 0.4 FTE. Faculty with other research responsibilities typically get a minimum of 0.2 FTE for research, which can be extended with salary offset from research grants. Accordingly, several faculty members have up 0.6 FTE for research currently. 5.1.1 Faculty members must hold an earned terminal degree or first professional degree from an institution accredited by a recognized agency or its foreign equivalent or have certification or licensure related to their primary instructional assignment. Prospective faculty are reviewed by a search committee comprised of faculty with experience appropriate for the search, and who review the degrees and credentials of all candidates. No candidates without earned or professional degrees from recognized and accredited institutions are considered for qualified or tenure track positions. Curriculum vitae and letters of reference for hired faculty are maintained in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the highest degree is verified. All faculty are asked to update their credentials and activity annually. A list of College faculty, degrees and institutions attended can be found in Appendix V-4 . For clinical faculty, as published in the University Eye Center (UEC) Policy and Procedures Manual (Policy C-12 and Appendix 6 in Self-Study Appendix VIII-6 ), it is the policy of the UEC to ensure that each health care provider is initially credentialed and subsequently re-credentialed on a bi- annual basis. In addition to requiring a copy of state licenses and certificates, the applicant is required to produce a copy of his/her diploma from an accredited school or college of optometry. The application is then reviewed by a credentialing specialist, and the provider’s informa tion is entered into the credentialing database system for tracking and reporting purposes. Initial primary source verification is conducted utilizing the primary or an NCQA approved verification source. The following items are verified: a current valid license or certification to practice in New York; the status of clinical privileges at any hospitals listed by the provider; education and training; board certification; history of professional liability claims; and Medicare/Medicaid sanctions by querying the National Practitioner Data Bank. 5.2 The program must demonstrate an effective mechanism for faculty participation in decision-making related to the optometric education program. The roles and responsibilities of the Faculty in College governance are given in the Faculty By- laws published in the Faculty Handbook, which is available on the college web site (https://www.sunyopt.edu/pdfs/academics/FacultyHandbook.pdf or Appendix IV-5 ). This document details the various faculty elected committee structures upon which faculty

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