ACOE_Self-Study

employment contracts, resume writing, debt management and legal issues. Students also have the option of enrolling in an elective course on personal financial planning.

Information Technology Support Computer, networking and electronic mail facilities and services are offered to all students and residents by the Information Technology (IT) Unit in support of the teaching and learning, research and public service functions of the College. Each student is provided with an email account and access to the College’s Intranet and library resources . 6.5 The program must maintain an orderly, accurate, confidential, secure and permanent system of student records. Record Maintenance Student records for the optometry and graduate programs are managed by the Registrar’s Office, which follows the guidelines and practices of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers ( AACRAO's ) Retention of Records, Guide for Retention and Disposal of Student Records : 2014) with respect to retention and disposal of student records. Alumni and students may request a transcript via the College’s Web site. Records for the residency prog ram are maintained by the individual programs, with selected information also maintained in the Office of Residency Education. The listing of residents who successfully completed a program is kept in the Office of Residency Education and available to the registrar. The staff in Student Affairs is able to access records both electronically and physically as deemed necessary. For the student information system, the Student Affairs staff has access to view certain areas of a record, but cannot make any changes. Only the director for information technology, VPSA, and registrar have total access to the student information system. Any documents received via U.S. post mail or email regarding a student are kept in a locked fireproof drawer until filed in the student’s record at the end of the week. Records are kept for five years after a student graduates at which time they are purged. The only record maintained after five years for each graduate is his/her transcript. Record Access SUNY College of Optometry adheres to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Its FERPA policy ( Appendix VI-14 ) is published at https://www.sunyopt.edu/pdfs/academics/SUNYOpt_FERPA.pdf , which is accessible from the Student Consumer Information Page (http://www.sunyopt.edu/about/student-consumer- information or Appendix VI-15 ). New College employees are given a brief FERPA introduction during their orientation All members of the Office of Student Affairs staff have been trained in FERPA and are provided with access to the locked drawer where student records are kept and limited access to the student information system. Other SUNY State College of Optometry staff, faculty or researchers do not have access to student records. If such access (time-limited) is desired for internal research, the investigator must provide a justification for consideration by the VPSA. If granted

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