MSCHE/ACOE Self Study

for a student not to complete an externship rotation due to issues of performance or site compatibility. 2.10.3 The program provides educational direction to the externship and affiliated sites. Students and externship programs are provided with a detailed Externship Manual (Appendices B-11 and B-12) that includes a history of the program, goals and objectives, grading guidelines, instructions for the use of Meditrek, extern and clinical instructor responsibilities and assorted program policies and forms. The student manual is at http://www.sunyopt.edu/academics/ExternManual.pdf. As described in Section 2.10.2, data is collected on student-patient encounters and students complete evaluations of the site and supervising faculty. This information is regularly reviewed by the director of externship programs with feedback provided to sites as indicated. Affiliation agreements, which are present on campus, detail the responsibilities of the site. Graduate Program Consistent with its mission to “develop outstanding optometrists and vision scientists” and to “make new discoveries that advance vision science and patient care” the College offers the following research-oriented graduate programs:

 PhD in Vision Science  MS in Vision Science

 Combined OD/MS in Vision Science  Combined OD/PhD in Vision Science

A brief overview of each program is given below. Detailed requirements are given in the Graduate Policy Document that is published on the College’s Web site (http://www.sunyopt.edu/research/docs/POLICYDOC.pdf) or can be found in Appendix B-13).

PhD in Vision Science Goals and Overview

This program seeks to attract applicants with strong academic backgrounds in math and science or engineering who wish to develop research skills and knowledge in basic and applied vision science (Strategic Plan Goal 2.4). Through interaction with faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and other students, the curriculum is designed to support the program’s primary objectives of developing student knowledge and skills required for a research career in academia or industry and developing outstanding contributors to vision science as evidenced by published communications and externally supported research. There is currently a total enrollment of 11 students. The graduate stipend was increased to $30,000 per year in 2009 (Strategic Objective 2.4c) to become competitive with similar programs in the NYC area (also see page 78). All students receive a full tuition waiver.

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