MSCHE/ACOE Self Study

 Continue efforts to grow the residency program in a fiscally responsible manner.

C. Faculty, Research, and Scholarly Activities ACOE Standards III & V; MSCHE Standard 10 5.1 The number and qualifications of faculty is sufficient to meet the stated missions of the [professional] program. The College employs approximately 61 full-time and 80 part-time (28.2 FTE) paid faculty members for a total of 89.2 FTE. This compares favorably with faculty numbers for other schools and colleges of optometry as reported in the 2009- 2010 Association for Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) survey. The higher number of faculty at SUNY may be attributed to its large campus-based clinical care facility combined with its research program. Appendix C-1 gives the distribution of faculty by department and rank. The Faculty is organized into the Departments of Biological, Vision and Clinical Sciences as indicted in Appendix C-2 (or http://www.sunyopt.edu/about/dean_office.shtml), which gives the Table of Organization for Academic Affairs. Faculty members may hold an appointment of either qualified (e.g., clinical and some research appointments) or non-qualified rank (tenure-track/tenured). Per SUNY Board of Trustee policies, qualified appointments are not eligible for tenure, but may be renewed indefinitely. Additional information regarding faculty appointments is cited in Section 5.5 Faculty members in the departments of Biological and Vision Sciences hold doctorates related to the field in which they teach and just about all have participated in post-doctoral research training. Four members of Vision Sciences hold both a PhD and optometry degree. Optometrists with appointments in Clinical Sciences hold an OD degree and New York State optometric license and are credentialed by the University Eye Center (UEC). Goal 1.9 of the College’s strategic plan is “to attract and retain highly qualified, full-time faculty members.” A published objective in support of this goal is “to compensate both existing and future faculty members at or near discipline- competitive levels adjusted for geographic location and faculty rank. (“The compensation of faculty will be improved to a level equal to or above the average among comparable New York City-based institutions and among comparable institutions nationally. And, for clinical faculty, a level of compensation that is no less than 20% below other optometry compensation levels in the New York metropolitan area will also be used as an indicator.”) As can be seen in Appendix C-3, SUNY faculty salaries compare favorably with those of other schools and colleges of optometry (data from Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry). Comparisons with comparable national institutions (60 th percentile of

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