MSCHE Self Study April 2021

While the College has always valued diversity, it has historically not been very successful in attracting African American and Hispanic students to its programs. Those efforts increased over the past decade and the College developed its first Diversity and Inclusion Master Plan in 2016, and appointed a Chief Diversity Officer in 2017. The effort is showing signs of success with the incoming class in the fall of 2020 having 17% of matriculates being from underrepresented minorities (URM). The current pool of applicants to optometry programs is limited and it is a very competitive environment. The College has adapted and is engaging with prospective students in a number of ways. This has been highly impacted by the pandemic and maintaining our position in the market place represents a significant challenge. Key challenges and opportunities for Priority 4 include:  Recruitment: The Office of Admissions has been very successful in attracting high quality students. Continuing those efforts and expanding avenues of engagement is essential.  Diversity: The College has demonstrated significant progress towards attracting a diverse student body and there is the opportunity for further progress. The recent award of a 5 ‐ year C ‐ Step grant for this purpose will help significantly. Funding for our program increased by approximately 75%. As noted in Priority 1, the College will be expanding staffing in this area and working to ensure an inclusive environment should help the effort further.  Affordability: Keeping the cost of education affordable is a priority. This will require limiting tuition increases while growing scholarships and grants. The uncertainty of state funding in the aftermath of the pandemic heightens concerns about the cost of education. The year 2021 represents the 50 th Anniversary of the College and presents an opportunity to highlight the importance of student scholarships. As noted above, we would also like to share three challenges/opportunities that are institution ‐ wide in nature. Two of the three were unanticipated when the community began the MSCHE Self ‐ Study process. COVID ‐ 19 Pandemic : The pandemic is challenging higher education across the country, the SUNY system and the SUNY College of Optometry. Our program and our students are doing well, but there is a significant impact on our resources. When the pandemic began, the College was well positioned financially and we are confident that we can navigate the current loss of revenues, which are attributable to state funding cuts (taxpayer dollars), loss of patient revenues and the elimination of facilities use income. Tuition and research income are stable. We anticipate that there will be some permanent reduction in NY State support and will plan for that eventuality. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The College made substantial progress on the issue of diversity over the past several years, particularly after the adoption of its Diversity & Inclusion Master Plan in 2016 and the appointment of a Chief Diversity Officer in 2017. However, with the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 and in the midst of the ensuing unrest, the College intensified its focus on the issue and began having important conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion among students, faculty, staff and administration. The June 2020 appointment of the

104