MSCHE Self Study April 2021

Major Findings and Opportunities for Improvement and Innovation As the Self ‐ Study is organized using a traditional standards ‐ based approach, our major findings and opportunities for improvement identified in the self ‐ study are presented here in that manner. Standard I – Mission and Goals: The SUNY College of Optometry has a history of a strong commitment to inclusive, mission ‐ driven strategic planning and the integration of assessment at all levels of the institution. The College’s Mission and Goals are clear and realistic, and progress towards those goals is well documented. The College’s commitment to ongoing assessment is evidenced by the execution of its assessment plan, through the transparent publication of institutional metrics in its online Factbook and the analysis and utilization of these data for institutional improvement. Notably, the volume of data gathering and subsequent data analysis is challenging, and the process could benefit by the acquisition of technology that integrates the process into daily operations, provides more timely feedback and offers a public facing dashboard sharing key metrics. Standard II ‐ Ethics and Integrity: The College’s association with the State University of New York and State of New York mandates the establishment, implementation and regular review of policies that foster ethics, integrity and transparency. University and State oversight, as well as internal procedures and controls, make ethics, integrity and transparency a College priority. Through the Self ‐ Study process, there are two areas identified, which represents challenges for the Institution: affordability and diversity/inclusion. Affordability : While the College remains very competitive in terms of cost, the burden of the cost of education has increasingly shifted over the past decade from the State to the students. The College has increased its support through scholarships and grants to some degree, but the burden on the student remains high. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion : The College has made significant strides in attracting more unrepresented minority students with 17% of the 2020 incoming class composed of Black and Hispanic students. In June 2020, the president established Task Force on Race and Equity, which delivered its report at the beginning of November ( TFRE Report – Standard X). Two broad findings contained in the report include the need to: (a) adopt strategies that will create a more inclusive community and (b) increase the diversity of the on ‐ campus faculty, which currently has no African ‐ American faculty. Standard III – Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience : The College of Optometry’s highly regarded standing nationally is evidenced by the outstanding quality of its optometric student body, strong graduation rates and performance on national licensing examinations; a robust and well ‐ funded research program in basic, translational and clinical research (considering the College’s small size) that supports graduate programs in vision science; and its well ‐ established and extensive clinical residency program. The College’s faculty are sufficient in number and well qualified by training and experience.

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