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1. Complete and submit a feasibility study of the proposed professional optometric degree program in terms of public need, career opportunities for graduates, student interest, availability of an appropriate patient base, financial resources, availability of faculty, and physical facilities;
   
   
2. Be an institution or part of an institution that is devoted primarily to education;
   
   
3. Be authorized by applicable law to confer the doctor of optometry degree upon its graduates in recognition of their successful completion of a four-year professional program, or equivalent, of study in optometry;
   
   
4. Have employed a chief executive officer;
   
   
5. Have completed and submitted a self-study report according to the requirements outlined;
   
   
6. Submit a formal letter of application from the chief executive officer of the institution.
   

A feasibility study and a full self-study were submitted to the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education in September, 2007. The University Provost, Dr. Benjamin Cohen, The Dean, Dr. Elizabeth Hoppe, and the Associate Deans, Dr. Daniel Kurtz, and Dr. Charles Haine met with the Council in St. Louis in October and that meeting resulted in the scheduling of a site visit which took place on December 10th and 11th, 2007. The purpose of the site visit was to ensure that we are implementing our plan as described in our self-study document. The College received a written site team report and the entire Council reviewed the work of the site team at its quarterly meeting which was held on February 8, 2008 in Alexandria, VA. Dr. Hoppe attended the meeting and updated the Council on the College's continued progress since the site visit.

On February 15, 2008, the Council granted the pre-accreditation classification of "Preliminary Approval". "Preliminary Approval" is granted to a professional optometric degree program that has clearly demonstrated it is developing in accordance with Council standards. The program has approval to begin student recruitment, selection and admissions, and to begin offering the program. The Council shall review the preliminary approval classification annually during the first three academic years of the program through written reports and/or site visits as deemed necessary by the Council. A request for accreditation status shall be made not less than 12 months prior to graduation of the program's first class. As required by the USDE, the Council will not grant pre-accreditation status to a program for longer than five years.

For more information on the accrediting agency for the College of Optometry, Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE), click here.

Western Association of Schools and Colleges

Approval of the OD program by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is pending.