College of Optometry set to recruit
0Staff Report
The 22nd school in the nation and the first in Kentucky, the University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Optometry has entered a new phase and will begin recruiting its inaugural class for the fall of 2016.
The Accreditation Council on Optometric Education voted to grant the Kentucky College of Optometry the pre-accreditation classification of “Preliminary Approval.” Sixty students will be admitted per class for a total of 240. With no other colleges of optometry in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina or Georgia, KYCO will be the most accessible college of optometry in the Southeastern portion of the country.
“We are the first school to receive such recognition under the new, more stringent accreditation standards, and in a record time of one year and three months from the time we initiated our self-study,” said Founding Dean, Andrew Buzzelli, O.D., M.S. “It is because of the profusely talented UPIKE employees that we will be working toward complying with all of the standards for final accreditation, which will be considered after graduation of our first class.”
Similar to the college of osteopathic medicine, the optometry program will offer the KYCO Advantage, a program developed around the university’s mission of access and educational opportunity, providing all first-year students with the same resources – at no additional cost – including equipment, books, clinical clothing and national board examination fees.
“It is the goal of the University of Pikeville to make this new college the best and most prestigious college of optometry in America,” said Patton. “This college will be the center of the effort to reduce vision loss in this part of the nation. We are the leading agency seeking to solve this problem with diagnosis and research. We will create opportunities for learning, strengthen our knowledge-based economy and foster a new, healthier Appalachia.”