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Dear Friends,
The State University of New York College of Optometry has been dedicated to educating optometrists and vision scientists,
providing quality patient care to our community and advancing our understanding of vision science through research for more
than four decades. Over these years we have educated thousands of health care providers and vision scientists, cared for
countless individuals and blazed an important path with basic, translational and clinical research. As the only institution of its
kind in New York State and the surrounding region we play a unique and vital role in our community.
We are proud of this important legacy. We are also fully aware that no successful institution can maintain its vitality without
constantly evaluating and improving upon what it does, while vigorously and adeptly planning for the future. With this in mind,
the SUNY College of Optometry recently began its 2013 - 2018 strategic plan. The tagline that we selected for this new plan,
“Creating a Legacy of Leadership,” helps to illuminate our mission. It’s not enough for us to simply produce new practitioners
or researchers, or to provide care for our neighbors. Our institutional goal is to develop and nurture future health care leaders
and, as this report illustrates, we’ve been working hard to achieve this objective.
With health care reform now fully upon us, the burden of responsibility is squarely on our shoulders to adapt accordingly and
to produce the practitioners, researchers and educators who will excel in the evolving landscape of the future. Over the past
year, we’ve taken many steps toward this critical goal and I am proud to share these developments with you in this report.
Of course resting on one’s laurels is never an appropriate course of action. While we should celebrate and be proud of the
accomplishments we have made, we must also be mindful of our obligation to continue to look forward. I am grateful to all of
the members of our dynamic and hard-working community who have helped us make this journey and I look forward to our
continued efforts and successes in the years to come.
Sincerely,
L E T T E R F R OM T H E P R E S I D E N T
David A. Heath, OD, EdM
President
