Within the field of optometry, sports vision has emerged as a fast-moving specialty. And within sports vision, Pacific is a leader.
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Sandra (Coutts) Young ‘82, OD ‘84 created a business called Visionary Kitchen, which connects nutrition with eye health. She is the author of Visionary Kitchen: A Cookbook for Eye Health.
When it comes to detecting problems with vision, it pays to start early, before brains are hardwired. In InfantSEE, a public health program in which Pacific participates, the patients may be as young as 6 months old.
Pacific has built on a tradition of taking eye care to the community, where students and faculty provide real-world vision screening and treatment to underserved members of the community. The most visible symbol of this outreach is the Pacific EyeVan, an advanced mobile clinic that sees patients in church parking lots, migrant camps and schools.
There’s no better time to pick up a new book! Check out what’s on Pacific University's reading list right now for Fall 2020.
The earliest contact lenses were made of glass and could be worn only for a few hours at a time. Today’s contact lenses are engineering marvels, and Pacific’s College of Optometry is at the vanguard of contact lens research and design.
The optometry program launched at Pacific in 1945 as a result of a combination of postwar challenges and unexpected opportunities. The needs of a small, temporarily shuttered optometry college in Northeast Portland helped meet the demands of a university that had limped through the war years. The outcome was the beginning of Pacific’s focus on the health professions.
The university ranked in the top half of all its peers nationwide and also was named among the country's Best Value Schools and Best Colleges for Veterans.
Willard “Wid” Bleything ’51, OD ’52, MS ’54 earned three degrees from Pacific University on his way to becoming an optometrist. He served in the Air Force and Air Reserves, retiring as a colonel, and he also worked in private practice for many years before eventually returning to Pacific, where he became the dean of the College of Optometry.
Pacific University undergraduates now have the opportunity to broaden their understanding of the world through the new Global Scholars Program. Starting with a first-year seminar and companion travel experience, participating students will complete a set of requirements focused on international and diverse perspectives, mastering a second language, studying or interning abroad, and finally integrating global learning into the senior capstone.