Pacific University

The alumna and former faculty member was recognized May 20, 2023, at the university’s graduate and professional commencement ceremony, where she also delivered the keynote address.

Pacific University's AMIGOS Eye Care and partner Enfoque Ixcán embarked on its first international eye care mission trip in August, since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As Pacific contemplated its mission in the 1970s, it looked to health professions studies as a way to complement the traditional liberal arts. 

Schnider, a 1982 Pacific University optometry alumnus, received the award at Pacific’s Graduate & Professional Commencement.

One of the most prominent names connected with Pacific’s College of Optometry is Carkner, and the connection began before the beginning.

DeAnn Fitzgerald ’81, OD ’84 of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has become well known for her focus on using optometry as a way to manage athletes’ concussions. She has developed protocols for young athletes who suffer head injuries, and her work has been widely shared and emulated around the country.

Within the field of optometry, sports vision has emerged as a fast-moving specialty. And within sports vision, Pacific is a leader.

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.