Spring Semester 2022 Student Updates

The university’s updated guidance for in person events is located at https://safeandhealthy.osu.edu/events and applies to all student organizations and extra-curricular events, meetings, or gatherings including SocialEyes.

  • The university is prioritizing in-person teaching and learning
  • Due to the Omicron-related case numbers, we are asking that for now, all in-person events, gatherings and meetings be transitioned to virtual formats.
  • If you already have an in-person event scheduled on or off-campus for the spring semester that cannot be easily transitioned to a virtual format, please work with you advisor to determine the best next-steps. Advisors and SocialEyes leaders, feel free to contact Jen Bennett if you need assistance making decisions about these events.
  • Food and drinks should not be served at any in-person event, gathering or meeting. Exceptions can be made for third-party (off-campus) space rentals that have already been confirmed, although masking should be strictly enforced. Again, if you have a spring event scheduled in an off-campus facility, please talk with your advisor about how to handle the event.

Also of note, if you are eating your breakfast/lunch/dinner in an on-campus building (Classrooms, Bad Habits Lounge, Fry Student Lunch room next to 33 Fry, 6th floor Fry Study Bar, etc.): Please have your mask on unless you are actively eating or drinking.

Mask Update from President Johnson

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Kristina M. Johnson, PhD
President

No Visitor Policy

Please be advised that one of the COVID precautions we have in place is a no visitor policy. This includes sales reps, vendors, or other outside visitors. All meetings and correspondence should be virtual at this time. If there is a rare instance in which an in-person visit is necessary (e.g. to obtain a signature for a delivery), then you must e-mail Ashley Hill at least 24 hours in advance or the guest will not be allowed entry into the building. In all such instances, the visitor must enter at the 338 W. 10th Ave. entrance, be screened, adhere to all PPE and safety precautions while in the building, and limit their stay to the shortest duration possible.

 

Statement on federal restrictions on international students: Ohio State working to support students after ICE ruling

Ohio State University Executive Vice President and Provost Bruce A. McPheron and Dr. Hal Paz, executive vice president and chancellor for health affairs at Ohio State and CEO of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, voiced their opposition to new federal rules impacting international students. McPheron and Paz delivered the following joint message on July 9:

The Ohio State University disagrees with the federal guidance issued this week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the autumn 2020 semester. We are committed to our international students and will work to develop a solution that ensures that students who attend our campuses can successfully complete their academic work this autumn.

Ohio State will offer in-person, online and blended courses to provide all students with a variety of options that also support the university’s plan for health and safety.

The latest ICE guidance will limit international students’ flexibility. These changes have the potential to create barriers to education for international students in every discipline. During a global pandemic, we support the expansion of educational opportunities to allow international students to pursue their studies in the United States, including fully online learning.

Degree Conferral Update

This message from Dean Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD, was emailed to the Class of 2020 on Monday, April 6, 2020. 

Dear Class of 2020—

Thank you so much for your flexibility and commitment to the completion of your Doctor of Optometry degree this semester. I know this is not what any of us had in mind, but, as Queen Elizabeth put it over the weekend, “I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge.” I know that you will be able to take personal pride in your tenacity and dedication to your education and your future as an optometrist.

 

As you know, your attendings have been hard at work to ensure that you engage in critical thinking exercises to mirror what you would have learned in the remainder of your clinical rotations. I understand your participation in those exercises has been engaged and enthusiastic. Thank you for that. We will describe those activities in our annual report to the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education, due on May 1, and anticipate their acceptance of our teaching and your learning effors.

 

Here is the latest information from the university registrar. May 3, 2020 will still be your official degree conferral date. Once the university processes grades and goes through the normal end-of-term academic check-out, your transcripts and official, university- and college-level student records will show that you received your OD degree (and MS degree for those of you in the combined OD/MS program) graduated as of May 3, 2020. That means you can put OD or OD, MS after your name beginning May 3, 2020. The registrar is not sure what will happen with diplomas exactly, but assume that as soon as the diplomas are ready, the university will offer diploma delivery options, e.g., mailing and, eventually, in-person pickup perhaps.

 

As always, let me know if you have any questions I can answer. Stay safe.

–KZ

 

Karla Zadnik, OD PhD

Dean and Glenn A. Fry Professor in Optometry and Physiological Optics

The Ohio State University College of Optometry

Dean’s Calling: April 2020

A message from Dean Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD

“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination.” – Maya Angelou

Without knowing it, Ms. Angelou prescribes exactly what we’ve aimed for at Ohio State Optometry in these unprecedented, difficult times. Beginning three weeks ago, we took steps to continue to achieve our primary goal of educating the best optometrists in the country, even while looking the coronavirus pandemic in the face.

On March 9, university leadership announced a campus-wide initiative to convert to online didactic education for the remainder of spring semester. On March 15, the Executive Committee of the college (Mike Earley, Greg Nixon, Jeff Walline, Jim Woods, and I) made the difficult decision to suspend all student clinical rotations, effective immediately and until further notice. Since then, faculty in the College of Optometry have more than risen to the occasion, providing online education for all didactic courses and even for the critical thinking skills that develop in clinical rotations.

Our students have met the faculty more than halfway. I heard of students participating in pilot online sessions with their teachers. I heard of virtual social interactions. Our students are coping with uncertainty about their education and about their future livelihood, yet they are trusting me and the college’s administrative leaders and are giving their course instructors their all. Our faculty and staff are telecommuting. Our IT staff has facilitated our ability to do that en masse. It is remarkable.

Sadly, we have had to postpone many college events, including Visit Day, Second Look Day, our Visionary Appreciation dinner, the ΕΨΕ spring banquet, the White Coat Ceremony, and all college events related to the 2020 commencement. Rest assured that the replacement events, whether virtual or in person, will become a celebration of BuckEYE Nation’s love for the college and the university.

We are not alone. Our fellow health sciences colleagues are creatively redesigning opportunities for their students, and we are sharing best practices. The university at large has been forthcoming and transparent in its outreach. The optometry deans and presidents have been in contact with each other and with our accrediting body on a regular basis. We have relied on one another for support, encouragement, and leadership.

For those of you not in Ohio, President Michael Drake and Governor Mike DeWine have led the way. They listen to experts in our own College of Public Health and to the Director of the Ohio Department of Health, Dr. Amy Acton. They base their policy actions on those experts’ opinions and advice. Their leadership makes my job easier.

Everyone is fully engaged to ensure the present and future of The Ohio State University College of Optometry. People are available, helpful, dedicated, and deeply committed to each other’s safety and success. In short, we are leading and collaborating with each other and beyond with equal measures of strength and tenderness.

Karla Zadnik, OD PhD
Glenn A. Fry Professor in Optometry and Physiological Optics
Dean
The Ohio State University College of Optometry