Welcome to the College of Optometry’s repository of college policies, procedures, guidelines, and standards! (Clinic governing documents are stored elsewhere, however.) These documents outline how the college is governed in alignment with university requirements, and those requirements are referenced in each document. The documents stored here are the official and most recent versions.
You can make use of the following quick-links to jump to the section on this page of most interest to you (and use the back button on your browser to return to this overview section):
Guidelines
- Coming soon!
Policies
- Associated Faculty of Practice Clinical Excellence Bonus Program Policy – The Associated Faculty of Practice Clinical Excellence Bonus Program is designed to reward associated faculty who teach in our internal clinics and who received an overall effectiveness score of 4.5 or above in their Meditrek student evaluations in the previous fiscal year (July 1 through June 30, the bonus period). The bonus will be paid in September of each year as part of AMCP, subject to the Provost’s annual guidance.
- Biological Laboratory User Policy – To facilitate research activities for investigators within the College of Optometry through use of the biological laboratory space and select equipment.
- Clinical Faculty Workload Policy – The clinical faculty workload policy supports the delivery of exemplary patient care and clinical education, while enabling professional development and success of clinical faculty. Scheduling faculty in clinics, laboratories, classes, scholarship activities, and service obligations is a complex process. Every attempt is made to adhere to the guiding principles of fairness and equity, which requires flexibility. This policy provides transparency to the process and should not be construed as an inviolable contract. Every attempt will be made to accommodate all reasonable requests, knowing that not all requests can be approved.
- College Governing Document Creation and Maintenance Policy – This policy defines the types of college governing documents and details their creation, approval, storage, maintenance, communication, and retirement. It also establishes global oversight of college governing documents. Clinic policies, procedures, and guidelines are explicitly excluded from this policy.
- College Recognition Events Policy – College sponsored events to honor employees on a graduated scale: resigning or retiring from the college.
- Departing Employee Record and Document Disposition Policy – When employees depart from the college, it is crucial to manage the documents in their possession, both digital and analog, by determining which are university records, which include sensitive data, and which are essential to the position being vacated. The employee and/or their supervisor must then follow the necessary policies and procedures to destroy, store, or reassign these documents.
- Digital Accessibility Request and Complaint Handling Policy – Federal and state law, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Ohio Administrative Code 4112, prohibit Ohio State from discriminating against people with disabilities in our programs, benefits, and services. Federal law specifically requires that communication provided to people with disabilities be equally effective as that provided to others. The university’s Digital Accessibility Policy requires each college and unit to establish and follow specific procedures for responding to accessibility requests and complaints from the general public, patients, prospective students, current students, and university employees. This policy fulfills this requirement.
- Email Distribution List Policy – Email distribution lists are a convenient way of sending messages to the entire college or select groups of individuals. The purpose of this policy and associated procedure is to outline how these lists will be created and managed to ensure that all individuals in the college receive necessary communications and to help users of the lists quickly and easily find the distribution list that fits their needs.
- Faculty Productivity Bonus Program Policy – The Faculty Productivity Bonus Program is designed to reward tenure-track and clinical faculty who secured significant extramural or intramural grant/contract funding and/or who received an overall effectiveness score of 4.5 or above in their Student Evaluation of Instruction surveys in the previous fiscal year (July 1 through July 30, the bonus period). The bonus will be paid each year as part of AMCP, subject to the Provost’s annual guidance.
- Faculty Professional Growth Funds (FPGF) Policy – Providing funds each fiscal year to tenure-track, clinical, research, and associated faculty in support of professional development in the areas of teaching, research, and/or service.
- Faculty Research Incentive Program (FRIP) Policy – To reward faculty who secure extramural funding and encourage other faculty to compete for extramural research support.
- Faculty/Staff Illness and Bereavement Policy – Provide flowers for employees and graduate assistants who are hospitalized or who have lost someone with one degree of separation.
- Graduate Associate Leave Policy – Graduate students that are appointed as GAs are required to work 50% full time equivalent (FTE) and are entitled to paid leave. The College of Optometry is committed to providing consistent clinic attending and teaching laboratory assignments, which dictates a need for coverage of absences. The college strives to provide a supportive workplace that ensures GAs can use earned leave. The purpose of this policy is to outline the procedures for both planned and unplanned GA absences.
- Non-cash Forms of Payment to Human Subjects – The purpose of this policy is to establish a program of effective monitoring of non-cash forms of payment and to establish the appropriate method to manage these forms of payment when any remain unused after the close of the study for which they were purchased.
- Optometry IT Computing Policy – This document outlines policies governing the use of computing resources in the College of Optometry at The Ohio State University. These computing resources include any account, computer, peripheral, network, or server provided or supported by the College of Optometry Information Technology Department (referred to as ‘Optometry IT’). Research devices, in addition to being subject to IRB requirements, must also comply with applicable IT policies.
- Performance Reward Program Policy – To reward Ohio State College of Optometry faculty and staff for superior job performance, with the goal of enhancing and strengthening motivation for faculty and staff to perform at a level beyond their job description.
- Research Staff Reward Program Policy – The purpose of this policy is to reward superior staff performance in attracting, administering and completing research projects sponsored by external agencies.
Procedures
- Richard and Leonora Hill Endowed Lecture Series on Frontiers in Vision Research Procedure – The Richard and Leonora Hill Endowed Lecture Series on Frontiers in Vision Research is supported by the Hill Endowed Fund. This procedure describes the allowable use of college funds for the series and the lecturer selection process.
- Jeffrey and Joyce Myers Lecture Series Procedure – The Jeffrey and Joyce Myers Lecture Series is designed to feature a guest lecturer from outside Ohio State University with special expertise across the domains of optometry and vision science. This procedure describes lecturer selection and the allowable use of funds for the series.
- Off-Site Long-Term Record Storage Procedure – It is preferred that documents that need to be kept be scanned, labeled and stored appropriately. This may be accomplished by contacting the college business manager or the grants and contracts administrator for assistance. However, there are times when paper records must be kept. Boxes of documents that need to be kept, but which do not need to be accessed for long periods of time, may be sent to Vital Records Control for deep storage. This storage option is ideal when documents will likely not be needed until a mandatory retention period has passed and they can be destroyed. This procedure describes how to send documents to Vital Records Control, how to retrieve them if necessary, how they are reviewed on a regular basis, and how they can be destroyed.
- Reporting Estimated Financial Assistance Procedure – In order to comply with the University’s policy on Reporting Estimated Financial Assistance Provided to Students, in accordance with the federal Title IV reporting requirements, the College of Optometry has established the following procedure for reporting Financial Assistance provided to students.
- Responding to Requests for Confirmation of Course Content from Graduates Procedure – College of Optometry graduates are educated to pass the NBEO Examinations and to practice optometry in the broadest sense. Nonetheless, some states require documentation of education on specific topics in order to obtain licensure or some additional credential, such as injections, glaucoma treatment, and laser procedures. This procedure describes the process for providing this documentation.
- Social Eyes Program Purchasing Procedure – SocialEyes is designed to offer new students a place to form connections and community within a small group of faculty and classmates. Building interpersonal connections and a sense of belonging reduces social isolation and enhances mental health and wellness while in professional school. Additionally, SocialEyes helps new students discover and acclimate to the Columbus and surrounding areas which enables new students to find outlets for fun and engagement outside of academic pursuits. This procedure outlines the guidelines and procedures for using college funds for this program.
- Gerald Westheimer Endowed Lecture Procedure – The Westheimer Lecture supported by the Gerald Westheimer Endowed Lecture Fund. This procedure describes the allowable use of college funds for a lecture for the optometric, vision and health science communities to include, but not limited to, clinical eye care or vision research.