Mission

To inspire and educate future optometrists to provide collaborative, evidence-based, ethical, and equitable health care that reflects the evolving practice of optometry, and to be leaders in the community and profession.

Values

As the first optometry school in California, the Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO) has a proud history of serving the optometric profession and the public. The college educates and guides future doctors of optometry to be leaders in healthcare, advances the profession, and serves our communities, locally, nationally, and internationally. We embody the values of the university in our commitment to reimagine the future of healthcare education, while promoting accountability through professionalism, ethical standards, and societal responsibility. We embrace an inclusive and compassionate culture for all members. We practice excellence in the care we give to patients and the high-quality, evidence-based education we impart to students. Innovation is championed by the contributions we make to the profession. Above all, we respect and value the skills and diversity of people and their contributions to our college.

SCCO Organizational Chart

Educational Goal

Provide an innovative and comprehensive curriculum that prepares students to practice full scope optometry, to value professionalism and ethics, and to promote a supportive learning environment.

Teaching Goal

Deliver a contemporary, evolving, and comprehensive didactic and clinical education by faculty who are knowledgable, highly qualified, effective, and passionate.

Service and Outreach Goal

Instill a devotion of providing health care for the community, to contribute to the optometric profession. 

Scholarship Goal

Provide and sustain a high-quality research environment that enables the expertise and aspiration of faculty and students to advance the college and contribute to the profession.

SCCO Community Goal

To inspire and nurture an inclusive, supportive, and collaborative campus environment supportive of growth and respectful of diversity in perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. The SCCO Community includes people who work, learn, and engage with services at SCCO.  

Education

1. Provide an evidence based and comprehensive curriculum that prepares students for entry level practice and licensure upon graduation.
2. Provide graduates with the clinical skills, knowledge, and problem-solving abilities necessary to safely and effectively evaluate patients’ visual and health needs to develop and implement effective management plans.
3. Promote a student-centered approach to education delivery through supportive and collaborative learning environments.
4. Foster an environment that encourages the student to actively practice ethical principles and professional standards.
5. Provide support for those students who fall below academic standards to ensure successful completion of the program.
6. Provide a direct clinical learning environment with diverse experiences.
7. Provide opportunities for students to learn within an interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) environment.
8. Foster core values of cultural humility, cross-cultural communication, and culturally sensitive care by inspiring and reinforcing a lifelong learning environment that acknowledges and incorporates the importance of these principles to provide culturally responsive and respectful care to diverse populations and reduce health care disparities.
9. Give students the essential tools to promote a framework for lifelong learning and professional development.

Teaching

1. Recruit diverse faculty with expertise in their areas of specialty for teaching and/or clinical care based on the needs of the college.
2. Maintain highly qualified faculty.
3. Provide time and resources for faculty to develop and enhance areas of specialty as well as expanding the scope of practice.
4. Encourage innovation and evaluation of teaching pedagogy for the improvement of the academic and clinical program.
5. Provide faculty with infrastructure support and resources, when appropriate to enhance academic and clinical teaching.
6. Foster cross-disciplinary collaboration in pursuit of intraprofessional and interprofessional education and collaborative practice.

Service and Outreach

1. Provide high quality, accessible eye care, education, and events for the community through the Ketchum Health Network of clinics.
2. Represent the college and the profession in local, state, and national level optometric and other professional organizations.
3. Support Alumni through resources, including continuing education, career resources, and community involvement.
4. Continually collaborate with local leaders and organizations to meet visual and health needs of the community.
5. Establish mentorship and participation opportunities within optometric organizations so that students are involved in the future of the profession.
6. Support college service through faculty and student governance structures, to systematically assess and identify issues and priorities.

Scholarship

1. Provide the infrastructure and resources to support faculty research and scholarship in vision science and health care.
2. Support and engage faculty to actively participate in research and scholarly activities and submit research grant applications.
3. Foster scholarly collaboration across Optometry specialties, University programs, and other institutions.
4. Foster an environment of faculty achievements in research and scholarly activities.
5. Provide opportunities and education for students interested in participating in vision science research and scholarly activities.

Community

1. Inspire a culture of inclusion and respect.
2. Nurture diversity in our student body, staff, faculty, and leadership at our institution.
3. Provide effective communication to staff, faculty and students related to campus news.

Program Learning Outcome 1 Graduates will demonstrate competency as a primary eye care provider by:

Program Learning Outcomes

PLO	Description
PLO 1.1	Identifying and applying principles of biomedical, optical, vision, and clinical sciences with an emphasis on the eye and visual system to diagnose disorders of the eye, visual system, visual function, and systemic health.
PLO 1.2	Gathering pertinent health information about a patient through skillful, culturally sensitive, communication, and observation.
PLO 1.3	Accurately obtaining and interpreting the results of diagnostic testing by understanding the scientific and statistical principles of testing.
PLO 1.4	Understanding the associations between ocular and systemic conditions and disease states to formulate effective, patient-centered, management and treatment plans through the appropriate use of ophthalmic materials, pharmaceuticals, and/or select surgical and non-surgical procedures.
PLO 1.5	Demonstrating an understanding of healthcare systems and designing evidence-based interventions, and educational strategies for individuals and communities to manage ocular and systemic disease and improve health outcomes.
PLO 1.6	Working in cooperation with those who receive care, those who provide care, and others who contribute to or support the delivery of health care.

Program Learning Outcome 2 Graduates will demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills by:

Program Learning Outcomes

PLO	Description
PLO 2.1	Identifying, evaluating, and developing solutions to problems.
PLO 2.2	Integrating current knowledge, scientific advances, and the understanding of the human/social dimensions (i.e., compassion, ethics, cultural sensitivity, and patient centric) to assure the highest quality of health care for each patient.
PLO 2.3	Acquiring, analyzing, and applying new information.
PLO 2.4	Recognizing and applying relevant public health principles in the development of treatment and management plans.

Program Learning Outcome 3 Graduates will practice evidence-based healthcare by:

Program Learning Outcomes

PLO	Description
PLO 3.1	Integrating current knowledge, scientific advances, and human/social dimensions (i.e., compassion, ethics, cultural sensitivity, and patient centric) to deliver competent patient care.
PLO 3.2	Pursuing and appraising current literature, identifying study limitations, and understanding relevance to clinical scenarios.
PLO 3.3	Interpreting statistical tests and hypothesis analyses.
PLO 3.4	Applying evidence-based knowledge to incorporate new technologies and procedures in clinical evaluation, problem solving, and decision making.

Program Learning Outcome 4 Graduates will demonstrate a commitment to professionalism and ethics through:

Program Learning Outcomes

PLO	Description
PLO 4.1	Developing personal and professional goals.
PLO 4.2	Practicing patient care in a professional, ethical, sustainable, and legal manner.
PLO 4.3	Pursuing cultural competence and humility skills to appropriately address the unique needs of diverse populations.
PLO 4.4	Respecting the dignity of each patient.
PLO 4.5	Supporting and participating in professional organizations within optometry.

Intersection of Program Learning Outcomes and Institutional Learning Outcomes
MBKU ILO 1. Communication: MBKU graduates demonstrate competence in listening, reading, speaking, writing and interpersonal skills.	SCCO PLO: 1.2, 1.6, 4.3, 4.4
MBKU ILO 2. Analytical reasoning and problem solving: MBKU graduates demonstrate competence in assimilation, evaluation and interpretation of evidence from multiple sources; and the application of that information to achieve optimal patient outcomes.	SCCO PLO 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.2
MBKU ILO 3. Interprofessional health education: MBKU graduates demonstrate competence as members of the health care team to provide quality health care services in an interprofessional environment.	SCCO PLO 1.5, 1.6, 2.2, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5
MBKU ILO 4. Health information, literacy and lifelong learning: MBKU graduates demonstrate ongoing competence to identify and analyze evidence-based health information in formulating successful outcomes for patients.	SCCO PLO 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.2
MBKU ILO 5. Professionalism: MBKU graduates demonstrate their professional competence with published standards of practice and codes of conduct as health care professionals.	SCCO PLO 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5

The Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE) has granted the Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University the accreditation status of “Accredited.” Accredited is a classification granted to an educational program indicating that the program generally meets the Standards for accreditation. For more information, see the ACOE’s website at http://www.theacoe.org/ or contact the ACOE at accredit@theacoe.org.