SUNY Grads Send ASCO Call to Action on Diversity; ASCO Responds
On July 8, ASCO’s Board of Directors received a letter from a group of optometry students and graduates from SUNY, College of Optometry. The letter in part states, “… the educators and leaders of our profession must make it a priority now to target and recruit minority talent, brains, and skills to join our leadership ranks. In turn, we need to create a more welcoming community to foster Black optometry students and clinicians, as equally as we do white students/clinicians, in order to attract and retain the necessary recruits who will advance our profession in a multitude of ways.”
Read the letter, dated 7/8/2020, posted on ASCO’s website, here.
The ASCO Board of Directors responded on 7/21/2020. Read their response here.
ASCO welcomes comments regarding diversity and inclusion; we are listening to the broader community and know there is work still left to do.
ASCO’s Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee has been meeting weekly to address initiatives the optometric education community can undertake to improve the amount of diversity among the optometry applicant pool, student body, and faculty ranks. Watch for updates in future issues of Eye on Education along with postings on the Diversity page of ASCO’s website.