High Point University in North Carolina has announced plans to add an optometry school.
The school will be part of a $400 million academic and campus expansion. Of that amount, $100 million will support the establishment of schools of optometry, law, nursing and dentistry.
“Each will include new facilities to be constructed on HPU’s main campus,” the university stated in a press release, “A School of Entrepreneurship will also be added to campus in the future. With the addition of these schools, HPU will have 14 academic schools, up from just three schools in 2005.”
A national search for a founding optometry dean is underway, according to the release. A timeline for a new facility and inaugural class will be announced in the fall.
The school will be North Carolina’s only optometry program.
“At HPU, we’re on a rocket ship to the moon,” said High Point University President Nido Qubein. “Our growth is truly a miracle with God’s hand on it. Students and families across the country appreciate that HPU delivers an education founded on values and framed with life skills. Our future has never been brighter, and our faculty and staff continue marching forward with faithful courage.”
INVISION reported as early as December 2017 that the university was considering the idea of adding an optometry school.