High Point University says its School of Optometry has earned preliminary approval for accreditation from the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education, a key step as the school prepares to welcome its inaugural class of students next summer. The announcement marks a major milestone for the Piedmont Triad university, which has been building out the program for several years.
According to a release distributed via GLOBE NEWSWIRE, the preliminary approval allows the School of Optometry to recruit, select and admit new students and to start offering its Doctor of Optometry program. It is not full accreditation — rather, it is a preaccreditation classification that permits the school to begin operating while under continued review. As YES! Weekly reported, High Point University was informed that the school had received this preliminary accreditation approval from the ACOE.
Catherine Heyman, the founding dean of the School of Optometry, called the approval a defining milestone that reflects the commitment of faculty, staff and university leadership. “It brings us one step closer to welcoming our inaugural class,” the release quotes her as saying, adding that the approval moves the school toward fulfilling its mission to prepare skilled, compassionate optometrists.
What Preliminary Approval Actually Means
The Accreditation Council on Optometric Education says preliminary approval is the only preaccreditation classification available to a new professional optometric degree program until it becomes fully operational in its fourth year, per the council's own guidance. The ACOE will conduct an annual review of the school's accreditation going forward, and the council could consider the school for full accreditation during the 2030-31 academic year, according to the same release.
Per the ACOE, the council reviews programs holding preliminary approval every academic year through written reports and evaluation visits, and it plans to conduct a final on-site evaluation during the academic year in which the program's first class is expected to graduate. Getting to this point reportedly involved HPU demonstrating need for a Doctor of Optometry program and assessing feasibility, resources and long-term sustainability, followed by developing curriculum, recruiting faculty and leadership, establishing clinical education opportunities, and creating student-success policies.
A Piece of a Larger $400 Million Expansion
The School of Optometry is described in the release as part of a $400 million academic expansion at High Point University, funded in part by three historic gifts totaling $100 million from three families. The school has also opened the High Point Eye Institute in High Point, which the release says provides comprehensive, patient-centered care to patients and families of all ages while supporting the school's clinical infrastructure, community partnerships and diverse patient population.
Faculty named in the release include Dr. Rema Shabany-Khayyat and Dr. Robert Rego, both associate professors of optometry, and Dr. Stephanie Schumacher, an assistant professor in the School of Optometry.
Is North Carolina Actually Short on Optometrists?
The case for a new optometry school rests partly on workforce projections. A report from the UNC Sheps Center describes North Carolina as having a strong overall supply of optometrists, while also noting that the ratio of optometrists to residents varies significantly by county. A 2021 Sheps Center study found 13 North Carolina counties had no optometrist at all, according to a UNC Pembroke announcement.
Looking ahead, national projections cited by Business North Carolina suggest rural communities could face a shortage of nearly 70 percent of the eye-care providers they need by 2035, and an aging population is expected to grow demand for medical eye care by 25 percent by 2030, the outlet reported.
HPU Isn't the Only North Carolina School Building an Optometry Program
HPU is not alone in moving into optometric education. UNC Pembroke has also been developing a Doctor of Optometry program, after receiving unanimous approval from the UNC System Board of Governors to establish it, according to UNC Pembroke. That university describes its planned program as the only public-university optometry degree in North Carolina, tied to a new $91 million clinical sciences building.
Timing for UNC Pembroke's launch has shifted in its own public materials: one UNC Pembroke announcement said the school planned to welcome its first class in fall 2027, while a later UNC Pembroke announcement said the university planned to welcome its first class in fall 2028. HPU's School of Optometry, by contrast, is a private program, and its own plans point to summer 2027 for its first students.
Part of a Broader Pattern of New Accreditations at HPU
HPU has added several professional programs in recent years. The university's Workman School of Dental Medicine, described as North Carolina's only private dental school, received its initial accreditation from the Commission on Dental Accreditation in 2023, per the GlobeNewswire release. The release also notes that HPU's Master of Healthcare Administration program received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, with a four-year initial accreditation term running through spring 2030, while the Teresa B. Caine School of Nursing earned national accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and the Webb School of Engineering earned ABET accreditation for its bachelor's degree programs in computer science, computer engineering and electrical engineering. The Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law received provisional approval from the American Bar Association in 2026, according to the same release.
