Message from the Dean

All….
Based on our College’s current budget, I felt it was necessary to reduce future expenditures. In my view, simple increases in efficiencies and/or minor cost savings would not be sufficient to ensure that all our ongoing clinical services were sustainable. Consequently, despite the fact that our Cedar Springs Eye Clinic provides essential care for a large, underserved population and that the externship rotations through the Cedar Springs Clinic are very highly rated and desired by our students, I made the decision to close the Cedar Springs Clinic beginning the Fall 2019 semester….it was the most difficult decision that I have had to make as Dean. In particular, since we are currently interviewing candidates to take over the Deanship of our College, I thought that it was important to ensure that the new Dean would inherit a strong College and a balanced budget.

I am delighted to inform you that our College will not have to close the Cedar Springs Clinic in Dallas in 2019. Dr. Paula Short, our Provost, has put together a hiring package for the new Dean that includes an endowed chair and sufficient funding to ensure that the Cedar Springs can continue to operate at its current level.

I would like to express my gratitude to all our alumni and friends who, when learning that Cedar Springs would be closed, offered support for our College, our students, and especially the Cedar Springs Clinic. I would especially like to express my gratitude to our Cedar Springs’ faculty and staff for their patience and professionalism and I would like to apologize for the anguish that they experienced as a result of my earlier decision.

All the best….
Earl L. Smith III, O.D., Ph.D.
Dean
Greeman-Petty Professor