MEMPHIS, Tennessee (January 12, 2016) – The Board of Trustees at Southern College of Optometry (SCO) has appointed Interim President Lewis Reich, OD, PhD, Professor, as the institution’s new president. Dr. Reich was previously named Interim President in March 2015.
“The Board of Trustees is proud to announce that we unanimously voted for Dr. Reich to be SCO’s new president,” said
Dr. Steven Reed, SCO’s Board of Trustees chair. “The Board of Trustees has done its due diligence, and we strongly believe that this decision represents what is best for the future of SCO and the profession.”
Prior to being named Interim President, Dr. Reich served as Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. He joined SCO’s faculty in 2008 following nearly a decade of service at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, where he served as Associate Professor and as Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.
A 1988 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, he completed a residency in low vision rehabilitation at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and later joined the faculty. He received his PhD from the University of Houston in 1999. Dr. Reich and his wife, Diane, are the parents of a son, Isaac, and reside in Memphis.
Dr. Reich becomes SCO’s seventh president in the college’s 85-year history. Founded in Memphis in 1932, SCO is an independent, not-for-profit institution of higher education with more than 525 students and residents from 40 states.
The college’s public clinic, The Eye Center at SCO, serves more than 60,000 patients annually as one of the nation’s largest clinics in optometric education. SCO’s Community Outreach program reaches more than 12,000 children throughout Shelby County. The college also operates University Eyecare, a full service clinic on the campus of the University of Memphis, and the TearWell Advanced Dry Eye Center with locations in Memphis.
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