The earliest contact lenses were made of glass and could be worn only for a few hours at a time. Today’s contact lenses are engineering marvels, and Pacific’s College of Optometry is at the vanguard of contact lens research and design.
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The remarkable Newton Wesley ’39, Hon. ’86, born Newton Uyesugi to immigrant parents, was a founding father of the College of Optometry. Forced from his home by Japanese-American internment policy during World War II, Wesley nevertheless laid the foundation for the College of Optometry and became a giant in the field of contact lenses.
Megan Thorpe '16 is the stage manager for a new CoHo production titled From These Streets I Rise.
Ana Michalowsky MFA '19 published a poem, Cinderella’s Plenty, online at the MEASURE REVIEW.
The optometry program launched at Pacific in 1945 as a result of a combination of postwar challenges and unexpected opportunities. The needs of a small, temporarily shuttered optometry college in Northeast Portland helped meet the demands of a university that had limped through the war years. The outcome was the beginning of Pacific’s focus on the health professions.
The university ranked in the top half of all its peers nationwide and also was named among the country's Best Value Schools and Best Colleges for Veterans.
A letter from President Hallick sent to the Pacific University community on Sunday, Sept. 13.
Willard “Wid” Bleything ’51, OD ’52, MS ’54 earned three degrees from Pacific University on his way to becoming an optometrist. He served in the Air Force and Air Reserves, retiring as a colonel, and he also worked in private practice for many years before eventually returning to Pacific, where he became the dean of the College of Optometry.
President Hallick sent this letter to the Pacific University community Friday afternoon.
All Pacific University activities for the evening of Thursday, Sept. 10 and all of Friday, Sept. 11 are being moved online in light of the severely degraded air quality from the region’s wildfires.