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Follow our legacy and tradition in health education through stories and photos to celebrate 100 illustrious years of Salus University’s founding College, Pennsylvania College of Optometry.
More About our Legacy
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1910s
The Pennsylvania State College of Optometry (PSCO) opens its doors on October 6, 1919 on the 1800 block of Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia.
In June 1922, the inaugural class of 26 graduates attend the very first Commencement Exercises held at the Academy of Music located at 240 S. Broad St. in Philadelphia.
PSCO’s growth requires a move to a large, 32-acre campus in the Oak Lane section of Philadelphia in 1932. The Spring Garden Street building is used solely as a clinical facility.
Lawrence Fitch, OD ‘36, son of Albert Fitch, becomes the College’s dean in 1949. PSCO entrance requirements are raised to include one year of pre-optometric college credits.
PSCO is the first independent healthcare school of any kind to be recognized by a regional accrediting body - PSCO obtains accreditation from the Middle States Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges.
Dr. Albert Fitch dies and his son, Dr. Lawrence Fitch, ’36 becomes the second president of PSCO. His legacy includes an exceptional time of growth and new construction.
The Eye Institute (TEI), PCO’s main clinical facility, opens and is the first comprehensive, inter-disciplinary clinical facility of its kind for both patients and education.
In 1983, PCO is the first institution in the country to offer a graduate degree and certificate program in Vision Rehabilitation. That new degree program - and the three others that follow – means that PCO is no longer a single-purpose institution.
In 1998, the College moves to an 11.5 acre main campus in the Philadelphia suburb of Elkins Park – the campus is located less than three and a half miles from The Eye Institute, which remains as the Oak Lane campus today.
The Speech-Language Pathology master’s degree program welcomes its inaugural class of students and the Speech-Language Institute opens for client care in the summer of 2015.
