FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) College of Optometry announced it has received a significant philanthropic gift from National Vision, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYE), one of the country’s leaders in the eye care industry. This gift will be used toward student scholarships, faculty research and increased community service. Also, as a result of National Vision’s support, the College of Optometry will be renamed the NSU National Vision College of Optometry for an initial term of 10 years. “We are very pleased to welcome National Vision into our growing ‘family’ of donors,” said Dr. George Hanbury, NSU’s president and CEO. “This gift demonstrates their commitment to advancing the profession of optometry, helping to ensure that our students are even better prepared to serve their future patients.”

“At National Vision, everything we do is driven by our mission to provide affordable eyecare and eyewear to budget-conscious people,” said Reade Fahs, CEO of National Vision. “National Vision is and will always be an ‘optometrist-centric’ organization. We strive to be a place where optometrists have an opportunity to provide quality care to patients that need it most while also finding it a fulfilling place to work and advance their careers. In fact, of the more than 40,000 practicing optometrists in the United States, more than 2,000—or roughly 5 percent—of them are practicing in the National Vision network. We believe that the best way to invest in the future of the profession is to invest in the future of optometric education, which is expensive. We are trying to do our part.”

National Vision has been a longtime supporter of NSU and its quality optometry education program, including having donated a major piece of equipment—a Binocular Indirect Ophthalmoscope (BIO) simulator—to the College of Optometry’s training lab in 2015. The company has also sponsored numerous student events over the past few years, the announcement noted.

The size of the gift was undisclosed. In response to a question from VMAIL about what the naming of the optometry college means, NSU’s Dr. Hanbury said, “We treasure academic freedom and, through our faculty and deans, value the superlative academic curricula we have. Nova Southeastern University is a private, not-for-profit institution, the largest in the state of Florida and the Southeastern U.S., we serve some 23,000 students and our students are 80 percent graduate and 20 percent undergraduate. We operate seven regional campuses, including one in Puerto Rico. We are not a small college.”

He added, “We’ve had several major companies including Fortune 500 companies, involved naming many of our facilities; some have naming opportunities and others don’t. There has not been a name for the college of optometry since 1988 and our endowment has been small. Today, NSU operates some eight health care professional colleges, for MDs, Dos, optometry, dentistry, psychology, nursing and more. Today we are 80 percent tuition driven but it’s my goal to substantially increase our endowment.

“With this naming opportunity, I’d like to reiterate that there is no quid pro quo agreement for the funds that National Vision will give us. This will solely expand our endowment for the purpose of optometric scholarships. Our faculty and deans remain in control of our curricula, publications, research. National Vision has a wonderful reputation and this endowment is in perpetuity to offer scholarships to young men and women, to offset the cost of tuitions and attract that next generation of optometrists to NSU while supporting our core values.”

“One of our more precious gifts is sight and the optometric physician is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of this gift,” said David Loshin, dean, NSU’s College of Optometry. “We take great pride in giving our students the edge by preparing them to practice at the highest level of proficiency, integrity and professionalism when they graduate. The world of optometry has evolved with advancements in technology and innovation and with National Vision’s support, we will be on the forefront of these changes for the betterment of our students and patients.”

As part of their training at NSU, College of Optometry students—supervised by faculty—provide eyecare services at five South Florida locations through The Eye Care Institute, the college’s clinical division. Services include primary eyecare for adults and children, cornea and contact lenses, dry eye and ocular surface disease treatment, low vision rehabilitation, vision training and sports vision enhancement, glaucoma, diabetes and macular disease and much more. In the past year, The Eye Care Institute had 28,000 patient visits.

Founded in 1989, the NSU College of Optometry is the only optometry program in Florida and one of only 23 colleges in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It is fully accredited by The Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE). In addition to the Doctor of Optometry program, the college also offers a master’s degree in Clinical Vision Research and an extensive range of continuing education opportunities for optometrists.

NSU is ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s Top 200 National Research Universities. Established in 1964, NSU now includes 16 colleges, the 215,000-square-foot Center for Collaborative Research, a private K-12 grade school, the Mailman Segal Center for Human Development with specialists in autism, the world-class NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, and the Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center, which is Florida’s largest public library.

National Vision Holdings, Inc. is one of the largest optical retail companies in the U.S. with over 1,000 retail stores in 44 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

With a mission of helping people by making quality eyecare and eyewear more affordable and accessible, the company operates five retail brands: America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses,Eyeglass World, Vision Centers inside select Walmart stores, and Vista Opticals inside Fred Meyer stores and on select military bases, and several e-commerce websites.