• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences School of Optometry held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 12 to celebrate the opening of a six-story building to house facilities for its new optometry school. The school’s four-year optometry program is scheduled to begin in August, with 64 students in the inaugural class. The $10 million, 54,000-square-foot building will have an on-site optometry clinic with 24 examination rooms, each with $85,000 worth of the latest equipment, as well as laboratories, auditoriums, high-tech classrooms, offices, and meeting and study spaces. Also, the facility already houses 200 students.

• Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University has postponed its proposed Scholars Program, an accelerated three-year degree program announced last year. “After careful consideration of the needs and expectations of the students, the University has decided to delay the launch of PCO’s Scholars Program until June 2013,” the college announced on its website. “[P]ortions of the Scholars Program curriculum will be piloted with eligible students who have chosen to join the Pennsylvania College of Optometry’s Class of 2016.”