The 13-member Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE) announced changes at the leadership level with the appointments of Julie DeKinder, OD, as chair, and Michelle Welch, OD, as vice chair. Former Chair, G. Timothy Petito, OD, who served as ACOE chair from 2022 to 2025, will remain on the council as a member and key resource, the ACOE says in a press release.

“We thank Dr. Petito for his years of service and support,” shares Dr. DeKinder in the press release. “His work has helped advance the ACOE processes and standards, including completing the comprehensive review process and adoption of new accreditation standards for professional optometric degree programs and for optometric residency programs. He spearheaded developing a definition for the term ‘contemporary optometry’ to which all professional optometric degree programs must adhere.” 

As Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Director of Residency Programs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Optometry, Dr. DeKinder has been a member of the council since 2018 and has served as its vice chair since 2022. Dr. DeKinder also served as a consultant for the ACOE, participating in on-site program reviews, and as a committee member for the ACOE for several years prior to joining the council. Dr. DeKinder's installation as chair was effective July 1 of this year. 

Dr. Welch is a staff optometrist with the Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority, in Idabel, Oklahoma, and was initially appointed to the ACOE in 2021 and previously served for several years as a committee member of the ACOE. 

“The ACOE’s areas of focus include maintaining the integrity of its decision-making, continuing to engage with the profession and the public, and promoting clear and transparent standards and processes," adds Dr. DeKinder in the press release. OM