I write to share that Karla Zadnik, dean of the College of Optometry, will return to the faculty on June 30, at the conclusion of 12 years of service as dean. As she transitions back to the faculty with a special assignment for 2026-2027, Dean Zadnik will also continue to serve her college and university, including as chair of the Biomedical Sciences Institutional Review Board.
Dean Zadnik has been an outstanding administrator and mentor. Throughout 2024, she served as Ohio State’s interim executive vice president and provost, and she was the recent interim dean of the College of Public Health for two years. Since 2015, Dean Zadnik has also served as the lead dean for the university’s seven health science colleges.
For almost 30 years, Dean Zadnik has been a dedicated member of the university’s faculty, where she is an Ohio State Distinguished Scholar and the Glenn A. Fry Professor in Optometry and Physiological Optics. In addition to her commitment to academic and clinical excellence, she is the first woman dean of the College of Optometry and the first woman dean of a public school or college of optometry.
An esteemed patient-oriented researcher in the field of optometry and vision science, Dean Zadnik served as the study chairman for the National Eye Institute-funded Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error (CLEERE) Study for 20 years and chaired the first-ever National Eye Institute-funded multicenter study based in optometry, the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Study.
In addition, she is a past president of the American Academy of Optometry, the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry, and the National Board of Examiners in Optometry. She also served a four-year term on the National Advisory Eye Council for the National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Health.
In the days ahead, we will convene a search for the next dean of the College of Optometry.
I want to thank Dean Zadnik for her extraordinary leadership of the College of Optometry and her ongoing service to the university. In particular, I am grateful for her service as interim executive vice president and provost and for the perspective, counsel and support she has provided to me and our academic leaders. Ohio State has benefited tremendously from her deep commitment to our faculty, staff, students and patients.
Please join me in thanking Dean Karla Zadnik for her dedication to Ohio State. I wish her all the best as she prepares for the next chapter in her distinguished career.
Ravi V. Bellamkonda
Executive Vice President and Provost