VIDBE-Q Volume 65 Issue 1
PSU hosts the Pacific Northwest Consortium for Vision
Education (PNWCVE), a six-state (OR, WA, ID, MT, AK & HI) cooperative
trust that informs our personnel preparation programs. Students from
consortium states receive priority admission and pay in-state Oregon
tuition. PSU's well-established VIL program and its newer O&M program,
are by design, both distinct and overlapping preparation programs that are
nested within the regional six-state PNWCVE to respond to the critical
personnel shortages of our state and local partners in OR, WA, ID, MT, AK
and HI. While most O&M and TSVI personnel programs across the country
serve a smaller geographic area within one state, PNWCVE covers nearly
28% of the entire 50-state territory. Four of the PNWCVE states are rural
and include frontier counties, which are defined as "less than 7 persons per
square mile" (National Network Libraries of Medicine, 2018). Alaska,
Montana, and Idaho are considered category I frontier states because more
than 15% of their population resides in frontier counties (Zelarney & Ciarlo,
n.d.).
