WVSOM’s Mace Promoted to Vice President
The graduates and instructors of Step Up for Women
Advanced Manufacturing Program’s 2019 cohort.
Melinda Perron, Step Up’s program coordinator, is pleased
with how well the graduates have done. “No one knew how
the class would go—this was the very first manufacturing
pre-apprenticeship for women in the country,” she says. “Thank-
fully, almost all of my students have found jobs and moved
up in their careers. I’m getting to see these women go from
depending on government benefits to buying their own homes.”
The class, which runs out of the Robert C. Byrd Institute
in Huntington, cycles students through manual and computer
numerical control machining, shop math, manufacturing blue-
print reading and employment soft skills. The women in the
program are not charged any tuition—grants and scholarships
pay for the classes, and there are no income limits or residency
requirements, either.
Drema Mace, Ph.D., MSP, has been
named vice president for community
engagement and development at the West
Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
(WVSOM). She will serve as one of seven
vice presidents of the school.
In her new position, Mace will work
at the intersection of higher education,
Drema Mace,
community workforce development, com-
Ph.D., MSP.
munity engagement and partnerships to
guide the creation, implementation and evaluation of integrated
strategies that generate health improvements.
According to WVSOM President James Nemitz, Ph.D.,
Mace will play a significant role in the school’s ongoing efforts
to develop collaborations with organizations in communities
throughout West Virginia.
“In the short time Dr. Mace has been associated with
WVSOM, she has made an impact on the local, state, national
and international levels,” he says. “She is a remarkable person
who will move our institution forward.”
Mace has served as executive director of WVSOM’s Center
for Rural and Community Health since 2016 and will continue
to oversee the center in her new role. Additionally, she will
lead the work of the WVSOM Foundation, a 501(c)3 orga-
nization that accepts charitable gifts made to the school and
provides oversight of student scholarships, the WVSOM
Endowment Fund and short-term student loans, as well as
financial stewardship of student club accounts.
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