LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) has always been guided by a foundational concept that drives the school toward success. Now, four pillars will help to guide the medical school as part of its new strategic framework, which includes a new vision, mission statement and strategic goals for the next five years.
“A strategic plan is an essential part of any higher educational institution’s growth and will allow us to be successful in continuing to evolve as a respected school,” said James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., WVSOM’s president. “We never want to rest on our laurels, which is why it’s always important to reevaluate where we want this school to go in the future. Defining specific areas of importance, along with actionable goals to implement, will ensure we deliver an exceptional education for our medical students and graduate students.”
The WVSOM Board of Governors approved the institutional strategic framework for the 2025-30 academic years at a meeting in the spring. It focuses on a new WVSOM vision that will lead people to find health through osteopathic principles.
The five-year framework encompasses four strategic pillars: Educate the health workforce for West Virginia and beyond; advance research and clinical service to improve health and well-being in West Virginia; invest in our people and our culture; and drive sustainability and innovation throughout WVSOM.
Additionally, the mission statement was revised to focus on cutting-edge training, an increase in research endeavors and incorporating the school’s new curriculum. The Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation executive committee approved the new statement in June.
“Many of the changes to the mission statement were made because we knew we wanted to answer the question, ‘What is WVSOM?’ Since the Finding Health curriculum has become our new focus, we wanted to make sure we were capturing all the ways WVSOM is finding health,” said Machelle Linsenmeyer, Ed.D., the school’s assistant vice president of institutional effectiveness and academic resources.
Linsenmeyer said representatives from administration, alumni, the WVSOM Board of Governors, faculty, staff, students and members of the Lewisburg community were involved in determining the pillars. CHP Mintz, a consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., assisted with collecting, synthesizing and reporting on information from all stakeholders.
“We engaged our stakeholders while creating the draft that moved forward for approval. Everybody across campus had an opportunity to provide feedback on what is important, what the institution should focus on and where we should be headed in the next five years,” Linsenmeyer said. “We care about all the individuals who make up WVSOM, and their voices were heard. That helps in bringing everybody together in moving the plan forward.”
To ensure the strategic pillars are successful, WVSOM senior administrators are creating action strategies for each goal. These will be evaluated annually.
In recent years, WVSOM has put a greater emphasis on ensuring its financial sustainability to support long-term growth and fuel economic development. One way the school did that was through a new Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree program, which in its second year has more than doubled the number of its students.
Aside from traditional avenues such as adding more graduate programs at WVSOM, the institution is exploring potential revenue streams beyond traditional ways to increase profits.
One is the renovation and expansion of its Fredric W. Smith Science Building, in which additional space will encourage external research partners to locate lab operations in the facility, as the school is dedicating the third floor to private and public research space. A ceremonial groundbreaking took place on the WVSOM campus in August.
