Dan Grooms has been appointed to be the next “Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard” Dean of Veterinary Medicine.

Grooms, professor and chair of the department of large animal clinical sciences at Michigan State University, was announced as one of three finalists for the position last year. The final decision was delayed as the college announced the search would continue longer than expected.

Grooms graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in animal science. From there he earned a veterinary medicine degree and a doctorate in veterinary preventive medicine from The Ohio State University. Grooms is also board certified by the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists.

In 1997, Grooms joined the Michigan State faculty. He was promoted to his current position in 2014. His speciality is in bovine infectious diseases.

At his open forum on Feb. 6, Grooms spoke about the main goal any dean of veterinary medicine should help accomplish.

“The main goal of the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, whether it is here at Iowa State, Michigan State or Ohio State, is really to help the whole organization succeed, but especially the faculty, and especially the students as well,” Grooms said in his open forum.

Pat Halbur is currently serving as the interim dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Grooms will begin on Oct. 1.