Dr. Patrick Halbur, current interim dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, participated in an open forum Monday as the third and final finalist for the college’s dean position.

The college announced Halbur’s finalist announcement on Sunday.

Halbur began the forum by sharing information about himself. He is an Iowa native, grew up on a farm and is very passionate about agriculture.

“Last night, people mentioned to me that I ate really fast. That’s because I had lots of brothers and sisters,” Halbur joked.

Halbur holds a veterinary medicine degree, a master’s of veterinary pathology and a doctorate of veterinary pathology. All of his degrees are from Iowa State.

In regards to Halbur’s vision for the future of the college, he thinks they will need to do some things differently.

Class sizes in the college have increased significantly, and Halbur believes the college can no longer do that due to lack of space. Besides growing class sizes, the college has also increased it’s tuition substantially. He believes increasing tuition is the easy way out, and the college can’t do that anymore.

“The things we did to generate revenue that got us here won’t get us where we need to be,” Halbur said.

Halbur brought up the strategic plan the Vet Med recently released, and explained he found some gaps within the plan.

Areas Halbur believes the areas the strategic plan lacks in are diversity, mental health, economic impact, space and budget. He would like to shine a brighter light on diversity and mental health, focus more on the economic impact Iowa State has on the rest of Iowa, increase space on site and adopt an “aggressive budget” instead of a “fiscally stable budget.”

Halbur also expressed some thoughts he referred to as his “big ideas.”

His first big idea is to raise Vet Med’s budget from $105 million to $150 million in five years.

Secondly, he acknowledged the college will continue to raise tuition, but he would like to see that difference replaced with scholarship dollars.

Thirdly, Halbur would like to see Iowa State awarded with the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award, because Vet Med currently ranks dead last in diversity among the other 30 veterinary medicine colleges in the nation.

“I’d like to be able to compete for that in a few years,” Halbur said. “Wouldn’t that be a great story to go from the bottom to winning?”

Halbur’s last big idea was to “quit saying no to China and Brazil.” There are opportunities there to build a veterinary diagnostic lab, and he believes Iowa State should help them and leave an impact in that part of the world.

Student success, student debt, mental health, diversity, legislative work and fundraising are the six things Halbur believes the next dean should start working toward from day one.

Halbur closed the forum by explaining he hopes his sincere passion for the Vet Med college is apparent, and he believes the students should always stay front and center in decision making.

“If I could pick my legacy, it would be that Iowa State is the place to go if I’m a veterinarian wanting to hire practice-ready graduates,” Halbur said.