MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine will salute another dean this summer as its current leader takes a three-month sabbatical.

The MSU Board of Trustees recently approved Dr. William Strampel to serve as acting dean of the college beginning May 14.

“I am looking forward to working with him,” said Colleen Kniffen, assistant to the dean. “He is a very dynamic type of leader and in the last couple years he has gained respect from the faculty and the students in the college.”

Strampel, who serves as the senior associate dean and the lead medical director for MSU, said he is looking forward to his new responsibilities.

“We have got lots of work this summer, including trying to reorganize the MSU Health Team,” he said. “I am going to try to make sure things run smoothly and make my life easier.”

Strampel, a retired colonel, served 26 years with the Army before coming to MSU, and served as special assistant to the U.S. surgeon general for force protection.

Mark Cummings, associate dean of the Statewide Campus System, which works with the college, said Strampel was a natural choice for the position because he was “next in the food chain.”

“It was a logical conclusion to have him this summer,” Cummings said. “I certainly think he will do a good job.

“He is well-experienced and he has done things during his career in the military that would certainly prepare him for these levels of responsibility.”

MSU Trustee Robert Weiss said board members took to heart the recommendations they received when approving Strampel’s appointment.

The present dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Allen Jacobs, will be finishing up a degree program and will return to the post Aug. 18.