Professor Jon Huxley.
Professor Jon Huxley was welcomed as the new head of Massey University’s School of Veterinary Science at a powhiri held on Tuesday at the Manawatū campus.
Professor Huxley becomes the 11th school head, which was established 56 years to the day of his welcome. The school comprises more than 1000 students, 250 staff and is ranked 23rd in the QS World University Rankings.
Prior to commencing at Massey, Professor Huxley was at the University of Nottingham, joining in 2006 as one of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science’s founding academic staff. He has held the position of Professor of cattle health and production since 2011 and was the head of the Division of Veterinary Surgery from 2011 to 2014.
His academic career has focused on dairy cow health and endemic diseases of dairy cattle, particularly lameness and the impact of the housed environment on animal health and welfare. However, he has also had extensive experience developing and delivering veterinary education.
Professor Huxley has received research awards and other funding totalling more than NZ $15 million since 2006. He is recognised as a United Kingdom and European specialist in his area of expertise, dairy cow health.
He has had more than 70 peer reviewed papers, five book chapters, three editorials and more than 100 clinical and conference papers and letters published and supervised many PhDs and masters students. Since January he has served as the section editor for the Journal of Dairy Science.
Professor Huxley has had many achievements outside of the academic sphere too, including completing the Land's End to John o' Groats expedition for charity on bike and foot, which involves the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain (1,407 km). He also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (5895m) and completed a winter ascent of Mount Toubkal, Morocco (4,167m). You can also find him spending time with his wife Jacqui and two young children, Callen (4) and Rhianne (2) who have also made the move to New Zealand.
Professor Huxley is no stranger to New Zealand shores, having visited on three occasions, speaking at the 16th Symposium and 8th Conference on Lameness in Ruminants in New Zealand in 2011, the Infovet Dairy Summit in 2005 and Partners in Progress Dairy Summit in 2008.
College of Sciences Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Ray Geor says Professor Huxley is a welcome addition to the college.
“Jon’s background makes him an ideal appointment to lead the new school and he also has much to offer the College of Sciences as a member of our leadership team. I look forward to working with him."