David J. Gurchiek

David J. Gurchiek, PhD, joined Myers McRae as a consultant in 2020. David brings extensive experience in higher education, particularly in healthcare and two-year colleges.

During his 25-year tenure in the Montana University System, David served as college dean, associate dean, department chair (nursing, health, public safety), and faculty/program director. In the course of his academic career, David developed a variety of degree programs, certificates, apprenticeships, workforce credentials and dual credit opportunities, and built 2+2-degree pathway options for universities. To achieve these accomplishments, Dr. Gurchiek worked with program advisory boards and collaborated with business and industry leaders.

Dr. Gurchiek began his academic career at City College Montana State University Billings, an embedded two-year college formerly named the College of Technology. After a successful career at MSUB, David was appointed as the dean of Highlands College of Montana Tech, a comprehensive two-year college within Montana Technological University, a highly recognized science, technology, engineering, and math university that is consistently ranked among the best return on investment institutions in the nation.

Today, Dr. Gurchiek is the host and creator of Academic Dean, a podcast that connects with college leaders to share their stories and viewpoints of higher education, and the lessons they learned along the way. Academic Dean is sponsored by Myers McRae Executive Search and Consulting and available on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Pandora, Listen Notes, TuneIn, Overcast, and Stitcher.

David is also the founder of Gurchiek Consulting LLC, helping colleges and organizations in making positive changes to their educational programs and improving program effectiveness. Dr. Gurchiek holds a M.S. degree in healthcare from California College for Health Sciences and a Ph.D. in human services from Capella University.