Dr. David Bouchard has retired after 31 years at Metropolitan State University.
With an extensive educational career, including graduating summa cum laude in his bachelors program at the University of Minnesota, Bouchard would go on to earn a masters degree in management information systems, and a PhD in management information systems.
After receiving his doctorate, Bouchard was invited to join Metropolitan State’s faculty to develop graduate-level Management Information Systems curriculum, and to test learning materials to be implemented in Metropolitan State’s new Masters of Management Administration program, at the time.
“I had not planned on staying more than a few years to be sure it all worked out well, but when I had the privilege of working with adult and diverse students, it was almost a revelation,” Bouchard said. “I thought Metropolitan State’s students were amazing and decided to stay. Thirty-one years later, I finally retired after a great and satisfying career.”
Bouchard’s intention at Metropolitan State was to focus on graduate education. He is credited with developing Metropolitan State’s Masters of Business Administration program.
“In those days, our program was so small; usually three faculty members. I was doing all the design, development, writing, market research, and managing the local and state approval process for the new program,” he said.
Bouchard would go on to become the first director of the MBA program, and a few years after developing that program, he developed IT/MIS programs to keep up with the Information Technology boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Bouchard’s influence and leadership exhibited will be missed at Metropolitan State.
“Over the years, I developed over 40 courses and served many faculty roles. I also served as Faculty Association President for two terms, served on the state faculty Board for many years, and chaired five state-wide committees,” he said of his time at Metropolitan State. “I was honored a couple of years back to be voted in an Alumni Association poll of our alums to be one of four all-time favorite professors.” An honor that comes as no surprise to his former students.
Although Bouchard has retired from Metropolitan State University, he doesn’t plan on sitting still.
“It is more like ‘turning the page,’ than ending my work life. I am fortunate to be working on some new research areas, providing counsel to some new folks while staying in touch with some of my students to continue to be of service, and starting to increase my volunteer work to the level I have hoped to achieve in service to our community.”
Asked what he’d miss most about Metropolitan State, he said, “Our students will be greatly missed. They challenge you to always do your best and provide them with the education they need to be successful and masters of their fields.”
He reminisced about the beginning of his career at Metropolitan State: “I miss the early days at Metro when a young academic was allowed to create entire programs with great support for innovation. I will miss many of my colleagues in the faculty and staff as well. As we grew, the ‘team effort’ aspect of our work became more important and our team was excellent. Metro State is a unique and extraordinary institution, born as an experiment in improving higher education and evolving into a university that serves its constituencies with outstanding quality and dedication. I am proud to have been one of the “founders” of the Management and IT curriculum areas of the university and a leader in the development of graduate education in the Twin Cities. I thank Metro for giving me these opportunities to serve.”
With more time for diversion, Bouchard hopes to pursue his love of music and visual arts, specifically photography. He notes that spending time with his family is they key goal for this moment in life.