David Gier

Dean and Paul C. Boylan Collegiate Professor of Music

---

Bio

David Gier is dean and Paul Boylan Collegiate Professor of Music at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD). From 1995 to 2018 he taught at the University of Iowa, where he served as director of the School of Music beginning in 2010 and was appointed as the inaugural Erich Funke Professor in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences in 2014. Before moving to Iowa, Gier served for six years on the faculty of Baylor University.

Since his appointment in 2018, Dean Gier has provided steadfast leadership to SMTD through several challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the school successfully and safely continued the in-person activity – both in classrooms and on stages – necessary for student success. He has focused on bolstering and broadening the core scholarly, artistic, and academic mission of the school through the hiring of over 70 new faculty since 2018-19, including the addition of a resident string quartet, new positions in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Leadership supported by the provost’s Anti-Racism Hiring Initiative, and faculty with expertise in new areas such as generative artificial intelligence, recording technology, music cognition, and global hip-hop, for example. He has increased internal funding for faculty scholarly and creative work and has supported curricular innovation, including the addition of new doctoral degrees in the Departments of Performing Arts Technology and Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation and new minors in musical theatre writing, popular music studies, and global arts and ethnic studies. He has also invested in co-curricular programs that support holistic student well-being, career preparation, and community engagement, including the Wellness Program, the EXCEL Lab (entrepreneurship and career services center), Engagement & Outreach, and the Global Initiative. Dean Gier was instrumental in fundraising and planning for the new Dance Building on North Campus; with the opening of this building, all departments at SMTD were united on North Campus for the first time in the school’s history. In October 2024, Dean Gier led the launch of the largest comprehensive fundraising campaign in SMTD history, with a goal of $125 million, focused on student success.

Dean Gier has expanded opportunities to engage SMTD across campus and in the community, including significant collaborations with key arts partners University Musical Society and the U-M Museum of Art and the expansion of course offerings for non-SMTD students. He was part of the core planning team that helped conceive and launch the Arts Initiative, a presidential initiative focused on making the arts central to Michigan’s identity and mission. Emerging from the pandemic, Dean Gier initiated an inclusive process to create a strategic framework as well as a comprehensive facilities assessment, in order to galvanize the school around a vision for its future.

Dean Gier led the School of Music at Iowa during a particularly tumultuous period in the institution’s history, as it worked to recover from a devastating flood that destroyed much of the arts campus. During his tenure, Gier initiated a number of innovative curricular and programmatic changes; expanded resources for scholarships and support for faculty scholarly and creative work; and was deeply involved in the planning, design, and construction of the new Voxman Music Building that opened in 2016. He also served in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development as a faculty fellow, and in that role he developed cross-campus initiatives that supported arts and humanities research and creative activity.

As a trombone soloist and clinician, Gier has performed and presented at many colleges, universities, and professional conferences, including the International Trombone Festival, the Eastern Trombone Workshop, the Music Educators’ National Conference, and the New York Brass Symposium. He served as principal trombonist of the Breckenridge (CO) Festival Orchestra under the direction of Gerhardt Zimmermann from 1990 until 2008 and of the Quad City (Iowa/Illinois) Symphony Orchestra from 2001 until 2018. He has concertized and recorded with a wide range of other ensembles, including the Iowa Brass Quintet, Orchestra New England, Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band, and the Center for New Music. His recording of mixed chamber music featuring trombone, titled Toot tooT, was released on the Albany Records label in 2007.

Gier’s teaching expertise is nationally recognized. His students have been prizewinners in the Eastern Trombone Workshop National Solo Competition and the St. Louis Symphony Young Artist Competition. Graduates have won performing positions with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, national Broadway touring companies, and the Air Force Band and in prestigious summer programs such as National Orchestral Institute, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Graz AIMS Opera Orchestra. They also hold faculty posts at colleges and universities around the United States and in public schools throughout the Midwest. Gier has served as an adjudicator for International Trombone Association competitions held in Denmark, France, and Spain and was co-host of the International Trombone Festival in 2018.

Gier is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Yale University, where he completed the doctor of musical arts degree in 1992.