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Brigadier General
Gary Packard
Permanent Professor 2005–2020
Vice Dean of the Faculty 2016–2018
Vice Dean for Curriculum and Strategy 2018–2020
B.S., United States Air Force Academy
M.A.S., Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
M.A., Michigan State University
Ph.D., University of North Carolina
Gary Packard, the Academy’s 81st Permanent Professor, was born in 1960 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He graduated in 1982 from the United States Air Force Academy with a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Sciences. He immediately entered undergraduate pilot training, 71st Student Squadron, Vance AFB, OK, earning his wings in 1983. He was a Distinguished Graduate from pilot instructor training in the T-37 at Randolph AFB, TX, before returning to Vance as an Instructor Pilot, Class Commander, and Flight Examiner, 71st Flying Training Wing in 1984. In 1987 Gary was a Distinguished Graduate from Squadron Officer School at Maxwell AFB, AL. That same year he was assigned to the 68th Air Refueling Wing and later the 4th Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, NC, as Co-Pilot in the KC-10. He progressed to Aircraft Commander, Instructor Pilot, and Executive Officer, and in 1991 earned a Masters of Aeronautical Science degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University while at Seymour Johnson. Gary entered Michigan State University, East Lansing, in 1992 and earned a Master’s degree in Counseling in 1994. He then joined the AF Academy’s Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership as an Instructor. In 1995 he became a Counselor in the Cadet Counseling Center and was appointed as the Chief of the Leadership Development Programs. Gary entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996, where he earned his PhD in Developmental Psychology in 1999. Next he was assigned again to Vance AFB from 1999 until 2003 as an Instructor Pilot, then Operations Officer, and finally Commander in the 32nd Flying Training Squadron. Returning to the Academy in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, Gary served as Deputy Department Head and Director of the Air Officer Commanding Master’s Program. In 2004 Gary became the Head of the Department of Behavioral Sciences. He was appointed a Permanent Professor in 2005. Gary was instrumental in the stand-up of USAFA’s Character and Leadership Center and co-authored its original vision. He also stood-up his department’s first research center bringing well more than $1 million of behavioral sciences research to the Academy. He served at the Pentagon as the Air Force writer on the Secretary of Defense’s Comprehensive Review Working Group studying the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2010. In 2011 he deployed as the Director of Staff, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, Southwest Asia, in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM, NEW DAWN, and COMBINED JOINT TASK FORCE—HORN OF AFRICA. In 2015 Gary assumed the Chair of the Core Curriculum Revision Committee. In the spring of 2016, he presented this major curriculum revision for approval. It passed, becoming effective with the Class of 2021. Gary was chosen to be Vice Dean of the Faculty in 2016 and served in that position until he assumed the newly created position of Vice Dean for Strategy and Curriculum in 2018.
Update (2022): Gary Packard was promoted to brigadier general and retired from the Air Force in 2020. He briefly took a position with the Air Force Academy Foundation before joining the University of Arizona as Dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology later that year.