Dr. Garrett is currently a professor of Computer Information Systems in the School of Business at Eastern Illinois University, where he teaches courses in programming, networking, and management information systems.  He has been an educator since starting his first teaching assignment at Tolleson Union High School in Tolleson, Arizona, in 1973.  Since that time he has worked as a teacher and administrator at the high school, community college, and university levels.  Among other duties, he has served as a high school athletic director, a community college dean, a university academic computing specialist, and as associate director of a university computer institute.  He has a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University, a masters and a doctorate from Arizona State University, and a certificate from the University of Illinois as a Master Online Teacher.  He loves to teach using a technologically hybrid approach.

In industry he has worked as a systems analyst, assembly language programmer, network administrator, and corporate CEO.  He has extensive consulting experience and has expertise in networking and telecommunications as well as several programming languages, software development, and educational technology.  He has won numerous awards, has written 5 books and a variety of scholarly articles, and is listed in several editions of Who's Who, including Who's Who in Education and Who's Who in the Computer Industry. 

In addition to his primary teaching and research responsibilities, he also serves as an editor at the citizendium project and teaches an online course for the Illinois Online Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.