Garald (Gary) Barton IV

Garald (Gary) joined Western Michigan University in 2005 as a Graphic/Web Designer for Student Affairs, where he helped build and develop a newly established marketing department. He later served in several communications, web, and design-focused roles within Auxiliary Enterprises before joining the Office of Information Technology. Over the years, his professional focus has evolved toward improving how people experience and engage with technology.

Gary works to connect faculty, staff, and students with the technology services they need to be successful. He supports user experience, technology adoption, digital fluency, onboarding, service communications, knowledge resources, and engagement initiatives that help make technology more approachable, understandable, and effective for the university community. He has contributed to efforts supporting IT unification, organizational culture development, staff engagement, and service improvement across the division.

Gary describes himself as a humanizer of IT focused on user experience, helping bridge the gap between technology and the people it serves through collaboration, communication, education, and user-centered service delivery.

Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family, walking, creating art, fishing, riding bikes, coaching youth ice hockey, and Pokémon.