Garry Bailey, Ph.D

Dr. Bailey is the Academic Director of the Duncum Center for Conflict Resolution and also serves as an Associate Professor.  He first came to ACU in 1982 as an undergraduate after spending a year doing mission work in Papua New Guinea.  After completing undergraduate studies in Business, he completed an MA degree in Communication at ACU and then went to the University of Oklahoma for a PhD in Intercultural and Organizational Communication.

Garry joined the faculty of Communication at Pepperdine University in 1990, and before coming back to ACU he worked at Valdosta State in Georgia and Oklahoma Baptist in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  Garry joined the faculty and staff of the Department of Conflict Resolution at ACU in the fall of 2007. 

Because of the generous contributions John and Diane Duncum made to ACU, the faculty and staff in Conflict Resolution have a state of the art facility in which to operate.  Following Diane’s death, Mr. Duncum provided additional funds toward the Center’s operational endowment fund.  In 2010, a new structure for the Center was approved by the university.  The academic unit was merged with the Duncum Center and Garry was named the Academic Director – combining the roles of academic department chair and program director previously filed by Joey Cope.  The training, consulting, and conflict resolution services unit of the Duncum Center continues under the leadership of Dr. Cope, Executive Director for the Duncum Center.

Garry teaches and consults in the areas of cultural conflict, organizational and church conflict, ethics, and negotiation and mediation.  He works with United by Faith, a group that advocates for ethnic and racial justice and reconciliation in Abilene.  His research is in the areas of poverty, gender, and racial conflict.

Garry lives in Abilene, Texas and attends the Highland Church of Christ with his wife, Janet, his daughter, Annie and son, Ethan.  Garry is an avid family man, racquetball enthusiast, and Sooner sports fan.