Gary Albrightson was born in Minot, North Dakota and attended public education K-12 at Edison Public School, Jim Hill Junior High, and Minot High School. He graduated from Minot High School in 1973 and attended Minot State College, which later became Minot State University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1980. He attended the University of North Dakota and graduated in 1986 with an MA in English after completing a thesis that focused on the question "Who speaks for David Hume in the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion?" He continued at UND working on a PhD in English. His dissertation focused on the question "Why did Hume's Treatise of Human Nature fail with its first audience?" Upon his dissertation being accepted, he graduated in 1993. Gary Albrightson is a product of the North Dakota public education system.

Throughout his career Gary Albrightson has taught introductory literature courses and first-year composition. While he was a graduate teaching assistant at the University of North Dakota, he taught first-year composition and introductory literature courses from 1986 to 1992. He taught first-year composition and introductory literature courses at the University of Minnesota at Crookston, 1992-1993; at the University of Tennessee--Knoxville, 1993-1999; at Iowa State University, 1999-2003. He started at Dakota College at Bottineau in 2003 teaching first-year composition and introductory literature courses. He has twice received the DCB Faculty Excellence Award in 2006-2007 and in 2016-2017. He also received in 2017 a State Board of Higher Education commendation for innovative uses of technology in the classroom. In 2022 he received the Dale P. Parnell Distinguished Faculty award from the American Association of Community Colleges.