Garmany served as board member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1998 to 2001, and then the vice president from 2001 to 2003. She is most recognized in association with her work on star formation. In 1976, Garmany received the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy from the American Astronomical Society. From 1976 to 1984, Garmany was a research associate at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA). Since 1981, Dr. Garmany has been a professor with in the Department of Astrophysical, Planetary, and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Colorado. Garmany is the former chair of JILA and has experience teaching undergraduate, graduate, elementary, and general public audiences through her work with the University of Virginia, University of Colorado, and the Sommers-Bausch Observatory and Fiske Planetarium, on Colorado's campus. She is also a member of the International Astronomical Union, the American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the International Planetarium Society.