Dr. Sally E. Arnett '97

Alumni Achievement Award Winner

• Professor/Program Coordinator for Teacher Education, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Illinois State University; Carrollton

• Major: Home Economics Education

Sally Arnett has dedicated her life to driving the teaching profession forward. She currently serves as a professor and program coordinator for teacher education in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) at Illinois State University, a position she’s held since 2013.

Arnett graduated from Illinois State with a bachelor’s degree in home economics education. She went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in workforce education and development, specializing in FCS teacher education.

She has been recognized throughout her career for exemplary scholarship and dedication. In 2019, she earned the College of Applied Sciences and Technology Outstanding Teacher—Tenured Award. In 2020, she received the Teacher Educator of the Year Award from the Illinois Association of Career and Technical Education, the Region III Teacher Educator of the Year Award from the Region III Association for Career and Technical Education, was a National Teacher Educator of the Year Award finalist from the Association of Career and Technical Education and received a Class of 2020 University Impact Award from University College at Illinois State. In 2021, she was awarded the Phyllis Memken Outstanding Teacher Award from the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences; the Outstanding University Teaching Award from the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at Illinois State University; Outstanding Poster from the Association of Career and Technical Education Research; was inducted into the 2021 College of Applied Sciences and Technology Hall of Fame at Illinois State University; and received the 2021 ACTE National Teacher Educator of the Year Award from the Association of Career and Technical Education.

To go along with her many accolades, Arnett has had several published works. She co-authored a paper in the Online Journal of Workforce Education and Development in 2020 titled “Challenges for Beginning Secondary Technology Education Teachers.” In 2019, she co-authored “Poverty Simulation Participation: Transformative Learning Outcomes Among Family and Consumer Sciences Students,” which was published in the Journal of Research in Technical Careers.