Awards
- School of Education Distinguished Alumni Award - 1977
About Fay Arganbright
Fay Arganbright was an Associate Professor Emeritus at the School of Education of Indiana University. Arganbright graduated from Indiana University with the A.B. degree in 1931 and the M.S. in Education degree in 1946. She was a public school teacher of Latin and History at Gosport High School 1927-1933; Assistant Postmaster, Gosport, Indiana, 1933-37; teacher of Latin and History at Regional High School, Royal Centre, Indiana 1937-1941; and teacher at Rushville, Indiana High School 1941-42.
In 1942, she accepted the position of Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Teacher Recommendations in the School of Education at Indiana University. She was promoted to Instructor in Education in 1946, retaining her title in the Bureau. In 1949, she became the Assistant Director of the Bureau and was promoted to Assistant Professor of Education in 1959. She became the Director of the Bureau of Educational Placement in 1961 and served in that position until 1970 when she retired from administrative duties and returned to teaching in the School. During her tenure, the Bureau extended its placement service to include doctoral students in various departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. It also placed a large number of Indiana graduates in key administrative posts in colleges, universities, government agencies and school systems.
Arganbright was later promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1968 and retired in 1972. During her long and distinguished career at Indiana University, she served on numerous committees and as Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the School of Education Alumni Association from 1952 until her retirement. In her role as Director of Placement, she interviewed all graduating seniors and graduate students who registered with the Bureau. Thanks to her extensive knowledge of schools and administrators, she developed a reputation for an amazing ability to match applicants with positions. In 1977, the Alumni Association honored her with the Alumnus Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Education.
For twenty-five years, Arganbright was a nationally recognized leader in educational placement. She was Secretary-Treasurer (1946-47) and President (1947-48) of the Indiana Institutional Placement Association, and served as chair of many of its committees. As a member of the national Association for School, College, and University Staffing (ASCUS), which was initiated by a group of major placement officers meeting in her kitchen, her many services included Co-Chair, Committee on Standards; member of the Editorial and Publications Committee; Chair; committee to Write the History of ASCUS; Program Chair, National Convention 1956; and chair of the Research Committee with three other placement directors who designed a national placement system using data processing. The system was later installed in the I.U. Bureau of Educational Placement. She received the ASCUS Award of Merit for her many contributions to the Association. In 1964, she was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel. She was included in Who's Who of America Women and in Who's Who in American Education.
In addition to her membership in placement associations, she was a member of the National Education Association - Department of Higher Education, Indiana State Teachers Association, American Association of University Professors, Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents (Associate Member), American Academy of Political and Social Science, Pi Lambda Theta, Theta Sigma Phi, Delta Kappa Gamma, Chi Omega, I.U. University Club and Women's Faculty Club,and Altrusa International. She was also a member of the Bloomington First Baptist Church - United Church of Christ.