Sally Barton-Arwood

Biography

Dr. Sally Barton-Arwood joined the Belmont community in 2006. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee and Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Special Education from Vanderbilt University. Prior to coming to Belmont, Sally worked for over 20 years in K-12 private and public schools as a special education teacher, and as a school administrator. Before entering higher education, she worked in Metro Nashville Public Schools as a behavior specialist. In this role, she supported schools across MNPS by developing behavioral support plans and planning and leading district-level professional development.

Known as “Dr. B.” to her students, Sally teaches a range of courses in the College of Education related to special education, classroom management, and disability studies. Teaching and special education are Dr. B.’s passions, and in her courses, she shares those passions while ensuring that her students are learning best practices to meet the needs of all leaners in K-12 schools. As part of her courses, Sally partners with inspiring educators and non-profit agencies to provide unique field-based experiences for students in her classes. Because of these partnerships, Sally was the recipient of a 2016 Harold Love Outstanding Community Service Award presented by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

Sally is also an active scholar and consultant. At Belmont, she has served as chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) where she lead the work of ensuring protection of human research subjects. Her own research interests focus on instructional and behavioral supports for students with disabilities, service-learning, teacher preparation, and teacher collaboration. She presents her research at state, national, and international professional conferences. In 2018, Sally was a speaker in Cape Town, South Africa at the Council for Exceptional Children’s International Special Education and Services Conference. As part of her scholarship, she serves on the editorial board for several special education journals, including the TEACHING Exceptional Children, a journal that focuses on research-to-practice information for educators. Additionally, for the past 15 years, Sally has served as a consultant and “ambassador” for the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University. The IRIS Center is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. The IRIS Centers develops high-quality materials about evidenced-based practices to support struggling leaners and students with disabilities. In this role, Sally reviews content and supports dissemination and scaling-up efforts.

Sally’s work also includes membership in professional organizations. She is a member of the Council Exceptional Children (CEC), the Tennessee Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (TACTE), and the Tennessee Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges of Teacher Education (TAILACTE). Sally has served in the leadership roles for the Tennessee chapter of CEC and TAILACTE.