Dr. Arzeni graduated as a Livingston Lord Scholar (1947) with a B.S. in botany from Eastern Illinois University in 1948, and completed his M.S. (1949) and Ph.D. (1952) at the University of Michigan. He worked as a research botanist for the Firestone Rubber Company in Liberia from 1952-1954; served as chairman and professor of botany at Tougaloo College from 1954-1960; and taught at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, from 1962-1964 before returning to Eastern Illinois University to teach in the botany department in 1965.
After 28 years of dedicated service to his alma mater, Dr. Arzeni retired as a professor of botany from EIU in 1993. He was a renowned bryologist and economic botanist and supervised more than 40 master's degree students during his tenure at Eastern. Dr. Arzeni had extensive international experience as a researcher and lecturer, was awarded two Fulbright Scholarships (Colombia and Peru), and served as Resident Director of Tropical Botany for more than10 summers at the Institute Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores in Monterrey Mexico.
B.S.Ed., Eastern Illinois State Teachers College, 1947M.S. Botany, University of Michigan, 1949
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1952
