Deborah Elwell Arfken is professor emerita of Political Science and Public Service at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her responsibilities at UTC included serving as director of university planning and as dean of the Graduate School.

She taught courses in nonprofit management for the master’s program in Public Administration. After retiring from UTC, she served as the interim President and CEO of Siskin Children's Institute and later as the interim executive director of Little Miss Mag Early Learning Center.