Arno Selco taught acting, directing, and musical theater performance courses and directed theater productions for over 50 years. From 1983 until 2008, he taught and directed in the Department of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College, at the rank of professor since 1993. In 2010, Arno was designated Professor Emeritus. After he retired, he continued to teach courses in acting, acting for the camera, and musical theatre at IC on a part-time basis.
From Ithaca College, he received a Dana Fellowship for excellence in teaching and a President's Faculty Opportunity Award for achievement and service. From the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he received the Gold Medallion for Excellence in Service to the American College Theater Festival.
His IC productions of A Trillionth of a Percent and Lily Dale were invited to mid-Atlantic region American College Theater Festivals at Ithaca College and Carnegie Mellon University.
Before beginning his teaching career, Arno appeared in Broadway and regional theatre productions, on network TV shows, and in feature films. He is a member of Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors.
Arno directed productions also at the Pennsylvania State University, Case Western Reserve University, Oberlin College, Muhlenberg College, Indiana University, Hope College, Wright State University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and the University of Bristol in England.
From 2003 until 2008, Arno served as Faculty Liaison to the Ithaca College Office of Institutional Advancement, working closely with the College's Offices of Alumni Relations and Development to create a culture of philanthropy at Ithaca College. In 2010, Arno served as the president of the Friends of Ithaca College, an organization of campus and community members that provides scholarships for area students to study at Ithaca College and supports the College in many ways.
In 2013, Arno was elected to serve a three-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca. He was the chair of the Hangar Artistic Advisory Committee and a member of the Institutional Advancement and Executive Committees.
During the 2010 theatre arts department reunion of students, faculty, and staff, the Dillingham Center for the Performing Arts Studio #5 was renamed The Arno Selco Acting Studio.