The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation (ORPSEF) announces the establishment of the Julie, Herbert and Thelma Dodd Endowment, created to honor two generations of service and leadership in education. The Endowment will be administered as classroom teacher grants through ORPSEF’s Educator Grants program, specifically chosen because of the support it provides to innovative educators seeking new learning experiences for their students—a priority central to the Dodd family’s educational philosophy. The endowment celebrates a family whose contributions have helped shape Oak Ridge Schools and have influenced teaching and learning far beyond the local community.
Launched in 2005, ORPSEF’s Educator Grants program provides educators in Oak Ridge Schools with funding to design and implement innovative projects that enhance classroom instruction, accelerate student learning, and inspire creativity. Since then, more than $1.4 million has been awarded directly to classroom teachers. While the endowment will not fully cover annual educator grant awards in the short term, it creates a permanent fund that will enable grant awards to grow over time. Until this endowment, the grants program has been sustained from individual gifts and fundraising efforts.
Herbert Dodd was the first principal in Oak Ridge Schools, hired by Dr. Alden Blankenship in 1943, and played a foundational role in the district’s early development. He helped hire the district’s first teachers, conducted its first new teacher orientation, and supported innovative, hands-on instructional practices. He encouraged teachers to pursue grant funding to expand learning opportunities and established the district’s first Tremont Experience for sixth graders, introducing environmental education as a core learning opportunity.
Herbert’s wife, Thelma Henry Iles Dodd, shared the family’s commitment to education and public service. After earning her master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, she worked in public relations at the Tennessee Valley Authority, serving as a liaison between TVA and the Tennessee Valley Trades and Labor Council. She later joined Oak Ridge Schools, first as a substitute teacher and then as a full-time teacher at Highland View Elementary School, now the home of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, and later at Linden Elementary, where she served students with professionalism and dedication.
Herbert and Thelma’s daughter, Dr. Julie Dodd, was inspired by a lifelong exposure to conversations about education and pursued a career in teaching and higher education. After completing her doctorate at the University of Kentucky, she joined the Oak Ridge High School English Department in 1982 as a teacher and served as an advisor for the Oak Log and Oak Leaf student publications. In 1988, she joined the faculty at the University of Florida, where she taught for 28 years while serving 11 years as Executive Director of the Florida Scholastic Press Association. Upon her retirement, the University of Florida bestowed upon her the title of Professor Emerita and named a graduate student teaching award in her honor.
About the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation
Founded in 2000, the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation (ORPSEF) enhances, supports, and promotes excellence in Oak Ridge schools. They invest in initiatives that enrich student learning, expand professional development opportunities, foster innovative instruction, advance workforce development, and increase access to cutting-edge technology in the classroom. ORPSEF is committed to sustaining Oak Ridge’s tradition of academic excellence, creating meaningful opportunities for the broader community to impact our public schools, and investing in the future of our students and educators. Learn more about the work of ORPSEF by visiting their website at www.orpsef.org.
