Victoria Dodd '78 finds calling in academia
-By Maria Iacobo
Victoria Dodd’s enthusiasm for academia and history is equaled only by her love of teaching law in Boston.
Dodd ’78 has been a member of Boston’s Suffolk University Law School faculty since 1981, with an expertise in education law. The second edition of her book, Practical Education Law for the Twenty-First Century, was recently published by Carolina Academic Press.
The Los Angeles native credits her grandfather, prominent Los Angeles attorney and former president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Walter L. Nossaman, with influencing her lifelong passion for learning.
“He was very scholarly, even though he had a busy practice,” says Dodd. “In his free time he wrote law review articles and a treatise on trust law.”
After graduating from Radcliffe College, Dodd earned her secondary school teaching credentials at USC and taught high school English for a few years before enrolling at USC Law. One of her fondest memories is earning her Order
of the Coif medallion, which she wears on a bracelet with her grandfather’s honorary coif medallion received from USC in 1953.
After graduation, Dodd accepted a position with a litigation firm, but found the work was not to her liking. An opportunity teaching legal writing at Loyola Law School led her to academia. Moving east for personal reasons, Dodd accepted a tenure-track position at Suffolk University Law School. Her love for Suffolk and Boston has kept the Californian there.
“Boston is a fantastic place to live,” Dodd says. “There is a world-class art scene, symphony and opera — and it’s accessible.”
Dodd says Boston is a great place for an academic as well, noting it’s “the higher education capital of the world” and the site of the nation’s first public school.
“It’s a great place to study constitutional law,” she says, noting that many provisions of the Bill of Rights were based on events that took place in Boston during the American Revolution. The law school is located in the middle of
this rich history. It sits on the Freedom Trail, across the street from a small burial ground where three signatories of the Declaration of Independence lie, and a block from the old Massachusetts State House — the balcony from which
the Declaration was read.
Dodd holds fond memories of USC Law and is grateful for the excellent education she received as well as the collegial environment it provided. Dean Dorothy Nelson remains a mentor and someone from whom she still receives feedback on her many published articles.
“USC was a friendly, warm, welcoming school — and it still is!” she marvels.
A member of her recent 30th law school reunion planning committee, Dodd says three of her professors joined their former students, to the delight of the class.
“The teaching was outstanding, and I don’t think that’s emphasized enough,” Dodd says. “Dean [Scott] Bice was my professor for federal courts and civil procedure. I use some of his teaching techniques for my classes.”
She still thinks fondly of Dean Bice.
“You don’t always find that mix of someone who is a great teacher and scholar, and who also is warm and friendly.”
As she walks Suffolk’s impressive halls, Dodd is greeted by passing students. In her office, a handmade card from a class of constitutional law students lists comments she made in class that they found memorable; the students labeled the card “The Doddstitution.”
Evidently, Professor Dodd has developed the same mix of professorial qualities
she admires — just 3,000 miles from USC Law.
-As seen in the Winter 2011 USC Law Deliberations
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