Bonham, Texas -- Don and Carol Dodson of Columbia, South Carolina, have established a $1,000,000 scholarship program for graduates of Bonham High School.  The scholarships will be used for academic study at the undergraduate level at Texas public universities and selected private colleges and universities. Financial aid can also be applied to approved job and career opportunities at Texas public community colleges.

Don is a 1960 graduate of Bonham High School and Carol is a former teacher at Bonham High School.

Don was a Ford Foundation Fellow at The University of Tennessee where he received a Ph.D. in strategic management and statistics, with a concentration in health administration.  He did additional study at Harvard and M.I.T. He served as the Executive Director of The American Academy of Heath Administation.  He has been a university dean of a business school, dean of a graduate school, and university chancellor. 

He was the Senior Research Associate on a research project funded by the National Science Foundation (Research Applied to National Needs). This resulted in a five-volume study that led to the reform of the EMS system in the United States, and the widespread use of Emergency 911 in the United States.

Don is the author or contributor to six books, over fifty refereed journal articles, and was editor of seven  professional journals. He was listed in American Men and Women of Science and in 1978 was selected as one on The Outstanding Young Men in America, the same year Elvis Presley was inducted.

Carol taught business courses at Bonham High School where she had the Texas state champion and also the runner-up in typing.  This was her second state champion. She did graduate work in psychology where she worked as a counselor in university counseling centers and taught psychology at the university level.  She then went into private practice, and is now retired.

The Dodson family also established scholarships at the University of Tennessee and at Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, where their son Robert gradated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors. He was captain of the cross country team at Wofford.  He went to Law School at Tulane University and graduated with honors.  He taught at the University of South Carolina  School of Law and also in the graduate school. He is now a practicing attorney in Columbia, and an international award-winning nature and wildlife photographer.

The Dodson family is currently building new facilities for primary schools in Kenya and Tanzania.