Paul A. Dodd; Former Dean at UCLA

Paul A. Dodd, economist, labor arbitrator, onetime dean of the UCLA College of Letters and Science and president of San Francisco State College in the mid-1960s, is dead.

A UCLA spokesman said Monday that Dodd was 90 when he died Aug. 22 in Boulder, Colo., where he had been living with his son, David.

Dodd was a professor and UCLA administrator for 32 years, having joined the faculty in 1928 as a labor economics specialist. He became dean of the university’s College of Letters and Science in 1946, heading that division until 1961, when he retired. “Paul Dodd served his campus with distinction during one of the most dynamic periods of the university’s growth,” said UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young. “And he played a key role in building a solid foundation for this institution that will last for generations to come.”

Clark Kerr, president of the UC system from 1958 to 1967, said Dodd “improved department after department that started UCLA moving toward its current academic standing. It is remarkable that UCLA is the only institution founded since 1900 to rise to the ranks of the top 10 research universities in the country. Paul Dodd is to be particularly credited for this achievement.”

After World War II, Dodd helped establish many new educational and research programs at UCLA, including schools of medicine, nursing, law, dentistry, fine arts and librarianship. He also was the founding director of the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations.

In 1959-60 Dodd served as acting vice chancellor for academic affairs under Chancellor Vern O. Knudsen. Dodd Hall, the campus building that houses the School of Social Welfare and other professional offices, is named for him.

In 1962 the Board of Trustees of what were then the California State Colleges (now universities), named him president of San Francisco State College. At the time he was serving as a consultant for the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, where he planned that school’s liberal arts college. He retired from San Francisco State in 1966 complaining that “budgetary controls” required that “I can have a gardener in my budget when what I want is another instructor.”

A native of Missouri, Dodd held a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.

He first drew public attention in the mid-1930s where he served as a federal labor arbitrator in disputes involving warehouse owners and longshoremen and a Teamsters’ blockade of Los Angeles Harbor. During World War II, Dodd served on the National War Labor Board, charged with negotiating wage and price settlements, and as chairman of the President’s Emergency Railway Labor Board.

In addition to his son he is survived by his wife, Bonnie, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Donations to a scholarship fund in his name may be made through Gold Shield, UCLA, Los Angeles 90024.