In 1907 Dodd had been elected president of the Eastern Arts Association, and around 1910 was appointed director of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education.
[3] In those days he also worked with Woodrow Wilson and Samuel Gompers on the Smith–Hughes Act, which "signalized the beginning of federal support of vocational education in agriculture, home economics, industry, and trade.
The purpose of the proposed law is not to enable the Federal Government to enter the educational field and establish schools but rather to extend such aid as will stimulate the various states to develop the work themselves.
Here he worked with James Rowland Angell, Beardsley Ruml and Walter Dill Scott to established "the Army's first program of personal management, testing of applicants, classification, and placement.
"[2] In 1917 Dodd was appointed president of the Retail Research Association, where he laid the basis of the first retail cooperative market research organization, later the Associated Merchandising Corporation.in 1921 he joined the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, where he managed its distribution department.