From 1965 to 1999, she was academic dean and vice president of Villa Julie College, now Stevenson University.

She was founding principal of Holy Rosary School when it opened on Staten Island in 1955.

[3] Dawson promoted programs that kept Villa Julie students current on technological advances through the 1980s and 1990s.

[4] Dawson held several state-wide posts, including work with the Maryland State Advisory Council for Vocational-Technical Education, the Maryland Association of Community and Junior Colleges, and the Middle Atlantic States Evaluation Committee.

On the occasion of her 25th year at Villa Julie, congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley honored in remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives, saying that Dawson "must be regarded as nothing short of a national treasure".