Therese (Terry) Knecht Dozier is a special advisor on teaching to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley. The appointment is the first of its kind at the Department.
Dozier directs the Department's teaching initiative, which was created in response to the President's call to action, and coordinates Department-wide efforts to ensure there will be "a talented, dedicated, and well-prepared teacher in every classroom."
Dozier is responsible for helping to bridge communications between the nation's teachers and the Department's top policy makers by soliciting teachers' views and by presenting the teacher's perspective on various issues. She is working to ensure that teachers in the field have knowledge of the Department's resources, technology, and most effective teaching practices and programs.
Prior to joining the Department, Dozier was teaching at Irmo High School in Columbia, South Carolina. Her teaching career has also included working as an instructor and college coordinator of Professional Development Schools at the University of South Carolina, teaching at the Singapore American School, and middle school teaching in Miami and Gainesville, Florida.
In l985, while she was teaching world history at Irmo High School, Dozier was named National Teacher of the Year. In that capacity, she traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad, giving speeches and presentations on behalf of education and the teaching profession.
Dozier has served on many advisory boards and commissions including the Education Advisory Panel to the New American Schools Development Corporation, Recruiting New Teachers Inc., and the Education Commission of the States.
She has received numerous other honors and awards including the University of South Carolina's Holmes Scholar; National Jefferson Award for Public Service Benefiting Local Communities; Fulbright Hays Fellowship to China; Honorary Doctor of Human Letters from the University of South Carolina; and the University of Florida Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Dozier earned a B.A. in Social Studies Education (l974) and an M. Ed. In Secondary Social Studies (l977) from the University of Florida at Gainesville. She earned her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Carolina at Columbia (l995). She is married to Mark Dozier, an educator. They have one daughter.
![[ Home ]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090509174124im_/http://www.ed.gov/icons/EDhome.gif){kind=icon}