Dodds is a native of
Painesville, Ohio. Dodds attended
John Carroll University (
University Heights, Ohio) in 1991, where she received a
B.A. degree in
Communications in 1993. In 2016 she obtained an
M.St. degree in
International Relations from the
University of Cambridge (
Cambridge, England). She joined the AP in 1994 to cover the
South African elections that brought
Nelson Mandela to power. After nearly three years covering post-
Apartheid South Africa, she worked for the AP in Miami, Little Rock and Boston before joining the international desk in New York. In 2001, she was promoted to
Caribbean News Editor in San Juan, Puerto Rico. From 2001 to 2005, she directed coverage from 30 countries in the Caribbean and
Latin America. Her primary and most frequent reporting assignments included
Haiti and
Guantanamo Bay; she broke several investigative pieces about abuse in the U.S. prison camp. In 2005, she was named London Bureau Chief, a role she held until late 2016 when she was named a London-based correspondent with security and intelligence matters as her beat. She has reported from many corners of the world. ==Awards==