He graduated from Florida State College in 1898, and received a
Bachelors in Science from
John B. Stetson University in 1901. At the
University of Chicago, he was a Fellow, 1902–1904, and received a
Ph.D. in 1905. In 1904–1907, he was in charge of the section of foreign law in the
Library of Congress. He held a research appointment at Johns Hopkins in 1908–1910, in 1910–1911 was associate in political science, in 1911–1914 assistant professor, and in 1914–1915 associate professor of political science in the
University of Illinois. After 1915, he was associate professor of political science in the
University of Chicago. He served as the second Secretary of the State of Illinois' Legislative Reference Bureau in 1917–1918. He was president of the
American Political Science Association from 1945 to 1946. In retirement, in 1946, Walter Dodd was retained to represent Vashti Cromwell McCollum in her landmark case challenging released time sectarian religious classes in the public schools of Champaign Illinois. The result was the 1948 decision, eight to one, in her favor (333 US 203). ==Works==