Candice Dodson was the Executive Director for SETDA from 2019-2020 and served as the Director of the Office of eLearning at IDOE from 2011 to 2019. The work that she did during that time and the twenty years previous as an Indiana educator paved the way for us to embrace innovation.

She made everyone she came into contact with feel important and seen. She listened, supported, and encouraged. She influenced educational policy and laid the foundation for connected learning in Indiana. She gave the kind of hug that would rival any other.

Candice tragically passed away in 2020. The Office of Digital Learning started the Candice Dodson award in 2022 to honor her memory and support those of the same spirit.

The Candice Dodson award should be given to someone who is a change agent, a thought leader. It should go to someone who isn’t okay with the status quo: someone who is always driven towards improvement and innovation for positive change. A person who receives the Candice Dodson award is someone who knows that there is enough room in the world for all of us to succeed.