Although he has had the opportunity to work on many exciting corporate legal projects, Dudley Knox has found an even better job. As a professor, he has a particular talent for reaching out to individuals seeking a new road for career success — those who are ready to develop a career passion if only they knew what it was.

“The best part of my career is having the opportunity to assist students in finding a direction and a career that brings job challenge and satisfaction,” says Knox. “Every year, I see my graduates go on to find success in a career they can be passionate about.”

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree from TCU and a Master of Arts degree from SMU, he taught high school government and speech for a while. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Baylor University School of Law and for several years worked on legal projects for a variety of corporations. 

In the late 1970s, he was asked to serve on a committee to help create the DISD’s Law Magnet School of Dallas. He helped launch the new school and served as its dean of instruction from 1978 to 1983 while continuing to work on a limited number of legal projects. Today he serves as the co-director of DCCCD’s paralegal program and teaches paralegal studies at El Centro, North Lake and Richland colleges. He also teaches courses at The Academy of Irving ISD, a high school that offers a legal studies program where students can blend into the DCCCD paralegal program.

Knox believes community college graduates have the opportunity for close contact with instructors, as well as hands-on experience through internship programs. This results in a passion and motivation to seek further academic training. “Many of my paralegal graduates have become attorneys, and some have returned to teach in our program. It’s the full circle of academic life,” says Knox. He keeps up with hundreds of his former students, many of whom credit him with their career success. (See the profiles of Daniel Ambriz and Todd Albin, examples of students who have become outstanding paralegals or lawyers.)

And though Knox could certainly choose any number of rewarding careers, it’s helping students find their passion that really defines his own. “I teach at the community college level because students are so motivated to study specialty courses that will give them a definite direction for their lives,” he says. “I think an associate degree is the springboard to untold success.” 

For professor Dudley Knox, it all began here.