Director's Page

Tara Sethia is Professor of History, founder and Director of Ahimsa Center at California State Polytechnic University , Pomona. Under the auspices of the Center, she has helped establish on campus a degree program for a Minor in Nonviolence Studies, and serves as its coordinator.

She is also the Director of Ahimsa Center national summer institutes on Nonviolence for K-12 educators. These include: Nonviolence and Social Change (2005), Gandhi, Nonviolence and the Twenti-first Century Curriculum (2007), and Journeys of Nonviolence: Gandhi and King (2009).

Professor Sethia received her Ph.D . in History from University of California , Los Angeles and M. A. in History from Rajasthan University ( India). She is recipient of several grants, awards and honors, including Gold and Silver Medals from the University of Rajasthan, India. She was the principal investigator and director of Program on India and China for K-12 Educators, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1995-98.

Following her appointment at Cal Poly Pomona in 1991, she created a two new courses on India and South Asia and a course on Women in Asia. Recently, she developed a course on Nonviolence in the Modern World and a seminar on Nonviolence. In addition to teaching these courses on a regular basis, she has also offered a seminar on Gandhi, and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in World history.

Her recent publications and writings include an edited book ,Ahimsa , Anekanta and Jainism (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass , 2004); and articles on Vardhamana Mahavira , Mohandas K. Gandhi , Nonviolence and Social Change for the Berkshire Enclyopedia of World History (2005). She has also published articles and reviews in journals and books within her field and has made numerous presentations at national and international conferences on a variety of topics , including peace and nonviolence. Currently , she is working on a book, Gandhi: His World and Ours (forthcoming, Pearson) . She is also editing a volume of essays, Rediscovering Gandhian Wisdom: Building a Peaceful Future (forthcoming, Penguin India).

She has organized on her campus several International conferences: Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life (January 2002) , and Creating a Culture of Ahimsa: Visions and Strategies (May 2004) , Ahimsa and the Quality of Life ( April 2006), and Rediscovering Gandhian Wisdom: Building a Peaceful Future (October 2008).

She has served on the executive board of the World History Association, and is a member of the SAT II World History Committee appointed by the Educational Testing Service and the College Board. She has also served as a consultant to the California Department of Education, the British Broadcasting Service, and has been invited as reviewer for History Textbooks by several publishers and served on the review panels of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Her involvement in the establishment of Ahimsa Center on campus and its educational activities have received coverage in the Los Angeles Times (24 April 2004) and other newspapers and magazines. She was also interviewed twice in April-May 2004 on KPFK radio station.

For more information or to request a C.V., please send an email to: tsethia@csupomona.edu.