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 Center's national summer institutes on Nonviolence for K-12 educators. These institutes are offered every other year. They include: Nonviolence and Social Change (2005), Gandhi, Nonviolence and the Twenti-first Century Curriculum (2007), and Journeys of Nonviolence: Gandhi and King (2009), Journeys of Nonviolence: Gandhi and Chavez (2011).

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 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, and led the creation of an interdisciplinary minor in Nonviolence Studies. 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 include Gandhi: Pioneer of Nonviolent Social Change (Pearson, 2012), 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. She is currently co-editing a volume of essays, Rediscovering Gandhian Wisdom: Building a Peaceful Future (forthcoming).

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), Rediscovering Gandhian Wisdom: Building a Peaceful Future (October 2008), Ahimsa and Sustainability (November 2010), and Ahimsa and Sustainable Happiness (2012).

She has served on the executive board of the World History Association, and the SAT II World History Committee hosted 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 and other newspapers and magazines.

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