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), Gandhi and King (2009), Gandhi and Chavez (2011), and Gandhi, Sustainability and Happiness (2013).
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. More recently, she led the task-force for creating an interdisciplinary minor in Nonviolence Studies. She teaches its core course, Nonviolence in the Modern World, which also fulfils GE C4/D4 (Humanities or Social Science Synthesis) requirement. She also teaches seminar on Nonviolence studies, and has also offered a seminar on Gandhi, undergraduate and graduate courses in World history.
Her publication include following books: Gandhi: Pioneer of Nonviolent Social Change (Pearson, 2012); and and co-edited volume, The Living Gandhi: Lessons for Our Times (Penguin, 2013); Ahimsa, Anekanta and Jainism (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass , 2004); and sevaral articles, book chapters, and reviews.
She has organized 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), Ahimsa and Sustainable Happiness (2012), and Care, Compassion and Mindfulness conference to be held in November 2014.
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.