Friday, September 30: Inauguration and Dinner

Professor Ved P. Nanda is John Evans University Professor and Thompson G. Marsh Professor of Law at the Sturm College of Law, University of Denver and serves as Director of the International Legal Studies Program there. In 2006 Professor Nanda was honored with the founding of the Nanda Center for International Law. He was also Vice Provost at the University of Denver from 1994-2008. He holds or has held numerous official posts in international, regional, and national professional and civil society organizations. In addition to serving as the Uberoi Foundation chair, he was the founding president of and is currently a Trustee of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies (Denver), and is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Iliff School of Theology, Denver. He has received numerous national and international awards, including honorary doctorates from Soka University in Tokyo, Japan and from Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, India. He is widely published, having authored or co-authored 24 books in various fields of international law and over 200 chapters and major law review articles. Professor Nanda is a frequent guest on television and radio and writes regularly on international issues for the Denver Post.

Professor Jeffrey Siker teaches and publishes in the area of New Testament studies and has been chair of the Department of Theological Studies since 2002. He is the author of Disinheriting the Jew: Abraham in Early Christian Controversy and of Scripture and Ethics: Twentieth Century Portraits. He is the editor of Homosexuality in the Church: Both Sides of the Debate and Homosexuality and Religion: An Encyclopedia. Dr. Siker is an ordained Presbyterian minister in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and is a Parish Associate at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.

Professor T. S. Rukmani has had a distinguished academic record and has been teaching and researching mainly in the areas of Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta and Sankhya-Yoga for the past 46 years. She joined the Department of Religion, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, as Professor and Chair for Hindu Studies in 1996. She was the first Chair for Hindu Studies and Indian Philosophy at University of Durban Westville, Durban, South Africa before taking over her post in Canada. Since the establishment of Delhi University 86 years ago, she is the only academic in its Department of Sanskrit to have been honored with the highest degree of D.Litt. Rukmani also has the distinction of being the first woman, and the second person, to receive a Ph.D. in Sanskrit from the same University. In addition, she obtained the double distinction of gaining first position in the University, both in her MA and BA degree examinations and was awarded a gold medal for her MA achievement. In 1972, she was awarded the Ida Smedley International Fellowship to work as a post-doctoral fellow on comparative philosophy, under the guidance of the world-renowned philosopher, the late Prof. B. K. Matilal, at Toronto University. Amongst the many awards that Rukmani has won are: . DANAM/Taksha Institute Abhinavagupta Award for Sustained Achievement in Indic Philosophy, 2009. . Shivadasani Fellowship, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford University, UK for the Trinity term, 2006. . Certificate in recognition of contributions to Concordia University Libraries, 2003. . Sanskrit promotion in Foreign Lands by First Gita Global Conference, Bangalore, Nov 2003. . Fellowship, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 2003 and 1989. . National Association of Canadians of Indian Origin (NACOI), Montreal, for distinguished service to the Community, 1998. . Mandakini, Sanskrit Research organization, for excellence in Sanskrit Research (Vidyavacas-pati) at the Tenth World Sanskrit Conference, Bangalore, 1997. . The Delhi Sanskrit Academy award for Sanskrit scholarship, 1993. Her four volume work on Vijnanabhiksu's Yogavarttika and her two volume work on Sankara's Yogasutrabhasyavivarana have been widely acclaimed in scholarly circles as significant contributions to the furtherance of Yoga Philosophy. Both are published by the well known Indological publishers Munshiram Manoharlal in Delhi, India. She has also written and edited six other books dealing with different aspects of religion and philosophy and has published many research papers in academic journals, both in India and in other parts of the world. Her latest book on "Hindu Samnyasin:Changing Perspecives" is with the publishers. After her tenure at Indraprastha College at Delhi University, India from 1964 to 1981, she took over as Principal of Miranda House, the only University college for women in Delhi University. She held this post for over ten years before she went to South Africa to take up her assignment as the first Professor of Hindu Studies and Indian Philosophy in 1993. Besides her deep commitment to academics, Rukmani has been active in "Women's Studies" and programs connected with women. She was President of the University Women's Association of Delhi for two years and was a member of the International Federation of University Women's Fellowship Committee in Geneva (Switzerland) for three years. She is a member on the Advisory Committee of the Oxford Journal of Hindu Studies and is a member of the Consultative Committee of the International Association for Sanskrit Studies. She is also the Champlain for Hinduism at Concordia University.

Professor Kapil Kapoor, former Professor of English, Centre for Linguistics and English, and Concurrent Professor, Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was Dean of the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, JNU, from 1996-1999 and Rector (Pro-Vice-Chancellor) of the University from 1999-2002.

Dr. Kapil Kapoor has been a nominated member of the Governing Body of Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla and of the Governing Body of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), and of Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad and of the Executive and Academic Councils of Central University of Hyderabad and of Gurukula Kangri, Haridwar and a Member of the Planning Committee of Central University of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath.

He is currently Chief Editor, the Sahitya Akademi sponsored Encyclopaedia of Indian Poetics, a UNESCO project and Editor-in-Chief of Parmarth Niketan/Indian Heritage Research Foundation (USA) sponsored Encyclopaedia of Hinduism.

He is a nominated Visiting Professor at the Irish Academy of Cultural Heritages, University of Ulster, U.K. and Nominated Member, Advisory Board for India Studies, Trinity College Dublin. He was nominated Birla Foundation Fellow in 2007 and UGC Emeritus Fellow at JNU, his parent university, 2007-2009. He is Adviser to CBSE, New Delhi for English since 2000. He is also a Visiting Professor at BPS Women's University Khanpur Kalan, Haryana.

His teaching and research interests include literary and linguistic theories, both Indian and Western, philosophy of language, nineteenth century British life, literature and thought and Indian intellectual traditions. He has been lecturing on these themes and has written extensively on them. He has been teaching for more than fifty years and a large number of students have researched with him.

He has delivered lectures by invitation in several universities in India and in UK and published articles in the areas of Indian and Western philosophy, grammar, literature and aesthetics and 19th Century British literature. His two books, Dimensions of Panini Grammar: Indian Grammatical System and Text and Interpretation: The Indian Tradition, were published in 2005. Indian Knowledge Systems (2 Vols.), edited by him, has also been published (2005). Literary Theory, Indian Conceptual Framework (1998); Canonical Texts of Literary Criticism (1995); Language, Literature and Linguistics. The Indian Perspective (1994); and South Asian Love Poetry (1994) are among his earlier publications. He wrote a monograph on Rati-Bhakti in India's Narrative Traditions as a Birla Foundation Fellow in 2007 - 2008. He has also written, as UGC Emeritus Fellow, a monograph on Comparative Literary Theory. His book in Hindi, Bharat Ki Katha Parampara Me Rati-Bhakti (Love and Devotion in India's Narrative Traditions) and his book on Abhinavagupta are under publication.

Shri Jim Polsfut currently serves as the executive director of the Uberoi Foundation for Religious Studies. In addition, he serves as the president and CEO of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation, a charitable organization aimed at increasing awareness in both countries about the importance of the bilateral relationship and at raising funds for grant- making to benefit not-for-profit organizations in Mexico. Previously, Mr. Polsfut helped to create a private bank and trust company called First Western Trust Bank, based in Denver. In that capacity, he served as president of First Western Development Corporation, a division of the bank responsible for corporate acquisitions. During his tenure there, First Western Trust Bank grew its assets to $3 billion under management. Earlier in his career, Mr. Polsfut served as general manager for GE Capital in Mexico City and in the United States, as Denver Mayor Federico Peña's assistant for finance for the City and County of Denver, and as an associate in the public finance office of Smith Barney.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Mr. Polsfut is quite active in the Denver community. Currently he serves on the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the governing body of the 28 public universities and colleges in the State of Colorado, and he also serves on the board of the University of Denver Social Science Foundation. Previously, he served on the Board of the Child and Family Development Committee of the Rose Community Foundation and as a continuing elder of the Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church. He has also served as one of two founding co-chairs of Denver's Road Home, a $50 million plan organized in metro-Denver to combat homelessness over a ten-year period, as chairman of the board of the Urban Peak shelter for homeless and runaway youth, as treasurer of the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, and as a board member of Open World Learning, the New America High School, the Latin American Educational Foundation, and the Arvada Council for the Arts and Humanities, among other organizations.

Shrimathi Katherine Nanda MA, JD, University of Denver, has practiced law for many years and is currently working in the criminal area through the Office of the Colorado Alternate Defense Counsel. She has been actively involved with many organizations serving the Indian community in Colorado, having served as the Chair of the Hindu Society of Colorado and a founding board member and Secretary of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies (Denver).

A Summary Report of Projects Funded by Uberoi Foundation

Professor Yashwant Pathak completed his education M.S., Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from Nagpur University, India and EMBA and MS in Conflict Management from Sullivan University, KY, USA. He is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida. Tampa, Florida.

With extensive experience in academia as well as industry, he has to his credit more than 100 publications and 2 patents, including 5 books in Nanotechnology and 2 in Nutraceuticals and several books in cultural studies. His areas of research include drug delivery systems and its characterization in animal models.

Dr. Pathak has travelled extensively over 75 countries and is actively involved with many cultural organizations, including as the International Coordinator for the International Center for Cultural Studies, Sewa International, RIWATCH and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA.

He has organized several international cultural conferences, including the World Hindu Conference at Durban in 1995, attended by more than 45,000, people and addressed by President Nelson Mandela.

He is actively involved in academic research on ancient traditions of the world. Some of the themes on which he has organized conferences include "Martial Arts, Non Violence and Spirituality, Metakuye Oyasin, Spirituality Beyond Religions and Nourishing the balance of the Universe".

Dr. Pathak is a member advisory committee for several cultural organizations in India and the USA. His recent interests include "Eastern and indigenous perspectives in sustainability and conflict management"

Professor Bal Ram Singh is the Director of Center for Indic Studies at UMass Dartmouth. As a Professor of Biophysical Chemistry and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and the Director of Botulinum Research Center, he has been conducting research since 1990 on botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins, and lately also on yoga, mind, and consciousness.

He has published five books and over 200 articles, including over three dozen articles related to India's philosophy, heritage, and traditions. He is Editor/Associate Editor of three journal, including Light on Ayurveda Journal and International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management.

Dr. Singh is the recipient of 2004 University Service Award given by the UMass Dartmouth Alumni Association. He is a 2005 Honoree of India Association of Rhode Island for his service to the Indian community in the United States. Dr. Singh was recognized with Ved Vidya Rakshak award from World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES) in 2006. He received Economic Impact Award from New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce in 2008, Citation Plaque from India Association of Greater Boston for community service, 2009, and Service Award to WAVES, 2010.

Professor Sunil Kumar received the M.E. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani (India) in 1993 and 1997, respectively. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Kumar was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Integrated Media Systems Center and Adjunct Faculty in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2002, he was a Consultant in industry on JPEG2000 and MPEG-4 related projects. He was also a member of US delegation in JPEG2000 standardization activities.

From 2002 to 2006, Dr. Kumar was an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY. Since August 2006, Dr. Kumar has been an Associate Professor and Thomas G. Pine Faculty Fellow in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA. He was an ASEE Summer Faculty Fellow at the Air Force Research Lab in Rome, NY during summer of 2007 and 2008, where he conducted research in Airborne Wireless Networks. Dr. Kumar is a senior member of IEEE and has published more than 95 research articles in international journals and conferences, including two books/book chapters. He serves on the technical program committee of several conferences and has organized special sessions and workshops in various conferences. His research has been supported by grants/awards from the National Science Foundation, Air Force, Department of Energy, NY State Energy Research & Development Agency (NYSERDA), Information Institute, Cisco and Sprint Advanced Technology Labs.

Dr. Kumar is currently advising more than 12 Ph.D. and M.S. thesis students, and postdoctoral/visiting scholars. His research interests include: (i) QoS-aware and cross-layer protocols for multimedia traffic in wireless ad hoc, sensor, cognitive radio, WiMAX and cellular networks. (ii) Error resilient multimedia compression techniques, including MPEG-4, H.264/AVC and JPEG2000. (iii) Digital image processing and machine learning techniques.

Sushri Mary (Bimala) Hicks completed the Master of Fine Arts degree at Claremont Graduate University in Studio Arts. Her undergraduate degree was obtained from California State University, Los Angeles, with two majors, English with Honors, and Art Studio. She has cultivated interests in multiple spheres: as a professional artist, as an editor for scholars in Religious Studies, and as an arts writer, administrator, and curator. Mary received diksa nearly twenty years ago, and considers herself Hindu. She lives adjacent to the Cleveland National Forest in San Diego county.

Partnership Strategies Among Institutions with Related Goals

Shri Navin Doshi grew up in Mumbai, India and came to the United States in 1958 after completing his undergraduate studies at the prestigious Puna Engineering College and the L.D. Engineering College of Gujarat University where he received his B.E. (Bachelors of Engineering).

In the U.S., Navin completed a second Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 1960, he moved to Los Angeles to begin a PhD program in Engineering at UCLA.

In 1999, Navin and his wife Pratima endowed the Doshi Chair of Indian History at UCLA. The Doshis are also the founding members and substantial contributors for the establishment of the prestigious Sardar Patel Award at UCLA for exceptional doctoral dissertations on subjects related to India.

Navin has a close relationship of patronage with the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles. Navin has been a member of the LMU Advisory Board for almost a decade. With his support and initiative, LMU teaches Eastern Religion and Yoga and interacts with the Gujarat University in India; and he has been a sponsor of visiting professors teaching Indic Traditions at LMU for many years. In 2006, Navin and Pratima Doshi endowed a second chair for Indic Traditions at LMU which also administers a $10,000 annual Bridge Builder Award program, meant to honor eminent persons who have worked towards world peace and harmony.

Shri Masao Yokota served as president of the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning and Dialogue [formerly the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century] from its founding in 1993 to 2009 and currently serves as advisor to the Center. Yokota is a research fellow with the Institute of Oriental Studies (IOP) in Japan and on the editorial board for Seikyo News, the second largest daily newspaper in Japan and Soka Gakkai's organ publication, where his regular articles reach a wide international audience. Yokota frequently conducts interviews with prominent scholars and activists in areas such as peace, education, philosophy and intercultural understanding. Yokota is also on the Council Advisory Board for SGI-USA. Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a Buddhist network linking more than 12 million people in 192 countries and territories worldwide. The promotion of peace, culture and education is central to SGI's activities. The Buddhist tradition embraced by SGI members is based on Mahayana Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra in particular.

Shri Pravin Shah is a founding member of Jain Study Center of North Carolina (Raleigh). He is a chairperson of JAINA Education Committee and advisor to JAINA YJA and YJP youth organizations. He is also a member of the Harvard University Pluralism Project Advisory Council and director of Triangle Interfaith Association since 2002. He is an Electrical Engineer, retired from IBM and lives in Raleigh North Carolina, USA.

He is a Jain scholar, vegan and activist against animal cruelty. He has published several articles and books on Jain philosophy, cruelty to animals, and Comparative religions. His primary objective is to provide Jain religion education to Jain youths borne in the Western world. He offers two-day workshop on Jainism to educate Jain community and prepare teachers for Jain Päthashälä (Sunday school).

As a chairperson of Jaina Education Committee, he has published a complete set of Jaina Päthashälä Educational Material covering elementary level to college level education. Today more than 3500 Päthashälä students across North America use this material. He is also the author of the books: Jainism - a Religion of Ecology and Non-violence, the Book of Compassion and Essence of World Religions.

He established the Jain eLibrary website www.jaineLibrary.org which provides Jain religious information worldwide electronically. At present more than 3500 books (more than 1,000,000 pages) of Jain literature in English, Hindi, and Gujarati languages are available on this site. The literature covers many aspects of Jain philosophy and religion such as Jain scriptures, commentaries, philosophy, rituals, conduct, art and architecture, His e-mail address education@jaina.org..

Shri Dilip Shah is a retired businessman living in Philadelphia for the past 40 years, Dilip V Shah has been an active volunteer in local, national and international Jain studies.

In the greater Philadelphia region, Dilip Shah has been instrumental in forming of three Jain organizations and was a pioneer in building a Hindu/Jain Temple and a Jain Temple (in Cherry Hill, NJ)

Dilip Shah has been an active member of the Federation of Jain Associations in North America (JAINA) serving as Secretary, Vice President and President (2007-2009). Currently he is serving as Chairman of the Ombudsman Council of JAINA, Chair of Pilgrimage Committee and member of the Education committee and Academic Liaison Committee. As a JAINA Executive, he has traveled to more than 30 Jain centers in the USA and CANADA. Dilip Shah is a member of the Governing Council of International School for Jain Studies (ISJS)

Dilip Shah has been International Vice President of the Jain Social Group of India and Overseas Director of the Jain International Trade Organization. As a volunteer for Veerayatan International, he helped found a primary school in a rural Bihar for 400 students. Dilip Shah has also been actively working with number of Jain organizations in the U.K.

Shri U.Ka. Solanki provided an endowment at California State University Long Beach for a visiting lecturer on India studies to promote the culture and heritage of India within education. He graduated from Pacific State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering and Chemistry. He is Founder and Chairman of Big Savers Foods, a chain of 16 grocery stores /supermarkets primarily located in Southern California.

Dr. Shashikant M. Sane, M.D., was one of the handfuls of physicians invited to be the Founding physicians of the Minneapolis Children's Hospital in 1972. He served as the Chairman & Medical Director of Radiology Department for 25 years. He has been a Fellow of the Academy of Pediatrics for 38 years and was the Radiology Section Chair from 1996 to 2000. He has been a founding member of the Society of Chairs of Radiology at the Children's Hospitals in North America and served as its President from 1996 to1998.

He & his wife Kumud have been two of the 6 founders of the first Hindu Temple in Minnesota in 1978. He stepped down in January 2008 as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees but has continued his weekly discourses on Hindu Scriptures at the Temple every Sunday which he started in May 1979. He is a formally trained Hindu Priest. He and his wife have been conducting Annual Hindu Youth Camps for the past 30 years. Under his leadership Hindu American Temple School was started with 240 students presently enrolled in the school. He has been actively involved in the interfaith dialogs over the past twenty years

Panel One: The Dharma Paradigm and Ethos

Professor Balbinder Singh Bhogal joined Hofstra University in the Fall of 2007, and currently holds the S.K.K. Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies. Previously, holding positions at University of Derby, England (1997-2002), James Madison University, Virginia (2002-3) and York University, Toronto (2003-7). His PhD was titled: Nonduality and Skilful Means in the Hymns of Guru Nanak: Hermeneutics of the Word, 2001 from London University, School of Oriental and African Studies. His primary research interests are South Asian Religions and Cultures specializing in the Sikh tradition, particularly the Guru Granth Sahib, its philosophy and exegesis. Secondary research interests include: hermeneutic theory and its radicalization through deconstruction; Indian Philosophy and its relation to Continental Philosophy, Mysticism, Diaspora, Translation and Postcolonial Studies, the construction of Religion, Orientalism, the Animal-Human divide and Theory and Method in the Study of Religions. He has taught courses on: Warrior Saints: An Introduction to the Sikh Religion, Sikh Mysticism, Religions of India, Thinking Mysticism in the Academy: Gender and Power, Yoga, Psychology and South Asian Religions, and Buddhist Thought. Recent Publications: 'Cleaving Gestures that Refuse the Alien Call for Identity Politics' [under review]; 'Radicalizing Hermes: Philosophical Messengers and Poetic Reticence in Sikh Textuality' [under review]; 'The Animal Sublime: Rethinking the Sikh Mystical Body' [under review]; 'Monopolizing Violence before and after 1984: Governmental Law and the People's Passion', Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory, Vol.7, No.1, 2011, April, pp.57-82

Professor Jeffery D. Long is Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies and Co-Director of Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. He is the author of A Vision for Hinduism: Beyond Hindu Nationalism (2007), Jainism: An Introduction (2009), and the Historical Dictionary of Hinduism (2011). He has also published many articles in a variety of academic journals and scholarly volumes, including the Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, the Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence, and Prabuddha Bharata, the journal of the Ramakrishna Order in India-and has presented in both national and international venues. He is currently a co-chair of the North American Hinduism unit of the American Academy of Religion and is the former chair of the Steering Committee of DANAM (the Dharma Academy of North America). He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in the year 2000, with a doctoral dissertation titled Plurality and Relativity: Whitehead, Jainism, and the Reconstruction of Religious Pluralism. Dr. Long and his wife, Dr. Mahua Bhattacharya (who teaches Japanese at Elizabethtown College), are members of their local Hindu temple, the Hindu American Religious Institute, which is located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and are also active members of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society.

Professor Rita Sherma holds an M.A. in Religion, and Ph.D. in Religious Studies (Theology and Ethics). She is the co-founder and Vice-President of DANAM (Dharma Academy of North America) and is the co-founder and former President of Foundation for Indic Philosophy and Culture (FIPC) at the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Sherma is Professor and Executive Director at the Confluence School of Faith Studies, at Taksha University, VA. She is co-editor of the forthcoming Journal of Dharma Studies, and has authored numerous essays, articles and book chapters on religion and philosophy, as well as several encyclopedia articles in volumes such as the Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions and the Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. Previous publications include co-authorship of five edited books, including Dying, Death, and Afterlife in Dharma Traditions and Western Religions (2007); Hermeneutics and Hindu Thought (2008), and Woman and Goddess in Hinduism: Reinterpretations and Re-envisionings (2011).

Professor Jeffrey Ruff is associate professor of Asian Religions and Philosophies, Department of Religious Studies, Humanities Program, Marshall University.
My primary professional interests in Dharma traditions are in teaching American College students about all facets of the history, philosophy, art, and other cultural elements of Dharmic traditions. My research interests are in pedagogy: methods & theories using philosophy and religions as guides to the study of culture and cultures. My Dharma research that focuses primarily on Sanskrit subjects is devoted to the study of Classical Upanishads and Atharvanic Upanishads, especially the Yoga Upanishads; and, upon Yoga traditions in general. I additionally work with the texts of early Indian Buddhism: Jataka tales and Pali Canon. My broader teaching and research interests focus on meditation, contemplation, and yoga across multiple religious traditions.

Panel Two: Theories of Knowledge The Epistemology and Hermeneutics of Dharma Education)

Professor Gurleen Grewal, Ph.D., received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Delhi, and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. She is the founding director of the Center for India Studies at the University of South Florida, Tampa. An Associate Professor of English and an affiliate faculty in Humanities and Cultural Studies, she has taught and published in the areas of global postcolonial literature, Indian diasporic writers and multicultural literature of the U.S. Her book on Toni Morrison was awarded the Toni Morrison Society Book Award in 2000. Dr. Grewal is the recipient of two university-wide teaching awards and the ACLS Contemplative Practice Fellowship in 2007 and an NEH fellow for the Summer Institute in Sustainability and the Humanities in 2011. With a long-standing interest in the contemplative and healing traditions of India, she has a teacher's certificate in Yoga from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram in Kerala (1998), and led Study Abroad courses in Hinduism and Buddhism (2004, 2006), Yoga and the Healing Traditions of India (2011). With Dr. Yashwant Pathak, she is organizing the Conference on Eastern and Indigenous Perspectives on Sustainability and Conflict Resolution , Nov 13-15, 2011 at USF Tampa.

Professor Anantanand Rambachan is Professor and Chair of Religion at Saint Olaf College, Minnesota. Prof. Rambachan is the author of several books, book-chapters and numerous journal articles. His books include Accomplishing the Accomplished: The Vedas as a Source of Valid Knowledge in Shankara, The Limits of Scripture: Vivekananda's Reinterpretation of the Authority of the Vedas, The Advaita Worldview: God, World and Humanity, and Not-Two: The Liberating Teachings of Advaita (SUNY: Forthcoming).

Prof. Rambachan is a member of the Theological Education Committee of the American Academy of Religion. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of World Religions and as an advisor to the Pluralism Project (Harvard University), The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, and the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children. He teaches regular adult religion classes at the Hindu Mandir in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Professor Prabhsharandeep Singh Sandhu presenter information upload in progress

Professor Rita Gross is internationally known for her innovative work on gender and religion. She is also a Buddhist dharma teacher having been appointed to that position by Her Eminence Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche.

Rita Gross gives original engaging talks on a wide variety of topics and can lead meditation retreats of varying lengths. She specializes in bringing together the values and perspective of academic research and Buddhist dharma teachings.

Professor Anne Vallely is Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa. Her work falls within the broad field of the Anthropology of Religion, with a focus on South Asian religion, especially that of Jainism. Her research interests include ecology, animals, human/non-human boundaries, death rituals and mourning, asceticism and the body, spirit possession and women's religious lives. Methodologically, she approaches these fields with a particular interest in the aesthetics of religious experience and phenomenology. Her book Guardians of the Transcendent: An Ethnography of a Jain Ascetic Community. University of Toronto Press, 2002 is a detailed exploration of the lives of Jain female mendicants of the Terapanthi order. Professor Vallely's recent essay, "Ancestors, Demons & the Goddess: Negotiating the Animate Cosmos of Jainism," in F. Ferrari (ed.), Disease, Possession and Healing, Routledge Press explores popular religious practice in Jainism. And her forthcoming book (Dec 2011), Animal Others: Explorations of the Nonhuman for Human Self-Understanding, (co-edited with Aaron Gross), Columbia University Press, explores the central role of the non-human in human meaning-making.

Dr. Debashish Banerji did his undergradute degree in English Literature from Elphinstone College, Bombay, and served as a cultural correspondent for some of the leading English language newspapers of India. Later, he completed his Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and his Ph.D. in Indian Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). From 1991-2005, Banerji served as the president of the East-West Cultural Center in Los Angeles, one of the earliest institutions responsible for introducing a scholarly and cultural perspective on India and the teachings of Sri Aurobindo in Southern California. At present, he teaches courses on topics in Indian Philosophy and Psychology and serves in the role of Dean of Academic Affairs at the distance-learning graduate level University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles. He is also an adjunct faculty in Art History, teaching courses on South Asian, East Asian and Islamic Art History at the Pasadena City College; and a Research Fellow in the Asian and Comparative Studies department of the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco. In these capacities, he has been instrumental in teaching, giving talks, and organizing activities relating to the dissemination of Indian philosophy and culture in the U.S. Banerji has curated a number of exhibitions of Indian and Japanese art and is the author of the book The Alternate Nation of Abanindranath Tagore (Sage, 2010). A new work, Seven Quartets of Becoming: A Transformational Yoga Psychology Based on the Diaries of Sri Aurobindo is now in press.

Saturday, October 1: Lunch Keynote Speaker

Shri Rajiv Malhotra is an independent scholar and public intellectual who has written three large books and hundreds of articles in print and online, focusing on the distinctiveness of the dharmic traditions and on their authentic representation. His first book, Invading the Sacred (2007) was a critique of Hinduphobia, a term he has coined to describe the fashionable denigration of Hinduism in the American academy. His second book, Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines (2011), presents a vast amount of historical and contemporary data concerning various projects that undermine the unity of India. His most recent book, Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism (forthcoming in 2011), explains the deep-rooted distinctiveness of Indian civilization vis. a vis. the West, and critiques the common tendencies to blur these differences.

Panel Three: Philosophy and Methodology of Dharma Education (Pedagogy)

Professor Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University where he has taught since 1985. He has published more than a dozen books, including Karma and Creativity (1986), Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions (1993), Reconciling Yogas: The Yogadrstisamuccaya of Haribhadra (2003), Yoga and the Luminous: Patanjali's Spiritual Path to Freedom (2008, winner of the Gandhi Book Award for Best Dharma Studies), and several edited volumes on religion and ecology, including Hinduism and Ecology (2000), Jainism and Ecology (2002), and Yoga and Ecology (2009). In 2002 he established the first of several Yoga Studies Certificate programs at LMU. He served on the advisory boards for the Forum on Religion and Ecology (Yale), the Ahimsa Center (Pomona), the International Summer School for Jaina Studies, and the Green Yoga Association. Chris and his wife Maureen trained in the theory and practice of Classical Yoga for more than a dozen years at Yoga Anand Ashram, Amityville, New York.

Professor Sthaneshwar Timalsina is an Assocciate Professor of Indian Religions and Philosophies at San Diego State University, his areas of interest include Indian philosophical traditions, particularly with a focus on consciousness, and Tantric studies. He has published two books, Seeing and Appearance (Shaker Verlag, Germany), and Consciousness in Indian Philosophy (Routledge, New York). His third book, Language of Images, is being reviewed for publication. He has additionally published multiple articles in scholarly journals, and his essays have been included in volumes as book chapters.

Professor Arvind-Pal Mandair is S.B.S.C. Associate Professor of Sikh Studies at the University of Michigan. His recent publications include: Religion and the Specter of the West: Sikhism, India, Postcoloniality and the Politics of Translation (Columbia University Press, 2009); Secularism and Religion-Making (co-edited Oxford University Press, 2011). Teachings of the Sikh Gurus (Routledge, 2005) co-authored and co-translated with Christopher Shackle; He is a founding editor of the journal Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture and Theory and is Assistant Editor of the journal Culture and Religion, both published by Routledge. His reserach interests lie at the intersections of Sikh and South Asian studies with disciplines such as comparative and continental philosophy, postcoloniality, theories of religion and the secular, and translation studies.

Professor Duncan Ryûken Williams received his Ph.D. in Religion at Harvard University. He is currently the Chair of the University of Southern California's School of Religion and the Director of the USC Center for Japanese Religions and Culture. Previously, he held the Shinjo Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at University of California at Berkeley and served as the Director of Berkeley's Center for Japanese Studies for five years. He has also been ordained since 1993 as a Buddhist priest in the Sôtô Zen tradition and served as Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University from 1994-96. He is the author of a monograph entitled The Other Side of Zen: A Social History of Sôtô Zen Buddhism in Tokugawa Japan (Princeton University Press, 2005) and co-editor of five volumes including Issei Buddhism in the Americas (U-Illinois Press, 2010), American Buddhism (Routledge/Curzon Press, 1998), and Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard University Press, 1997). He is currently completing a monograph titled, Camp Dharma: Buddhism and the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II (forthcoming, University of California Press). He is also the founder of the world's first online bibliographical database on Buddhism, the Mugen Project (www.mugenproject.com).

Professor Ramdas Lamb is an Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Hawai'i. His areas of teaching and research include comparative religions as well as renunciant, low caste, and devotional traditions of India. He is also founder and president of the Sahayog Foundation, which helps facilitate education among the rural poor of Chhattisgarh.

Panel Four: Overview of the Field of Dharma Education

Professor Arvind Sharma holds the Birks Chair of Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal, succeeding Wilfred Cantwell Smith. He earned a Masters in Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School and subsequently a Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard University in 1978. He has also taught at the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney in Australia, and at Northeastern University, Boston University, Temple University and Harvard University in the United States. He has published over fifty books and five hundred articles in the fields of Hinduism, Indian religions, world religions, and methods in the study of religion. Among his noteworthy publications are Our Religions (Harper, 1993); To the Things Themselves: Essays on the Discourse and Practice of the Phenomenology of Religions (Walter de Gruyter, 2001); and Religious Studies and Comparative Methodology: The Case for Reciprocal Illumination (SUNY, 2005).

Professor Purushottama Bilimoria Ph.D. is Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Studies at Deakin University in Australia and Senior Research Fellow, University of Melbourne. Visiting Professor and Lecturer at University of California, Berkeley and Dominican University, San Anselmo, and Shivadasani Fellow in Oxford University. His areas of specialist research and publications cover classical Indian philosophy and comparative ethics; Continental thought; cross-cultural philosophy of religion, diaspora studies; bioethics, and personal law in India. Garu Purushottama teaches and publishes on Hindu religious philosophies. Also works on political philosophy, pertaining to ethics, justice, personal laws, capabilities, education and gender issues in India. He is an Editor-in-Chief of Sophia, International Journal of Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology & Ethics (Springer). He also edits a book series with Springer on Sophia: cross-cultural studies in Culture and Traditions, and co-edits another with D K Prin World, Recent publication is Indian Ethics I, Ashgate 2007; OUP 2008, and Sabdaprama?a: Word and Knowledge (Testimony) in Indian Philosophy (revised reprint), Delhi: DK PrintWorld 2008; 'Grief and Mourning: Thinking a Feeling', Sophia, vol 50/1 2011; Postcolonial Philosophy of Religion (with Andrew Irvine, Ken Surin et al) Springer 2009; 'Dharma' in Key Words in Modern Asian Studies 2011), 'Nyaya and Navya-Nyaya' in Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2011). A two-volume study guide with readings on Philosophies of Religion - East & West (Deakin University Press, 2011), 'Theodicy in Indian Theistic Traditions' for Blackwell Companion to The Problem of Evil (2012) , 'The Idea of Hindu Law (= Dharma? )' in Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (2011), and chapters on post-secularism, Hegel and Indian Philosophy (Review of Mandair's book for Religion of South Asia, journal) on Sikhism and Postcolonial, Virtue ethics in Hindu Philosophy, an edited anthology of essays on Gayatri Chakravorthy Spivak. (OUP Delhi) and Colonial Psychiatry in India, are in progress or forthcoming.

Dr. Shrinivas Tilak (PhD in History of Religions, McGill University, Montreal) is an independent scholar based in Montreal. His publications include Religion and Aging in the Indian Tradition (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989) and Understanding Karma in Light of Paul Ricoeur's Philosophical Anthropology and Hermeneutics (Charleston, SC: BookSurge Publications, 2007).

Professor Kundan Singh, Ph.D. is an Associate Core Faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto and an adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco. The author of a book titled The Evolution of Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna, and Swami Vivekananda, and a few book chapters and journal articles like "Beyond Postmodernism: Towards a Future Psychology," "Relativism, Self-Referentiality, and Beyond Mind," "Relativism and Its Relevance for Psychology," "Beyond Mind: Towards a Future Psychology," and "Laying the Foundations of Indian Psychology," his areas of research include Integral Yoga of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, Contemporary and Traditional Vedanta, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, Sufism of the Indian subcontinent, Comparative Mysticism, Spirituality and Social Action, Globalization, Indian history, culture and psychology, Transpersonal Psychology, Social Psychology, Depth Psychology, Cultural and Cross-cultural Psychology, Wilber's Integral Psychology, Postmodern Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Epistemology, Critical Thought and Deconstruction, and East-West Studies among a few others..

Dr. Sulekh C. Jain has been active in many religious and social activities within the Jain and non-Jain communities in the U.S.A. and Canada. Dr. Jain is Founder /Co-Founder of more than one dozen organizations and institutions in North America namely; Jain Center of Greater Boston (1973), Jain Society of Houston (1981), JAIN DIGEST Magazine (1985), JAINA Library (1988), Young Jains of America (1989), Jain Center of Central Ohio at Columbus (1991), Jain Academic Foundation of North America(1994), Mahaveer Vision Inc.(1994), JAIN SPIRIT International Magazine (1999),World Council of Jain Academies (1999) , JVB Preksha Meditation Center in Houston (1999). and International School for Jain Studies (ISJS) in 2004.

Shri. N.V. Raghuram completed his engineering from NIT Bhopal and has worked for some years in various capacities.

Raghuram underwent training in yoga and philosophy teachings under several saints for early childhood. Swami Prabhuddhananda and Prof Satyanarayana had profound role to play in his spiritual development.

Raghuram and his wife Dr Nagarathna, a yoga therapy specialist, have been associated with Swami Vivekananda Yoga research foundation the Yoga University and helped thousands of patients with psychosomatic problems.

Raghuram is actively associated with several medical research projects all over the world which includes a cancer research project in Houston Texas Funded by NIH. He initiated yoga therapy activity in a neurological hospital in Germany, Heart hospital in Turkey etc. he also conducted thousands of spiritual retreats and workshops on stress reduction and trained thousands of yoga teachers all round the globe. For the cause of yoga he travelled more than forty countries.

He is the spiritual guide and founder president of Yogabharati which has centres in USA Canada and Turkey. He is also the spiritual guide for the students of Global Vedika California USA. Youth for seva, Disha are some of the spiritually oriented organizations for which Raghuram is the advisor and main resource person. All his activities are fully charitable in nature. His only one son and his daughter in law are also fully into the field of yoga therapy research and applications. His is uniquely gifted with love and nearness for wild life.

www.nvraghuram.org

Panel Five: Strategic Planning and Coordination in Promoting Dharma Education and Studies

Professor Subhash Kak is Regents Professor and Head of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Apart from technical work in the fields of information theory, neural networks, and quantum information, he has written on hi Indian science, yoga and art. This work as well as a resolution of the twin paradox of relativity theory has received considerable attention in the popular press. His work has been showcased in the popular media including Discovery and History channels, PBS, Dutch Public TV OHM, and most recently in a documentary on music (www.ragaunveiled.com). He has written on philosophy of mind and showed how recursion plays a fundamental role in art, music and aesthetics. He is the author of 20 books of which the most recent is "The Prajna Sutra." He has also authored 6 books of verse. These books have been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Serbian. The distinguished Indian scholar Govind Chandra Pande has compared his poetry to that of William Wordsworth. Amongst his awards include British Council Fellow (1976), Science Academy Medal of the Indian National Science Academy (1977), Kothari Prize (1977), UNESCO Tokten Award (1986), Goyal Prize (1998), National Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (2001), and Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Delhi (2002).

Professor Damodar R. Sardesai has been at UCLA since 1961, first as a doctoral student (Ph.D. 1965) and since 1966 as a member of the History faculty. Before coming to UCLA in 1961, he received from the Bombay University his Bachelor's (1952) and Master's (l955) degrees, ranking first in Social Sciences for which he was awarded the Sir William Wedderburn Prize. In 1979, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain.

At UCLA, Professor SarDesai taught in the History Department as Assistant Professor (1966-69), Associate Professor (1969-77) and Professor of History (1977-94); Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Pre-Modern Indian History, 1998-2001 and as Emeritus Professor of History. His administrative service includes: Vice-Chair and Chair of the History Department; Chair, South and Southeast Asian Studies (ISOP) for 14 years; and as the first Director of the University of California's Education Abroad Program in NewDelhi, India 1993-95. At UCLA, he served as member and/or chair of dozens of committees at the department, college and senate levels and on committees of UC statewide senate. Currently, he is a member of UCLA Senate's Council on Research, 2002-2005. In 1971-73, he was invited to reorganize historical studies at the University of Bombay as Chair of its History Department. In 1998, Professor SarDesai was recalled by UCLA to be the first holder of the newly-endowed Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair in Indian History, a position he held until 2001.

Dr. Mihir Meghani, M.D., an Emergency Physician, is a co-founder and Board Member of the Hindu American Foundation (www.HAFsite.org), where he focuses on capacity building, strategic relationship development, and fundraising. He has been involved in several Hindu, Dharmic, and Indian-American organizations for the past 30 years, focusing on building youth leadership, interfaith relations, and the portrayal of dharma traditions to non-dharmic audiences. A relative of Mahatma Gandhi, he continued Gandhi's tradition of service by providing medical care in India after the 2001 earthquake, in NY after 9/11, and in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami with The Permanente Medical Group. A member of the US Department of Homeland Security's Disaster Medical Assistance Team and former member of the East Bay Regional Parks Advisory Committee, Dr. Meghani has received numerous awards for his community service.

Professor Madhu Madhavan, known as "Madhu", has had a very distinguished academic career for over half - a century. In February 2010, he was conferred Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award for Community Builder and Peace Medal by Morehouse College and Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, Atlanta in its 10th Anniversary year. On January 6, 2011, he was honored in New Delhi with Distinguished Community Service Award and GOPIO Medal by Global Organization of Persons of India Origin. He has been honored with many other awards and citations for his academic and civic contributions.

He is the recipient of record five Fulbright professorships to teach in Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia; was visiting professor at I.I.T. Madras, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, National Institute of Bank Management, Poona, Universiti Putra Malaysia and University of the Philippines; chaired UNDP Mission to India, member of World Bank Missions to Iraq and Greece and was Resident Scholar at IMF Institute. He has lectured extensively in many countries around the world.

He founded, with the support of his friends, San Diego Indian American Society in 1984 to establish Mahatma Gandhi scholarships up to $4,000 each for high school graduates (450 awards so far) in San Diego county irrespective national origin and funded by people of India origin and Mahatma Gandhi memorial lecture. The silver jubilee address was delivered by Raj Mohan Gandhi with Arun Gandhi in the chair. The society has funded projects both in India and the US.

His other civic activities include chairmanship of World Affairs Council of San Diego

He is a professor of Economics and Asian studies Emeritus, San Diego State University and Director, SDSU - PSG India Study Abroad Program. He served the World Bank from 1963 to 1968 and Annamalai University from 1955 to 1960.

Dr. Manohar Shinde
PRESENT:

• Chairman Advisory Committee, Uberoi Foundation
• Founder Trustee, "Global Foundation for civilizational Harmony" (GFCH)
• Member Board of directors, SEVA International,
• Member, Advisory Committee, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangha, USA (HSS)
• Working towards creating civilizational endowment, to provide seed money for innovative Social Initiatives and entrepreneurship.

PAST:

• Took full retirement from clinical practice of psychiatry in Los Angeles in August 2010, in the spirit of a "Vanaprastha" to devote more time on learning and networking with intellectuals and institutions, to facilitate nurturing Dharma-civilizational Studies and scholarship.
• Former director, Eating Disorder Institute of California, Los Angeles.
• Was on clinical faculty of UCLA, USC, and The Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis (ICP)
• PhD in Psychoanalysis, Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute, Beverly Hills (1989)
• Fellowship in child psychiatry, UCLA (1981)
• Graduated from The Menninger School of Psychiatry, Topeka, Kansas, in General Psychiatry (1979)
• M.B.B.S from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India. (1968)

PERSONAL:

• Married with three children
• In United States since 1969 and Los Angeles since 1979.

Saturday, October 1: Dinner

Professor Yashwant K. Malaiya has been a Professor in Computer Science Department at Colorado State University since 1982. He has published widely in the areas of security vulnerabilities, fault modeling, software and hardware reliability, testing and testable design.

He has also published many articles on Jain history and demography, both in Hindi and English. His first publication in 1971 was on Jain history.

He has served as a general chair for several international conferences in USA, India and China. He has served as an ABET commissioner and as a volunteer for IEEECS is several capacities. He has received the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, 2000 and IEEE CS Golden Core Award, June 1996.

He has been an invited speaker and panelist at the biennial JAINA (Jain Associations of North America) Conventions for many of the conventions. He is the coordinator for office of Alumni Affairs for ISSJS (International Summer School for Jain Studies).he has also been an invited speaker at other Jain forums.

He was the founder of the India Association of Northern Colorado and has served as its elected President for two terms.

He was the creator of the very first website on Hindi language, and the first major web-site on Jainism. He is the moderator of an internet forum on Indian Archaeology.

He was educated in India and USA and received a PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1978.

URL: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/

Vita: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/R10short.pdf

Dr. Aseem Shukla, M.D. is the director of pediatric urology at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital and an Associate Professor in the medical school. He also serves as the director of the Department of Urology residency training program. Dr. Shukla is a co-founder and board member of the Hindu American Foundation. His efforts for the Foundation focus on developing a professional, articulate and credible voice for Hinduism through interactions with mass media. His writings have been featured in numerous media outlets globally, including the New York Times and Washington Post, and is a contributing columnist for the On Faith section of the Washington Post. Dr. Shukla annually teaches pediatric urological surgery workshops throughout India and is a frequent visiting professor.

Sannyasin Sivakatirswami is a member of Kauai's Hindu Monastery, also known as Kauai Aadheenam. As part of the monastery's publication division, he is the Production Manager of Hinduism Today magazine, he works with our printer in Missouri handling the digital production from our servers here to the finished magazine. He oversees management of our web server, various website projects and a global team involved various digital projects work on the Internet. Sivakatirswami is responsible for writing the daily web page at TAKA, telling the story of current events at the monastery and sharing the teachings with digital pilgrims.

Shri Diljit Singh Rana, (Lord Rana, Baron Rana, MRE), is a British politician and member of the House of Lords. In June 2004, he was created a life peer as Baron Rana, of Malone in the County of Antrim.

He was awarded an MBE in 1996, for his contribution to the economic regeneration of the city of Belfast through the development of hotels, restaurants, fashion shops and modern office accommodation. He has also set up a charitable trust of Rs.50 million for a school and a college named Sanghol Education Complex, in his native village Sanghol, near Chandigarh, India. The Ulster and Queens university, Belfast conferred upon him honorary doctorates. He was instrumental in leading a delegation of academics from the universities to India to explore educational partnerships and help develop university links between India and Northern Ireland.

Abhinav Dwivedi is the Vice President of Hindu University of America. He is also a Board Member and one of the founders of the University. Hindu University is based in Orlando, Florida, and is established to promote learning, research and understanding of Hindu culture, philosophies and religions, traditions, arts and sciences at graduate level.

He has taken early retirement from his professional work to devote full time to his passion-Education. He is actively engaged in growth and management of the Hindu University of America. He routinely goes out to speak to colleges, schools, church and temples and corporations on topics ranging from various aspects of Hinduism, culture and India in general.

Abhinav is also actively involved in a number of organizations in various capacities. He is on the board of Spiritual Life Council at Eckerd College (FL), on the board of Sanatan Mandir (FL), Community Council of Spirituality and Aging (Central FL), Vivek Welfare and Education Foundation, GFCH (USA), HSS, VHPA, etc.

He is originally from State of Gujarat, India. Professionally, he has spent over 30 years in Computer Industry, in USA. In his last position he was the head of a Motorola subsidiary in India. He holds two Masters Degrees in Engineering and Computer Science, one from IIT (Bombay, India) and another from University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Sudhesh Agarwal is a Scientist in the department of Molecular Cardiology in the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, at Cleveland Ohio. He is a Scientist by profession and a Social worker and activist by nature. He has expertise in Ecological conservation through cultural traditions and in alternative medicine system in India. As a National coordinator of Hindu Education Foundation (HEF) he became involved in organizing conferences and lecture series on "India the Bharat" at academic level in Universities. He has published multiple peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on Ecological conservation through traditions and folklores.

Professor Deepak Shimkhada earned his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University and taught courses in Asian art history and Asian religions at various colleges and universities in California. Now retired from Claremont McKenna College, he teaches courses on Hinduism at Claremont Graduate University as an adjunct professor. Dr. Shimkhada is the published author of several edited volumes and numerous book chapters and journal papers. His most recent edited book is The Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia. His next book Nepal: Nostalgia and Modernity is due in September. He is the founding president of the Foundation for Indic Philosophy and Culture (Indic Foundation), and Himalayan Arts Council. He has served on several organizations and boards including Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast, and America-Nepal Society of California as president. Currently he serves on the Board of Visitors of the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University as Chair of the Hindu Council, and on the Board of Advisors of the Shree Pashupatinath Foundation. He is a founding member of South Asian Studies Association (SASA) and is currently its treasurer.

Shri Harshavardhan Vellanki was the General Secretary of Hindu Students Council from 2006-08. He was part FACT-USA's team that did an exhibition on Kashmir issues at Raburn Congressional Building in 2005. For his day job, he works an Operations Engineer at Riotgames. He has a Masters in Computer Engineering from Boston University.

Anju Bhargava is a Strategic Business Transformation and Risk Management senior professional and management consultant with over two decades of experience consulting/working for major companies globally. She has provided thought leadership in the public and private sectors, published papers and received many awards. Her distinctive research based approach leverages best practices from many spheres - education, government, civic, faith based, and corporate. Her pioneering initiatives include an internationally cited study on loan loss published by RMA Journal and recognized by OCC; a target marketing effort "Capitalizing Diversity in the Changing Financial Markets"; Chakravyuhu (labyrinth) education program to mentor corporate women. A change catalyst pioneer and social entrepreneur, she now volunteers with the Livingston Township, Interfaith Clergy Association and diverse residents to build healthy communities with cross-cultural inclusion. A Vedantic teacher/ordained pujarin, she strives to combine philosophy and practice from a contemporary view. She is the only Hindu woman to to lead the opening invocation prayer at Livington's Memorial Day Service and the NJ State Assembly on May 20,2010, observing Asian American month. She started the first professional networking forum in New York, South Asian in Corporate America. She was the only Indian-American to serve in the Community Builder Fellowship, President Clinton's White House initiative. She is a member of President Obama's Inaugural Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, founder of Hindu American Seva Charities, President of Asian Indian Women in America, and Trustee of Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions

Shri Santhosh Kumar Kolluru is a senior at Case Western Reserve University majoring in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He co-founded Hindu YUVA on campus that focuses on preserving and practicing Hindu, Sanatana Dharmic values and principles with a final goal of Seva, selfless service. On campus, Sai and his team of second-generation Hindu Americans lead regular meditation workshops, have their annual speaker on campus event which brings in experts on Ayurveda, Vedanta, Pantajali Yoga and other aspects of Vedic traditions. In addition, the Hindu organization has started the first-ever Guru Vandhana on campus which means "Reverence to Teacher" through which they honor a professor chosen by the students of the University as their Guru. At events such as these, faith-based student organizations and communities of all faiths and traditions are present. Furthermore, Sai and Hindu YUVA visit Bhutanese Refugees in Cleveland every sunday and many celebrations for the Bhutanese community on campus from festivals to meditation and yoga sessions. During their weekly visits, Sai leads a team of interfaith students in projects focused on education, women empowerment, job employment, driving lessons, computer literacy, ESL classes and many others to help the Bhutanese Refugees assimilate towards the American society. Recognized by the Office of Inclusion and Diversity of Case Western Reserve University as well as the White House, the Bhutanese Refugees project has been taken up by many faith communities and student organizations across the country. During the spring break of 2010, Sai went on a 2,000 mile trip as a Vistarak around the Midwest visiting 10 universities, several cities, and 5 states connecting local communities with Bhutanese refugees and providing tools to implement various Bhutanese settlement projects. Recently, Sai complete his internship at the White House and hopes to pursue a career in Law and Government in the near future. He also hopes to bring the voices of Hindu-Americans to a national and an international stage and represent the world's largest ancient tradition through the eyes of Swami Vivekananda in the 21st century.

Shri Kalyan Viswanathan holds a Masters Degree in Computer and Information Sciences from Ohio State University (1992). He is currently a Global Practice Director with Tata Consultancy Services, and is based in Dallas, Texas. In addition he is the founder and President of Sanatana Dharma Foundation, Dallas, Texas, which organizes and conducts numerous educational programs and seminars. Kalyan developed his interest in Sanatana Dharma under the guidance of Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, where he attended numerous classes and programs. He has taught the Bhagavad Gita Home Study Course in Columbus, Ohio for a period of six years. Through this process he came to explore ways of educating people especially the youth through seminars and classes, on the fundamentals of Sanatana Dharma. Subsequently, he began to explore writing on specific topics of Sanatana Dharma, and has published two papers at WAVES conferences in 2008 and 2010 on the topics - "Mahatma Gandhi and the Bhagavad Gita" and "Varna and Jati - A re-examination of India's Caste system". He was one of the organizers of the recently concluded WAVES conference on Varna, Jati and Kula in July 2011.

Panel Six: Dharma Education from Primary to High School Level (Current Scenario and Future Directions)

Dr. Shiva G. Bajpai, Ph.D. served as Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles, from 1970 to 2003; as Professor Emeritus continued to teach (2003-2009). He has BA and MA from the Banaras Hindu University and Ph.D. from SOAS, University of London, UK. He also taught at the Banaras Hindu University, India, (1958-68) and worked at the University of Minnesota ( 1967-70). He has received many awards including an AIIS-NSF Senior Fellowship and AHA &AAS best book awards for his coauthored work; a regular Examiner of Ph.D. theses of many Indian Universities. He has published, many articles on various aspects of Indian history and culture including contributions to Hindi Vishvakosha (Encyclopedia) and Encyclopedia of Asian History. He co-authored a major reference work: A Historical Atlas of South Asia (1978: University of Chicago Press & Updated 2nd edition. 1992: Oxford University Press; 2005: The Digital Library of South Asia, Chicago University Press.) His forthcoming books and works in progress include The Empire-State (Raja-Mandala): Dynamics of Geopolitics in Classical India; Trade and Patterns of Commerce in early Medieval North India (c.700-1200 C.E); India through the Chinese Buddhist Pilgrims' Eyes; and Early India in World History Following the California Textbooks Controversy, he has collaborated with the Hinduism Today in their publications) of Hindu History Lesson Supplements in 5 parts, (2007 & 2010) to the World History School textbooks.

Acharya Arumuganathaswami is a member of Kauai's Hindu Monastery, also known as Kauai Aadheenam. As part of the monastery's publication division, he is the Managing Editor of Hinduism Today magazine, our internationally renowned religious journal. He coordinates dozens of journalists, photographers and writers around the globe, assigning their monthly projects, assembling their writings and reports.He and his team issue a daily summary of Hindu news, called Hindu Press International. Working in collaboration with Dr. Shiva Bajpai, he has recently completed a course in Indian and Hindu history for US 6th grade social studies classes. He also works on children's teaching material and stories. July, 2011, saw the completion of a six-year project organized and overseen by him to digitize the entire palm-leaf manuscript collections (10,000 bundles) of the French Institute of Pondicherry and the French School of the Far East.

Shri Khanderao Kand is an entrepreneur and community volunteer from the Silicon valley, California. Khanderao was a founding member of Hindu Education Foundation(HEF), a project of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) USA Inc. He initiated HEF's efforts in organizing Hinduism Seminars for School Teachers in California in 2002 and, later in 2005-6, with a team of volunteers, he played a leading role in coordinating community movement for correcting misrepresentation of Hinduism in CA Textbooks. HSS USA organized an Exhibition of "Hindu Culture and Dharmic Traditons from India" in 2006. As an editor, and coordinator, he provided concept, content and design of the exhibition which was displayed in six capitol halls, over fifty Universities, temples, libraries as well as festivals in USA and was visited by over 100,000 viewers. He was instrumental in publications of booklets on Yoga, Ayurveda, Hindu Dharma, and Hindu Women. He considers fortunate for playing a leading role, on behalf of HSS, in coordinating Hindu Sangam in 2001 which was attended by over 8000 Hindus in the Bay area. He volunteers for service projects, Indian diaspora / community issues, local social issues and India related issues. With help of fellow Indian technology professionals, in 2009, he launched Global Indian Technology Professionals Association (GITPRO). He is also a founding director of Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), a think tank launched in 2011 in Washington DC.

Shri Vishal Agarwal lived the first 23 years of his life in India before relocating to the USA in 1993. He has graduate degrees in Business Administration and Materials Engineering and has been a student of Hinduism since his teenage years. He is actively engaged in writing the biographies of Hindu saints and digitizing Hindu scriptural cannon.

He helped the Hindu Temple of Minnesota start a Sunday school for children, and a Youth Club for teenagers. He sits on the board of the school and is responsible for developing the religion curriculum. Vishal has also spoken to High School students about Hinduism as a guest lecturer and has about a dozen articles in peer reviewed publications. In 2010, he was given the 'Dharm Seva' (Service to Dharma) award by The Hindu American Foundation at the Capitol Hill. He is also on the BOD of the World Association for Vedic Studies. Last year, he gave a keynote address at the Hindu Mandir Executive Conference, the apex body of major Hindu temples in North America.

Shri Karthik Venkataramani has academic training in physics and management. He lives in the Silicon Valley with his wife and twin daughters. He works in Information Technology consulting. He has published on subjects that impact Hinduism and Hindus. His print publications include contribution to the two anthologies "Expressions of Christianity" published by the Vivekananda Kendra and "Invading the Sacred" published by Rupa as well as authorship of an American Atheist publication "The Christian "right" to proselytize".

Shri Swaminathan Venkataraman is a Director with Standard & Poor's in the Utilities, Energy and Infrastructure Ratings group, is a Board Member of the Hindu American Foundation (www.HAFsite.org). He edited the Foundation's recently released landmark report "Hinduism Not Cast in Caste: Seeking an End to Caste Based Discrimination" (http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/not-cast-caste-big-picture-and-executive-summary). Mr. Venkataraman earned a Bachelors in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta.

Concluding Session

Professor David G. Trickett began his higher education at Emory University. As a student volunteer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he participated in the civil rights movement in the US, a most heart-searing experience, by helping facilitate functions marking the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Trickett's doctoral work mirrored the difficulty in respecting the boundary between constructive theology and ethics that his subject, H. Richard Niebuhr, embodied...and this has led him to various educational ventures including guest teaching in business and medical schools as well as in theology. Today, Trickett is an elder in full connection within the United Methodist Church. His work includes congregations, campus ministry and university chaplaincy, and theological education.
In the late 1980s, as head of the Washington (D.C.) Theological Consortium, Trickett addressed leadership needs among those being educated in theology-and those people that graduates would serve. This ultimately led him to form The Jefferson Circle in 1993, a global teaching practice that focused on providing accessible theology for daily life in corporations, governments, and NGOs on several continents. Niebuhr's notion of "responsible self" and Wesley's sense of "social holiness" have been central to that work.
This globe-trotting led Trickett, in 2004, to chair the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution within the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. In 2006, he was selected to serve as the 13th President (and as the Henry White Warren Professor of Ethics and Leadership) of the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado,

Dr. Veena Rani Howard teaches in the Religious Studies, Asian Studies, and Social Science departments at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College. She teaches courses in Religions of India, Hindu myth and tradition, Nonviolence in Religion, and Gandhi. Her research interests include Hinduism, Gandhi's philosophy of asceticism, and Comparative Religion. Her publications include "Gandhi, The Mahatma: Evolving Narratives and Native Discourse in Gandhi Studies," Religion Compass (2007); "Non-violence and Justice as Inseparable Principles: A Gandhian Perspective" in Justice and Mercy Will Kiss: The Vocation of Peacemaking in a World of Many Faiths. WI: Marquette University, (2008). Her most recent work is "Gandhi's Reconstruction of the Feminine: Toward an Indigenous Hermeneutics" in Woman and Goddess in Hinduism: Reinterpretation and Re-envisionings, eds. Tracy Pintchman and Rita Sherma, (2011). She has submitted her monograph manuscript: Reconsidering Gandhi's Celibacy: An Analysis of Its Functional Value in Ascetic Activism (working title). She has also translated two books of the Sant Tradition of Bihar, India, Moksha Darsana and Sarvadharma Samanvaya. She is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences. Most recently, she gave a plenary address at the 2009 Annual Conference, Exploring the Power of Nonviolence, Marquette University, Wisconsin and an invited lecture at Miranda House, Delhi University (2010).

Professor Jay Kumar holds a Ph.D. in Asian philosophy and religion and an M.A. from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. His research interests include Vedic language, mythology, and cosmology; Sanskrit and Indo-European linguistics; consciousness studies; and the neuroscience of mystical experiences. Jay is also the co-founder of the Holospheria Project, a global multi-media and educational initiative, and host of the nationally syndicated radio show "AWAKE with Dr. Jay Kumar!" He currently teaches courses in Hinduism, Indian and Yoga philosophy, and Sanskrit language at Loyola Marymount University and Chapman University. Integrating 20 years as an educator, entrepreneur, media figure, Yoga and meditation instructor, Jay intimately understands our fundamental human need to feel honored and recognized for the value and dharma we each uniquely bring to the world. Learn more at www.drjaykumar.com.

Shri Philip Goldberg is a spiritual counselor, meditation teacher and ordained interfaith minister. Goldberg grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Los Angeles like the Dodgers before him. A professional writer for 35 years, he is the author or coauthor of 19 books, he lectures and leads workshops throughout the country. A novelist and screenwriter as well, he lives in Los Angeles, where he founded Spiritual Wellness and Healing Associates (SWAHA). He is Director of Outreach for SpiritualCitizens.net. and blogs regularly on the Huffington Post and Intent.com.