Conference Moderators
SHIVANI BOTHRA
SHIVANI BOTHRA is Bhagwaan Mahavir/Chao Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Jain Studies at Rice University. She explores migration of Jain communities within India and the United States. Her research focuses largely on the religious education within the context of keeping the tradition alive outside the homeland. The main themes of her research have been migration, religious education, curricula, and gender roles. Before joining Rice University, she was a lecturer in Jain studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. For more visit
PHILIPPE DUHART
PHILIPPE DUHART (PhD, Sociology, UCLA) is a political sociologists focusing on political violence and state repression whose research draws from diverse fields of study such as criminology, social movement studies, peace studies, and critical terrorism studies, as well as sociological theory.
His research has been published in European Journal of Sociology, Social Movement Studies, Critical Studies in Terrorism, and Peacebuilding.
ANDREW MOSS
ANDREW MOSS, is an Emeritus Professor of English, Cal Poly Pomona. Dr. Moss served as a faculty member and advisor in the Ahimsa Center from 2004 to 2014, creating the course, "War and Peace in Literature," and presenting at several of the Center's Summer Institutes for K-12 Educators.
Since retiring from Cal Poly in 2014, he has been involved with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-LA), an interfaith organization that advocates for the rights of low-wage workers and immigrants. Moss writes periodically on social justice issues for a national op-ed syndicate.
DAAN PAN
DAAN PAN is a recently retired professor of English at Cal Poly Pomona, who continues to teach in the Faculty Early Retirement Program. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from University of Rochester, New York, specializing in crosscultural and interartistic comparative studies. He has published on Chinese poetry, painting, calligraphy, garden, gastronomic culture and emotional healing. He has made numerous scholarly conference presentations, including those made at Ahimsa conferences.
He has offered a variety of courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, including Literary Theory, World Literature, Multicultural Literature in the US, Children's Literature, Traditional Chinese Culture and Civilization. He also taught a course on war and peace in literature in the interdisciplinary program in Nonviolence Studies at Cal Poly Pomona.
MARC SCARCELLI
MARC SCARCELLI, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Cal Poly Pomona, where he teaches courses on a variety of different forms of political violence and national security threats.
His research focuses on the causes of ethnic conflict and modern civil wars, and he also maintains a strong personal interest in understanding and addressing extreme poverty, stemming from his background of involvement with humanitarian development work in Haiti.
NIRMAL SETHIA
NIRMAL SETHIA is Emeritus Professor of Management in the College of Business Administration at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
He is particularly interested in exploring the relevance of Gandhian philosophy and values, including ahimsa, to leadership in business and design. He has received major grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment the Arts.
He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison., and Ph. D. in Organizational Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
He continues to serve on the advisory board of the Ahimsa Center since its inception
MICHAEL SLAUGHTER
MICHAEL SLAUGHTER is an Associate Professor of History at Cal Poly Pomona.
His research focuses on race in the American West, particularly in connection to the African American experience. His latest project examines notions and practices of racial tolerance and racial innocence in mid-twentieth century Los Angeles.
His book-length manuscript links educational policy and practices in Los Angeles to a larger history of colorblind discrimination
Dr. Slaughter maintains an active interest in history education. He has served as a mentor for the teacher credential program.
STEPHANIE VAN HOOK
STEPHANIE VAN HOOK is the Executive Director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence.
She hosts the radio program and podcast, Nonviolence Radio and is the author of Gandhi Searches for Truth: A Practical Biography for Children, and co-author with Michael Nagler of Nonviolence Daily: 365 Days of Wisdom from Gandhi.
She most recently co-created a cooperative board game as part of the Metta Center's Third Harmony project, Cosmic Peaceforce, Misson: Harmony 3.