Dennis Dalton

From 1969 through 2008, Dennis Gilmore Dalton was the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University where he received tenure after twelve years. Dalton holds a Ph.D., University of London, 1965, M.A., University of Chicago, 1962, and B.A., Rutgers University, 1960.[1]

Dalton is regarded world wide as a leading authority on the thought and leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and civil disobedience. Before his retirement from Barnard College, Columbia University, he was also known for his lectures on political theory from Plato to the present, eastern and western philosophies. He began teaching at Barnard in 1969, and had a reputation as an eloquent speaker, teaching large classes in classical and modern political theory of over 800 students.

Academia

He received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, his M.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in political theory from the University of London. He started his teaching career in the Department of Economic and Political Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he offered graduate seminars on political thought and comparative politics. His seminar on nonviolence at Barnard related his personal experiences with close associates of Mahatma Gandhi during his years of research in India beginning in 1960 and continuing as a Fulbright Scholar to South Asia in 1994-1995.

Joining a student hunger strike in 2008 at Barnard/Columbia, advocating a more multi-cultural curriculum, Dalton told a reporter, "I want the core curriculum supplemented by writings on Gandhi, King, Malcolm X. I would like some acknowledgment of nonviolence in the Core." [2] Since Dalton's retirement in 2008, Columbia College has added Gandhi to its Core curriculum, in fact assigning Dalton's edition of Gandhi's political writings. Most recently, Dalton has been among a team of five editors of the Columbia's classic "Sources of Indian Traditions"(2014)and he has lectured for three years at the Fromm Institute, San Francisco University.

Dalton is the author of numerous articles and books, including "Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Power in Action" and "Indian Idea of Freedom."

Awards

Books

References

  1. Dennis Dalton, Barnard Political Faculty
  2. Prof. Dalton Joins Hunger Strike | Columbia Spectator

External links