Education Commons^™

Sister Ilia Delio Speaks At Big History Lecture, Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

Sister Ilia Delio, a Franciscan Sister of Washington, D.C. and an American theologist, was guest speaker for "Co-Creating an Unfinished Universe: Teilhard's Vision" in Angelico Concert Hall at Dominican University of California on March 17.

The Why And Where Of Big History: Building A Program, Mojgan Behmand

Office of Academic Affairs

The goals of our First Year Experience program are aligned with our institutional mission, our core values, and the goals of our General Education program. The program is designed to promote:

1. recognition of the personal, communal, and political implications of the Big History story;
2. critical and creative thinking in a manner that awakens curiosity and enhances openness to multiple perspectives; and,
3. development of reading, thinking, and research skills to enhance one’s ability to evaluate and articulate understanding of one’s place in the unfolding universe.

Big History Program Presents "The Cosmic Story", Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

Dominican presented an evening with two scholars of philosophy and religion, February 25 in Angelico Hall. Dr. John Haught, distinguished Research Professor from Georgetown University, and Dr. Loyal D. Rue, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Luther College, explored the search for meaning and truth at the intersections of science, nature, and religion. The lecture was moderated by Dr. Laura Stivers, Dean of Dominican’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Dominican Faculty Collaborate On Teaching Big History, Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

Faculty from Dominican University of California have collaborated on a new book designed to serve as comprehensive guide for teaching Big History, a new and growing academic discipline now taught in more than 50 colleges and 200 high schools in the U.S. and overseas.

Big History As General Education, Nicola Pitchford, Mojgan Behmand

Office of Academic Affairs

A presentation on the emerging discipline "Big History" and how it could be integrated into the general education curriculum, using the First Year Experience at Dominican University of California as an example.

Dominican Hosts International Big History Conference, Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

The conference was hosted by Dominican's First Year Big History program which, in the last two years, hosted educators from the United States, South Korea, Brazil and Australia on campus for its annual Big History Summer Institute.

Slimmer, Brighter, And Nearly Perfect: The New Big History Textbook Is Here, Mojgan Behmand

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Rarely has the appearance of a new textbook been the cause of such delight as broke out amongst the First Year Experience faculty at Dominican University of California in August 2013. The book that triggered such reaction is a seemingly unassuming volume, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything (2013), written by historians David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, and published by McGraw-Hill. Why was the book greeted with such enthusiasm, you might ask? Was it that the world needed another textbook on history? That the Dominican faculty felt a special bond with one of the authors, Dominican professor …

Assistant Provost Appears In "Big History" Tv Series, Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

Several of the episodes, including the November 2 pilot, feature insight and commentary by Assistant Provost Mojgan Behmand, founding director of the "Big History" program at Dominican University of California.

Vatican Observatory Director Presents At Dominican, Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

The events were co-hosted by Dominican’s “Big History,” Campus Ministry, and the Department of Religion and Philosophy. The Vatican Observatory, located in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, the Vatican Observatory is committed to the promotion of scientific enterprise by being one of the founding members of the International Network of Catholic Astronomy Institutions.

Big History Summer Institute At Dominican, Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

The institute enabled Dominican’s Big History faculty to share with colleagues pedagogical strategies for teaching Big History to students in an interactive and engaging manner, said Big History program director Mojgan Behmand.

The Dominican Big History Summer Institute: A Story Of Collective Learning, Mojgan Behmand

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Big History Opens Ils 2012 Fall Lecture Series, Sarah Gardner, Dave Albee

Press Releases

Informed by a background in biochemistry and cultural anthropology, Dr. Spier executed a 10- year research project on religion, politics and ecology in Andean Peru, which led to the publication of two books: Religious Regimes in Peru and San Nicolás de Zurite. In his most recent publication, Big History and the Future of Humanity, he presents an original theoretical approach that makes "big history" -- the placing of the human past within the history of life, the Earth, and the Universe -- accessible to general readers while revealing insights into what the future may hold for humanity.

Poster Presentation: Big History: From A History Course To A First Year Contextualization Of The Whole Person, Mojgan Behmand

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sin Boldly! Or, First-Year Experience ‘Big History’ In 21st Century Liberal Education, Mojgan Behmand

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Big History is rapidly emerging as a new global discipline! whose adoption into diverse educational models is advocated by a rich array of voices, from those of educators and artists to industrialists" and spiritualists. Of those voices, some concern themselves primarily with higher education and, in turn, almost unanimously

advocate for the inclusion of Big History into general education programs or core curricula. Unfortunately, the unanimity ends there. Bemoaning the politics and territoriality of higher education, many of these advocates feel forced to bow to institutional realities and the ever-continuous competition for turf and resources; and thus aspirations and hopes …