At the Ocean's Edge

So, you might be wondering why this blog has the name it does.

We will be working in Dharamsala which is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile and is the home of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama.

I read about this in the book An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (more on that book later) and found it also in Wikipedia.

Dalai" means "Ocean" in Mongolian, and is a translation of the Tibetan name "Gyatso," while "Lama" is the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit word "guru," and is commonly translated to mean "spiritual teacher." Putting the terms together, the full title is "Ocean Teacher" meaning a teacher who is spiritually as deep as the ocean."

You see, we will be working At the Ocean's Edge.

For a more detailed history of the Mongol King Altan Khan and his conveyance of the title to the 3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso in 1578, see this fascinating history on Wikipedia

Let's get started

Hi, I'm Karen Falkenberg and this blog is a record of my work on a new initiative. I was asked by the Bobby Sager Family Foundation to be on a team of educators who will be working with a select group of Tibetan Monks and Nuns to teach them science, science education, and leadership.

I work at Emory University as a faculty member in the Division of Educational Studies and am the Director for Undergraduate Education for a large organization in Atlanta called the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience. I also do education consulting and help large and small organizations with their education efforts, primarily in science and engineering education.

So, this is going to be an extension of what I would normally do for other education entities, it's just half way around the world. What a cool project! I'm sure I will learn a lot!