Rosa University

Overview and Vision of Service

The purpose of Rosa University is to serve American Indian Baha’i students and prepare them — through various work-study programs — with practical hands-on experiences to assume their rightful  place as leaders in the arts, sciences, business, and education, and principally as proponents of Baha’u’llah and teachers of the oneness of God and the oneness of humanity.

Although not a Baha’i institution, the work of Rosa University, a self-funded institution, is to advance the cause of Baha’u’llah by trusting American Indian Baha’is to arise and lead in the arts, sciences, business, and education because in the words of Abdu’l-Baha, “… there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world.”

Rosa University will use a unique four to six year Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science work-study model to give all its students hands-on experience through the practice of artistic, scientific, business, and educational skills.

The work-study model will include paying students for enrolling in Rosa University and paying them, throughout the course of their education, for participating in the assigned curriculum and socioeconomic programs of the university including operational involvement in the Rosa University International Center for Human Development, a generative focus of the institution where students and teachers will create and put into practice solutions to world problems.

In addition to the normal curriculum required by university studies in pursuit of degrees, Rosa University students will get hands-on experience by active participation in work related to the work-study programs of the University including:

• the staging of theater
• the operation of micro-lending enterprises
• the operation of venture capital enterprises
• the operation of internet business enterprises
• the development and support of Anisa-model schools
• the development and dissemination of sustainable soil and land management systems
• the development and dissemination of sustainable energy and self-sufficiency
• the development and building of affordable housing and associated technologies

In order to increase the benefits of what can be accomplished during any course of education, each generation of Rosa University students will seek to invent, create, develop, practice and disseminate new educational processes, and new universally practicable systems of soil and land management, and sustainable energy and self-sufficiency, and the invention and manufacturing of affordable housing, and the practice of new performance theater – all of which will benefit and serve humanity.

Through systematically participating in the creation, operation, management and marketing of internet business enterprises, and, also, in micro-lending across the planet to produce micro-returns from the greatest number of people, and in venture capital investments to produce larger returns from the most promising technologies, each generation of Rosa University students will practice the skills they learn to generate and increase the resources required by the University so it can educate more American Indian Baha’is by building integrated and individually self-sufficient branches of Rosa University throughout the Americas that will act as “salt to savor the soup” wherein a little flavors and changes the whole.

In addition to developing their minds through the mastery of the assigned curriculum and work of the university, each generation of Rosa University students will develop spiritually through study of the Ruhi Institute materials, and the Baha’i Revelation, and the practice of prayer and meditation as it applies to the development of spiritual attributes related to “walking the spiritual path with practical feet”, and, at the same time, the students will develop physically through, among other things, the study and practice of a martial art or sport known as “the Way of harmonious spirit”.

The Inspiration for Rosa University

Rosa University was inspired by Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, who wrote in the Tablets of the Divine Plan:

“Attach great importance to the indigenous population of America. For these souls may be likened unto the ancient inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, who, prior to the Mission of Muhammad, were like unto savages. When the light of Muhammad shone forth in their midst, however, they became so radiant as to illumine the world. Likewise, these Indians, should they be educated and guided, there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world.”

Rosa University was named after four Baha’is who, like forty-six others, were designated “Hands of the Cause of God” because they dedicated their lives to protecting and propagating the Faith of Baha’u’llah, the Prophet Founder of the Baha’i Faith. These four representatives of the institution of the Hands of the Cause of God are:

(R) Martha Root, born Richwood, Ohio, USA
(O) Enoch Olinga, born Kampala, Uganda
(S) William Sears, born Tucson, Arizona, USA
(A) Agnes Alexander, born Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawai’i

Rosa University is also dedicated to commemorating the life of Wovoka, a beloved American Indian Paiute seer and Medicine Man, who lived during the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century and who frequently traveled in spirit to the next world. After one such transcendent experience, for example, upon his return Wovoka reported a dance he saw in the spirit world which he called “the Dance of Friendship” and “The Dance of the Rainbow” and he taught this dance to representatives of many tribes and he told them if they performed the dance they would be united and the grass would turn green and the buffalo return.

The American Indian Baha’i students of Rosa University are uniquely qualified to make a difference and build a better world. They will serve humanity by helping people see what the Creator wants them to be like in this world. In addition to other services, they will demonstrate the oneness of mankind in live presentations across the planet by performing the Dance of Friendship and inviting audiences to dance with them to produce a spiritual experience for everyone – creating an experiential knowledge that transcends words which will attract millions to want to know more about the Baha’i Faith.

Finally, Rosa University is dedicated to honoring the life of Dr. Daniel Jordan, renown educator, erstwhile member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States of America, and the co-Founder of the Anisa educational model. Rosa University will lift up the Anisa Model and start “Anisa” schools across the planet wherein Baha’i principles regarding virtues and values are taught as a solution to the plight of humanity which Dr. Jordan characterized in 1970 as:

“At the present time the world of humanity and the different cultures it represents are in the midst of the most extensive crises ever known to man. The ways we have learned to feel, think, and act are no longer functional…. These crises are forcing humanity to seek a new culture, one that is universal and therefore functional for all men everywhere; one that can create a new race of men, new social institutions, and new physical environments.”

What better way to create a new culture and demonstrate its regenerative power than in the microcosm of a university dedicated to encouraging American Indian Baha’is to assume their spiritual destiny and lead the way? And, since Abdu’l-Baha said, “Thought is the reality of man”, what better way to let the genius of American Indians effloresce as a treasure to humanity than to require every student to make a life long commitment to contribute their inspired solutions, visions, thoughts and actions to what Dr. Daniel Jordan envisioned as an “International Center for Human Development”.

The American Indian Baha’i graduates of Rosa University will be highly skilled and mature individuals prepared to adopt their rightful place as leaders in the arts, sciences including agronomy and land reclamation, business, and education. The field an individual chooses to excel in will be up to them. However, it was the hope of Dr. Jordan that the fruit of a mature education would be Baha’i pioneers eagerly absorbed by nations who need to build a new world for their countrymen:

“… the Baha’i Faith could make significant inroads in the world’s social agencies, a more important target group. This could come to pass by training Baha’is in any of a variety of occupational skills, such as agronomy, land reclamation, and the like. These are skills essential to developing nations. As the world’s political situation hardens, it is less and less likely that Baha’is will gain admission to Third World countries if their approach is purely as religious missionaries. But, if they can offer the technical skills that match their religious dedication, they can have a potent influence on the course of events in such nations.”

Aside from what enables accreditation in a field of study and the individual development of a mature Baha’i identity, components of the exact curriculum of Rosa University may always be in flux and vary for each student. Although it is envisioned as a university of the arts, sciences, business, and education as applies to provisioning students with experiential knowledge across a spectrum of disciplines, it may well be that the students themselves will mold the curriculum overtime so that they will thereafter both naturally and systematically be transformed into the instruments of the words of Abdu’l-Baha, “… there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world.”