Mohini Jain, a Board Member at Arihanta Institute, is a philanthropist with a passion for education and a leader in the Jain community. She established the Jain Chair at the University of California, Davis, in the department of religious studies in 2016. She has made several challenge and lead grants that helped save multiple educational and community programs at the high school and university level during the 2008 financial crisis.
She has been a resident of Davis, California, for the last 45 years. She began her career as a research associate in biology at the University of California, Davis, and then taught high school science for 20 years. She holds Masters of Science degrees in both botany and molecular biology.
Mohini Jain has served on the board of the school of education at UC Davis as well as on the UC Davis Foundation Board for six years. She has made numerous annual grants to support students at UC Davis and has been a very active member of the broader Davis community. She has served on the Board of Advisors of the Yolo Community Foundation, Davis School Foundation, India Association of Davis, and the Rotary Club of Davis, and was president of the Jain Center of Sacramento.
Jainism and Jain values are the core of her being. She strongly feels that in spite of the enormous contribution Jains have made to society, the universal appeal of Jainism is often under-recognized. This is the gap she believes that the Arihanta Institute will bridge, and will bring Jainism into the forefront of modern ideas and solutions for harmonious living.