From 1969 until 2008, Dalton was the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Before his retirement from Barnard College at Columbia University, he gave lectures on political theory from Plato to the present, eastern and western philosophies.
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.
Most recently, Dalton has been among a team of five editors of Columbia's 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.