Dr. Seema Imam is the founder of the Universal Knowledge Institute. Dr. Imam believes there is tremendous need to advance world harmony through knowledge and understanding. She strongly believes that in today’s global society, a world-class education requires familiarity with the Quran. Similarly, as a founder of Universal Knowledge Institute, Dr. Imam is committed to the notion thatwe simply cannot, as a nation and as a world, deny the need for dialogues to take place. That is, dialogue of Muslims with Muslims and Muslims with others. The self-esteem for Muslims stands to be damaged from the ‘negative public curriculum’ (mass media) that chips away at the identity of Muslims as individuals, the Muslim family and Muslim community.
Knowledge is a powerful element needed to promote understanding of Quran, sensitivity toward Islam and Muslims, improve public awareness and increase harmony in the world. Dr. Imam currently serves in a variety of roles that seek to enhance world and community understanding. As an American with a Midwestern upbringing, and one who embraced Islam as a teenager at the age of 17, she values the American dream and the American experiment in freedom and democracy.
She hopes that freedom of religion, which we so courageously boast about, will be realized for all Americans and the need to bash Islam will subside. Even after becoming a Muslim, she has not left behind the ideals of her American homeland, and she has never discounted the strong values she attained as a young Christian child from her parents’ home and her small farm town community in Illinois. With over four decades of living as a Muslim in America she finds no conflict in being Muslim and American.
Seema co-authored, “I Am Listening” available on this website with her son, Ibrahim Imam, which is a story about a public school classroom where the teacher wears hijab (Islamic head covering). She is also author of a chapter, titled “Separation of What and State,” in “Muslim Voices Narratives of Identity and Pluralism,” which won the 2010 Philip C. Chinn award at the National Association of Multicultural Education annual conference. The chapter is part of Seema’s research and includes a variety of real life Muslim experiences living and growing in the west. Read more….
Seema is faculty in National-Louis University’s (NLU) Graduate Elementary and Middle Level Teacher Education Program in Chicago and suburbs. She is former Chair of the University Faculty Senate, former Co-Chair of the NLU University Leadership Council (ULC), and also served as Co-Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council. She continues to serve as an NLU Senator and member of the ULC. Read more about Seema….
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