September 16th, 2004 - On September 16th, 2004 The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences hosted a group of ten imams from Uzbekistan who were touring the United States as a part of the "Cultural and Religious Pluralism in Uzbekistan and the United States" program funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. The Executive Dean and the faculty introduced the School and elaborated on its mission. An alumnus of The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences introduced Project Learning Islamic Guidance for Human Tolerance (LIGHT), a $100,000 grant GSISS had received as one of 12 grants projects funded through the National Conference on Community and Justice to combat post 9/11 discrimination against South Asians, Muslims and Arab and to reinforce the tradition of religious pluralism that dominates this country.

The Uzbekistani imams asked questions about Project LIGHT, about the way imams were trained in the United States and about Women's Studies, an academic discipline that does not exist in Uzbekistan. They explained that much of the Islamic institutional tradition had been lost when Uzbekistan was under Soviet rule and now they face the task of rebuilding Islamic institutions in a country with a very rich historical Islamic heritage.