Office: Maedgen Theatre 256

My name is Abed Monawar [a: b i d] [m a: n'w a: r]. I come from Damascus, Syria. My journey to Texas Tech started from Doha, Qatar, where I was born and raised. After my graduation from high school in Doha, I moved to Syria for my college education where I was admitted to Dental School at the University of Damascus and graduated with a DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) in 1997. I arrived in the United States as an international student in 2001 and in 2003 I was admitted to the graduate program in Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work at Texas Tech University. In 2006, I completed my Masters' Thesis in Cultural Anthropology under the title, "Cultural Assimilation Among Palestinian Immigrants In New Mexico." In 2007, I joined the Doctoral Program in Fine Arts with a major in Visual Arts. My doctoral research was around multidisciplinary education and post-nationalism in the Arts. As a graduate art student, I taught art history at the School of Art for four years. In 2013, I left academia to work as a professional painter, a gallery assistant and a custom art framer.

After 5 years of working in the art field, I discovered that with all that experience as a professional student, my real career lies somewhere on a university campus. I had a firm belief in education and a passion for working with university students, so I started searching for teaching or administrative jobs on Texas Tech's campus in Lubbock.  When I was first hired as a Senior Academic Advisor for Texas Tech University Advising in February 2018, I was most certain that I had found my true calling. I am finally in a career that will allow me to use my long experience as a professional, multidisciplinary and multilingual student, to assist Texas Tech's new academics find the right path that suits their interests, potentials, and ideals. My professional development areas of research are: Academic Advising and Multiculturalism, and Branding in Higher Education. As for my advising philosophy, I consider myself a big advocate of developmental and wholistic advising.

Having said that, I strive to always remind myself that:

• Every advising case is unique.

• Every advising session is an opportunity to foster the rapport with the student.

• Every advising session is an educational experience for both the student and their advisor.

When I am not working, I paint, and spend most of my time with my wife, Tawny, and son, Asher, and our two cats Frankie and BB.