Texas Tech University

Meet Senior Academic Advisor Abed Monawar

JD Myers

September 28, 2021

Abed Monawar

The Spring semester of 2021 saw a whirlwind of change for the School of Theatre and Dance. One of those changes included welcoming our new Senior Academic Advisor, Abed Monawar, to our all-star team of faculty and staff.

Abed Monawar's journey to Texas Tech is unique. Abed was born in Doha, Qatar, the son of two Palestinian refugees. His mother and father, both teachers, made school a major priority for him growing up:
 
“My family decided that I was going to be a doctor, or some sort of a doctor in the medical profession.”
 
Once he reached university age, his aptitude for learning led him to attend dentistry school at Damascus University in Syria. Upon earning his DDS, Monawar was conscripted into the Syrian military, mandatory for all male residents of Syria, “including those who were registered as Palestinian refugees.”
 
Throughout his time at university and in the military, Monawar longed for an opportunity to travel abroad. At that time the economic and political climate in Syria was starting to turn tumultuous.
 
“I always had in my mind that I would leave somehow. I was not going to stay in Syria,” said Monawar. “Everything was leading to where we are right now. And nobody was doing anything to stop it. So, jumping ship was the plan… And the first country that granted me my visa was the United States. So, I ended up in the United States.”
 
A recommendation from a university classmate led him to relocate to Lubbock where he had a decision to make: “For two years, I was debating whether to go to dental school or graduate school… I applied for both, and I ended up going into the master's program here at Texas Tech in anthropology.”
 
From anthropology it was just a short skip and a jump to the arts for Monawar. Cultivating his love for the social sciences, he found the freedom to seek answers to life's biggest questions through visual artistic expression:
 
“How do you ask questions? How do you look for answers? And then, going from that sort of hard scientific data to softer socio-cultural data. In art, the methodology was open.”
 
Following this idea, Monawar entered the Fine Arts Doctoral Program at TTU, with the intent to use visual documentary storytelling as an anthropological tool. However, upon starting coursework, he discovered an interest in the work of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and his self-coined style “neo-plasticism.” Slowly, he found his trajectory was starting to change, and, with the new war in Syria affecting his finances, Monawar left the PhD program to begin a new life as a professional artist.
 
The walls of Monawar's office reflect his five years spent as a gallerist, framer, and painter working in the Lubbock art community. Paintings inspired by his neo-plastic affinity and Palestinian heritage cover every inch of space and reveal the heart of a true artist. So, how does someone go from Dentist to Anthropologist to Artist to Academic Advisor? For Monawar, who always had a love for education and for people, it was a natural transition:
 
“I liked that with advising the relationship or the connection with students is very unpredictable. It's not like a classroom where everything is structured. And I like that aspect about it. I can face different problems based on students' needs as they show up.”
 
Monawar's first foray into advising was working with students undecided about their majors at Tech, a job he believed his interdisciplinary experience made him well suited for: “Knowing natural sciences, social sciences, and the arts helped me give the students a taste of what to expect… But I always wanted to go back to the arts.”
 
So, after two years of advising undecided students, he made the transition to the School of Theatre and Dance.
 
When asked what advice he would give to any new students, Monawar said, “Keep an open mind. Education is bigger than what you know. That's why you're here. Your bachelor's is not going to determine your life. It's your entry to your professional life…but it's not the final word. Don't think it's the end.”  
 
The School of Theatre and Dance is delighted to have Mr. Monawar as a part of our team and looks forward to seeing his wealth of experience inspire a new wave of young theatre artists.