Professor went from prison to prestige through art By Jared Treece, Staff Photographer February 25, 2021
![SIU professor, Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, displays a painting of his of a vase in his studio at the Glove Factory on Friday, Feb. 13, 2021 in Carbondale, Ill. As a young adult, Abdul-Musawwir dropped out of high school and was later imprisoned after an armed robbery attempt. While in prison, he had a change of heart after meeting a nearby inmate who encouraged him to self-educate himself “I ended up not being in school and when I got in prison, he [a fellow inmate] made me realize that I couldn’t read...as a result, I read everything I could get my hands on. I read the dictionary several times from front to back," Abdul-Musawwir said. He left prison with his GED and came to SIU to start his undergraduate. Abdul-Musawwir was later offered to teach a class and to this day he is a professor in the School of Art and Design as well as the Department of Africana Studies.](https://dailyegyptian.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Najjar08SRGB-900x601.jpg)
