It’s funny how fast time flies when you’re busy, and that is precisely what has happened to Dr. Syed Tariq Anwar, Professor of Marketing. He is in his 39th year at WT, his one and only job after grad school. His is a career marked with outstanding teaching, stellar research, and abundant service. If anything, younger faculty should be modeling their careers after his.
“I drove 19 hours from San Diego. I rented a small van, and this is how I started. The marathon race is still going on. You need to keep running” he remembered of his journey to WT. Canyon Texas presented its own challenges, too. “It was a big shock. It was like, ‘Beam me up, Scotty’. Compared to San Diego, life was very slow. I had no transportation, so I ended up getting a car in the first week. I kept that car for 27 years,” he recalled fondly.
Anwar earned his MBA and DBA at U.S. International University in Marketing, and took additional coursework in International Business. His dissertation examined the role of generic consumer packaged goods products, which were popular in the mid-1980s.
Born and raised in Pakistan, his father was in the Army there. “We moved 10 times. I got to know Pakistan A to Z,” he joked. He is fluent in Urdu, Farsi, and Pashto.
During his tenure at the Engler College of Business, Dr. Anwar has taught a wide variety of courses. Never one to shy away from the heavy lifting involved with a new course prep, he has gladly developed multiple undergraduate and undergraduate courses. “They gave me International Marketing Principles of Marketing, and Retailing” he recalled of his first semester. This was at a time when professors taught four courses, not three as is the norm today. “There was no internet, no computers,” he laughed. “Many of our classes were taught in the evening.”
Dr. Anwar’s research has a similar depth and breadth. A firm believer in multidisciplinary research, he has studied a wide variety of marketing phenomena. Anwar is quick to recall the fairly recent shift toward a research emphasis in the College, this being the result of pursuing accreditation in AACSB. Whereas research was once required, it did not play such a central role in anyone’s career. “When we became a part of AACSB, the whole ballgame changed,” he observed.
Rounding out his professional activities are his service contributions. He has peer-reviewed many papers at academic journals, served on many committees from department to college and university, and hosted dozens of seminars with guest speakers ranging from local businessmen and women to alumni. His longest-running service, though, is as co-faculty lead of the American Marketing Association chapter on campus, which serves marketing majors and others with an interest in the field.
Looking back over a career well spent, Anwar notes that students are very different today from when he arrived. In his early years, one could find students in the halls all afternoon, as well as the evening. Today, most students are working near- or at full-time, juggling school, jobs, bills, and spending whatever time remains for family and friends. Online courses help make it possible for students to do it all.
“Students are more active. They are more knowledgeable because of the internet. They have more awareness and more knowledge,” he summarized.
Outside of academia, Dr. Anwar is proud of his 1981 DeLorean automobile. He is married to Dr. Susan Martin Tariq, who retired from WT’s School of Music faculty in 2024.