Munirah Al-Mahashir
Munirah Badr Al-Mahashir, Director General of Education in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since October 2025, she served at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam as an Associate Professor in the English Language Department, Dean of E-learning and Distance Learning, Chair of the Committee for the Preparation and Implementation of Artificial Intelligence Policies, and member of the Higher Committee for Strategic Planning. She also served as a member of the Artificial Intelligence Policies Committee in public and private universities and colleges at the General Secretariat of the Council of University Affairs.
Education
Munirah Al-Mahashir obtained a Bachelor's degree in English from the College of Arts in Dammam in 1999, and earned a Master's degree in English Literature from the College of Arts at King Faisal University in 2006. She then obtained a PhD in Philosophy in English Language and Literature from the College of Arts at the University of Dammam (now Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University) in 2011.
She also obtained two fellowships in higher education: the first, the British Senior Fellowship (Leadership – Principal category), from the Higher Education Academy in the United Kingdom in 2020; and the second, a fellowship in academic leadership for deans from the Leadership Centre at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in 2023.
Professional career
Munirah Al-Mahashir worked as a faculty member at the College of Arts for Girls in Dammam after obtaining her Bachelor's degree in 1999, progressing from teaching assistant to lecturer and then assistant professor, then she was appointed Associate Professor in the English Language Department at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam. At the same university she held the post of Dean of E-learning and Distance Learning during the period 2019 - 2025. She also supervised theses and participated in their examination, and then assumed the post of Director General of Education in the Eastern Province since October 2025.
In addition to her work in education, Munirah Al-Mahashir undertook a number of administrative tasks and positions, including: managing the project of the national survey study to gauge the community’s views and aspirations towards the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture “Ithra”, affiliated with Saudi Aramco, in 2015; serving as Chief Executive Officer of the initiative “Prince Ahmed Bin Fahd Bin Salman Centre for Shared Services for the Non-profit Sector in the Eastern Province” during 2022 - 2023; and Vice President of the Saudi Association for Distance Education at King Abdulaziz University since 2021.
Participation and memberships
Munirah Al-Mahashir participated in a number of conferences, forums and academic seminars, during which she presented studies and research papers, in addition to preparing plans, guidelines, studies and development publications at local, regional and international levels. She also participated in a number of training courses and workshops inside and outside Saudi Arabia.
Munirah Al-Mahashir also served as a member of a number of committees and councils, including: the Higher Committee for Civil Defence in the Eastern Province; the Executive Committee to address visual distortion at the Eastern Province Municipality; the King Salman Science Oasis Committee; the Supervisory Committee for the Business Centralisation Transformation Project; the Higher Committee for Strategic Planning at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University; a member of the supervisory committee for the Blackboard Learning Management System representing Saudi universities; and a member of the Committee of Deans of E-learning and Distance Education in Saudi universities.
She chaired a number of committees, including: the Strategic Plan Committee for the Deanship of E-learning and Distance Learning in 2021; and the Standing Committee for Supervising Distance Education Programs in 2019. In 2023, she chaired the committee for developing and operating the professional fellowship programs in university teaching and learning in blended e-learning mode, and the committee for developing and operating the basic competencies programs in teaching and learning for university lecturers in distance learning mode. In 2025, she chaired the committee for technical integration between Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University and the National eLearning Centre, to oversee data-sharing agreements and institutional technical integration.
Works
In 2006, Munirah Al-Mahashir founded a translation project which she called the “Saudi Global Translation Project”; she translated several works from English into Arabic, including: the play “Honesty is Salvation”, the novel “A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy”, the play “The Playboy of the Western World” by John Millington Synge, the novel “Where Angels Fear to Tread” by Forster, and the play “She Stoops to Conquer” by Oliver Goldsmith, in addition to stories by Saudi women writers and the Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, and the short story collection “Bulbuls Never Speak: A Reading of Feminist Reality”,and she also founded the platform “Teb” (Teb-X), a government university medical platform accredited by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties for continuing professional development programs.
Awards
Munirah Al-Mahashir received a number of awards and honours, including: the Award for Excellence in Scientific Research at the College of Arts in 2017; the Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in the English Language Department; and the Community Service Award at the College of Arts in 2019, as well as the Anthology Global Award in the category of Impact and Influential Individuals in Education in the United States of America in 2023. She and the Deanship of E-learning team also received a number of awards, including: the Blackboard Global Award for Excellence (Excellence in Leading Change) in 2021; the Blackboard Teaching and Learning Award in the Middle East, in the category of Excellence in Community Engagement in 2022; the National eLearning Centre Award for Innovation in eLearning Education and Training in the Excellence track, for the project to develop training programs to obtain professional certifications for eLearning teaching competencies in 2023; and the Anthology Global Award in the category of Excellence in Leading Change in 2024.