Each month, Get to Know… will feature two members of UT System Administration’s talented and diverse staff as they offer insights into their lives in and out of the office. Each new edition will be published here. This week,
Mehran Poursmaeili
Executive Director of Creative & Digital Communications
Office of External Relations, Communications and Advancement Services
What are your primary job responsibilities?
I’m brand manager and creative director with the responsibility of overseeing the look and feel, the visuals, of external-facing communications.
What do you most enjoy about your job?
There are many things I love about my job, but I'll do my best to be concise. Above all, I love to learn. My position affords me many opportunities to take on new challenges that require me to explore new tools, lead unique projects or find creative ways to solve complex problems. A tie for first place would be the people. On a daily basis, I get to collaborate with brilliant people that take great pride in their work. It's infectious.
What is a fact about you that might surprise your colleagues?
This may be a shocker to some, but I'm not originally from Texas. I was born in Murray, Kentucky to a Persian (Iranian) father and American (Iowan) mother, but I spent most of my youth in Germany. My father moved to the United States in his 20s to learn English and go to school, but upon graduation decided to stick around and make a career in the U.S. Army. With that, I grew up in Deutschland where I was able to eat the best German/Turkish meal ever created, the döner kebab.
What do you do to disconnect or de-stress?
To stay inspired or creative, I love to do woodworking or DIY home projects. There's no greater feeling than bringing a vision to life and creating something functional or beautiful from scraps.
