Lily Afshar, Professor of Guitar, is the recipient of the University of Memphis 2008 Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston Conservatory, the 2000 Board of Visitors Eminent Faculty Award, the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female Classical Guitarist and recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Recording Award. Chosen as “Artistic Ambassador” for the United States Information Agency to Africa, she was the winner of the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Annual “Premier Guitarist” awards presented by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.