Teaching with Heart: University Honors Arabic Professor

Clark, director of the Arabic Language Flagship Program at the University of Mississippi, is the 2025 winner of the Elsie Hood Outstanding Teacher Award. The honor is the highest teaching recognition the university bestows on faculty members.

"Allen Clark epitomizes the ideals of higher education," Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. "His attentive and engaging presence in the classroom has made him a fixture within one of the most unique academic programs on our campus.

"Whether in the classroom or around a lunch table, he provides his students with opportunities to practice their Arabic skills. His extraordinary commitment to teaching, paired with his ability to instruct excellently across all academic levels, makes him truly deserving of this honor."

When Clark arrived on campus in 2008, he dreamed of building an Arabic program that would prepare students to use their language skills not only for work, but for life.

"I was the entire program for a little while, you know," Clark said. "Every year, we would do a search committee and then add a new person, and then all of a sudden, as you see, it's a whole program."

The Ole Miss Arabic Language Flagship Program is one of just three programs of its kind across the country. It offers students opportunities to study abroad multiple times throughout their college years.

"That our Arabic Flagship program is widely considered the best in the country is in large part his doing," said William Bittner, a sophomore Arabic and public policy major from Birmingham, Alabama. "His teaching has had a larger impact on me than that of any other professor at the University of Mississippi."

Bittner, one of many students who recommended Clark for the award, said the professor devotes time to ensure every student has the tools to succeed. One of those tools happens to be a video game that Clark designed to help students practice casual speaking.

Clark collaborated with multiple other professors on campus and abroad to write "Ahlan Wa Sahlan: Functional Modern Standard Arabic for Beginners" (Yale University Press 2021). The virtual reality program he helped create lets students interact with characters mentioned in the book to advance their language skills.

"So, in the book, you meet several characters, and in the program if you ask questions, you can learn more about them," he said. "They each have a backstory."

"Ahlan Wa Sahlan" is the second-best-selling Arabic textbook in America and has been entered into the Library of Congress.

Clark also spends nearly every weekday hosting a language learning table at Rebel Market, where Arabic students of any level can sit down, eat and practice their speaking.

"I think one of the best things, one of the most beneficial aspects of this program, is being in touch with the language," he said. "All of the different functions that we have – from the cooking club to the reading club to the journalism club – is helping students use the language functionally outside of the classroom.

"That's the true test of flight, isn't it? Not whether you can repeat it in a classroom, but when you can go abroad and talk to a person who lives the language. That's how you know you've done well."

Along the way, Clark has developed a community where students know they can always go to him for help.

"If a concept isn't being understood by the class, he'll answer any and all questions with seemingly infinite patience and come up with all sorts of examples until the students understand," said Kathleen Summers, a 2024 graduate from the Arabic program from Katy, Texas. Summers also recommended Clark for the award.

"Dr. Clark is one of the best professors I've had at Ole Miss and a credit to the university," she said. "His passion and love for his subject is rivaled only by his devotion to his students."

When asked about the inspiration behind his passion, Clark smiles.

"I get my inspiration from my students," he said. "I really think of them as my kids.

"During those four formative years, you see them grow and change and become the person they're going to be. And you get to have a hand in that."

Top: Allen Clark (right) shares a laugh with students in his Arabic class. Allen, director of the university's Arabic Language Flagship Program, works to create an environment where learning Arabic is fun. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services