Spanish Professor Clary reflects on Long Career at Ozarks

Every time University of the Ozarks Professor of Spanish Dr. William Clary taught a class, it was a learning experience not only for his students, but for him.

Clary is retiring this month at the end of the Fall 2024 Semester after 18 years at Ozarks and a total of 30 years as a college professor.

The recipient of the University's Richard and Katherene Bagwell Outstanding Faculty Award in 2013, Clary said he approached each of his classes over his career as an opportunity for his own intellectual growth.

"Every time I teach a class, I'm learning," he said. "It's never the same class, there's always different elements, ideas or perspectives I try to introduce to myself and then to my students. The learning process never stops and one way to ensure that is to constantly teach new things in your field. That's what I strived to do."

Clary gives the example that he's taught 57 different novels in his Latin American Literature classes over the years and rarely uses the same films in his Latin American Film classes.

"I've never taught the same novel twice," he said. "In a field this immense, there are always new novels or new films to look at. I like to break new ground with my students so that we're both learning and growing and we're all kept up to date. Recently, I taught 20th Century Latin American Poetry for the first time, so it was something new for both myself and the students, and it was a very enjoyable class."

A native of Missouri, Clary earned a bachelor's degree in American history at University of Missouri before earning a master's degree in Spanish and a Ph.D. in Latin American Literature from Mizzou. In 1994, as he was completing his Ph.D., he received an offer to teach Spanish at Stephens College, an all-women's college in Columbia, Mo. He spent 10 years teaching there until 2004, when financial difficulties forced the college to dissolve the Spanish program.

After a year as a visiting professor at Missouri, Clary heard about an opening at Ozarks. His interest was particularly piqued when he learned about the University's Walton International Scholarship Program (WISP). Clary would later lead WISP at Ozarks as the program director for a short time from 2017-19.

"When I found out that Ozarks had 60 full-time, academically gifted Central American students on campus, I came to the conclusion that that would be a school I would like to be associated with," said Clary, whose primary academic interest is Central American literature and cultural studies and who estimates he traveled to the region between 40-50 times in the 1980s as a graduate student. "I wanted to be around those students and to work with them in the classroom. It's incredibly beneficial to the classroom dynamics. When you have kids who are that gifted and know the language and culture that well, they're going to lift up the entire class."

Clary said one of the most fulfilling parts of his classroom experience at Ozarks was being able to teach 90 percent of his classes in Spanish.

"That was my training at Mizzou," he said. "At Stephens College, we didn't have any international students, so I had to teach the Latin American Literature classes in translation. When I came here, we had wonderful class sessions with the Walton Scholars along with the Spanish majors and minors. The Walton Scholars brought in a really high level of reading and discussion and that benefitted every other student in the classroom."

Given full autonomy by Division Chair Dr. David Strain, Clary's leadership and direction helped Ozarks created a Spanish major in 2008. With Clary introducing new classes such as Latin American Film, Hispanics in the U.S., and Latin American Civilization, the program flourished, producing numerous Spanish majors who would go on to become Spanish teachers themselves. Two of those are Shayla (Morrow) Montelongo '12 and Trevor Lister '17.

"I am tremendously grateful for Dr. Clary's dedication to building meaningful discourse and his passion for connecting students with communities abroad," said Montelongo, who teaches Spanish for a high school in Northwest Arkansas. "When I look back on the key moments that have shaped me into who I am today, I remember Dr. Clary's words, 'Hay que salir del nido,' an appropriate metaphor encouraging me to take flight and embrace new challenges. Those words confirmed my decision to pursue my master's degree at the time, but today I continue to use them as a navigational beacon for myself and my own students as a Spanish teacher."

Lister, who was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in 2019, lives in Colorado where he also is a Spanish and Portuguese teacher.

"I had the pleasure of studying under Dr. Clary for more than three years as he guided me through the Spanish program," Lister said. "I joined the program in my second semester, but he still welcomed me with open arms. He cared so much about his work and the students; you could see it in everything he did. He supported me and inspired me to pursue a master's degree in Spanish. I will forever be grateful for the opportunities I received because of that pursuit and will strive to inspire others as an educator the same way Dr. Clary inspired me."

Clary also inspired students through his efforts with study abroad trips. He helped lead a total of five study abroad trips to Latin America -Monarch Butterfly Reserve near Agangueo, Michoacan, in Mexico (2009); Maya Mundo to Mexico to visit Maya ruins in Compeche and Chiapas (2010); the Colombian Amazon (2012); Maya Mundo II to Mexico and Guatemala to visit Maya ruins (2016); and Madidi National Park in the Bolivian Amazon and Peru (2018).

Clary did much of the planning and organizing of the trips himself, often relying on intensive research and local connections instead of travel agencies.

"These were very unique, multi-disciplinary experiences that we offered students," Clary said. "None of these trips came out of a travel agency; none of these were conceived by looking at glossy promo magazines. These were trips that I conceived because I thought they would be good experiences for students. I had a lot of wonderful help by colleagues, particularly Dr. Kim Van Scoy, who went on four of the trips, and Dr. Frank Knight."

Clary said he enjoyed the creative possibilities of putting a study abroad trip together.

"I wanted to construct trips based on what I thought would be the most interesting things I thought a student should see and that would also work in a multi-disciplinary sense," he said. "All of these trips had a multidisciplinary component to them. They combined language, history, culture, archeology, biology and bio-diversity, which is why they were so unique. I always kept in mind the cost of the trip so that more students could afford to go on these trips. Many of these students were first-generation college students, many from rural areas of the South. We offered them a really cut-rate trips and were able to see some amazing things. One of the reasons we were able to do this is because we didn't just go on a tourist circuit. I constructed the trips in a way that would be more enriching to the students and that they didn't feel like they were just tourists. Although physically exhausting and short on amenities, these students were actually always talking to real people and getting a real sense of the culture. You couldn't do that if you were staying in luxury or really nice hotels in touristy areas."

Clary said he is also proud of his time working with the University's Walton Arts & Ideas Series from 2013-2015. He was instrumental in bringing to campus an array of speakers, academics and entertainers, including Sergio Ramirez, novelist and former vice president of Nicaragua; renowned El Salvadoran author and journalist Horacio Castellanos Moya; and groundbreaking Guatemalan cultural theorist Arturo Arias; Dr. Dario Euraque, a Honduran author and scholar and former director of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History.

"I had certain ideas of what the Walton Arts & Ideas Series should look like," Clary said. "One of the things we started doing was taking recommendations from other faculty and staff. I wanted better representation for our Hispanic students on campus that had never had events that were geared toward them and their particular heritage and culture. To bring Sergio Ramirez to campus was a bit of a coup. Here's a man who is one of the most renowned writers in Spanish today and who was also the vice president of Nicaragua in the 1980s, and it was an incredible experience for students. In the years I was there, we brought in some tremendous Central American scholars and writers and that's something I'm proud of."

Clary also helped bring to campus scholars such as John Fife, Presbyterian minister and founder of the Sanctuary Movement in 1981; authors Stephen Kinzer, Scott Wallace, and Peter Guralnick; and musicians John Miller, Dr. Ethel Caffie-Austin, Lightning Wells and Kenny Wayne.

"We tried to bring people who were financially accessible and that were of interest to the campus and the community," Clary said. "We tried to keep in mind the original intent of the WAIS program - to bring artists, speakers and entertainers to campus that the community would not normally have access to. The way I conceived the series is that it was a complement to our curriculum, not just entertainment for students. I saw it more as an academic or informational endeavor. I think we were successful. We filled the auditoriums."

Clary said one of the things he will miss the most is the intellectual engagement with young students.

"Being around young people is always quite revitalizing," Clary said. "I will miss the friendships you make and the interaction you able to have with the students. Knowing you had a small part in their success is rewarding."

One of those students who benefitted from Clary's mentorship is former Spanish major Jae Lynn Hucaba '18, who is now an immigration attorney in Miami, Fla.

"Dr. Clary's classes and his mentorship are the reason a student from the Arkansas Delta is able to live and work in a city where the primary language is Spanish; the reason I advise on cross-border transactions and represent clients in cross-border disputes; the reason I have studied or interned in six Latin American countries; and the inspiration for my research on immigration policy and representation of pro bono clients in immigration proceedings, which is the reason I went to law school," Huckaba said. "I am extremely grateful for the role Dr. Clary has played in my education and my life."

Following retirement, Clary plans to move to Niquinohomo, Nicaragua, with his wife, Maritza, where he plans grow citrus trees, practice his acoustic guitar and travel around Central America. He also plans to continue to do some remote Spanish language court interpreting for the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts, something he has done since 2000.

"I'm definitely going to miss Ozarks and the students and people here, but I'm ready for the next chapter to begin" Clary said.

Topics: Faculty Spotlights

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