The College of Humanities will appoint Jeff Turley as the new chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

PROVO, Utah (Apr. 20, 2017)—Jeff Turley will be the new chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, effective May 1. He will be replacing David Laraway, who has served as department chair since 2011. Turley, an associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, has served most recently as section head for Hispanic and Portuguese Linguistics and chair of the department curriculum and assessment committee. He has directed over 35 MA theses in Spanish and Portuguese and has also led study abroad programs in Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico.

“I am grateful for the strategic guidance Prof. Laraway has demonstrated during six years of department growth. He has led the way through a time of transition and adjustment to a dramatically changing student demographic,” said Dean Scott Miller.

Commenting on Turley’s appointment, Miller said, “We are fortunate to have Professor Turley’s skill and experience to further shape the department. He will continue a legacy of strong leadership.”

Of his new appointment Turley said, “Our department has been blessed with magnificent chairs, section heads, and other leaders. I have learned much from observing them over the years and hope to emulate them. Ours is an enviably strong department, unique in many ways, and I am very fortunate to be given this opportunity to work even more closely with my wonderful colleagues.”

Turley completed both his BA and MA in Spanish linguistics at BYU, and has taught at BYU since 1989 after receiving his Ph.D. in Romance Philology from UC Berkeley. Turley’s research includes Romance lexicography, historical morphosyntax (especially the pronoun system), and early-modern Iberian texts, especially those related to colonial expansion. His recent publications include The Boxer Codex: Transcription and Translation of a Late Sixteenth-century Spanish Manuscript Concerning the History and Ethnography of the Pacific, South-east Asia and East Asia and (forthcoming) The Commentaries of D. Garcia de Silva y Figueroa on His Embassy to Shah ‘Abbas I of Persia on Behalf of Philip III, King of Spain.