Professor Valdivia joined the faculty at GW in 2016 as an assistant professor of Spanish. He earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and a M.A. in Applied Linguistics at Universidad de Guadalajara, in Mexico. His research and teaching interests involve the interaction of language use and grammar, particularly in contexts of language and dialect contact, as well as the role that language use plays is areas such as linguistic attitudes, and policies. Based on a project with Prof. Pichs, Prof. Valdivia developed a series of courses for Spanish as a heritage language learners, the first of which will be offered in the semester of fall 2019. Since fall 2018 he has served as the director of the Spanish Language Program. In said position, he works with courses' coordinators to improve the curricula of language courses, and with the director of the Spanish Literature Program on curricular reforms to the Spanish Program.