Get to know Dr. Devin Jenkins

L2TReC has a new director! As of July 1, 2024, Dr. Devin Jenkins has assumed duties as Director of the Second Language Teaching and Research Center.

Prior to arriving at the U, Dr. Jenkins served as Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Colorado Denver. He spent a total of 23 years at CU Denver, following two years at Virginia Tech. Jenkins is a Past President of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest.

Dr. Jenkins conducts research on Spanish in the United States, especially in the Southwest, as well as on bilingualism, language contact, and the acquisition of phonetics by second-language learners. His main focus is on the social context of Spanish speakers in the Southwest United States, with an emphasis on the relationship between Spanish language use at the community level and social variables such as education, income, employment. Rapid growth among the Hispanic/Latino population in this part of the country over the past 35 years has prompted the question as to whether these relationships have evolved. Jenkins has explored these relationships throughout his career, finding that the social situation of the Spanish speaker is not the same as it was just one generation ago.

His recent publications can be found in Languages; Journal of Spanish Language Teaching; Spanish in Context; International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, and The Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingüe, as well as in several edited volumes on Spanish in the United States.

Dr. Jenkins holds a Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese from the University of New Mexico (1999); an M.A. in Spanish from the University of New Mexico (1996); and a B.A. from the University of Colorado (1993).

Off campus, Dr. Jenkins enjoys time with his wife, 4 children, and grandson; outdoor activities; hiking; pickleball; and many board games.