Dr. Javier Calleja is an Instructor of Spanish in the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at James Madison University. He was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay.  At age 18, he moved to Virginia, where he later attended Easter Mennonite University.  After completing his undergraduate studies, he received his M.A. and Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Jaen, Spain. His current research interests include Curriculum Development, Second Language Acquisition, and Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language.  He teaches Intermediate Spanish Courses.