Michael J Ferreira

Michael J Ferreira is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Georgetown University. He holds a Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in Hispanic Philology, Linguistics, and Luso-Brazilian Literature. His research focuses on lexicography, textual edition, and paleography, with a particular emphasis on historical Portuguese language materials. He co-directed the Corpus do português project, a monumental 45-million-word digital corpus spanning 700 years of Portuguese language history, funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant (2004-2006).

• Education:
• Ph.D. in Hispanic Philology and Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2001)
• M.A. in Luso-Brazilian Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1994)
• B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison

His scholarship includes editing and transcribing Old Portuguese texts, directing the Dictionary of the Old Portuguese Language Project, and co-authoring 501 Portuguese Verbs. He teaches courses applying computational methods to philological analysis, offering workshops in Brazil and Portugal on paleography and digital text edition. Ferreira’s work bridges traditional philology with modern digital humanities, emphasizing accessibility and preservation of historical linguistic materials.

Grants & Awards:

• National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access Grant (2004-2006)

Professional Roles:

• Editor of the Portuguese Series at the Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
• Coordinator for the DC Area Celpe-Bras Exam

His current projects include expanding the Corpus do português and advancing the Dictionary of the Old Portuguese Language. Ferreira collaborates internationally, training scholars in digital methodologies for textual analysis and preservation.