UNTIL HE RETIRED in June 2022, Alberto Ferreiro was a fixture at the front of SPU’s history classes for 36 years.
Ferreiro is an internationally renowned expert on ancient and Medieval history, church history, and European history, and has been published in multiple languages.
His interest in the distant past developed as a child when his grandmother, a history teacher, shared countless stories with him, and one of his grandfathers helped make history by fighting alongside the legendary Pancho Villa and Zapata Salazar during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century.
Ferreiro joined SPU in 1986, and steadily became one of the University’s most prolific scholars. In addition to participating in conferences throughout the world, he wrote more than a dozen books, including a contribution to InterVarsity Press’ Ancient Christian Commentary: Vol. 14: The Twelve Prophets.
In addition to his native Spanish, Ferreiro is fluent in English and can converse in Italian, Portuguese, French, and Catalan. He reads Latin and, “like all, suffers through German” he noted, with his characteristic dry humor.
In 1989, he founded a study abroad program called the University of Salamanca (Spain) Summer Language and Culture Program. During the program’s 30-year tenure, 900 students participated.
Ferreiro continues to organize and lead two-week Carmelite Pilgrimages to Spain and teach adult learners in Seattle-area Catholic parishes as they prepare to join the church. Soon after he retired in June 2022, Ferreiro gave a lecture at NOVA University in Lisbon, Portugal, to inaugurate a section of the library at its Institute of Medieval Studies, which was named after him.
Ferreiro may teach an occasional course at SPU, but he intends to spend his retirement with his family and with travels to Spain, Germany, and England for upcoming conferences.
