ULAB to host Dartmouth College Professor Dr David A Peterson as Senior Fellow in Linguistics

The University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) will welcome Dr. David A. Peterson, Associate Professor of Linguistics at Dartmouth College, USA, as a Senior Fellow in Linguistics at the Department of English and Humanities from 17 to 27 November 2025 in the Fall 2025 term.

Dr. Peterson is a globally renowned linguist with expertise in different fields of linguistics and language documentation, particularly within the Tibeto-Burman and Kuki-Chin language families.

For more than twenty-five years, he has dedicated his research to the study of indigenous and endangered languages across Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar, with notable work on Rengmitca, Khumi, and Mro. He earned his PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and continues to be recognized for his contributions to the understanding and preservation of lesser-studied languages in the region.

During his time at ULAB, Dr. Peterson will meet faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students from the department, and independent linguistics researchers of Bangladesh to discuss research ideas, and curriculum and course development with reference to different fields of linguistics. He will also facilitate a 3-day workshop to train students from the ULAB English and Computer Science and Engineering departments on language documentation and the use of technology in linguistics research.

A panel discussion will also be held as part of the 3-day workshop, featuring distinguished linguists, community activists, and cultural representatives who will explore the preservation of linguistic diversity in Bangladesh, focusing on infrastructural and policy challenges and on strengthening academic and community efforts to safeguard endangered languages and cultural heritage. Dr. Peterson will end his short stint with a Masterclass on how to do linguistics research, which is open to both current students and alumni of ULAB’s English Department.

UNESCO has declared 2022-2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This fellowship is expected to strengthen the university’s commitment to advancing such research in linguistics, and foster collaboration between institutions for preserving the cultural and linguistic heritage of the region.