Brent Carbajal has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Western Washington University, according to an announcement from university president Bruce Shepard.

Carbajal was appointed in June 2013 to serve a two-year fixed term as provost, succeeding Catherine Riordan.

Shepard promised that following the first year of Carbajal’s term, he would consult with campus leaders, trustees and alumni on whether to conduct a national search for a new provost or make Carbajal’s appointment permanent.

“The consensus was that we could search the nation and not find someone better suited than Dr. Carbajal,” Shepard said, in a news release from the university.

Prior to his appointment as provost, Carbajal was dean of WWU’S College of Humanities and Social Sciences, which with 13 academic departments is the university’s largest college.

He has been at WWU since 1997, having served as a Spanish professor and chairing the university’s Department of Modern and Classical Languages. Prior to coming to WWU, he was an assistant and associate professor of Spanish at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Carbajal hold master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Washington.