الأكاديمية الملكية الإسبانية
Elected to the "D" seat of the Real Academia Española on 5 July 2007, Villanueva began his post on 8 June 2008. He was secretary of the Real Academia Española from December 2009 on. After José Manuel Blecua stepped down as director, Villanueva was elected on 11 December 2014 (28 votes against 5). He began his directorship on 8 January 2015.