Richard Ruiz, head of the Department of Mexican American Studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, died unexpectedly on Friday. He was 65.
In addition to serving as department head for Mexican American studies, Ruiz was a professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education, with faculty affiliations in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching and the Program on Comparative Cultural and Literary Studies.
He was an Honors College professor and a Faculty Fellow and faculty adviser to the UA’s Chicano/Hispanic Student Affairs, holding weekly office hours to talk to students.
Ruiz joined the UA faculty in 1986. Before being named head of the UA’s Department of Mexican American Studies in 2012, he served as head of the Department of Language, Reading and Culture in the UA College of Education from 1993 to 1999 and as interim head of the Department of Teaching and Teacher Education from 2003 to 2007. Those two departments eventually merged to form the Department of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies.
In 2001, Ruiz was appointed director of Bill Ayers’ social justice group with the American Educational Research Association, or AERA. In 2004, he received the Maria Urquides Laureate Award in the College of Education for his outstanding service to bilingual children.
Ruiz served as editor of the Bilingual Research Journal for three years. He also served on the editorial boards of Urban Education, Teaching Education, Journal of Teacher Education and the Review of Educational Research.
He was involved with numerous committees and boards throughout his career. He served as chair of AERA’s Standing Committee on Social Justice and as a member of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards’ English as a New Language Standards Committee; AERA’s Minorities, Governance and Special Interest Group Task Forces; and the Multicultural Education Committee of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, to name a few.
Prior to joining the UA, Ruiz received degrees in French literature at Harvard College and in anthropology and philosophy of education at Stanford University. He taught educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison for nine years.
“Richard was a dear colleague and human being, in so many ways the best of what a professor and department head can be,” said Gary Rhoades, head of the UA Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice. “A lovely combination of gentle and fierce, of uber smart and incredibly well-read … and very down to earth with a direct, simple wisdom. A wonderful, understated wit, with a quintessential chuckle that I will continue to treasure as it echoes in my mind.”
Ruiz is survived by his wife, Marie, and two sons.
An altar has been established in Ruiz’s memory on the second floor of the Cesar E. Chavez Building on the UA campus, and students, friends and colleagues are invited to bring pictures or to leave items or messages in remembrance.
On Wednesday, from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m., the Department of Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies invites guests to gather in the fifth-floor hallway of the College of Education Building for the department’s regular “Café” event, which Ruiz began as a way for students and employees to gather and get to know one another. All are welcome to attend and share stories, photos or other memorabilia.