Teofilo F. Ruiz (born 1943) is a

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...

medieval historian and professor currently at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA). In 2012, he was awarded the

National Humanities Medal The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humani ...

by former President Barack Obama. He is consistently rated as one of the most popular professors at UCLA, and has published many books as well as dozens of articles in scholarly journals as well as reviews and smaller articles.

Early life

Born in Cuba, Ruiz was active during the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. At age of 17, he fought against the regime of

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

. When his friend was killed in 1960, he resigned from the revolution and was immediately imprisoned. Ruiz was eventually released after the failed

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

(1961) in order to make room for new prisoners of war. In 1961, Ruiz left Cuba for

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

with "only three changes of clothing, $45, a box of Cuban cigars to sell and a Spanish translation of

Jacob Burckhardt Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (; ; 25 May 1818 – 8 August 1897) was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is '' The Civilization of the Renaissance in ...

's ''A History of Greek Civilization''." By 1962, Ruiz and two cousins moved from

to New York City. He worked at various jobs including as a taxi driver for one year. Despite many obstacles, Ruiz finished his dissertation in the Graduate School of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

by 1974.

Career

Ruiz was a student of American medievalist

Joseph Strayer Joseph Reese Strayer (born August 20, 1904, Baltimore, Maryland, – died July 2, 1987, Princeton, New Jersey, ) was an American medievalist who taught for nearly his entire career at Princeton University and chaired the history department there ...

and received his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from

in 1974. Besides UCLA, he has taught at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

, the

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

, the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, the

École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conj ...

, and

. He served as chair of the UCLA Department of History from 2002 to 2005. He has lectured in the US, Spain, Italy, France, England, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and nations in Asia. In 2008, Ruiz was named chair of the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Awards and honors

In 1994 he was selected by the Carnegie Foundation as one of the four Outstanding Teachers of the Year in the United States. In 2007, Ruiz was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

for his project on festivals, rituals, and power in late medieval and early modern Spain. On February 13, 2012 former President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

awarded Ruiz a 2011

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. In 2013, Ruiz was elected into

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and the same year was named

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

Visiting Scholar. Ruiz is honored in UCLA's Covel Commons as a recipient of the UCLA Alumni Association's Distinguished Teaching Award.

Works

*''Spanish Society, 1348-1700'' (2017) Second edition *''Spain's Centuries of Crisis: 1300 - 1474'' (2011) *''Braudel Revisited: The Mediterranean World 1600-1800'', eds. Gabriel Piterberg, Geoffrey Symcox and Teofilo Ruiz (University of Toronto Press, 2018). *''Medieval Europe and the World : From Late Antiquity to Modernity, 400-1500'' (2005) *''From Heaven to Earth: The Reordering of Castilian Society in the Late Middle Ages'' (2004) *''Spanish Society, 1400–1600 (Social History of Europe)'' (2002) *''Crisis and Continuity: Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile'' (1994) *''The City and the Realm: Burgos and Castile 1080–1492'' (1992) *''Medieval Spain, 711-1492'' *''Medieval Europe: Crisis and Renewal''. Course No. 863 The Teaching Company *''The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition''. Course No. 893 The Teaching Company, 2002 *''Other 1492: Ferdinand, Isabella, and the Making of an Empire''. Course No. 899 The Teaching Company

Tours

He leads tours for Far Horizons Archaeological and Cultural trips.Far Horizons
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References

External links

Home page"The Consolation of History – A Conversation with Teo Ruiz"
''Ideas Roadshow'', 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Teofilo 1943 births Living people Cuban emigrants to the United States American medievalists American taxi drivers Taxi drivers Princeton University alumni University of Michigan faculty Michigan State University faculty CUNY Graduate Center faculty Brooklyn College faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences National Humanities Medal recipients Historians from California

Early life

Career

Awards and honors

Works

Tours

See also

References

External links