Dr. Ruiz specializes in Latino History and is the Dean of Humanities and a Professor of History at University of California, Irvine.   She currently serves on the National Humanities Council and the National Council of the American Historical Association.  She is a former President of both the OAH (Organization of American Historians) and the AHA (American Historical Association).  The Latina Encyclopedia she she compiled with Virginia Sanchez-Korrol, the gold standard of it’s kind, has been featured in the New York Times, Hispanic Outlook, the Miami Herald, and Latina Magazine.  She is edited selections on Loreta Janeta Velazquez for the Latina Encyclopedia and for Latina Legacies series for Oxford U. Press, that features a chapter on Loreta Velazquez.