This seminar blends reflections from almost four decades in the academy with practical advice for meeting the expected and unexpected challenges (and rewards) along the way. In particular, Ruiz will focus on the ways in which to read an archive when searching for Latina sources, accessing hidden stories as well as those in plain sight. In addition, she will address the surprising consequences of oral history and the meaning of memories, real or imagined. As importantly, the seminar will underscore the power of public history and the gift of collaboration.

Please RSVP: [email protected].

Vicki Ruiz is Distinguished Professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies and Chair of the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Over the course of three decades Ruiz pioneered the field of Chicana/Latina history and has published over fifty essays and one dozen books. An award-winning scholar, she is the author of Cannery Women, Cannery Lives and From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. Her edited or co-edited anthologies includeUnequal Sisters: An Inclusive Reader in U.S. Women's History. She and Virginia Sánchez Korrol co-edited the three-volumeLatinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, which received a 2007 "Best in Reference" Award from the New York Public Library. In 2015 Ruiz received a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.

A CSREA Faculty Grant Event: Monica Martinez, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies. 

Cosponsored by American Studies, Department of History, Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Cogut Center for the Humanities, and the US Latino Studies Fund.