Vicki L. Ruiz is Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Chicano/Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in History from Stanford University in 1982. Ruiz's research centers on 20th-century U.S. history, specializing in Chicana/o studies, Latina history, oral narratives, gender studies, labor history, as well as California and the American West. Her scholarly journey began with family stories heard at the kitchen table and expanded through a 1978 interview in Guadalajara with labor and civil rights activist Luisa Moreno, which inspired her dissertation on Mexican women cannery workers in southern California. As an oral historian, she explores the dynamics of cultural coalescence, the claiming of public space, and structural constraints like deportation, repatriation, and poverty, alongside aspirations fueled by education and popular culture.

Ruiz has produced an extensive body of influential scholarship, including the books Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950 (University of New Mexico Press, 1987), From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America (Oxford University Press, 1998; Tenth Anniversary Edition, 2008), Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, 3 volumes (Indiana University Press, 2006, co-edited with Virginia Sánchez Korrol), and Unequal Sisters: An Inclusive Reader in U.S. Women’s History, Fourth Edition (Routledge, 2008). She co-authored Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States (Longman, multiple editions from 2005) and published articles such as “Nuestra América: Latino History as United States History” (Journal of American History, 2006). Her honors include the National Humanities Medal (2014), fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012), Society of American Historians fellowship (2006), and numerous book awards. Ruiz has held presidencies of the American Historical Association (2015-2016), Organization of American Historians (2005-2006), American Studies Association (2007-2008), Berkshire Conference of Women Historians (2002-2005), and Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association (2002-2003). She directed 22 Ph.D. students since 1996, with most securing tenure-track or tenured positions at institutions like Ohio State and Arizona State. Additional service encompasses advisory boards for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and Stanford’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.

Professional Email: vruiz@uci.edu