11:39 p.m.
I am forwarding this announcement from Division G of AERA.
Rosalind
From: (AERA Division G Announcement List)
[mailto:AERA_DIVISION_G-ANNOUNCE@LISTSERV.AERA.NET] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Moje
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 8:55 PM
To: AERA_DIVISION_G-ANNOUNCE(a)LISTSERV.AERA.NET
Subject: In memoriam
Dear Division G friends,
Many of you may have already learned of the tragic passing of our colleague, Richard Ruiz.
Richard served AERA in numerous ways over the years, and most recently as chair and
co-chair of the Division G program for the AERA annual meeting. Please join me in
expressing Division G’s deep sympathy for Richard’s family; colleagues at the University
of Arizona; and his many friends, colleagues, and admirers throughout our field.
Richard’s dear friend and colleague, Luis Moll, has prepared the following message of
tribute to Richard, which I share with you and ask you to share with others not on our
list.
8 February 2015
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It is with great sadness that I write these words informing the Division G membership of
the passing of our colleague Richard Ruiz. Richard was a professor in the Department of
Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies (TLS) of the College of Education at the
University of Arizona, where we were colleagues for the past 28 years. He had served as
Head of the Teaching and Teacher Education Department, and the Language, Reading and
Culture Department, both now programs within TLS. Since 2012 to the present Richard had
been Head of the Mexican American Studies Department of the College of Social and
Behavioral Sciences. Prior to arriving at the University of Arizona, he worked at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison. Richard’s main areas of study included language planning
and policy development, of which he was widely considered a top scholar in the field,
bilingualism and education, and the education of English language learners.
Richard was “a professor’s professor,” a mentor to his junior colleagues, dedicated to his
students’ well being and development, and overall the most unselfish colleague one could
imagine. He was admired and sought after by his colleagues for his administrative wisdom,
skills and insights, especially as a leader and problem solver in many social justice
struggles in the field in general, and more specifically, in the life of the institutions
he inhabited. He served in several AERA activities, including Program Chair of Division G
(2011-2013), AERA/ETS/AIR Postdoctoral Fellow Selection Committee (2011-2014), AERA’s
Post-Doctoral Fellow Selection Committee (2002-2008), and AERA’s Undergraduate Training
Program Selection Committee (2009-2014). He also served as Chair of the Standing Committee
on the Role and Status of Minorities in Educational Research and Development and Chair of
the Social Justice Action Committee of AERA (2001). Richard also served as Associate
Editor of the Anthropology and Education Quarterly (2009-2013) and was on the Executive
Committee, National Latino Education Research Agenda (2003-2014).
The son of agricultural workers, Richard was born in Phoenix and also lived in California.
As a Harvard undergraduate he majored in French literature, and as a Stanford Ph.D.
student he majored in anthropology and philosophy of education. He is survived by Marie,
his loving wife of 44 years, and his two sons, Zachary and Daniel. He will be deeply
missed by his family, friends, and the many students whose lives he touched. We are all
better persons from having known Richard.
Un abrazo de despedidda, con todo el cariño del mundo, mi amigo.
Luis C. Moll, University of Arizona
See also: https://www.coe.arizona.edu/faculty_profile/131
https://studentaffairs.arizona.edu/faculty/ruiz.php
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