Teofilo Ruiz

Teofilo F. Ruiz (born 1943) is a Cuban-American medieval historian and professor currently at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2012, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal 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. At age of 17, he fought against the regime of Fulgencio Batista. 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 (1961) in order to make room for new prisoners of war.

In 1961, Ruiz left Cuba for Miami with "only three changes of clothing, $45, a box of Cuban cigars to sell and a Spanish translation of Jacob Burckhardt's A History of Greek Civilization." By 1962, Ruiz and two cousins moved from Miami 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 by 1974.

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.

On February 13, 2012 former President Barack Obama awarded Ruiz a 2011 National Humanities Medal at the White House.

In 2013, Ruiz was elected into American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the same year was named Phi Beta Kappa 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.