[Xmca-l] FW: In memoriam

[Peter Smagorinsky]

From: Elizabeth Moje <moje@umich.edu<mailto:moje@umich.edu>>
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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