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 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. 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. Ruiz was a student of American medievalist Joseph Strayer and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1974. Besides UCLA, he has taught at Brooklyn College, the CUNY Graduate Center, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and Princeton University. He served as chair of the UCLA Department of History from 2002 to 2005. He has lectured in the US, Spain, Italy, France, England, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and nations in Asia. In 2008, Ruiz was named chair of the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
