Alexandra Ruiz

Email: aruiz@university.edu • Phone: (505) 555-3482
Website: www.alexruizdh.com • LinkedIn

Education

Ph.D. Candidate, Digital Humanities

Southwest State University, Department of History and Digital Studies, 2021–present

  • Dissertation (in progress): Reimagining the Archive: Virtual Museums and Public Engagement in the U.S. Southwest
  • Advisor: Dr. Jeff Tran

M.A. Public History

University of the Desert, 2018–2020

  • Thesis: Digitizing Memory: Community-Driven Archives in Borderlands History

B.A. History, Minor in Computer Science

Canyon State College, 2014–2018

Areas of Interest

  • Digital public history and virtual museums
  • Humanistic computing and community engagement
  • Archival digitization and data visualization
  • History of the U.S. Southwest and borderlands studies
  • Pedagogy and digital literacy in the humanities

Professional Experience

Graduate Research Assistant, Digital Heritage Lab

Southwest State University, 2021–present

  • Developed interactive 3D reconstructions of historic sites for virtual museum exhibitions.
  • Managed metadata and digitization workflows for oral history collections.
  • Co-designed community workshops on digital storytelling.

Public History Intern, Borderlands History Museum

El Paso, TX, 2019–2020

  • Assisted in curating an online exhibit on migration narratives.
  • Coordinated community digitization days with local families.
  • Designed educational activities integrating GIS maps with oral histories.

Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Public History

University of the Desert, 2018–2019

  • Taught discussion sections; developed digital resources for students.

Conferences & Presentations

  • “Virtual Museums and Public Engagement in the Digital Age” — Digital Humanities Southwest Conference, Albuquerque, NM (2023).
  • “Reframing Migration Histories: Community Archives Online” — American Historical Association Annual Meeting (2022).
  • “Augmented Reality in Teaching Regional History” — THATCamp Southwest (2021).

Publications

  • Ruiz, Alexandra. “Digitizing the Borderlands: A Case Study in Community-Driven Archiving.” Journal of Public History and Technology 12, no. 2 (2022): 45–62.
  • Ruiz, Alexandra, and Jeff Tran. “Reimagining the Museum: Collaborative 3D Reconstruction as Public History.” In Digital Heritage in Practice, ed. L. Johnson, Desert University Press, 2023.

Awards & Fellowships

  • Graduate Research Fellowship, Southwest State University, 2022–2024
  • Emerging Scholar Award, Digital Humanities Southwest Conference, 2023
  • Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award, University of the Desert, 2020

Extracurricular Activities

  • Co-organizer, DH Praxis Workshop for graduate students across disciplines (2022–present)
  • Volunteer, Code for Community initiative, offering coding workshops for local high school students (2021–present)
  • Member, Digital Public History Working Group, National Council on Public History