SWAGÊÓƵ

  • Director of Spanish Program
  • Assistant Professor of Spanish Language, Literature, and Culture
  • Fellow in Catholic Studies
School of Arts & Sciences

SWAGÊÓƵ Me

I am a native from Colombia and am very passionate about the study of history, languages, and cultures. I believe that teaching and learning languages helps you to better understand your own and other cultures. I like my job and I think that being a professor is an opportunity to renew yourself — every year, every semester — and learn every time from your colleagues and your students. For that, I feel blessed. I love (and play) music and I like to write short stories, songs, and hope to publish a novel someday soon.

Why I’m At Mary

Definitely, coming to the University of Mary is one of the best decisions I have made. I feel grateful for the opportunity to work at an institution where faith and reason work together to better ourselves and to improve our understanding of reality. Here, leaders, faculty, staff, and students do their best to live out the ideals of servant leadership, following Jesus.

Expertise

My areas of expertise include Latin American Literature and Culture during the colonial times (19th and 20th centuries), Medieval Spain, contemporary social production (literature, music, cinema), and Chicano/Latino studies. I am interested in the intersection between literature and history, specifically Historic novels.

Ruiz, Andres. (2021) "Perceptions of the Colonial Period and Blood Purity in Colombian Historical Fiction," Routledge Encyclopedia of the Renaissance World. 

Ruiz, Andres. (2018) "Una Aproximacion Literaria a los Discursos del Pasado y de la Identidad: La Novela Historica Colombiana sobre la Conquista y la Colonia en Colombia," ProQuest. 

Ruiz, Andres. (2018) "Representacion textual del indigena en la literatura colombiana: entre el buen salvaje y el salvaje por naturaleza," Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 43 (3). 

Ruiz, Andres. (2016/2017) "Donde se genera la violencia?: los personajes cotidianos y el espacio urbano en Crimenes municipales de Dario Ruiz Gomez," Mester, (15). 

Ruiz, Andres. (2017) "Punk Medallo: cosas de la vida," Ventana Abierta: Revista latinoamericana de literatura, arte y cultura, (42). 

Review of El mar peruano: mitos europeos y americanos by Franklin Pearse G.Y. Laberinto Journal, (10), 2017. 

Ruiz, Andres. (2017) "Punk Medallo: cosas de la vida," Ventana Abierta: Revista latinoamericana de literatura, arte y cultura, (42). 

Ruiz, Andres. (2015) "The Cacique of Turmeque and the issue of inter-racial "mixing" in the Early Modern Spanish Colonies of the Americas," The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Newsletter. doi:

Ruiz, Andres. (2011) "La Madamita," Short Story: Solalunarevista (4).

Education

PhD (Spanish Literature and Culture): Arizona State University, 2018
MA (Spanish Literature and Linguistics): Sam Houston State University, 2013
MA (Health Education): Sam Houston State University, 2011

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