Feb 12, 2013 2 min read

Dr. Teofilo Ruiz, a Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar, will discuss “The Witch Craze in Medieval and Early Modern Europe” at a public lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday at Washington & Jefferson College’s Dieter-Porter lecture hall.

Ruiz is a professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he specializes in the social and popular culture of late medieval and early modern Spain. He is a recipient of the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and he was selected as the 2011-12 Faculty Research Lecturer, the highest honor the university’s faculty bestows on a colleague.

In 2012, Ruiz was presented with the prestigious National Humanities Medal by President Obama for his “inspired teaching and writing.” The medal, given by the National Endowment for the Humanities, honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened the engagement of citizens with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand the access to important resources in the humanities.

Ruiz has written extensively on medieval and early modern Europe. His most recent books include “The Terror of History: On the Uncertainties of Life in Western Civilization” and “Crisis and Continuity: Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile; Spanish Society, 1400-1600.” He has also published more than 30 articles and 70 reviews in various journals.