The National Women’s History Project has selected AHA President-elect Vicki Ruiz, a scholar of Latina history at the University of California, Irvine, as a 2015 honoree for National Women’s History Month. The award will be conferred on March 28, 2015, at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles.

Professor Ruiz earned her PhD from Stanford University in 1982. In 2012, she became the first Latina historian to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Remembered by a former student for her “gentle heart and ruthless pen,” Ruiz has contributed to numerous publications and public history projects over her three-decade career. Her books include From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America (1998) and Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia (2006).

National Women’s History Month takes place in March and promotes the recognition of the history of American women in schools and communities nationwide. The project site describes the 2015 theme, Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives, as an “opportunity to weave women’s stories—individually and collectively—into the essential fabric our nation’s history.” Ruiz will be one of nine women honored under the theme.

The American Historical Association commends Professor Ruiz for her achievement.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.