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