She teaches courses in youth literature and pre-service literacy methods. Her research focuses on the impact of multicultural literature on K-12 teachers’ instructional practices. Other research areas include trends and issues in Latino/a-themed children’s literature published in the U.S., international Spanish-language children’s literature, and wordless picture books. She has served on review committees for the Américas Book Award for Children and Adolescents (2010-2012) and the Pura Belpré Award (2013). Ruth will serve on the 2019 Caldecott Award Selection Committee, an American Library Association (ALA) award given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in the U.S. during the preceding year. Ruth's term will focus on picture books published in 2018.