Susana Ruiz

Susana Ruiz is currently an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz. Her award-winning M.F.A. thesis project, Darfur is Dying, is one of the foundational works of serious play, having been honored with the Games For Change Audience Award, the Adobe MAX Award for Social Responsibility, Honoree status in the Webby Award Activism Category, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ prestigious Governors Award. This project, which was in collaboration with USC, MTV Networks, interFUEL and the International Crisis Group, was presented to members of Congress at Capitol Hill during the National Online Town Hall Meeting on Darfur.

Ruiz’s work is recognized worldwide as traversing the intersections of cinema, games, art, ethics and activism. She co-founded design studio Take Action Games (TAG) in 2006 with the launch of Darfur is Dying and continues to grow a portfolio situated at the confluence of game design, participatory and social justice culture, non-fiction storytelling and transmedia practices. TAG has since worked with various social justice organizations including the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and the International Crisis Group.

A graduate from the Interactive Media & Games Division at the School of Cinematic Arts, Ruiz was awarded the Ph.D. Achievement Award from USC in 2013 and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Media Arts and Practice (iMAP) program. Ruiz is a Games For Change Advisory Board Member, a Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC) Scholar and a Courtney Ross – AOL/Time Warner USC Fellow.