Portland Magazine
Residence Life
February 13, 2020
ON MOVE-IN DAY, Carmen Ruiz welcomes the new first-year students along with the male residents of Villa. Ruiz, who works in custodial services, has been the dorm’s housekeeper for six-and-a-half years. With a smile, she also calls herself the “mom” of the dorm, and she does her part to ensure a warm environment. “Everybody helps each other in any way they can,” she says, “which makes a warm place, and makes it feel like home. The kids are so respectful.” She says she loves the community in Villa. “I love my work,” she says. “I love what I do.” She also believes it’s important to respect people because you never know the past experiences that have brought them to the present.
In her native Peru, Ruiz was an accountant. Her son is studying medicine in Spain, and her daughter is finishing high school nearby. She speaks Spanish, English, and some Portuguese (she lived in Brazil when her late daughter was undergoing medical care there, and Ruiz learned the language out of necessity). She is now taking social work courses at night at Portland Community College, working toward her eventual goal of becoming a counselor. “I want to work with abused women. I was one of them. That is why,” she says, “I want to help. You need to learn how to listen to people.”
Ask Carmen Ruiz what she likes to do outside of work and her face lights up. “I love to dance,” she says. Specifically salsa. When she’s dancing, she doesn’t feel tired, she doesn’t feel any of life’s stresses. She feels free.
Thank you, Carmen, for your contributions to the University of Portland community.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
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