The interactions between Mexican women immigrants and Protestant missionaries in the United States during the early decades of the 20th century will be the subject of a talk to be given at noon Thursday, Nov. 14, at the University of California, Davis. Vicki Ruiz, an associate professor of history at UC Davis, will deliver "Confronting America: Mexican Women and the Settlement Impulse," in MU II, located in the Memorial Union building. The talk is free and open to the public. Ruiz will examine how the Rose Gregory Houchen Settlement House in El Paso, Texas, influenced several generations of Mexican women from 1912 to 1960. Ruiz, who received her doctoral degree in history from Stanford University, has been at UC Davis since 1982. She is director of the campus's Mentorships for Undergraduate Researchers in Agriculture, Letters and Science (MURALS), a program that pairs ethnic minority students with professors to work on collaborative research projects. Ruiz has published, edited and contributed to a number of books and articles. She received the 1991 National Women's Political Caucus Distinguished Achievement Award for her book "Cannery Women, Cannery Lives" (1987). The talk is the first in the Women's Resources and Research Center's annual lecture series, Spotlight on UCD Women Scholars. For more information, call (916) 752-3372.