Professional Summary
Sophia Minnillo (Ph.D., University of California, Davis) is an Assistant Professor-Educator of Composition in the Department of English at University of Cincinnati. Sophia's research investigates writing and language pedagogy and practices, including writing with technology, multilingual writing, and response to writing. Before joining UC, Sophia completed a Postdoc working on the Peer and AI Review + Reflection (PAIRR) Project funded by the California Education Learning Lab and Association for Writing Across the Curriculum. Sophia's work can be found in venues including Computers and Composition, Research in Corpus Linguistics, Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, Writing on the Edge, and Literacy in Composition Studies (in press). A proud graduate of Cincinnati Public Schools, Sophia enjoys serving students, community members, and educational initiatives in the Cincinnati area.
Personal website link
Education
Ph.D.: University of California, Davis 2025 (Linguistics, Designated Emphasis: Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies, Graduate Certificate: Second Language Acquisition)
M.A.: University of California, Davis 2022 (Linguistics)
B.A.: Emory University 2020 (Linguistics & French)
High School Diploma: Walnut Hills High School Cincinnati, OH, 2016
Positions and Work Experience
2025 -2026 Postdoctoral Researcher, Peer and AI Review + Reflection (PAIRR) Project, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
2026 - Assistant Professor- Educator, Department of English, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications
Tucker, K., Hawkins, K., Poma Mansure, S. & Minnillo, S. (2026). Supporting Students’ Own Languages in the Writing Classroom: Adaptable Writing Assignments for Enacting Linguistic Justice in Local Contexts. Xchanges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Technical Communication, Writing/Rhetoric, and Writing Across the Curriculum, 19 (2) More Information
Minnillo, S. & Ferris, D. (2026). Tracing the Literacies of Graduate Writers from the Global South: Navigating Assessment Inequity, Plagiarism Policing, and GenAI Dependence. Literacy in Composition Studies
Stillman, N., Minnillo, S., Sperber, L., & Whithaus, C. (2026). “A Vending Machine of Feedback”: Developing Critical AI Literacies through Guided Use and Reflection. Critical AI
Sperber, L., Minnillo, S., Ok, J., & Mills, A. (2026). Open Practices for Wicked Problems. Writing on the Edge, 33 (2) , 22-34More Information
MacArthur, M., Minnillo, S., Sperber, L., Whithaus, C., & Stillman, N. (2025). Teaching the Game and Leveling the Field: Peer and AI Review + Reflection in a Business Writing Course. Frontiers in Communication, 10More Information
Sánchez-Gutiérrez, C., Minnillo, S., Ruiz, A., & Ortega, A (2025). Does order of instruction matter? A language program intervention for preterite-imperfect learning. Foreign Language Annals, 58, 677–702More Information
Sperber, L., MacArthur, M., Minnillo, S., Stillman, N. & Whithaus, C. (2025). Peer and AI Feedback (PAIRR): Human-centered AI pedagogy for writing across the curriculum. Computers and Composition, 76More Information
Minnillo, S., Jones, L., & García, S. (2024). AI in the L2 classroom: Serving language educators through professional development. L2 Journal, 16 (1) More Information
Sánchez-Gutiérrez, C., Minnillo, S., Fernández-Mira, P. & Hernández, A. (2024). Prompt response variation in learner corpus research: Implications for data interpretation. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3 (3) More Information
Minnillo, S., Sánchez-Gutiérrez, C., Ruiz, A., Morgan, E. & González, C. (2024). Predictors of accuracy in L2 Spanish preterit-imperfect production. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, 10 (2) , 301-337More Information
Carando, A., Minnillo, S., Fernández-Mira, P., Davidson, S., Sagae, K., & Sánchez-Gutiérrez, C. (2023). Writing Development in Spanish as a Second and Heritage Language: A Corpus Study on Complexity. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 10 (1) , 59-71More Information
Minnillo, S., Sánchez-Gutiérrez, C., Carando, A., Davidson, S., Fernández-Mira, P., & Sagae, K. (2022). Preterit-Imperfect Acquisition in L2 Spanish Writing: Moving Beyond Lexical Aspect. Research in Corpus Linguistics, 10 (1) , 156-184More Information
Book Chapter
Minnillo, S. (2025). Toward Radical Inclusivity in First Year Composition: A Lesson for CLA, Translingual Writing, and Metacognition Development. In Radical Inclusivity: Critical Language Awareness in the Language and Writing Classroom. (pp. 30-38). Multilingual Matters
Escalante, C., Minnillo, S., & Zhang, X. (2026). Using corpora and variationist approaches to make inferences about language representation. In Quantitative Research Methods in Multilingual Acquisition and Processing. (pp. 29-56). John Benjamins
Mills, A., Minnillo, S., Gamberg, J. & Whithaus, C. (2026). A Prompt that Nudges AI to Speculate on Human Readers’ Responses to a Draft. In Writing and Rhetoric Studies in the Loop (WRSTL): A GenAI Prompt Library. The WAC Repository
Honors and Awards
2024 Graduate Student Award American Association for Applied Linguistics
2020 -2025 Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Fellowship University of California, Davis
Keywords
writing, composition, rhetoric, multilingualism, applied linguistics, corpus linguistics, second language acquisition, AI, technology studies