GSC Steering Committee

Oksana Moroz
Co-chair (GSC representative on EC)

Oksana Moroz is a Mama PhD Candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; she is a Ukrainian international student in the Composition and Applied Linguistics PhD program. Her research interests include gender and teacher identity, digital identities of students, issues of accents and language ideologies, and teaching with Wikipedia. Oksana was a Muskie Intern and Fulbright scholar from Ukraine interning at Intensive English Communication Program at Penn State University. She is also interested in gender identity performance and culturally relevant pedagogies. Oksana’s professional expertise include teaching Composition I and Composition II courses, English as International Language to multilingual students, Grammar courses to international students and private tutoring classes. As a co-chair on the GSC steering committee, Oksana's responsibilities include co-planning and co-leading Steering Committee meetings, overseeing the graduate student events at the AAAL conference, collaborating with the AAAL conference planning committee, and attending AAAL conference and business meetings. She can be reached at o.moroz@iup.edu. 

Jacob Rieker
Co-chair (GSC representative on PAEC)

Jacob Rieker is a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics at The Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on Vygotskian cultural-historical theory, second language teacher education, language teacher cognition, and concept-based language instruction for language teacher development. He has published work on these topics in venues including Second Language Teacher Education, Language and Sociocultural Theory, and The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL. His relevant professional teaching/learning experiences include developing and implementing curricula for international teaching assistants as well as English for workplace and academic purposes. As a co-chair of the GSC steering committee, Jacob’s duties involve co-planning and co-leading steering committee meetings, overseeing the graduate student events at the AAAL conference, and serving on the PAEC, among others. He can be reached at jrr5915@psu.edu.

Valentino Rahming
Secretary  (GSC representative on FFAL & Diversity Sub-Committee Leader)

Valentino Rahming is a PhD candidate in Second Language Acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University. He is from Nassau, Bahamas and his research interests are centered around identity and investment in language learning. Specifically he investigates the retention of students in World Language courses. Additionally, he is interested in advocating for sound language learning policies through the creation of proper policies and planning and he is passionate about creating accessible language learning opportunities specifically for learners from historically underrepresented groups. As the secretary of the Graduate Student Council, he is responsible for record keeping within the Graduate Student Council and will serve on the FFAL(Fund for the Future of Applied Linguistics) and DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access) task forces. Additionally, he will serve as the leader of the diversity sub-committee and could be reached at vrahming@andrew.cmu.edu.

Sophia Minnillo
Member-at-large  (Event Planning Sub-Committee Leader)

Sophia Minnillo is a second year Ph.D. student in Linguistics on the Multilingualism and Second Language Acquisition track at University of California, Davis. She is also completing a designated emphasis in Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies. Her current research examines second and heritage language learning and teaching, with a focus on writing and grammar development. Sophia’s research interests broadly include language pedagogy, learner corpus research, and language assessment. When Sophia is not leading the Event Planning Sub-Committee, she can be found hiking and biking in Northern California. She can be reached at smminnillo@ucdavis.edu.

Alyssa Wolfe
Member-at-large  (Newsletter Sub-Committee Leader)

Alyssa Wolfe is a student in the Second Language Studies PhD program at Michigan State University, which she joined in 2019 after a teaching English as a second or foreign language for many years. Her research interests lie at the intersection of Instructed Second Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics and relate to the aptitude-treatment interface and learner individual differences, with grounding in Skill Acquisition Theory. She hopes to use her research to gain a better understanding how various learner factors could influence the processing of language input and ways to make language learning more effective for different learners. Prior to becoming a language instructor, she was a journalist and professional photographer and she’s excited to use this background in new ways as the leader of the Newsletter sub-committee. She can be reached at wolfealy@msu.edu.

Paul J. Meighan
Member-at-large (Social Media Sub-Committee Leader)

Pòl I. Miadhachàin-Chiblow (Paul J. Meighan-Chiblow) is a Gàidheal (Scottish Gael) born and raised in Glaschu, Alba (Glasgow, Scotland). He is a PhD Candidate (Educational Studies) and SSHRC Bombardier Scholar at McGill University. Paul is a recipient of the AAAL 2021 GS Multilingual Matters award and the co-recipient of the TIRF 2021 Doctoral Dissertation Grant (DDG) Russell N. Campbell Award. His current research focuses on intersections between Indigenous language revitalization, technology, language policy, and decolonizing language education. Paul’s work has been published in TESOL Journal, ELT Journal, AlterNative, and the Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education Journal. When Paul is not leading the Social Media Sub-Committee, you can find him jogging or going on long walks in Tkaronto (Toronto). He can be reached at paul.meighan@mail.mcgill.ca.