Regina Marie Mills

Regina Marie Mills is Associate Professor of Latina/o/x Studies in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan. She was previously Associate Professor of Latinx and U.S. Multi-Ethnic Literature in the Department of English and holder of the Elton Lewis Faculty Fellowship in Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University.

Her research focuses on Latinx and AfroLatinx literature and media, particularly life writing studies, refugee literature, and critical game studies. Her first book, Invisibility and Influence: A Literary History of AfroLatinidades (University of Texas Press, 2024) is part of the “Latinx: The Future Is Now” series and won Honorable Mention for the 2026 Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Latinx Studies Section Book Award.

She is currently co-editing a special issue of Pasados journal entitled "AfroLatinxs Presente! AfroLatinx Pasados" with Omaris Z. Zamora (Rutgers) and Keishla Rivera-Lopez (Haverford College). She was the guest co-editor of “Post-Soul Afro-Latinidades,” a special issue of The Black Scholar (2022). Her research is published in journals and collections such as Latino Studies, The Black Scholar, The Lion & the Unicorn, Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies, The Routledge Companion to Latinx Life Writing, and Latinx Literature and Critical Futurities, 1992-2020. She is co-editing the volume Coded Latinx on Latinx game studies with Carlos Kelly Gonzalez, which will be coming out of University of Arizona Press's "Latinx Pop Culture" series in 2027. Her second book project, tentatively titled Gaming Latinidad, explores Latinx play within video games, trading card games, and other playful communities.

She is a first-generation college student, the daughter of a Guatemalan immigrant, and the eldest of seven children. She is also an avid video game player. Dr. Mills has published commentary in The Conversation and The Constitutionalist as well as appearing on KBTX and KTVU. She is a 2025-26 Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) Media Fellow.