Tressie McMillan Cottom facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tressie McMillan Cottom
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| Born | October 9, 1976 Harlem, New York City, U.S.
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| Education | North Carolina Central University (BA) Emory University (MA, PhD) |
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Notable work
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| Thesis | Becoming Real Colleges in the Financialized Era of U.S. Higher Education: The Expansion and Legitimation of For-Profit Colleges (2015) |
Tressie McMillan Cottom (born October 9, 1976) is an American writer, sociologist, and professor. She teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the School of Information and Library Science (SILS). She also works with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at UNC-Chapel Hill. You might also know her from her opinion articles in The New York Times.
Before this, she was a sociology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. She also worked with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. McMillan Cottom has written two important books: Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy and Thick: And Other Essays. She has also helped edit other books like For-Profit Universities and Digital Sociologies. Her essays have appeared in popular magazines and newspapers such as The Atlantic, Slate, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She also co-hosts a podcast called Hear to Slay with author Roxane Gay. People often ask her to share her expert ideas on topics like fairness and education in America. In 2020, she won a special award called the MacArthur Fellowship. This award recognized her important work on how race, gender, education, and technology connect.
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Early Life and Education
Tressie McMillan Cottom was born in Harlem, New York. She grew up in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina. Her mother was part of the Black Panther Party in Winston-Salem. Before she finished college, McMillan Cottom worked at a technical college. This job later helped her with her research and her first book.
In 2009, she earned her first college degree, a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), from North Carolina Central University. This university is a public HBCU, which means it was founded to educate Black students. She studied English and political science there. While she was working on her PhD at Emory University, she also worked as a visiting researcher at the University of California, Davis. She also interned at Microsoft Research. During this time, she wrote a regular column for Slate magazine called "Counter Narrative." She earned her PhD in sociology from Emory University in 2015. Her PhD research looked at how for-profit colleges became more accepted.
Her Career as a Professor
In 2015, McMillan Cottom became an assistant professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University. She also joined the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. In 2019, she became a full professor. In 2020, she moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to teach there.
Sharing Her Ideas with the Public
Before her book Lower Ed came out, Tressie McMillan Cottom was already known for her essays. She was also known as an expert on topics like fairness, higher education, and race. She uses a way of thinking called intersectionality. This means she looks at how different parts of a person's identity, like race and gender, connect and affect their experiences.
Her essays have talked about important ideas. For example, she has written about giving money to African Americans to make up for past wrongs. She has also argued that racism, not being "too politically correct," is the real problem on college campuses. She has also suggested that Black girls are often treated like adults too early. She writes for Dissent and HuffPost. Many news outlets like The New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), and The Daily Show have featured her work.
McMillan Cottom has also written a guide for other professors. This guide helps them deal with public criticism, especially online. In 2019, she and Roxane Gay started a podcast called Hear to Slay. They created it to share the voices and work of Black women. In 2020, she won an award for helping the public understand sociology.
About Her Book: Lower Ed
McMillan Cottom's 2017 book, Lower Ed, looks at colleges that are run for profit. She writes about students who are trying to find their way in a difficult job market. To write Lower Ed, she talked to students and college leaders. She also looked at how for-profit colleges advertise. Plus, she used her own experience working at two for-profit schools.
Her main idea is that jobs today often need special degrees or certificates. This pushes students to make risky choices to get these degrees. She explains that for-profit colleges are usually more expensive than non-profit ones. They also try hard to get students who can get a lot of financial aid. But she says students are making smart choices for their future, not just being tricked. Lower Ed suggests that simply trying to stop these colleges from advertising won't fix the bigger problems. It might even make things less fair, especially for women, when it comes to getting good degrees and jobs.
About Her Book: Thick
McMillan Cottom's book Thick: And Other Essays was published in 2019. It tells parts of her life story and shares her strong ideas. The book uses examples from her own life, like her divorce or the death of a child. She uses these personal stories to talk about bigger issues. These issues include race, beauty, and education. For example, she discusses why Black women are not always seen as beautiful. She also talks about how ideas about money, skills, and pain can make it harder for Black women to be healthy and financially secure.
Many people praised Thick. One review said it showed her "wisdom and originality." Another said it helped readers understand how different types of unfairness are connected. The New York Times said the book was great because it mixed academic ideas with popular topics. They also said Thick would become a very important book for Black thinkers. Thick was also a finalist for a major award, the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Awards and Recognition
Tressie McMillan Cottom has received many awards for her important work:
- 2017: Feminist Activism Award from Sociologists for Women in Society
- 2019: Doris Entwisle Early Career Award from the American Sociological Association
- 2019: Adweek Podcast Award for Podcast Hosts of the Year
- 2020: Public Understanding of Sociology Award from the American Sociological Association
- 2020: Macarthur Genius Grant Winner (a very special award for talented people)
- 2023: PEN Oakland/Third Annual Reginald Martin Award for Excellence in Criticism
Her Published Works
Books She Wrote or Edited
- (Co-editor, with William A. Darity Jr.) For-Profit Universities: The Shifting Landscape of Marketized Higher Education (Palgrave MacMillan, 2016) ISBN: 9783319471860
- (Co-editor, with Jesse Daniels and Karen Gregory) Digital Sociologies (Policy Press, 2016) ISBN: 9781447329015
- Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy (The New Press, 2017) ISBN: 9781620970607
- Thick: And Other Essays (The New Press, 2019) ISBN: 978-1620974360
Some of Her Essays
- "No, college isn't the answer. Reparations are." Washington Post, April 29, 2014.
- "The Coded Language of For-Profit Colleges." The Atlantic, February 22, 2017.
- "How We Make Black Girls Grow Up Too Fast." The New York Times, June 29, 2017.
- "The Real Threat to Campuses Isn't 'PC Culture.' It's Racism." Huffington Post, February 19, 2018.
- "The Way Harris Lost Will Be Her Legacy." The New York Times, November 6, 2024.
