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 on 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. She is also a writer for The New York Times, sharing her opinions on important topics.
Before joining UNC, she was a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. 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. Her essays have also appeared in popular magazines like The Atlantic and Slate. She co-hosts a podcast called Hear to Slay with author Roxane Gay. McMillan Cottom is often asked to share her expert views on topics like fairness and education in America. In 2020, she received a special award called a MacArthur Fellowship for her work on how race, gender, education, and technology connect.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Tressie McMillan Cottom was born in Harlem, New York City. She grew up in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina. Her mother was involved with the Black Panther Party in Winston-Salem.
Before finishing college, McMillan Cottom worked as an enrollment officer at a technical college. This job later helped her with her research and her first book. In 2009, she earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), from North Carolina Central University. This university is a public HBCU, which means it was founded to serve African American students. She studied English and political science there.
While working on her advanced degree, a PhD, at Emory University, McMillan Cottom was a visiting scholar at other universities. She also wrote a regular column for Slate magazine. She earned her PhD in sociology from Emory University in 2015. Her research focused on how for-profit colleges became more accepted in higher education.
Career Highlights
In 2015, McMillan Cottom became an assistant professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University. She also joined the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. She became an associate professor in 2019. In 2020, she moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to teach there.
Sharing Ideas with the Public
Before her book Lower Ed came out, Tressie McMillan Cottom was known for her essays. She was also an expert on topics like fairness, higher education, and race. She writes using a way of thinking called intersectionality. This means she looks at how different parts of a person's identity, like race and gender, combine to affect their experiences.
Her essays have discussed important ideas, such as the need for reparations for African Americans. She has also argued that racism, not "political correctness," is the real problem on university campuses. She has also written about how black girls are sometimes treated as more grown-up than white girls. Her work has been featured in many places, including The New York Times and National Public Radio. She even appeared on The Daily Show.
In 2019, McMillan Cottom and Roxane Gay started their podcast, Hear to Slay. The podcast aims to share the voices and work of black women. In 2020, she received an award for helping the public understand sociology better.
About Lower Ed
McMillan Cottom's book Lower Ed was published in 2017. It looks at colleges that are run for profit. She studied how students try to make their way through a difficult economy. To write the book, she interviewed students and college leaders. She also looked at how for-profit colleges advertise. Her own experience working at two for-profit schools also helped her research.
A main idea in Lower Ed is that getting a degree or certificate is very important for jobs today. This pushes students to make choices that might seem risky but make sense for their future. McMillan Cottom explains that for-profit colleges are often more expensive. They also try to attract students who can get a lot of financial aid. However, she says students are making careful choices, not just being tricked by ads. The book suggests that simply trying to stop these colleges from advertising won't fix the bigger problems in the economy. It might even make things less fair, especially for women.
About Thick
Tressie McMillan Cottom's book Thick: And Other Essays came out in 2019. It tells parts of her life story through personal essays. These essays cover topics like personal challenges and the death of a child. She uses these experiences to talk about bigger issues like race, beauty, and education. For example, she discusses why black women might not always be seen as beautiful. She also explores how ideas about money and pain can affect black women's health and financial safety.
Publishers Weekly gave Thick a very good review, saying it showed McMillan Cottom's wisdom. The New York Times praised how she combined academic ideas with everyday topics. They said Thick would become a classic book in black intellectual thought. Thick was also a finalist for a major award, the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Awards and Recognition
- 2017: Sociologists for Women in Society Feminist Activism Award
- 2019: American Sociological Association Doris Entwisle Early Career Award
- 2019: Adweek Podcast Award for Podcast Hosts of the Year
- 2020: American Sociological Association Public Understanding of Sociology Award
- 2020: MacArthur Genius Grant Winner
- 2023: PEN Oakland/Third Annual Reginald Martin Award for Excellence in Criticism.
Books and Essays
Books
- (Co-editor) For-Profit Universities: The Shifting Landscape of Marketized Higher Education (2016)
- (Co-editor) Digital Sociologies (2016)
- Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy (2017)
- Thick: And Other Essays (2019)
Selected 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 Enduring, Invisible Power of Blond." The New York Times, January 19, 2023.
- "The Way Harris Lost Will Be Her Legacy." The New York Times, November 6, 2024.
