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Tressie McMillan Cottom

 

By

Tressie McMillan Cottom

Associate Professor, UNC School of Information and Library Science; Senior Faculty Researcher, Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life

Headshot of Tressie McMillan Cottom

Pronouns

She/Her/Hers

Phone

(919) 962-8366
Headshot of Tressie McMillan Cottom

Expertise

Technology, higher education, class, race, and gender.

Education

PhD (Sociology), Emory University
BA (English and Political Science), North Carolina Central University

Biography

Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom is an award-winning author, sociologist, associate professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science, and a Principal Investigator at the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life. She was named the 2023 winner of the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize for her critical analysis of technology, education, class, race, and gender. A New York Times columnist and 2020 MacArthur Fellow, she is also the author of Lower Ed and THICK: And Other Essays, the latter of which was an Amazon best-seller and National Book Award finalist.

Awards

MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2020)
Public Understanding of Sociology Award, American Sociological Association (2020)
National Book Award, Non-fiction Finalist for Thick: And Other Essays (2019)
Brooklyn Public Library Literary Award, Non-fiction Winner for Thick: And Other Essays (2019)
Virginia Commonwealth University, Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award (2018)
Feminist Activist Scholar Award, Sociologists for Women in Society (2017)
PhD Research Intern, Microsoft Social Sciences Research Labs, Cambridge, Mass. (2014)

Publications

McMillan Cottom, Tressie. 2019. THICK: And Other Essays. New York: The New Press.
McMillan Cottom, Tressie. 2016. Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profits. New York: The New Press.

Media