:Tressie McMillan Cottom

{{Short description|American writer, sociologist, and professor (born 1976)}}

{{Infobox academic

| name = Tressie McMillan Cottom

| image = Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|10|09}}

| birth_place = Harlem, New York City, U.S.

| education = North Carolina Central University (BA)
Emory University (MA, PhD)

| discipline = Sociology

| workplaces = {{plainlist|

| thesis_title = Becoming Real Colleges in the Financialized Era of U.S. Higher Education: The Expansion and Legitimation of For-Profit Colleges

| thesis_url = http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/phb1w

| thesis_year = 2015

| main_interests = American higher education, race, inequality, work, technology

| notable_works = {{plainlist|

}}

Tressie McMillan Cottom (born October 9, 1976){{cite Instagram|postid=B3aSBr_ldux|title=Time, it just keeps on passing. Another trip around the sun|date=2019-10-09|user=tressiemcphd|last=McMillan Cottom|first=Tressie|access-date=2024-01-18}} is an American writer, sociologist, and professor. She is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (SILS) and an affiliate of the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at UNC-Chapel Hill.{{Cite web|title=Author, professor, and sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom joining SILS and CITAP {{!}} sils.unc.edu|url=https://sils.unc.edu/news/2020/cottom-faculty|date=April 16, 2020|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=sils.unc.edu|archive-date=June 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604165827/https://sils.unc.edu/news/2020/cottom-faculty|url-status=live}} She is also an opinion columnist at The New York Times.{{Cite web |date=March 9, 2022 |title=Tressie McMillan Cottom Joins The Times as an Opinion Columnist |url=https://www.nytco.com/press/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-joins-the-times-as-an-opinion-columnist/ |first=Kathleen|last= Kingsbury|author2= Patrick Healy |author3=Charlotte Greensit|access-date=April 11, 2022 |website=The New York Times Company |archive-date=March 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329213711/https://www.nytco.com/press/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-joins-the-times-as-an-opinion-columnist/ |url-status=live }}

She was formerly an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a faculty associate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. McMillan Cottom is the author of Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy and Thick: And Other Essays, a co-editor of For-Profit Universities and Digital Sociologies, an essayist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Slate, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and co-host of the podcast Hear to Slay with author Roxane Gay. She is frequently quoted as an academic expert on inequality and American higher education in print and television media. In 2020, McMillan Cottom was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of her work "at the confluence of race, gender, education, and digital technology."{{Cite web|title=Tressie McMillan Cottom - MacArthur Foundation|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/1055/|access-date=October 6, 2020|website=www.macfound.org|archive-date=October 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008041855/https://www.macfound.org/fellows/1055/|url-status=live}}

Early life and education

File:North Carolina Central University campus entranc.JPG

McMillan Cottom was born in Harlem and raised in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina.{{cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62097-436-0|title=Thick: And Other Essays|work=Publishers Weekly|date=November 26, 2018|access-date=November 25, 2018|archive-date=February 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228020741/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62097-436-0|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://clclt.com/charlotte/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-ends-book-tour-back-home-in-charlotte/Content?oid=4515517|title=Tressie McMillan Cottom Ends Book Tour Back Home in Charlotte Tonight|website=Creative Loafing Charlotte|last=Pitkin|first=Ryan|date=May 15, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=November 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116144229/https://clclt.com/charlotte/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-ends-book-tour-back-home-in-charlotte/Content?oid=4515517|url-status=live}} Her mother was a member of the Black Panther Party in Winston-Salem.{{Cite news|url=https://www.colorlines.com/articles/my-feminism-starts-300-years-ago|title='My Feminism Starts 300 Years Ago' |last=Murphy|first=Carla|date=September 15, 2014|work=Colorlines|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=May 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504233450/https://www.colorlines.com/articles/my-feminism-starts-300-years-ago|url-status=live}} Before completing her undergraduate degree, McMillan Cottom worked as an enrollment officer at a technical college, a job that would inform her later research and her first book.{{cite news|url=https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/profit-motive-turns-higher-ed-to-lower-ed-vcu-professor/article_c8d4142f-269a-5f76-b6cf-25be70e667a4.html|title=Profit motive turns higher ed to 'Lower Ed,' VCU professor says|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|first=Karin|last=Kapsidelis|date=March 12, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=April 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422214334/http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/profit-motive-turns-higher-ed-to-lower-ed-vcu-professor/article_c8d4142f-269a-5f76-b6cf-25be70e667a4.html|url-status=live}} In 2009,{{Cite web|title=NCCU Alumna Tressie McMillian Cottom '09 Honored with Prestigious MacArthur Foundation 'Genius Grant' |url=https://www.nccu.edu/news/nccu-alumna-tressie-mcmillian-cottom-09-honored-prestigious-macarthur-foundation-genius-grant|access-date=2022-02-07|website=www.nccu.edu|archive-date=February 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207010038/https://www.nccu.edu/news/nccu-alumna-tressie-mcmillian-cottom-09-honored-prestigious-macarthur-foundation-genius-grant|url-status=live}} McMillan Cottom received a B.A. from North Carolina Central University, a public HBCU, in English and political science.{{cite web|url=http://www.nccu.edu/news/index.cfm?ID=DD5B1A2E-15C5-F8D8-3A231B352226C985|title=Alumna Authors Book About Higher Education|website=NCCU News|publisher=North Carolina Central University|last=Bell|first=Kia C.|date=March 28, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823005837/http://www.nccu.edu/news/index.cfm?ID=DD5B1A2E-15C5-F8D8-3A231B352226C985|url-status=live}}

While pursuing her Ph.D. at Emory University, McMillan Cottom was a visiting fellow at the University of California, Davis Center for Poverty Research and a Microsoft Research Social Media Collective intern.{{Cite news|url=https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/profile/tressie-mcmillan-cottom|title=Tressie McMillan Cottom - UC Davis Center for Poverty Research|work=UC Davis Center for Poverty Research|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=September 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928003048/https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/profile/tressie-mcmillan-cottom|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://socialmediacollective.org/2014/03/13/welcoming-the-smc-interns-for-2014/|title=Welcoming the SMC Interns for 2014|publisher=Microsoft Research|last=Crawford|first=Kate|date=March 13, 2014|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=June 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604092026/https://socialmediacollective.org/2014/03/13/welcoming-the-smc-interns-for-2014/|url-status=live}} She also wrote the biweekly "Counter Narrative" column for Slate magazine.{{cite web|url=https://www.slate.com/articles/life/counter_narrative.html|title=Counter Narrative|website=Slate|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823010210/https://www.slate.com/articles/life/counter_narrative.html|url-status=live}} She earned a PhD in sociology from Emory University in 2015, with a dissertation on the legitimacy of for-profit higher education institutions.{{cite web|url=https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/05/er_commencement_dissertations/campus.html|title=Commencement 2015: Dissertations showcase original scholarship|website=Emory News Center|publisher=Emory University|date=May 8, 2015|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=December 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225094037/http://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/05/er_commencement_dissertations/campus.html|url-status=live}}

Career

In 2015, McMillan Cottom was appointed assistant professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.{{cite web|url=https://sociology.vcu.edu/news/sociology-welcomes-new-faculty-membertressie-mcmillan-cottom.html|title=Sociology Welcomes New Faculty Member–Tressie McMillan Cottom|website=VCU Sociology News|publisher=Virginia Commonwealth University|date=January 13, 2015|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823041849/https://sociology.vcu.edu/news/sociology-welcomes-new-faculty-membertressie-mcmillan-cottom.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/tcottom|title=Tressie McMillan Cottom: Ethics and Governance of AI|publisher=Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=May 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511181045/https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/tcottom|url-status=live}} She was awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor in 2019. In 2020, she left Virginia Commonwealth University to join the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

=Public persona=

Before the publication of her book Lower Ed, McMillan Cottom was known primarily as an essayist and academic expert on issues of inequality, higher education, and race.Examples of coverage:

{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/08/finding-the-line-between-safe-space-and-segregation/496289/|title=The Fine Line Between Safe Space and Segregation|website=The Atlantic|first=Emily|last=Deruy|date=August 17, 2016|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=November 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111041703/https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/08/finding-the-line-between-safe-space-and-segregation/496289/|url-status=live}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/01/16/legalizing-recreational-marijuana|title=What Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Could Mean For Minorities|website=Here & Now|publisher=WBUR-FM|date=January 16, 2014|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823005902/http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/01/16/legalizing-recreational-marijuana|url-status=live}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.thecut.com/2013/08/you-read-just-one-more-miley-think-piece.html|title=If You Read Just One (More) Miley Cyrus Think Piece...|website=The Cut|last=Stoeffel|first=Kat|date=August 28, 2013|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823010018/https://www.thecut.com/2013/08/you-read-just-one-more-miley-think-piece.html|url-status=live}} She writes from the analytical perspective of intersectionality.{{Cite news|url=https://www.hastac.org/blogs/jennykorn/2017/06/20/writing-book-and-real-life-interview-tressie-mcmillan-cottom|title=Writing A Book In And Of Real Life: An interview with Tressie McMillan Cottom|last=Korn|first=Jenny|publisher=HASTAC|date=June 20, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822044936/https://www.hastac.org/blogs/jennykorn/2017/06/20/writing-book-and-real-life-interview-tressie-mcmillan-cottom|url-status=live}} Her essays have advocated for reparations to African Americans,{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/05/29/no-college-isnt-the-answer-reparations-are/|title=No, college isn't the answer. Reparations are|newspaper=Washington Post|last=McMillan Cottom|first=Tressie|language=en|date=May 29, 2014|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725064847/https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/05/29/no-college-isnt-the-answer-reparations-are/|url-status=live}} argued that racism rather than political correctness is the real threat to university campus life,{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-cottom-campus-racism_us_5a8afb80e4b00bc49f471b41|title=The Real Threat To Campuses Isn't 'PC Culture.' It's Racism.|last=Cottom|first=Tressie McMillan|date=February 19, 2018|work=Huffington Post|access-date=July 23, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=June 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616160325/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-cottom-campus-racism_us_5a8afb80e4b00bc49f471b41|url-status=live}} and suggested that black girls are treated as more adult than white girls. She is a contributing editor at Dissent and one of HuffPost{{'s}} commissioned opinion columnists.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-opinion-huffpost-personal_us_5a5f6a29e4b096ecfca98edb|title=Introducing HuffPost Opinion And HuffPost Personal|work=HuffPost|last=Polgreen|first=Lydia|date=January 18, 2018|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821135935/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-opinion-huffpost-personal_us_5a5f6a29e4b096ecfca98edb|url-status=live}}; {{cite web|url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/about-dissent-magazine/masthead|title=Masthead|website=Dissent|access-date=August 21, 2018|archive-date=January 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121190042/https://www.dissentmagazine.org/about-dissent-magazine/masthead|url-status=live}} In addition to her own writing, McMillan Cottom has been featured in The New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR),{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/02/28/516281590/to-this-scholar-for-profit-colleges-are-lower-ed|title=To This Scholar, For-Profit Colleges Are 'Lower Ed'|first=Anya|last=Kamenetz|publisher=National Public Radio|date=February 28, 2017|access-date=July 23, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725063736/https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/02/28/516281590/to-this-scholar-for-profit-colleges-are-lower-ed|url-status=live}} Harvard Educational Review, Mother Jones,{{Cite news|url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/02/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-rise-profit-college-lower-ed/|title=This woman knows how bad for-profit colleges are. She used to sell them.|work=Mother Jones|first=Edwin|last=Rios|date=February 28, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=September 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913084318/https://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/02/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-rise-profit-college-lower-ed/|url-status=live}} Inside Higher Ed, and The Daily Show.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cc.com/video-clips/nsqb7g/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-tressie-mcmillan-cottom---investigating-for-profit-colleges-in--lower-ed----extended-interview|title=Tressie McMillan Cottom - Investigating For-Profit Colleges in "Lower Ed" - Extended Interview - The Daily Show with Trevor Noah|website=Comedy Central|access-date=July 23, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725063736/http://www.cc.com/video-clips/nsqb7g/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-tressie-mcmillan-cottom---investigating-for-profit-colleges-in--lower-ed----extended-interview|url-status=dead}}

Drawing on her experience dealing with controversy as a public intellectual, McMillan Cottom wrote a guide for academics who come under public attack from organized digital campaigns.{{cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Wrong-Kind-of-Famous/241701|title=The Wrong Kind of Famous|website=The Chronicle of Higher Education|first=Jonathan|last=Rees|date=November 8, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823073917/https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Wrong-Kind-of-Famous/241701|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/If-There-s-an-Organized/240683|title='If There's an Organized Outrage Machine, We Need an Organized Response'|website=The Chronicle of Higher Education|last=Quintana|first=Chris|date=July 18, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830172453/https://www.chronicle.com/article/If-There-s-an-Organized/240683|url-status=live}} In 2019, McMillan Cottom and Roxane Gay launched a podcast called Hear to Slay to "amplify the voices and work of black women".{{cite magazine|url=https://richmondmagazine.com/news/features/thinking-while-black/|magazine=Richmond Magazine|title=Thinking While Black|last=Willis|first=Samantha|date=July 1, 2019|access-date=September 19, 2019|archive-date=October 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023052810/https://richmondmagazine.com/news/features/thinking-while-black/|url-status=live}} McMillan Cottom received the Public Understanding of Sociology Award from the American Sociological Association in 2020.{{cite web|url=https://www.asanet.org/news-events/asa-awards/2020-asa-award-recipients|title=2020 ASA Award recipients|publisher=American Sociological Association|access-date=January 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116185353/https://www.asanet.org/news-events/asa-awards/2020-asa-award-recipients |archive-date=January 16, 2020}}

= ''Lower Ed'' =

McMillan Cottom's 2017 book Lower Ed analyzes the for-profit educational sector from the perspective of students trying to navigate a "risky and highly variable" economy.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/books/review/lower-ed-tressie-mcmillan-cottom.html|title=The Troubling Appeal of Education at For-Profit Schools|work=The New York Times|first=Dana|last=Goldstein|date=March 7, 2017|access-date=August 21, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725063804/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/books/review/lower-ed-tressie-mcmillan-cottom.html|url-status=live}} Lower Ed is based on interviews with students and college executives, analysis of for-profit college promotional materials, and McMillan Cottom's own experience working as an enrollment officer at two for-profit institutions. The main finding is that rising emphasis on credentialism in the American job market pushes students to make riskier but individually rational trade-offs to obtain educational credentials.{{cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/lower-ed-a-brief-review/63769|title=Lower Ed: A (Brief) Review|website=The Chronicle of Higher Education|last=Skallerup Bessette|first=Lee|date=March 20, 2017|access-date=August 20, 2018|archive-date=August 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822014709/https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/lower-ed-a-brief-review/63769|url-status=live}}

According to McMillan Cottom, for-profit institutions are generally more expensive than non-profit institutions and aggressively market to low-income and working poor students who qualify for the most financial aid, but students are making considered choices about their futures and are not simply being duped by marketing.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/03/27/521371034/how-for-profit-colleges-sell-risky-education-to-the-most-vulnerable|title=How For-Profit Colleges Sell 'Risky Education' To The Most Vulnerable|website=Fresh Air|publisher=National Public Radio|date=March 17, 2017|access-date=August 21, 2018|archive-date=August 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813232415/https://www.npr.org/2017/03/27/521371034/how-for-profit-colleges-sell-risky-education-to-the-most-vulnerable|url-status=live}} Lower Ed suggests that policies intended to constrain the marketing behavior of for-profit institutions will not address the underlying political economy issue, and may increase inequalities, especially gender inequalities, in the distribution of valued educational credentials and jobs.{{cite web|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/lower-ed-review|title=Lower Ed: A Review|first=Matt|last=Reed|website=Inside Higher Ed|date=February 19, 2017|access-date=August 21, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725125817/https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/lower-ed-review|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|journal=Contexts|doi=10.1177/1536504218766541|first=Louise|last=Seamster|title=All Credentials aren't Created Equal|volume=17|issue=1|pages=74–75|date=April 3, 2018|doi-access=free}} Harvard Educational Review described Lower Ed as "theoretically provocative, empirically rich, and enjoyable to read".{{cite journal|url=http://hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-87-number-4/herbooknote/lower-ed|title=Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy|last=Foley|first=Nadirah Farah|journal=Harvard Educational Review|volume=87|number=4|date=2017|pages=585–588 |doi=10.17763/1943-5045-87.4.585 |s2cid=260273975 |access-date=July 25, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725063430/http://hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-87-number-4/herbooknote/lower-ed|url-status=live|doi-access=free}}

= ''Thick'' =

McMillan Cottom's book Thick: And Other Essays was published by The New Press in 2019. John Warner, writing for the Chicago Tribune, described Thick as "the story of Cottom's life" but also "a kind of manifesto".{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-books-biblioracle-0106-story.html|title=The author you need to read now: Tressie McMillan Cottom|work=Chicago Tribune|first=John|last=Warner|date=December 27, 2018|access-date=January 8, 2019|archive-date=January 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108120513/https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-books-biblioracle-0106-story.html|url-status=live}} The book draws on examples from McMillan Cottom's life in the form of personal essays. These essays touch on topics including sexual abuse, divorce, and the death of a child to discuss broader issues in race, beauty, and education, such as why black women can never be seen as beautiful, why universities prefer African students to African American students, and how assumptions about wealth, competence, and pain undermine black women's efforts to achieve health and financial security.{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tressie-mcmillan-cottom/thick/|title=Thick: And Other Essays|website=Kirkus Reviews|date=November 13, 2018|access-date=January 8, 2019|archive-date=January 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109062815/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tressie-mcmillan-cottom/thick/|url-status=live}}

Publishers Weekly gave Thick a starred review, concluding that "the collection showcases Cottom's wisdom and originality". Rebecca Stoner, writing for Pacific Standard, praised the broad appeal of Thick, noting that McMillan Cottom "makes it possible for her readers, whether or not they are black women, to understand the interdependent nature of our oppressions".{{cite magazine|url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/tressie-mcmillan-cottoms-thick-and-what-america-needs-to-learn-from-black-women|magazine=Pacific Standard|first=Rebecca|last=Stoner|title=Tressie McMillan Cottom Seeks to Write 'Powerful Stories That Become a Problem for Power'|date=January 18, 2019|access-date=January 18, 2019|archive-date=January 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119121439/https://psmag.com/social-justice/tressie-mcmillan-cottoms-thick-and-what-america-needs-to-learn-from-black-women|url-status=live}} The New York Times praised "the author's skillful interweaving of the academic with the popular" and concluded that Thick "is sure to become a classic of black intellectualism".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/books/review/thick-tressie-mcmillan-cottom.html|title=Five Essay Collections by Women of Color|work=The New York Times|first=Camille|last=Acker|date=February 12, 2019|access-date=February 12, 2019|archive-date=February 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212141557/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/books/review/thick-tressie-mcmillan-cottom.html|url-status=live}} Thick was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/books/national-book-awards-2019-finalists.html|work=The New York Times|title=National Book Awards Names 2019 Finalists|last=Alter|first=Alexandra|date=October 8, 2019|access-date=October 8, 2019|archive-date=October 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008145005/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/books/national-book-awards-2019-finalists.html|url-status=live}}

Awards

2017: Sociologists for Women in Society Feminist Activism Award{{Cite news|url=https://socwomen.org/awards/|title=Awards|date=November 8, 2017|work=Sociologists for Women in Society|access-date=July 23, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725094114/https://socwomen.org/awards/|url-status=live}}
2019: American Sociological Association Doris Entwisle Early Career Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.news.vcu.edu//article/Cottom_to_receive_prestigious_early_career_award_from_American|title=Cottom to receive prestigious early career award from American Sociological Association|website=Virginia Commonwealth University News|language=en|date=April 29, 2019|first=Brian|last=McNeill|access-date=June 8, 2019|archive-date=June 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608014117/https://www.news.vcu.edu//article/Cottom_to_receive_prestigious_early_career_award_from_American|url-status=live}}
2019: Adweek Podcast Award for Podcast Hosts of the Year{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2019 |title=Discover the Winners of Adweek's 2019 Podcast of the Year Awards |url=https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/discover-the-winners-of-adweeks-2019-podcast-of-the-year-awards/ |access-date=2022-12-09 |language=en-US}}
2020: American Sociological Association Public Understanding of Sociology Award
2020: Macarthur Genius Grant Winner{{Cite news|last=Jacobs|first=Julia|date=2020-10-06|title=MacArthur 'Genius' Grant Winners for 2020: The Full List|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/arts/macarthur-genius-grant-winners-list.html|access-date=2020-10-06|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=October 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006161017/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/arts/macarthur-genius-grant-winners-list.html|url-status=live|quote=Tressie McMillan Cottom, 43}}
2023: PEN Oakland/Third Annual Reginald Martin Award for Excellence in Criticism.

Works

=Books=

(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}}

= 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/02/the-coded-language-of-for-profit-colleges/516810/|title=For-Profit Colleges Thrive Off of Inequality|last=Cottom|first=Tressie McMillan|date=February 22, 2017|work=The Atlantic|access-date=July 23, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725153318/https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/02/the-coded-language-of-for-profit-colleges/516810/|url-status=live}}
"How We Make Black Girls Grow Up Too Fast." The New York Times, June 29, 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/opinion/sunday/how-we-make-black-girls-grow-up-too-fast.html|title=How We Make Black Girls Grow Up Too Fast|work=The New York Times|last=McMillan Cottom|first=Tressie|date=July 29, 2017|access-date=August 22, 2018|archive-date=August 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811205340/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/opinion/sunday/how-we-make-black-girls-grow-up-too-fast.html|url-status=live}}
"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.{{Cite news |last=McMillan Cottom |first=Tressie |date=January 19, 2023 |title=The Enduring, Invisible Power of Blond |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/opinion/the-enduring-invisible-power-of-blond.html |access-date=May 28, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times}}
"The Way Harris Lost Will Be Her Legacy." The New York Times, November 6, 2024.{{Cite web |last=McMillan Cottom |first=Tressie |date=November 6, 2024 |title=The Way Harris Lost Will Be Her Legacy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/why-kamala-harris-lost.html |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}

References

External links

{{official website|https://tressiemc.com/}}
[https://sociology.vcu.edu/people/faculty/cottom.html Faculty profile], Virginia Commonwealth University
[https://twitter.com/tressiemcphd @tressiemcphd] on Twitter
[https://tressiemc.com/essays-2/academic-outrage-when-the-culture-wars-go-digital/ "Academic Outrage: When The Culture Wars Go Digital,"] advice for academics facing coordinated harassment online
[https://www.heartoslay.com/ "Hear to Slay" podcast]

Category:Living people

Category:1976 births

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:21st-century African-American academics

Category:21st-century American academics

Category:African-American sociologists

Category:American feminist writers

Category:American sociologists

Category:American women sociologists

Category:American women academics

Category:American women essayists

Category:Feminism and education

Category:North Carolina Central University alumni

Category:Virginia Commonwealth University faculty

Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty

Category:MacArthur Fellows

Category:Critical theorists

Category:Emory University alumni