Tressie McMillan Cottom is a sociologist, professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, columnist for the New York Times, and a 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Her 2017 book, Lower Ed, has been cited by influential American policymakers, among them the esteemed senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders. Cottom published Thick: And Other Essays in 2019.
Her curriculum vitae is astonishing. In addition to being an associate professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), she is a senior faculty researcher with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP), and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.
Thick: And Other Essays has been described as “a kind of manifesto.” The essays touch on topics as diverse as sexual abuse, divorce, the death of a child, and broader issues dealing with race, beauty, and education. McMillan Cottom interrogates how assumptions about wealth, competence, and pain undermine black women’s efforts to achieve health and financial security.
McMillan Cottom is a vital part of Chapel Hill’s mission to be one of the finest universities in the country. Freedom of expression has long been a cornerstone of this mission and, while we haven’t always lived up to our goals, it is not for lack of trying. McMillan Cottom is both a sentinel and a messenger, a star in our midst, an example of our hopes and ideals.Website: https://tressiemc.com/
