Professor, UNC Chapel Hill; Columnist, New York Times; 2020 MacArthur Fellow
Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom is a professor in the School of Information and Library Science and
Principal Investigator in the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NY Times columnist, and 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Recent
accolades include being named the 2023 winner of the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize by
Brandeis University for her “critical perspective and analysis to some of the greatest social
challenges we face today.” McMillan Cottom’s most recent book, THICK: And Other Essays (The
New Press 2019), won the Brooklyn Public Library’s 2019 Literary Prize and was shortlisted for
the National Book Award in nonfiction.
For more information visit https://tressiemc.com/ or on Twitter @tressiemcphd.