Tressie McMillan Cottom

I use the whole name. I dream of a device that will plug my brain into the internet. I have way more questions than answers. Trying, always, to balance that ratio is pretty much my entire reason for living. Assistant Professor, social scientist, researcher, grant writer, friend, daughter, sister, and polite hell-raiser.

On any given day I'm thinking about and/or researching the following in no particular order: Why are so many black people attending for-profit colleges? How is going to college in your pajamas in any way novel enough to justify a commercial? How has alternative credentialing been legitimized? Who issues .edu addresses and under what guidelines? Why don't my database searches always return useful information? How does one learn to make a documentary? Can I be Greek in my next lifetime? Why does anyone listen to Odd Future? Isn't the actual future odd enough?

I have published in Huffington Post, Inside Higher Education, and Contexts among others. I've also contributed to articles in Ebony, The Nation, and Times Higher Education. I once waged a very public fight with the Chronicle of Higher Education. I updated a couple hundred entries in the sixth edition of Cengage's Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. I do contract research on education and labor policy.

See more at www.tressiemc.com.