Cathy J. Cohen, Secretary University of Chicago

Cathy J. Cohen, is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago from 2002-2005.  She received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1993.  She began her academic career at Yale University where she received tenure. In 2002 Cohen joined the faculty of the University of Chicago. 

Cohen is the author of the award- wining book The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1999). Cohen is also co-editor with Kathleen Jones and Joan Tronto of Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader (NYU, 1997).  Her work has been published in numerous journals and edited volumes including the American Political Science Review, GLQ, NOMOS and Social Text.  While her general field of specialization is American politics, Cohen’s interests include African-American politics, women and politics, lesbian and gay politics, social movements and Black feminist theory.  Cohen is currently completing a book project on the lives and political world of African American youth.

Cohen is the recipient of numerous awards including the Robert Wood Johnson Investigator’s Award, the Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Health Policy Research Fellowship and a major research grant from the Ford Foundation for her current work on African American youth. She serves on a number of national advisory boards and is the co-editor with Frederick Harris of a book series at Oxford University Press entitled Transgressing Boundaries: Studies in Black Politics and Black Communities. 

In addition to her academic work, Cohen continues to be politically active.  She was a founding board member and former co-chair of the board of the Audre Lorde Project in NY.  She was also on the board of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press as well as the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) at CUNY.  Cohen was a founding member of Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM!) and one of the core organizers of the international conference “Black Nations / Queer Nations?”. Cohen has also served as an active member in numerous organizations such as the Black Radical Congress, African American Women in Defense of Ourselves and the United Coalition Against Racism.