Cathy J. Cohen

Who is Cathy J. Cohen?

Cathy J. Cohen is an American author, feminist and social activist whose work has focused on the African-American experience in politics from a perspective which is underlined by intersectionality. A former Director of the Center for the Study of Race, she is currently David and Mary Winton Green Professor in Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago. She received her BA from Miami University; Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1993 and began her academic career at Yale University where she received tenure. Professor Cohen joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 2002.

As an academic activist Cohen frequently writes and speaks about gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, and their interrelatedness, and connection to power. This approach puts her in a class of leftist intellectuals who work to have social and public policy influence the lives of marginalized groups in a positive way.