Program Directory

 
City Club of Cleveland - Dr. Cathy J. Cohen, Prof. of Political Science, University of Chicago
City Club of Cleveland
 
 
 
Cathy J. Cohen is the David and Mary Winton Green Professor of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago. She is also the Deputy Provost for Graduate Education and the former Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. Cohen is the author of The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1999). She is co-editor of Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader (NYU Press, 1997) with Kathleen Jones and Joan Tronto. She also has a new book entitled Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics (Oxford University Press). Her articles have been published in numerous journals and edited volumes including the American Political Science Review, NOMOS, GLQ, Social Text, and the DuBois Review.

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 two major research grants from the Ford Foundation for her work as principal investigator of the Black Youth Project and the Mobilization, Change and Political and Civic Engagement Project. Cohen serves on a number of national and local 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 has always been 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 two international conferences "Black Nations / Queer Nations?" and "Race, Sex, Power." 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 Ella's Daughters. Currently, Cohen serves as a Board Member of the Arcus Foundation and a Governing Board member of the University of Chicago's four charter schools. She is also the founder of a website devoted to black youth: www.blackyouthproject.com.
March 23, 2012