Professor of Political Science, Author, Founder of Black Youth Project
Black Youth Project
University of Chicago
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 ( 1999). She is co-editor of Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader (1997) with Kathleen Jones and Joan Tronto. She is also the author of Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics (2010). 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 Black Youth Project, a website devoted to black youth.