She earned her PhD from Harvard University, is a Ford Fellow, and was a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. Her work focuses on race relations, residential segregation, identity, parental socialization, social stratification, and suburban culture. Her book, Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the New Black Middle Class (University of California Press, 2007), received the Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award. Professor Lacy is a contributing writer for media outlets, including The New York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her current work explores the construction and reproduction of racial and class-based identities among members of an elite children’s organization.