Officer Spotlight: Meet Your 2026-27 GCAS President!
Zachary Slade Milko
Pronouns: he/him
Department: Sociology
Year in Program: Entering my fifth year!
Previous Degrees: B.A. in Sociology and Research & Data Analytics; M.A. in Sociology
Research Focus: Algorithmic governance, digital labor and the creator economy, social inequality, gender and sexuality, critical theory
Organizational Engagement: GCAS (President), SGSA, ASA, AMSA (Co-Director of Communications), ESS
Favorite Quote: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
What inspired you to pursue a PhD in your field, and what drew you specifically to your research areas?
I came to sociology wanting to understand how systems produce unequal outcomes for people already on the margins, and wanting that understanding to be useful rather than abstract. My current work grew out of that. I remain fascinated by platforms as spaces for self-expression and community, and over time I became just as interested in what sits underneath them: the classification systems that decide who gets seen, who gets paid, and who gets quietly buried. Following that question led me from expression to stratification, and to how visibility itself gets distributed.
Can you share a bit about your current research project(s)?
My dissertation examines algorithmic stratification in the TikTok creator economy: how recommendation and moderation systems sort creators into categories with real economic consequences, and the largely uncompensated work creators do to stay legible to those systems. Alongside it I keep several other projects going, including work on the human right to science and how the U.S. implements it without formal ratification, a study of Black LGBTQ+ identity expression on TikTok, and research on juvenile bindover. I have also genuinely enjoyed teaching courses, particularly Critical Problems of Modern Society and Introduction to Gender Studies.
What advice would you give to incoming graduate students who are considering getting more involved on campus?
Say yes early, and say yes to things outside your department. Some of the most useful relationships I have built at CWRU came from rooms I had no disciplinary reason to be in. Involvement gives you a view of the university as an institution rather than just a program, and it gives you a life beyond your dissertation, which matters more than anyone tells you in year one. The caveat is that service compounds quickly, so be deliberate about what you take on and honest about what you are willing to hand off later.
| 
