She was the first female president of Shaw University, and is the author or editor of several books on topics including the culture of Belize, black feminism, African-American history, and her own poetry.
[2] Her study in anthropology research expanded as she started to gain a deeper understanding of her own African American culture, and the tribulations and social injustice they went through on a daily basis.
[3] As a full-time mother,[3] she returned to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for additional graduate study, earning a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1993.
[6][8][11] After stepping down from Shaw, she became a senior faculty member at the Federal Executive Institute and then the chief diversity officer of Teach For America.
[1] In Women of Belize: Gender and Change in Central America (1996), McClaurin's ethnography research highlights important aspects of Belizean culture.
Her vision was to lead future students to reflect on some of the most historical, and impactful events that Black African women went through, following racial injustice, diversity, and how they were seen to society.