Irma McClaurin

 

Public Engagement 

with Dr. Irma McClaurin

 

Check out the May 2010 ribbon cutting ceremony for the first University of Minnesota's Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC) with an in-depth interview with the UMN mascot, "Goldie;" also view the ceremony.

View The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony


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Read what McClaurin has written about President Obama from the start


“In my career,” McClaurin notes, “I’ve found that not following the routine trajectory has created unique opportunities for me.

I don’t fit the boxes, but I’ve learned from every experience, even when it hasn’t gone as expected.

It is sobering in philanthropy to recognize that sometimes who you know may be more important than the ideas. It can be disappointing in higher education and the world to realize how seldom women of color are supported. Think how Michelle Obama was cast as an ‘angry black woman.’

We also assume the academy supports a free-flow of ideas. Well…not all the time. But I have had wonderful mentors over the years. Among them are former faculty and administrators at UMass Amherst—Dr. Johnnetta Cole, whose accomplishments leave me breathless, Dr. Ralph Faulkingham, who has inspired me as a mentor and teacher, and Dr. Esther Terry, recently retired after forty years and has joined Bennett College as provost and vice president of academic affairs, who taught me about "quiet leadership.”


Excerpt
: "From Poetry to Urban Research and
Outreach" in: 
McClaurin Alumni Profile