Paula D. McClain
Professor of Political Science

Paula D. McClain is professor of political science and public policy at Duke University. She is also Dean of The Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education. A Howard University Ph.D., her primary research interests are in racial minority group politics, particularly inter-minority political and social competition, and urban politics. Her most recent articles have appeared in the Journal of Politics, and The DuBois Review: Social Science Research on Race. Westview Press published the sixth edition of her book, "Can We All Get Along?": Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics, coauthored with Joseph Stewart, Jr. in 2013. Her most recent book is American Government in Black and White, co-authored with Steven C. Tauber published in 2010 by Paradigm Publishers. The 2nd edition of American Government in Black and White was published in 2013 by Oxford University Press. She is a past vice president of the American Political Science Association, a past president of the Southern Political Science Association, a past president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, served as Program Co-Chair for the 1993 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, served as Program Chair for the 1999 annual meeting of Midwest Political Science Association, and served as Program Co-Chair of the 2003 International Political Science Association World Congress to be held in Durban, South Africa. She also served on the Advisory Committee of the Directorate of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation, and served on the Board of Overseers for the American National Election Study (2008 and 2012). She is also Director of the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, and served as Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender in the Social Sciences (2004-2013).

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Contact Information

Some information on this profile has been compiled automatically from Duke databases and external sources. (Our About page explains how this works.) If you see a problem with the information, please write to Scholars@Duke and let us know. We will reply promptly.