Irma McClaurin resigns as president of Shaw University after less than one year on the job
News & Observer
August 10, 2011
Irma McClaurin, Shaw University's third president in three years, has stepped down.
Neither the downtown Raleigh university nor McClaurin, 58, said what led to the resignation. Both said the departure was a mutual decision.
"Shaw University has seen many changes and experienced challenges in the last six months. And with change comes transitions," the university said in a statement issued today.
McClaurin, Shaw's 15th president and the school's first female leader, was in the job for less than a year. She was hired Sept. 6.
In June 2009, Dorothy C. Yancy took over as interim president after the abrupt announcement that President Clarence Newsome was taking a one-year leave of absence and would not return.
McClaurin steered the oldest historically black college in the South during tumultuous times.
Shaw in 2009 announced that it was drowning in more than $20 million in debt. In 2010, the university was given a $31 million federal loan to keep its doors open.
On April 16, the school suffered more than $3 million in damages after a tornado touched down on campus. More than 27 buildings were damaged.
