The Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) announced the renaming of the MPSA Best Paper Award to the Paula D. McClain Award for the MPSA Best Paper, in honor of the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Professor of Public Policy at Duke University, and Director of the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute. The award recognizes the best paper overall presented at the MPSA conference each year.
McClain's primary research interests are in racial minority group politics, particularly inter-minority political and social competition, and urban politics. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals, including Journal of Politics, American Political Science Review, Urban Affairs Review, The Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race and Politics, Groups and Identities, among others. Her 1990 book, "Race, Place and Risk: Black Homicide in Urban America," co-authored with Harold W. Rose, won the National Conference of Black Political Scientists' 1995 Best Book Award for a previously published book that has made a substantial and continuing contribution. "American Government in Black and White: Diversity and Democracy," co-authored with Steven Tauber, won the American Political Science Association’s Race, Ethnicity and Politics Organized Section Best Book Award for a book published in 2010. She is a former president of the Midwest Political Science Association, the American Political Science Association, the Southern Political Science Association and the National Conference of Black Political Scientists. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, McClain is widely recognized for her mentorship of students and service to the profession receiving both the Frank Goodnow Award (APSA) and the Manning Dauer Award (SPSA). In 2017, the Midwest Women's Caucus for Political Science gave her the Outstanding Professional Achievement Award and held a panel in her honor.
Renamed in 2024, the $500 Paula D. McClain Award for the MPSA Best Paper joins multiple conference awards that recognize outstanding research presented at the annual MPSA conference.