2012-2013 Luce Scholar

Chris McLaurin earned his BA with High Honors in History and a minor in Urban and Community Studies from the University of Michigan in 2009. Originally from Rochester Hills, Michigan, Chris received a scholarship to play tight end for the wolverines. Outside of academics and sport, he founded an organization to provide youth in residential group homes with positive student role models from the university. The program’s participants received first-hand exposure to college life by attending study-skills events, lectures from professors, and sporting events at the university. For his success, he was awarded the Martin Luther King Central Campus Spirit Award in 2008. Following graduation, Chris continued to work with marginalized communities on a Fulbright Scholarship in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, Chris developed a mentorship program with Tomorrow Trust, a South African NGO supporting the self-sustainability of orphaned and vulnerable children. He also contributed to a case study conducted by the United Nations Development Programme and Harvard Law School on the potential for litigation to promote the economic rights of the poor. Following his Fulbright year, he went on to pursue an MSc in Social Policy and Planning at the London School of Economics (LSE). In London, he worked as a Parliamentary Intern with Labour MP Toby Perkins in the House of Commons and as a Public Affairs Intern and Researcher for the Runnymede Trust, the UK’s leading independent race and ethnicity think tank. After graduating from the LSE, Chris received an internship at the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he worked on issues of workforce development, poverty alleviation, child nutrition, and civil rights at the White House under Racquel Russell, Special Assistant to the President for Mobility and Opportunity. Chris is committed to expanding opportunity for marginalized communities through his work in law, social policy, and social innovation.