Getting to know me…
Welcome! My name is Dr. Shirley McClerklin-Motley and I love Jesus! I am the mother of four adult children, 13 grandchildren, and 7 godchildren. I live in Cayce, South Carolina.
I am a member of Refuge House of Prayer Church located in West Columbia, South Carolina. I serve as the local missionary president and the district four missionary supervisor.
I am so grateful to God for filling me with the precious gift of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance, in 1980. I am currently a member of Refuge House of Prayer Church, and thank God for my current pastor, Elder Jeffries Holman. When I received the Holy Ghost, God gave me certain Books of the Bible that have been the mainstay of my life – they are the Book of John, the Book of Romans, and the Book of Revelation. My heart’s desire is to serve God in a meek and humble manner, dedicating my life to his service and giving him all of the glory. You see, my husband and I separated in 1984, and I had to lean and depend on God for everything. I remember when I was homeless and attending Tuesday night prayer. I was kneeling on the pew at the very back of the church crying and wondering how I was going to keep my family together. My children, ages 14, 11, 5, and 4, were on either side of me, and I had my arms around them. God spoke to my spirit and said that He was going to bless us to the extent that men would marvel. Today, I have an earned Ph.D., one of my daughters and her husband own a trucking company, one of my daughters is completing her doctorate in education, one of my daughters is a chiropractor, and my son is an electrician. God kept his promise to us, and I thank him so much! One of my favorite scripture is “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). I always tell my children that they are never to say “under the circumstances” because they are always above the circumstances!!!
My Professional Bio
Dr. McClerklin-Motley completed her undergraduate studies in social work at Benedict College, where she received a minor in child abuse and neglect. McClerklin-Motley graduated Magna Cum Laude and received many honors such as President’s List, Dean’s List, Whose Who Among American Colleges and Universities, NASW Bachelor of Social Work Student of the Year, member of the Alpha Chi and Alpha Kappu Mu National Honor Societies. She was also the recipient of the Minority Access to Research Careers and the Minority Biological Research Scholarships. McClerklin-Motley earned her MSW from the University of South Carolina, where she received a USC Minority Fellowship. She received her Ph.D. from Capella University with a major in Human Services and a Cognate in Social and Community Services.
McClerklin Motley is a retired tenured professor of Social Work and served as the Chair of the Social Work Department at Coker University in Hartsville, South Carolina from 2011-2014. As social work faculty, she wrote and taught a course on international social work specifically for Coker College students studying abroad in London, England.
Dr. McClerklin-Motley has been an MSW Adjunct Professor at Johnson C. Smith University since May 2016. In August 2017 she held a four-hour training session for her students on writing in the American Psychological Association (APA) format. In 2018, the University asked her to devote her time to being the MSW Program’s APA Writing and Research Lab Liaison.
She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the Council on Social Work Education, and the National Association of Christian Social Workers.
Dr. McClerklin-Motley is a Certified Site Team Visitor for Colleges and Universities by the Council on Social Work Education, a former member of the Council Social Work Education’s Women’s Council, A member of the South Carolina National Association’s Committee on Nominations and Leadership Identification, a member of the Advocates Against Human Trafficking, as well as a Parent-Child Mediator, Certified Civil Mediator, Certified Juvenile Arbitrator, Certified Grants Writer, Certified African American HIV/AIDS Educator, and a former Certified Senior Prevention Professional.
In 2014, she was one of two persons from South Carolina invited by the Office of the President to the White House to participate in a Hearing on the Affordable Care Act. She presented on the White House hearing findings at the 2014 Council on Social Work Education’s National Annual Program Meeting.
Dr. McClerklin-Motley has guest lectured at in excess of 20 colleges and universities nationally. She has presented at numerous local and national conferences in such areas as HIV/AIDS, Domestic Violence, African Americans and Nicotine, Human Trafficking, Parenting the Hip Hop Generation, Rap music, juvenile delinquency, etc. She has also provided continuing education training for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, the National Association of Social Workers-SC’s Pee Dee Unit, the School Social Workers Association of South Carolina to name a few.
She has provided technical assistance to the National Institute of Minority Health in the areas of tobacco prevention in African American communities and HIV/AIDS among African American Adolescents. Dr. McClerklin-Motley compiled and edited the “Facing HIV/AIDS” training manual for the South Carolina Department of Social Services, the “African American HIV/AIDS Training Manual” for the South Carolina Coalition of Black Church Leaders, and “Domestic Violence: What is the role of the church?,” a training manual for pastors and others involved in ministering to battered and abused women.
Dr. McClerklin-Motley has received numerous honors and awards, including but not limited to: Cayce/West Columbia NAACP’s Outstanding Community Service Award, a Proclamation for her outstanding community service from the Mayor of Columbia and the Mayor of West Columbia; an award for HIV/AIDS presentations from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association, the South Carolina Drug School, and the Southeastern Drug School; Outstanding Community Service Awards from Radio Station 95.3, the CUSH Foundation, and a host of others.