Claire McWilliams is a tourism development and management and hospitality instructor in the School of Community Resources and Development at Arizona State University. She has a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management and a master's degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University. She has a doctorate with an emphasis in industrial and organizational psychology from Grand Canyon University. Her research focused on the psychological impact of exposure to negative customer behavior on frontline customer service providers in the hospitality/tourism industry. 

McWilliams worked as a manager and trainer for Doubletree Hotels Corporation before entering the field of education. She created and taught within the hospitality program at Fountain Hills High School in coordination with local colleges and industry partners. McWilliams led students on international service trips to study culture and sustainability and partnered with local communities in Uganda, St. Lucia, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

McWilliams transitioned into full-time instruction at ASU in 2015. She teaches Introduction to Tourism, Hotel & Resort Management, and Tourism Management courses. She has co-facilitated study abroad experiences to Fiji and Australia, focusing on international tourism and sustainable tourism, and to Botswana to study the impact of community and tourism use of river systems. She also teaches tourism courses for ASU's Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI). She is a professional consultant, writer and speaker for local companies.