Margaret Sherraden’s scholarship focuses on household and community development. A leader in financial capability and asset building, she has published five books and numerous articles on advancing economic well-being. She led one of the 12 Grand Challenges in Social Work Initiative papers on Financial Capability and Asset Building for All. Sherraden is a faculty director at the Brown School’s Center for Social Development.

Sherraden is currently completing a book for social workers and other human service students on building financial capability and asset building in low-income households. Her prior research includes studies of international volunteering and service, microenterprise, and immigrant birth outcomes among Mexican-American women.

In addition, at the University of Missouri-St.Louis, Sherraden is Founders Professor of Social Work. She has taught for 25 years in the UMSL School of Social Work, where she also chaired the master’s program in social work. She is a former Fulbright Fellow and two-term president of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare. She serves on the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Community Development Advisory Council.