Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion

Mahasweta M. Banerjee is professor at the School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas (KU). She has a master’s degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), India, and a masters and Ph.D. in Social Work from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. She has been teaching at KU since 1992. She teaches quantitative and qualitative research, and leads a Study Abroad in India course in collaboration with TISS. Her research and scholarship focus on poverty and social justice. She had a Fulbright Research Award to India, where she applied insights from the capability approach to explore capabilities that allow income-poor people to work and earn a living. More recently, she is examining financial capabilities and its outcomes on well-being. She presents frequently at national and international conferences, and publishes her works in national and international journals. In 2012, she received the Journal of Social Work Education Award for best conceptual article. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Social Work Education, has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Community Practice, is a board member of the International Consortium of Social Development, and a member of the Council on Global Learning, Research and Practice.