Julie Birkenmaier
Research Fellow
Julie.Birkenmaier@slu.edu
Julie Birkenmaier is the William and Helen Reichmann Research Professor at Saint Louis University’s School of Social Work and the faculty director in financial capability at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis. She serves as network co-lead for the Financial Capability and Asset Building for All Grand Challenge in Social Work and is a fellow at the Society for Social Work and Research and the Saint Louis University Research Institute. She currently serves as an international expert advisor for the Campbell China Network.
Her research examines financial capability, asset building and financial access among underserved populations through qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method approaches. She co-developed the Individual Financial Access Scale (IFAS) and has conducted research funded by the National Endowment for Financial Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She is an associate editor of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning.
Birkenmaier’s research focuses on the intersections of consumer-facing financial systems and financially vulnerable populations, with particular emphasis on financial access measurement and consumer experiences with financial products, services and practices.
Her research has been published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs, Social Work, Research on Social Work Practice and Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. She is co-author of Financial Capability and Asset-Building in Vulnerable Households (Oxford, 2018) and Financial Capability and Asset Building with Diverse Populations (Routledge, 2018), and she is co-editing the Research Handbook on Financial Social Work (Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2027).
At Saint Louis University, Birkenmaier teaches financial capability and asset building practice, community practice, and policy practice. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a B.A. and MSW from Saint Louis University.