Alisha Cupid

Alisha Cupid is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Work at Rutgers University. She earned her Bachelor of Social Work with a minor in Psychology in 2011 and MSW from Tulane University in 2013. Alisha also earned a Graduate Certificate in International Social Work with an emphasis on women’s poverty in Rwanda from Tulane University. During her time in Rwanda, she worked with Women for Women International doing independent research on women and childcare. Alisha is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Louisiana. Upon completion of her degrees, she did direct practice with children and families, and populations involved with or affected by foster care, incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse, and with victims of crimes.

Her research interests were framed by these direct practice experiences and include gendered poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean and women’s empowerment. Alisha’s dissertation is entitled The climb toward equality: Examining women’s empowerment in Trinidad and Tobago through a mixed methods study. Her dissertation was partially funded by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), American Dissertation Fellowship for $25,000. Her research is focused on how women’s poverty is experienced and how data collection and reduction policy can be improved using women’s empowerment theory. Alisha has published several state reports for the Center for Prevention Science at Rutgers University and substance abuse prevention publications. She has also taught Social Work Practice I: Practice with Individuals and Families in the MSW program at Rutgers University.