After nearly two decades at the helm of the Congregational Social Work Education Initiative (CSWEI), UNC Greensboro Associate Professor Fran Pearson has helped shape hundreds of future social workers while building partnerships that strengthen communities across North Carolina. She will tell you the secret to successful social work: building relationships.
“I tell my students that if they can master and make building relationships their superpower, the opportunities for their careers and lives will be limitless,” Pearson says.
Nurse to Social Worker
Pearson’s path to social work is one that few could have predicted, least of all Pearson.
She began with a sociology degree at Appalachian State University and, after struggling to find sustainable work in that field, she accepted a job as a respiratory therapist, eventually landing in Greensboro. She enrolled in the UNCG School of Nursing hoping the profession would allow her to connect more deeply with patients and families.
Following graduation, she joined a non-attorney disability firm, where she interpreted medical records and appeared before administrative law judges on behalf of clients.
“That work taught me so much,” Pearson says. “People with disabilities often experience grief related to loss of functioning, maybe loss of independence, and being with them in that process was interesting and fed a part of my spirit.”
Her career pivoted from a position as a workers’ compensation specialist to the head of a nonprofit when UNCG announced it was offering a Master’s in Social Work program. Pearson knew immediately that was the path she had been seeking.
“Social workers are themselves an intervention,” she says. “When social workers build strong relationships in communities and with those experiencing hardship, they can help people recover their lives.”
Her dual background in nursing and social work proved to be her calling card. Dr. Jay Poole, her former professor, recruited her for a grant-funded initiative, noting that she could, as he put it, “speak nurse.” That role led her to her current position with the CSWEI.
“CSWEI recruited me because of my dual degrees in nursing and social work,” Pearson says. “And so here’s where I’ve sat for 19 years. Next August will be our 20th year.”
Developing the Next Generation of Social Work Leaders
As director of CSWEI and an associate professor in UNCG’s Department of Social Work, Pearson is dedicated to developing future social workers through leadership development, hands-on community engagement, and mentoring.
“Leaders set the culture of agency,” Pearson says. “My passion is nurturing and growing students’ leadership skills and confidence. I tell them, ‘If you care about your staff, your staff will care about your clients.’”
One of those student leaders is now a professor at UNCG and works alongside Pearson in CSWEI. Johnette Walser was in Pearson’s second cohort of CSWEI students. After earning her master’s degree, Walser’s internship with CSWEI proved transformative.
“I left that internship and I knew that I could do anything,” she says.
Within six months, she secured a program supervisor role at Youth Focus. Her career then took her from working with people experiencing homelessness and in domestic violence shelters in Greensboro to a larger transitional living program in the Washington, D.C., area.
After 11 years in school social work, Walser began teaching as an adjunct at UNCG in 2019 before joining as full-time faculty in 2022. She credits Pearson with much of her resilience, describing her as someone who holds students accountable while investing deeply in their growth.
“She has very high expectations, but she’s the kind of person who makes you want to meet them because of the faith she has in you.” Walser says.
Now, Walser is co-leading a rural health workforce grant aimed at placing social work and psychology students in Rockingham County to deliver mental health services and case management where gaps in care persist.
“I can give back, and honestly, I think that’s what education is all about,” Walser says.
“Through this work, we have saved so many lives, and I feel like my most significant impact is nurturing strong leaders like Johnette. That’s the biggest ripple,” Pearson says. “If Johnette and the other students I’ve mentored can carry that forward to their staff, to their agencies, to their community, that’s where you get the most impact. It permeates all the layers of relationship.”
Written by Alice Manning Touchette
