Social work is a calling for Courtney Pierce. Growing up in a civically-minded community in Portsmouth, VA, Pierce expected to go into the business world, and her undergraduate degrees are in that field.
But Pierce is now completing her Master of Social Work degree online at WNMU while working in the Anti-Trafficking Department at Samaritan House in Virginia, a large anti-violence organization that serves domestic violence, sexual assault, homelessness and trafficking survivors.
Pierce’s research for her MSW program at WNMU stems from this work and is rooted in restorative justice practices. As chair of the Black and African American Committee at Samaritan House, she has hosted Black men in a series of townhall conversations designed to better understand the intersections of gender, race, and power. Topics in these outreach efforts have included power and privilege, domestic partner violence, and vulnerability.
Pierce has teamed with fellow committee member Stephenie Howard, Assistant Professor of Social Work at Norfolk Southern University, who is a mentor in addition to being a research partner, and the two have been working to share their research with others in the field. They recently presented their article, “Engaging Men in the Fight Against Violence Towards Black Women,” at the Virginia and Metro DC Chapters of the National Association of Social Workers, and they are now preparing it for publication. In April, they will be presenting their study at the National Association of Black Social Workers Conference in Chicago.
By sharing their research with other scholars, Pierce hopes her work makes a difference not just in the field of social work but in the world more broadly. “We want our scholarship to really benefit our people and the communities we work in and are a part of as Black women,” said Pierce. She continued, “Doing this work is a way that I can see real change and imagine a future without a lot of violence and harm.”
Earning an MSW degree from WNMU will allow her to take the next step toward that future.
Caption: Courtney Pierce (pictured), a graduate student in the MSW program at WNMU, has been conducting research on the role that Black men can play in finding solutions to violence.