Mrs. Pershing also received a master's and a specialist's degree from WMU. Early in her career she was the chief occupational therapist at the Cerebral Palsy Center in Detroit.
She then directed the School of Occupational Therapy at Texas Woman's University. Under her leadership, it became one of the largest such programs in the world.
She was later named provost of the Institute of Health Sciences at TWU. In 1975, she was voted Occupational Therapist of the Year in Texas.