Fellows

Bruce A. Thyer, PhD

Active | Inducted in 2015

Bio

Dr. Thyer is a Distinguished Research Professor and former Dean with the College of Social Work at Florida State University. He is also an Extra-Ordinary Professor with North-West University in the Republic of South African and an adjunct faculty member with the Tulane University School of Social Work. Previously he held the position of Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia. Dr. Thyer received his MSW from the University of Georgia and his Ph.D. in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Florida and Georgia and he is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Dr. Thyer has been a long-term promoter of the evidence-based practice model within social work. His work is largely informed by social learning theory and has taken a recent turn in the direction of exposing and discouraging pseudoscientific theories, interventions and assessment methods within social work practice.

Dr. Thyer is the founding and current editor of the journal Research on Social Work Practice, now in its 35th year of publication.  He is one of the original Founding Board members of the Society for Social Work and Research. He has produced over 320 journal articles, over 135 book chapters, and over 35 books in the areas of social work, psychology, behavior analysis and psychiatry. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the Society for Social Work and Research. His most books include Program Evaluation: An Introduction to an Evidence-based Approach (2016, now in its sixth edition), Science and Pseudoscience in Social Work Practice (2015), Combat Social Work (Oxford, 2019) and Experimental Research Designs in Social Work: Theory and Applications (Columbia University Press, 2023).

https://csw.fsu.edu/person/bruce-thyer

Education

BS, 1976, University of Maryland

MSW, 1978, University of Georgia

MA, 1979, University of Michigan

PhD, 1982, University of Michigan