Bruce A. Thyer, PhD
Inducted in 2015
Current Position
Distinguished Research Professor, Dean Emeritus, College of Social Work, Florida State UniversityEducation
B.Sc., University of Maryland; MSW, University of Georgia; MA, Ph.D., University of MichiganDr. 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 29th year of publication, and Co-edits the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal and the Journal of Evidence-based Social Work. He is one of the original Founding Board members of the Society for Social Work and Research. He has produced over 290 journal articles, over 130 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, the Association for Psychological Science, and of the National Academies of Practice. His most recent co-authored books are titled Program Evaluation: An Introduction to an Evidence-based Approach (2016, now in its sixth edition), and Science and Pseudoscience in Social Work Practice (2015).