Faculty Member Named NASW Social Work Pioneer
Distinguished Research Professor Bruce Thyer was honored at the NASW 2026 National Conference among the ten social workers nationwide to be named a 2026 NASW Social Work Pioneer. Dean David Springer was among the 2025 NASW Social Work Pioneers who were also celebrated at the new annual Pioneer Event at the national conference in Washington, DC.
Each year, exemplary social workers are named as NASW Social Work Pioneers for their extraordinary contributions to the social work profession, whose dedication, commitment, and determination have improved social and human conditions.
"Being named a Social Work Pioneer and joining this distinguished roster of colleagues is one of the highlights of my career," expressed Thyer. "I am grateful for this professional recognition and for the support I have received over the years from the FSU College of Social Work, which made my contributions to the field possible."
Bruce Thyer: Pioneering Contributions
Bruce Thyer has served for over 40 years in social work education at the University of Georgia and at Florida State University, working his way up through the ranks to his present position as Distinguished Research Professor. He is also a former dean of the FSU College of Social Work.
Two of his most significant pioneering contributions include being a founding member of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and being the founding and continuing editor of the highly regarded, peer-reviewed journal Research on Social Work Practice, a professional periodical he has consistently edited for 36 years. Thyer's scholarship has been instrumental in integrating science into social work practice. His influential work on behavioral interventions has propelled the profession toward the use of empirically supported treatments, shaping both scholarship and practice. Through his leadership and vision, Thyer has profoundly impacted a generation of social work scholars and practitioners, leaving an enduring legacy of research on social work practice.
After more than three years of service in the United States Army (1973-1976) working as a drug and alcohol abuse counselor to fellow soldiers, Thyer earned his MSW from the University of Georgia in the clinical track in 1978. He then enrolled in the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Psychology at the University of Michigan. Concurrent with his doctoral studies, Thyer served as a clinical social worker with the Department of Psychiatry's Anxiety Disorders Program from 1979 to 1984. He completed his Ph.D. in 1982 and continued to work clinically, seeing clients with phobias, panic disorder, generalized anxiety, agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and PTSD, primarily using behavioral therapies in individual and group treatment. He began his publishing activities while employed as a social worker in Ann Arbor.
He took a position as assistant professor and assistant director of field instruction at Florida State University in 1984 and was promoted to associate professor in 1986. In 1987, he moved to the University of Georgia School of Social Work, where he remained until 2002. While at UGA, he was tenured and promoted to full professor in 1990 and was appointed to the rank of distinguished research professor in 1997, an honorific granted to only 3 to 4 faculty each year. While at UGA, Thyer also served in several leadership positions, including director of MSW Admissions, the Social Work Research Center, and the Doctoral Program. In 2002, he returned to the FSU College of Social Work, where he has remained on the faculty, active in teaching, research, and service. Under his leadership from 2002 to 2004, Florida State University created the first online MSW program, which has been greatly expanded and emulated by numerous social work programs across the United States.
In 1990, he approached Sage Publications with a proposal to establish a new independent journal to be titled Research on Social Work Practice, with an explicit focus on promoting intervention research on the outcomes of social work practice, a form of scholarship that was underutilized within the field at the time. The new journal was a success and is now published 8 times yearly. Thousands of articles have appeared within its pages in Thyer's 36 years of continuing editorship. It is highly regarded within the profession and attracts a large number of submissions from around the world, including more than 360 submissions in 2025. He co-edited 2 the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal (Springer) and the Journal of Evidence-based Practice (Taylor and Francis), each for almost 7 years.
Before its launch in 1994, he was approached by Dr. Janet B. W. Williams, the founder of the Society for Social Work and Research, to serve on the founding Board of Directors and to be involved in its initial development. Since 1994, SSWR has grown into the world's foremost social work research organization, starting with its first conference in 1995 with around 250 attendees and now reaching over 2000. He served on the SSWR Board as a member-at-large and treasurer for about 8 years. Since its inception, Thyer has also attended every SSWR conference, except one, and takes great pride in how this organization has enhanced the profession.
During his 40+ years in the academy, Dr. Thyer has taught a wide variety of social work courses (Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Research, Theory, Practice) at baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels, and has chaired 23 doctoral students to the successful completion of their degrees.
Learn more about Bruce TThyer's contributions to the social work profession on the NASW Social Work Pioneer Index.