Pioneering Contributions
Brad Yoder was drawn to social work because of its comprehensive concern for the whole person—body, mind, and spirit, in their whole environment— physical, emotional, social, cultural, medical, legal, political, religious, and economic. During his 52-year social work career, mental health and criminal justice were his primary fields of practice and education. Yoder helped to create Midtown Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in 1969, under the leadership of Dr. James Wright - the first facility of its kind in Indiana. Developing the partial hospitalization program permitted clients with serious mental illness, who formerly were hospitalized for years, to live at home while receiving intensive supportive care. Three other CMHC’s in the Indianapolis area have grown out of this original effort, and a long-term state hospital was closed. While teaching at Goshen (IN) College, Yoder worked collaboratively with the Elkhart County Sheriff to create the first county-based work release program in Indiana. With an emphasis on keeping offenders in the community to stay engaged physically, socially, and economically with their families, restorative justice was the goal. It also reduced the cost of incarceration in state correctional facilities, a fringe benefit for Indiana’s conservative taxpayers. Nearly every county in Indiana has subsequently created a work-release program, providing second-chance opportunities for many disadvantaged persons drawn into the criminal justice system. Racial and gender justice have been major concerns and commitments for Yoder throughout his adult life. At the beginning of his teaching career, in 1978, he helped to create a two-day antiracism workshop for social work students from Manchester and Goshen Colleges together. This included a dramatic simulation, and debriefing sessions, which significantly heightened the mostly rural white students’ awareness of the problems of racism and sexism in the lives of oppressed people. Years later, many students recall the positive impact of that workshop on their social work practice. How does a social work program prepare students from primarily white, rural communities, for diverse urban or international practice? Yoder helped to create a three-day intensive workshop in Chicago led by Black social worker/economist, Arvis Averette. Through a sabbatical leave at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, Yoder arranged for opportunities to take groups of students for a three-week cross-cultural experience in the Caribbean. Both of these intense experiences have been described by students years later as having the most profound impact on their preparation for engaged, transformative social work practice. Yoder’s travel and study in 46 countries have directly benefited students, expanding their awareness of life situations around the globe. Examples include his participation in an NASW People to People Citizen Ambassador Professional Delegation to Russia, a Peace Ambassador Exchange (PAX) to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, a World Council of Churches International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston, Jamaica, and helping to monitor a presidential election in El Salvador. Active participation in the Association of Caribbean and International Social Work Educators significantly expanded Yoder’s network of mutually supportive relationships, which bridged students with social work practice and education around the Earth. 2 Most years since 1965, Yoder has been an active member of the NASW Indiana Public Policy Committee to advocate for social welfare policies with the Indiana General Assembly. Agenda has included obtaining several levels of licensing for the social work profession, and advocacy for expanded social work education opportunities around the State, as well as advocating for specific social welfare policies which directly affect people’s lives. The Committee also plans the annual Legislative Education Action Day (LEAD) at the State House, which highlights for social work students the crucial importance of legislative advocacy both for improving our quality of life, and for killing bad legislative proposals. During the 1960’s, Yoder participated actively in many protests and demonstrations regarding civil rights, poverty, and the Vietnam War. He was active in Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign, and other actions addressing poverty locally and nationally. While Yoder has worked for social change primarily through collaborative means, he has occasionally participated in civil disobedience when other methods didn’t seem to be effective in addressing urgent social problems. During the Vietnam War he refused to pay the Federal telephone tax, which went directly to fund the War. He also partially withheld Federal income taxes as a protest against the War. Because the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, was training soldiers from the Americas in violent counterinsurgency operations against their own people, Yoder participated in protests which involved trespassing onto military property. Recently, Yoder has been supportive of those participating in civil disobedience against Israel’s war in Gaza. Yoder was among the early organizers of the Indiana Association for Social Work Education (IASWE) in the 1970’s, seeking to share social work educational experiences for the mutual benefit of other social work education programs. Yoder served on its Program Planning Committee many times, presenting papers frequently, and was IASWE President 1984-85, 1993-94, and 2003-05. During these times he was gratefully mentored by many experienced and innovative social work educators, and later passed on his energy, love of learning, and commitment to furthering social work education and practice, with many others. Yoder was also actively engaged with the Council on Social Work Education and presented frequently at Annual Program Meetings.
Career Highlights
After earning his master’s degree, Yoder practiced social work in mental health for seven years: four at LaRue Carter Memorial Hospital and three helping establish Midtown CMHC, where he developed an innovative partial hospitalization program and later served as Outpatient Director. Invited to teach at his alma mater, Goshen College, Yoder soon realized his passion for social work education, leading him to pursue a PhD at The Ohio State University. During 39 years at Manchester University, Yoder guided the social work program through continuous CSWE accreditation since 1978, developed a criminal justice major, and taught sociology and peace studies. Yoder learned from his high school Latin teacher, Lucille Carson, that “education” means ‘to draw out from’ (not to ‘pour into’!). He always has considered it a sacred privilege to draw out the best of each student’s talents and abilities, as a partnership in learning. 3 Yoder’s comprehensive social work orientation leads him to consider housing to be fundamental for anyone’s physical and emotional security. He helped to create the Wabash County (IN) Habitat for Humanity Affiliate and the Manchester University Habitat Campus Chapter. He led 31 Habitat Spring Break Workcamps in nine states-- all exhilarating experiences, with tears of joy every time that the keys were turned over to new Habitat homeowners. It is rewarding to Yoder to see numerous former Habitat spring break students now serving as leaders of local Habitat affiliates, or creator/advisor for campus chapters. Yoder was an early board member of Hoosiers Concerned about Gun Violence since the 1990’s and invests considerable time and energy in that responsibility. He also commits quite a bit of time advocating at the Indiana General Assembly for gun safety, immigration rights, environmental justice and sustainability, restorative justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, voting rights, and civil political debate. He engages actively, gently, and respectfully with political adversaries, and encourages others to do the same, searching for common ground on important issues.
Biographical Information
Yoder was born November 1, 1941, on a dairy and poultry farm near Grantsville, in rural western Maryland. He was married to Marilyn Troyer Yoder on June 29, 1968. They had three children: Greta (1969), Sonya (1972), and Heidi (1980). Marilyn died in 1999 after living with breast cancer for two challenging years. Yoder married Jeanne Rhoades Smucker on June 18, 2016, opening a whole new wonderful, adventurous life! They enjoy sharing five living children, ten grandchildren, and recently became first-time great grandparents. Yoder graduated from Goshen (IN) College in 1963, majoring in sociology. He received his MA in social work from Indiana University in 1965, and his PhD in social work from The Ohio State University in 1979. As a ninth-generation Anabaptist Mennonite in North America from Switzerland, Yoder is an active peacemaker and advocate for racial, gender, and environmental justice, striving to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, but regretting and being alarmed by much that has been done throughout history, and currently, in the name of Christianity. During the Vietnam War, Yoder was a Conscientious Objector, doing Alternative Service working in a psychiatric hospital instead of joining the military. Yoder is an accomplished distance runner, and coached cross country and track and field for 31 years at Manchester University. He sees coaching distance runners as a special kind of teaching, which emphasizes equally the blending of body, mind, and spirit. Yoder has run 44 marathons, including running a 2:59 to finish 4th in the 50-54 age-group, in the United States National Marathon Championship in 1991.
Significant Recognition and Awards
Yoder received scholarships throughout his graduate education from the Family Service Association of Indianapolis, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the US Social and Rehabilitation Service. He was recognized as a Teaching Associate of The Ohio State University College of Social Work 1975-78, and received the Ohio State University Alumni 4 Graduate Student Research Award in 1978, for his dissertation research on family content in US undergraduate social work curriculum. He received National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Fellowships for post-graduate study of social work ethics in 1982, Jane Addams and Hull House in 1985, and the Great Depression and the New Deal in 1988. Yoder got Secrist Scholarships to participate in the World Council of Churches International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston, Jamaica, In 2011, and an Intercultural Seminar on the German Church in Marburg, Germany, in 2015. Yoder was granted funding for sabbatical leaves by Manchester University, to Arizona State University in 1986; University of Toronto and University of the West Indies in Kingston Jamaica, in 1993; and Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2001. Brethren Colleges Abroad provided grants for Yoder to study in Cuba in 2004, Israel and Palestine in 2006, and New Zealand and Australia in 2008. In 2010, Yoder was selected for two international honors: 1) NASW People to People Citizen Ambassador Delegation to Russia, and 2) World Friendship Center, Peace Ambassador Exchange (PAX) to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, [commemorating the 65th anniversary of the US nuclear bombings of Japan]. In 2014, Yoder received the Manchester University Faculty Excellence Award for Service. In the same year, Indiana NASW recognized him as the state’s Social Worker of the Year.
Significant Publications
Most of Yoder’s career has been in social work practice and social work education in small church-related liberal arts universities which emphasized teaching and service, rather than research and publication. Nevertheless, he has presented over 40 papers at state, regional, national, and international professional conferences. His focus has been on concrete actions to encourage collaboration between social work educators and practitioners, to solidify and expand the quality of education of students for competent, transformative social work practice. Mental health, criminal justice, child welfare, sexual orientation and gender identity, and social welfare policy have attracted much of his interest. Yoder continues to value highly the profession of social work because of its comprehensive concern for the whole person—body, mind, and spirit, in their whole environment. He is grateful for all of the opportunities and challenges that the profession has provided for him as an important part of a rich and meaningful life. His lifelong commitment to social justice, education, and innovation exemplifies the spirit of a Social Work Pioneer.