Associate Professor

Office Address:  
353C DEV

Phone Number:  
(616)331-6585

Email Address:  
[email protected]

Office Hours:  
Monday: 7-9 a.m.; 6-9 p.m. and by appointment

Teaching Areas:
SW 316 – Interviewing in Social Work
SW 317 – Generalist Practice I
SW 660 – Grant Writing and Resource Development
SW 679 – Program Monitoring and Evaluation
SW 690 – Social Research I
SW 691 – Social Research II

Experience:
Dr. Youker has roughly 25 years of experience practicing social work both domestically and internationally. Following his M.S.S.W., he worked in international development as a program manager in Denmark and Zambia. He also served as a hospital social worker in rural Michigan and as a clinical social worker and research assistant through a fellowship at Yale Child Study Center. Dr. Youker received his Ph.D in evaluation and subsequently conducted several evaluations of programs in education and health, human, and social services primarily as an independent evaluation consultant. In addition, prior to joining GVSU, Dr. Youker was a part-time instructor for Western Michigan University. Dr. Youker is the foremost scholar on an evaluation approach called goal-free evaluation; secondarily, he researches community-based learning and teaching pedagogy.

Education:
B.A. in Social Work, Michigan State University
M.S. in Social Work, Columbia University
Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Evaluation, Western Michigan University
Post-Graduate Social Work Fellowship, Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine