Professor Emeritus
Phone: (919) 843-6176
Fax: (919) 843-3250
Email: dyoder@med.unc.edu

David E. Yoder is Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, and Senior Associate and Director Emeritus of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies (http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds/), at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,. He is recently retired from the position of Executive Director of The Council for Allied Health in North Carolina (http://www.alliedhealthcouncilNC.org).

Dr. Yoder received his M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Northwestern University, and the Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Kansas. The University of Kansas Medical Center named Yoder the 1999 Allied Health Distinguished Alumnus

Dr. Yoder served as Chair of the Department of Allied Health Sciences in the School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1986-2000. In 1988, with his colleague David Koppenhaver, he established the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies. From 1968-86 Dr. Yoder was affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he served as Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. While at UW he also served as Head of the Communication Disorders Section; Head of the Education and Rehabilitation Section, and Head of the Communication Aids and Systems Clinic of the Waisman Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development. He held the title of Walker-Bascom Distinguished Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the UW-Madison from 1980-86. From 1965-68 Dr. Yoder was a faculty member of the Department of Communication Disorders at Colorado State University. Dr. Yoder has held visiting professorships at the University of Redlands, the University of Vermont, Distinguished Professor of Communication and Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He led three professional delegations to Taiwan to conduct the "Sino-American Symposium in Speech/Language Pathology and Audiology." Dr. Yoder was an Erskine Teaching Fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ in 1999, 2000 and 2001 where he continues to hold an Adjunct Professorship in the Department of Communication Disorders.

Dr. Yoder has authored numerous professional articles and book chapters in the area of language disorders with special needs populations. He has co-edited six books and has presented over 500 research papers, professional workshops and consultancies nationwide as well as in Europe, Japan, Taiwan, the Soviet Union and New Zealand. He has served on numerous committees and boards of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), and served as the ASHA President in 1984. Dr. Yoder is a Fellow and Life member of the ASHA and in 1995 he received the highest award, Honors of the Association. He is a Fellow and Life member of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). He was awarded Fellow status of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions. Dr. Yoder was the first president of the United States Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (USSAAC). He served as the first Journal Editor for AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). He served as panel chair for the writing of the Consensus Statement on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Intervention for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). In 1996 he received the "Joe Award" for furthering the employment of people with significant speech and multiple impairments by the SHOUT Board of Directors, Pittsburgh, PA. In 2000 he received the RESNA Award for Distinguished Contribution to Assistive Technology. In 2006, The David E. and Dolores (Dee) Yoder Distinguished Professorship in Literacy and Disability Studies was established in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, UNC- Chapel Hill. The Triangle Business Journal named Dr. Yoder a “Health Care Hero” in the category of Allied Health in 2008.

Research Interests

Dr. Yoder's current scholarship and research is focused on the literacy needs of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities exhibiting severe speech-language and physical impairments.