Geoffrey Greif, PhD, MSW, LCSW-C
Professor, University of Maryland School of Social Work
Geoffrey Greif has been a professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work since 1984 and served as associate dean from 1996 to 2007. His current research, teaching, and practice interests include child abduction, family therapy, adult friendships, adult family relationships, and interracial families.
He is the author of more than 150 journal articles and book chapters and 15 books, including four that he co-edited. More recently, Greif has explored horizontal relationships with the publication of “Buddy System: Understanding Male Friendships”; "Two Plus Two: Couples and Their Couple Friendships”; “Adult Sibling Relationships”; and “In-Law Relationships: Mothers, Daughters, Fathers, and Sons.”
In 2001, Professor Greif chaired Gov. Parris Glendening’s commission to study sexual orientation discrimination in Maryland. Between 2011 and 2016, Greif co-led a fathering group for federal detainees at a detention center in Baltimore and, more recently, ran a group for fathers at a residential employment center.
He is a member of various community-based boards, including the Open Society Institute Leadership Council and the Shriver Hall Concert Series, where he chaired the board. He also served on the Board of Social Work Examiners in Maryland and the board of WYPR Radio.
Greif has received more than 20 dean’s teaching awards from UMSSW. In 2007, he was named Educator of the Year by the Maryland Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, and in 2010 he received the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Excellence in Teaching Award. He was named the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Teacher of the Year in 2018 and was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare in 2020.
Greif received his MSW from the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD from the Columbia University School of Social Work.
