Matthew Theriot is the Dean of the College of Health Professions and Sciences (CHPS) and a professor of social work at the University of Central Florida.

Theriot joined UCF as a professor and the director of the School of Social Work in 2021, where he promoted interdisciplinary research, created the Center for Professional and Community Education, and led the school’s graduate program ranking to an all-time high, placing it in the top 25% of programs nationally. He was named interim dean of CHPS in 2024 and assumed the role permanently the following year.

Prior to coming to UCF, Theriot was a faculty member for more than 17 years at the University of Tennessee (UTK) at Knoxville, where he served in multiple executive leadership roles. He was the director of ASCEND, a National Science Foundation-funded program to promote the recruitment, hiring, retention, and advancement of female faculty in STEM disciplines, and served in key positions in the provost’s office to drive faculty and leadership development, online programs, and strategic initiatives. He led both the UTK social work undergraduate program and the doctoral program in his role as director.

Outside of the university, Theriot advances the profession of social work by chairing the Council on Social Work Education’s Commission on Membership and Professional Development.

He earned his bachelor’s and master’s in social work at the University of Texas at Austin and his doctoral degree in social welfare from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to his career in higher education, he worked as a school social worker, child welfare worker, and mobile crisis counselor.