As a faculty member for more than 17 years at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Theriot served in several 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 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, he advanced the profession of social work by serving on the board of directors for the Council on Social Work Education, as well as its commission on membership and professional development.

He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees 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.