Robert Granfield, PhD, is professor in the UB Department of Sociology and Criminology and is co-founder and former director of the Initiative on Civic Engagement and Public Policy at UB. He is the author/editor of five books and over 80 scholarly articles, reprints and reviews in journals including Social Problems, Law and Society Review, Sociological Quarterly, and Sociological Forum. He has two major research interests: a) the study of law and legal institutions with a particular emphasis on the legal profession and b) the sociology of alcohol and drug use with an emphasis on natural recovery from addiction. Prof. Granfield is completing an anthology in critical addiction studies to be published by Routledge Press. He is currently conducting research on the institutionalization of global pro bono legal work, community re-integration of formerly incarcerated drug offenders, and domestic and international drug policy.

• PhD, Sociology, Northeastern University, 1989
• MA, Sociology, Northeastern University, 1983 
• BA, Sociology and Education, Southeastern Massachusetts University, 1977

• Sociology of Addiction
• Drugs and Society
• Advanced Seminar in Law
• Sociology of Law
• Death and Dying
• Sociology of Deviance

• Expanding Addiction: A Critical Addiction Studies Reader, forthcoming, Routledge Press, 2015 (with Craig Reinarman).
• “Civic Engagement at the University at Buffalo”, Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement,16:4, 2012 (with L. Mangan).
• Private Lawyers and the Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession, Oxford University Press, 2010, (with L. Mather).
  “Bridge Over Troubled Waters: The Re-engagement of High School Drop Outs in an Alternative School”, Sociological Focus 43 (4): 263-284, 2010, (with P. Colomy).
  “Losing Samson: Nature, Crime and Boundaries”, The Sociological Quarterly, 51 (3): 355-383, 2010 (with P. Colomy).
• “Conceptualizing Recovery Capital: Expansion of a Theoretical Construct,” (forthcoming), Substance Use and Misuse, 43: 1971-1986, 2008 (with W. Cloud).
• “Natural Recovery,” in E. Rubington and M. Weinberg (eds.), Deviance: The Interactionist Perspective, Allyn and Bacon Press, 2008.
• “The Meaning of Pro Bono: Institutional Variations in Professional Obligation“, Law and Society Review, 2007.