Gregory L. Geoffroy served as acting president for two months in 1998, following William E. Kirwan's departure to serve as chancellor of the Ohio State University.

Geoffroy spent four years as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maryland. During his tenure, he focused on addressing the university's academic concerns, leading the vision of the university's strategic plan and establishing the K-16 Council to improve teacher training. He also played a key role in the Facilities Master Plan of the period and led efforts to bring national eminence to the university's biological science programs.

Geoffroy began his academic career as an assistant professor of chemistry at the Pennsylvania State University in 1974, advancing to associate professor in 1978 and professor in 1982. He specialized in organometallic chemistry, a discipline that studies organic compounds containing metal. He was appointed head of the Department of Chemistry in 1988 and dean of the Eberly College of Science at Penn State in 1989.

He resigned his position at the University of Maryland to become president of Iowa State University in July 2008.